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Tip fatigue: the downside of a tip economy
From thank you to obligation
Anyone who travels to the United States today cannot ignore it: tips are no longer an extra, but a fixed part of the bill.
What once started as a gesture of gratitude has quickly grown into a system that is increasingly pronounced and compelling in the daily payment moment.
When we traveled through America 30, 40 years ago, 10 percent was considered a normal tip in a restaurant. By 2007 it was 15 percent and today the norm seems to be 18 to 25 percent. Some already speak of 30%.
In many restaurants, you will receive the bill and a screen will automatically appear on the payment device with suggested amounts: 18%, 20%, 22% or 25%. All you have to do is press a button.
Social pressure
Moreover, the system takes on coercive forms. Where you used to calmly calculate what was appropriate, the waiter now turns a tablet or payment terminal towards you on which the choices are already ready.
Often the employee stands still next to you while you decide.
For many people, this feels like social pressure.
For us too.
You can still give a different percentage, but that requires a whole procedure, which you conveniently dispense with.
Is the system unhinged?
What is particularly striking is that this expectation is no longer limited to restaurants.
Tip screens are also appearing at coffee bars, food trucks, take-away shops and even fast food chains these days. Sometimes a tip would even be asked for before your order has been completed or handed over.
This evolution has led to what Americans increasingly call tip fatigue : the fatigue that arises because tips are constantly being asked for everywhere.
Not only is the number of moments when you have to make decisions increasing, but the proposed percentages are also constantly rising.
Various surveys show that many Americans believe that the system is getting out of hand.
Not because they don’t want to tip, but because it is becoming a mandatory part of every payment moment.
Tipping part of the wage or not?
At the same time, there is still understanding of the background of the system.
In many U.S. states, tips are still an essential part of the income of hospitality workers. The basic wage is often low, so the tip is not a bonus but a necessary supplement.
But more and more people believe that workers should be paid a wage, as is happening in Europe.
The employees who earn much more through tips than they would ever do in a system without tips, of course don’t think so.
Why does a tip have to depend on what the customer eats?
Why does the waiter who serves you champagne and lobster has to get a lot more tip than the waiter who brings you pizza? The distance between the kitchen and your table is the same, isn’t it? So is the action.
I can imagine that the waiter who works in the lobster restaurant will be against the abolition of the tip system, and the one in the hamburger restaurant will be in favor.
It remains a curious system in which the tip seems less like a reward for the service than a percentage of the luxury that the customer can afford.
Even for tourists who are not familiar with it, it remains very uncomfortable.
You see a price on the menu, on which tax is first added, and then another percentage tip is expected.
A meal that costs 60 dollars on paper can easily go towards 70 dollars or more.
Payment, extra payment and more payment: the different ‘fees’
Gratuity fee
A gratuity is normally a tip that goes (largely) to the service staff.
This gratuity is automatically added to the bill if you are with a group of six or eight people or more and amounts to 20 to 22 percent of the bill (before tipping is charged).
And at checkout, the question sometimes appears how much tip you want to give. So if you don’t pay attention, you will reward the service twice for the same work. We have not experienced it, but it would happen.
Service fee
You also see a service fee on your account more and more often.
A service fee or service charge is a surcharge that the restaurant charges itself.
It doesn’t necessarily have to go to the waiter.
A service fee can be intended for: staff or administration costs, kitchen staff who normally do not receive a tip, or simply extra income for the restaurant.
Gratuity and service fee are calculated on your account before the tip is calculated. We have not experienced this either, but it would happen.
This sometimes leads to a strange situation:
- You get the bill.
- Taxes are added
- There is a service fee of, for example, 4% or 5%.
- The gratuity of 20% to 22% is then automatically charged
- And then the payment terminal again shows tip options of 20%, 25% or even 30%.
The tipping system seems to have become so complicated that even the tip still gets a tip.
So the biggest challenge is not the bill itself, but figuring out which tip is already included and which is not.
After all, you want to be generous, but not unintentionally pay double.
And so you understand why many people are gradually getting tired of it and go to restaurants less often.
I heard on TV that about 40 percent of those surveyed in a survey eat out less often these days.
Also in a motel we heard someone from Los Angeles tell that restaurant visits in Los Angeles have noticeably decreased recently.
For a country where eating out has always occupied an important place in the culture, this is a remarkable evolution.
Over time, you’ll understand why: the meal itself may be fine, but the experience is often overshadowed by the high expectations surrounding tipping and the sometimes compelling nature with which they are presented.
Emma
And as if that wasn’t enough, we were also constantly asked to give something else. Very often, in fact. Read more about this in our next story.