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Americans are being asked to tip more often. How often are they doing it? on November 11, 2023 at 1:25 am Business News | The Hill
Most Americans believe they’re being asked to tip at more places now than in years past, but not many are giving, according to a new survey from Pew Research Center.
About 72 percent of Americans believe they’re being asked to tip more than five years ago, but few are confident about the proper tipping etiquette with increased expectations.
Just a third of poll respondents said it’s easy to know when it’s right to tip, or to figure out how much to tip.
With consumers being prompted for tips through credit card machines at everywhere from fast food restaurants to convenience stores, many are also changing their opinions on when it’s really “right” to tip.
Situationally, tipping varies drastically. While seen as almost mandatory in sit-down restaurants — with about 81 percent of people “always” tipping — slimmer majorities tend to tip for drink at bars, for delivery food or for a ride-share.
The least popular tipping situations are for coffee shops and fast food restaurants, where just 12 and 7 percent of respondents said they “always” tip.
About a fifth of Americans said it’s a choice to tip in most cases, while about thirty percent said it’s more of an obligation. The remaining half said it’s somewhere in between and depends on a case-by-case basis.
The survey found that customers generally disprove of automatically-suggested tip amounts, and broadly dislike service charges on bills.
About 40 percent oppose suggested tips, while 72 percent go against service chargers — half strongly against them, the survey found.
And for restaurants, the average tip is still around 15 percent, despite about a quarter of respondents saying they tend to tip 20 percent.
The Pew survey polled about 12,000 Americans in August, with a margin of error of 1.4 percent.
Business, consumer culture, tipping Most Americans believe they’re being asked to tip at more places now than in years past, but not many are giving, according to a new survey from Pew Research Center. About 72 percent of Americans believe they’re being asked to tip more than five years ago, but few are confident about the proper tipping etiquette…
