Higher sticker prices have made some people stingier in recent years, a new Bankrate survey finds. “They’re no longer appreciating service industry workers as much.”

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.

  • @foggy
    17•6 months ago

    I worked in craft beer pre-pandemic. Man, beer release days were nice. Get a bunch of bozos all lined up for the minute we open, all want a whole case of the latest IPA for like $100, all of em blindly tapping the 20% tip option. Like, homie, I did nothing for that tip. I’m over here bartending, getting less from the people I’m actually serving beers to. Thanks I guess?

    So now, especially that the economy is fucked, I’m very particular about what I tip on.

    Yesterday I went to a juice place. Got 2 bottles of juice and a fruit bowl thing. I’m only tipping on the fruit bowl thing. I’ll tip 20% on it, but you simply grabbed the bottle of juice from a fridge. That’s not a service.

    All in all it looks like an 8% tip, because their juice is $11 a bottle and the fruit bowl is like $20 after everything I added to it.

    $4 tip. That’s 20% on your $20 bowl. I’m ignoring the other $22 on the bill. That wasn’t a service. I’m not tipping $9 for this interaction. A fruit bowl and two juices isn’t worth $51 dollars. It’s hard enough to justify the $4 tip when the juice is $11… The boss can’t pay you better with margins like that? Or is the fruit vendor raking it in? Fruit isn’t that expensive…

    I don’t get it.

    • proleEnglish
      15•6 months ago

      I don’t get it.

      What’s not to get? You seem to understand it just fine. Rather than actually paying their workers a living wage, they can have customers subsidize their pay.

      And then when they have a bad night and end up making $4/hour, tips included, you blame the customers for not tipping and not the employer who pays you literally $3/hour.

    • NeatoEnglish
      6•6 months ago

      I do that too. Get draft beer, pizza and then a bunch of cans at a brewery. 60% was prepackaged so I’m not tipping 20% on the whole bill. Did my own math and it was like 10%.