Have we reached tipping fatigue? Bars to coffee shops to carryouts solicit consumers

You visit a carryout store or a coffee shop or order a can of beer at the bar, and there it is, that touch screen, spinning toward you with suggested tips for that bottle of wine or cup of coffee or Stroh's you just bought.

What to do?

No matter where you go, you're being asked to tip. You're used to paying a tip for service at your favorite sit-down restaurant or giving something extra to the person who cuts your hair.

But since the COVID-19 pandemic, it seems the number of places looking for tips has exploded. More pressure to tip, perhaps more tipping fatigue.

Samantha Gerity, who was about to eat lunch earlier this week outside the Brown Bag Delicatessen in Columbus, Ohio, said she and her husband have talked a lot about tipping since a recent family trip to North Carolina.

"Personally, I feel we tip at more places where before we wouldn't tip," said Gerrity, 33, of Columbus. One reason: She said the screens aren't clear sometimes as to where to go if you don't want to tip. Often the default is 20%, she said.

But Gerity said she usually tips above and beyond because she worked in a restaurant during college and knows how important tips are to workers.

"You feel guilty not tipping," she said.

US tipping habits

In a 2022 survey of tipping habits of more than 1,000 people nationwide, PlayUSA, a Las Vegas-based website focused on the gambling industry found that 49% don't tip at restaurants with no tableside service (think Chipotle), while 83% always tip at a sit-down restaurant.

But according to this survey, 54% feel pressure to tip during iPad-style touchscreen checkouts, while 51% have tipped when they normally wouldn't because the screen asked them to.

"Everybody can relate to that," said Emily Thornton, a spokesperson on behalf of PlayUSA. "When it’s turned toward you, even if they can’t see what you press, you feel the need to."

The survey found that beyond food service workers, people give tips most often to hair stylists or barbers (74%), ride-hailing drivers (54%), and taxi or shuttle drivers (47%). When it comes to coffee shop workers, just 39% of customers give them tips.

It also said that 53% said they have not tipped because of bad service.

Tipping also varies among age groups, at least according to the PlayUSA survey.

It showed that nearly three-quarters of Baby Boomers and Gen Xers base their tips on service, and one-third of Millennials and Gen Zers tip the same no matter how good or bad service is.

Meanwhile, 90% of women consider themselves good tippers compared with 83% of men.

Are people tipping enough?

But perhaps some people aren't as generous as they think they are.

At Double Take Bar & Grill in Columbus, the owner has placed a sign in the window that says: "18% gratuity will be added to all checks. Thank you. Double Take."

Nearby, at Arepazo, a Latin American restaurant, the owners recently put up a sign that said: "Parties of 6 or more & dine-in non-tippers customers are automatically charged 20% gratuity (unless service was unacceptable!)."

Carolina Gutierrez, who owns Arepazo with her husband, Carlos, said that sometimes customers don't give fair tips to servers.

"The cost of living has increased," Gutierrez said.

"We want our staff to be taken care of. There are some customers who do not tip. That is discouraging," she said.

She said customers were good to servers right after the COVID-19 pandemic when they could eat at restaurants again. "People were very generous, happy because you were open again because the industry has been hurt," she said.

"It's come back to where it used to be," she said. "No less than it used to be."

Scott Heimlich, owner of Barcelona in Columbus, said he hasn't noticed any drop-off in tips for his servers. "I do the payroll. I see the amount of tips generated by employees. It's been very consistent pre-pandemic through post-pandemic," he said, running in the 18% to 20% range, pretty standard for the industry.

John Barker, president and CEO of the Ohio Restaurant Association, said his group hasn't seen any noticeable drop-off in tips, which he said are still trending from 15% to 20%.

"Where I think you see fatigue is where people aren’t providing any service," Barker said, such as someone handing you a cup of coffee across a counter. "There's no service component at all, it's just part of the job."

Barker said tipping has experienced swings with the pandemic, with reports of high tipping when restaurants reopened. "It’s reverted back to more normal," he said.

Andy Paynter, general manager at Accent Wine in Columbus, which hosts tastings and has an iPad for tips with options like no tip, along with 10%, 15% and 20%.

"We do get a fair amount of tips," Paynter said. He estimated that probably between 40% to 60% of all interactions involve one. He said he hasn't received any pushback from customers.

Those in other businesses said that their customers remain generous.

Dave Carty has owned Longview Barber Shop in Columbus since 2001. He has heard customers talk about shopping at other places and feeling pressure to tip. But he said they continue to be good to the barbers who work at his place.

"I don’t hear from staff that we need to change prices because clients are not contributing as much in the past," Carty said.

Kathi Borror, who owns Exquisite Hair Salon in the city, said business has been great, and she hasn't seen any changes when it comes to tips.

"It's almost like maybe people are getting a bit more generous," Borror said.