What makes people feel uncomfortable tipping? A survey of tipping culture in a tight labor market and implications for hospitality, food and beverage businesses

With Americans resuming prepandemic habits of going out, eating out and traveling, leisure and hospitality businesses have scrambled to hire, sometimes offering pay increases that outpace inflation.

Saru Jayaraman, president of One Fair Wage, which advocates to end subminimum wage policies, encourages customers to tip. But tips should never count against service workers’ wages, and customers must demand that businesses pay workers a full wage, she said.

The tip credit is a unique provision that allows employers to meet pay requirements more cheaply. In a tight labor market, it is used at the employees expense according to workers and labor lawyers.

Some customers do not tip. Others feel guilty if they don’t tip or embarrassed if their tip is stingy. And others eschew tipping for a $5 iced coffee, saying the price is already high enough.

There are many places where customers now have the option to tip and feel pressure to add a gratuity and for how much. Some people walk away from the computer screen without doing anything to make a decision, say experts who study tipping culture.

Lynn from Cornell said the link between the quality of service and tip amount is not as strong as it could be.

He believed a cycle of competition between customers lead to a 15% to 20% tip at restaurants. People tip if they want to get social approval or better service. Other customers start tipping more if they lose their status or suffer worse service as tip levels increase.

Etiquette experts recommend that customers approach the touch screen option the same way they would a tip jar. When prompted on the screen, leave change or a small cash tip in the jar.

“The American public feels like tipping is out of control because they’re experiencing it in places they’re not used to,” said Lizzie Post, co-president of the Emily Post Institute and its namesake’s great-great-granddaughter. “Moments where tipping isn’t expected makes people less generous and uncomfortable.”

When given the option to tip in places where workers make an hourly wage, such as Starbucks baristas, customers should use their discretion and remove any guilt from their decision, etiquette experts say. Tips help these workers supplement their income and are always encouraged, but it’s okay to say no.

Critics of tipping argued that it created an imbalance between customers and workers, and several states passed laws in the early 1900s to ban the practice.

tipping Norms have also changed in the gig economy. An MIT study released in 2019 found that customers are less likely to tip when workers have autonomy over whether and when to work. The University of Chicago study found that about 1% of customers always tip while nearly 60% of them never do.

Lynn said there is no authority that establishes tipping norms. They come from the bottom up. It is what people do that can help establish what other people should do.

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