Is 25% the new 20%? How tipping has changed
Is 25% the new 20%? How tipping has changed
The tipping point
The US is tipping more, especially for delivery and takeout. Whether it’s to show support for essential workers or just the pressure of a touchpad suggestion, the growing norm is to give baristas and drivers the same gratuity you would an in-restaurant server. And Americans have mixed feelings about 25% becoming the new 20%. Meanwhile, skepticism remains around tipping culture as a whole.
Maybe you’ve seen the “Help Wanted” signs or your favorite cafe has reduced its hours (or worse, shuttered entirely). The service industry’s labor shortage is getting harder to ignore. With rising minimum wages and higher-paying jobs proliferating, many former service employees are deciding it’s not worth going back — even if the pay (and tips) are better. After all, the minimum wage for a tipped employee in the US can sink as low as $2.13 per hour. And modern-day practices like “tip baiting” — where customers add a generous tip to their delivery order only to delete it after the food arrives — show just how tipping culture can leave workers high and dry.
Post-its
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