Fewer Americans are tipping, Bankrate survey finds
It may seem like tipping is everywhere – but a smaller number of Americans are handing out gratuities because of economic factors and those annoying tipping screens, a new report says.
According to Bankrate, just 65% of American adults always tip their servers at sit-down restaurants. That’s down from 73% a year ago and 77% in 2019. In fact, fewer Americans are tipping for all types of services, measured both this year and before the pandemic. The categories of workers that were surveyed include servers, hair stylists, food delivery people, and coffee shop baristas.
Adult consumers are the least likely to always tip for home services like repairs and picking up takeout. More than half of adults always tip food delivery people, hair stylists, and sit-down restaurant servers.
The Bankrate survey, commissioned by YouGov, was conducted among 2,437 adults from May 3 to May 5.
Bankrate senior industry analyst Ted Rossman told Yahoo Finance that high levels of inflation and uncertainty about the economy may be driving Americans to tip less or less often, in addition to the backlash over the proliferation of iPads and other forms of technology that give people pre-entered options to tip.
In fact, 18% of adults said they tip less or not at all when they are given pre-entered options while the clerk is standing behind the screen. This reaction is known as “tipping fatigue,” the Finance Is Cool CEO Haley Sacks
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