People across the US say they have been tipping less often in recent years for everything from dining at restaurants to haircuts.
It's happening as more stores and services have begun asking for tips, frustrating many customers.
Among the 2,400 people who took part in a new survey from Bankrate, two-thirds said they have at least one negative opinion of tipping, with 30% saying they believe tipping culture has gotten "out of control" in recent years.
The survey also broke down how often people tip specific categories of workers. Servers in restaurants still claimed the top spot with 65% of participants saying they "always tip" waiters, with 18% and 12% saying they tip most of the time or sometimes, respectively. Home service workers "always" receive tips the least often, with just 10% of people saying they always tip plumbers or electricians, among others.
The percentage of people that say they always tip waiters, hair stylists, food delivery workers, taxi and rideshare drivers, hotel housekeepers, baristas, and employees when picking up takeout food have all declined since last year, and are all down since 2019, the Bankrate survey found. Part of the decline in each individual category could possibly be attributed to the rising cost of labor or the fact that tips are being asked for in so many different areas of modern life, especially since tipping through a button on a tablet makes it a much simpler process.
"Few topics elicit as many passionate opinions as tipping," Bankrate senior industry analyst Ted Rossman said in a post about the survey. "There's so much confusion regarding who to tip, and if so, how much. A lot is changing, as technology makes it easier to tip some people and harder to tip others – as travelers who are short on cash can attest."
Here are some of the other results the survey found:
- Women and older generations are more likely to tip, the survey found, and sometimes in stark contrast: 60% of women said they always tip their hair stylist, compared to 46% of men.
- About 70% of baby boomers in the survey said they always tip a hair stylist or barber, compared to just 24% of Gen Zers, the survey found.
- Only half of the 2,400 people said they always tip food delivery people, along with 40% that always tip taxi, Lyft, or Uber drivers.
- About half say they always or most of the time tip baristas in coffee shops, and hair stylists saw the largest drop with 53% of people saying they always tip their barber, down from 66% last year.
Some people have gone viral documenting their frustration with tipping, as some reports have shown that the option to tip is even being added to self-checkout kiosks at some stores. The survey suggests that people would prefer a variety of alternatives to tipping, as 41% of people said they think businesses should pay better wages so workers don't depend on tips, and 16% said they would pay higher prices if it meant no more tipping.
To the dismay of those in the survey, the expansion of tipping might not be over, as workers at a unionized Baltimore Apple store have lobbied for the introduction of a tipping system, and Colorado legislators proposed a bill earlier this year that would allow workers at chains like Walmart and McDonald's to accept tips no matter what the company's policy is.
