People are a little bit stingier in barber chairs and Ubers than they were just a few years ago.

The shares of adults who say they always tip their hair stylists, servers at sit-down restaurants and food delivery people have each fallen 8 percentage points since 2021, according to a Bankrate survey released Wednesday. That rate slipped 7 percentage points for taxi and ride-hail drivers over the same period.

Three years ago, the economy was reopening from the pandemic and inflation was higher than it is now, but so was concern for front-line workers.

At the time, three-quarters of consumers reported always tipping restaurant servers, but today just two-thirds do. Despite modest upticks since last year, barely more than half of people now count themselves reliable tippers of hairdressers (55%) and food delivery drivers (51%), while only 41% say the same when it comes to ordering a ride.

The survey reflects Americans’ growing ease bypassing ubiquitous tipping prompts, from coffeeshops to airport terminals in the post-Covid economy, especially as sticker prices have risen. While consumer spending has held remarkably steady, many households are feeling the squeeze from persistent inflation and tightening their belts accordingly. Some of that newfound caution may be factoring into when, where and how much people tip.

  • bluGill
    link
    fedilink
    -174 months ago

    Drivers should not be tipped as they cannot do anything different. Either you get there or you don’t. If you get there slower they are incomitent. If you get there faster they broke the law and your tip indicates you enticed them to do so and so you are guilty.

    • @Voyajer
      link
      84 months ago

      Unless you’re tipping them for driving smoothly.

    • prole
      link
      fedilink
      English
      54 months ago

      If you get there faster they broke the law and your tip indicates you enticed them to do so and so you are guilty.

      Hahahahaha… Is this for real?

      • bluGill
        link
        fedilink
        -64 months ago

        This is very real. Take an ethics class sometime - indirect effects and what things look like are very important.

    • @AbidanYre
      link
      English
      34 months ago

      Dude, pizza delivery guys in the days of “30 minutes or it’s free” were fucking crazy.

      • bluGill
        link
        fedilink
        34 months ago

        Yes they were. It wasn’t right then, and it isn’t right now.