His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy… He’s nervous, but on the surface, he looks calm and ready. The lyrical genius Marshall Mathers could have been talking about performing on stage, or he could have been talking about one of the most frightening daily occurrences that Americans face in society today—the inevitable turn of the white Square touchpad with the numbers glaring back: 15, 18, or 20%?
Over the last couple of years in particular, I’ve become increasingly interested in how we got to the point where Americans are strongly suggested to tip on seemingly everything that we buy. Coffee, fast food, buffet-style restaurants, takeout, and any form of transportation taken in a major city. Whether or not you decide to tip is completely up to you, but there seems to be more guilt associated with not tipping than ever before. I thought it’d be interesting to take a look at how tipping became normalized in America and if there’s anything that can be done about this runaway train.
Flash back to the late 1800s—tipping was non-existent in America. Traveling was reserved for upper class individuals, so wealthy Americans commonly traveled across the pond to Europe. Europeans regularly practiced tipping and they gave off a more sophisticated “aura” (as the kids say), so these first-class individuals decided to bring tipping back to America as a way to flaunt their wealth. Fair enough, I guess. Following the Civil War, many businesses hired more African-American workers. With racism and segregation still deeply engrained into the lives of most Americans, these middle-aged white business owners who were born on third base did not think it was necessary to pay their paltry workers fair wages. The miniscule wages, particularly at restaurants and railroads, were subsidized by the customers of these locales and the workers could make a more honest living. And thus began the journey of tipping culture that we witness today.
Now, quite a few Americans opposed tipping right away. Who wants to give their hard-earned money to someone else, especially when that person is doing their job, and when it’s likely that you’re already paying for goods or a service? Additionally, Americans were opposed to tipping because they felt it encouraged classism and gave the tipper a sense of moral superiority over the peasants that they were throwing cash at. In fact, seven states including Georgia, Iowa, and Washington banned all tipping practices—even threatening to fine or imprison anyone accepting a tip. They were deemed “commercial bribes” in quite a few legislatures, but all of these anti-tipping laws were subsequently repealed by 1926.
Americans are smart. American capitalists are even smarter, and if there’s a way to save a buck, they will typically find that inefficiency and exploit it until the loophole is completely sealed. Following 1926 repeals, the United States soon experienced the unrelated era of the Great Depression. Businesses struggled to stay open, and they fought to keep wages low. As the wealth inequality gap increased, many upper-class individuals maintained their tipping habits and did what they considered their moral duty to help the common man keep food on the table.
In 1938, the Fair Labor Standards Act established the minimum wage for the first time at $.25/hour. However, tipped workers were not required a minimum wage at this time, for they were typically pulling home more than that in tips in a shift anyways.
For many years, this is how tipping culture existed: reserved primarily for restaurants and service businesses (think barber shops, hotel concierges, taxis, etc.). Tipping percentages gradually increased as the use of credit cards became more rampant in the 1990s. This allowed the tip suggestions that you see on paper receipts today to nudge patrons to tip more generously. By the late 1990s and early 2000s, the normal tip increased from 10-15% to the standard 20% of today.
Tipping has become more widespread as payment options have multiplied, and it is easier than ever before to tack an extra 10, 15, 20, or even 25% on a bill with the simple click of the button. No more napkin math required! What a shame. During Covid-19, more service-based businesses included tipping option for the same reason that tipping became popular during the great depression—it allowed for more affluent Americans to help their neighbor in a less demeaning way that a pure handout. Now, we are inundated with tipping options at nearly every turn and forced to make the decision on whether we will be viewed as “rude”, or if we will simply click the button, scribble our signature at the bottom of the screen, and watch as our hard-earned cash evaporates from our bank account and miraculously appears in the bank account of the cute barista that you’re trying (and failing) to hit on (hypothetically of course. That’s never happened to me, just one of my close friends ;)).
So what? What are the current expectations of tipping in the United States? Well, like most things, it’s completely personal and up to you. As the consumer, it is 100% your choice. However, standard tipping practices still include 15-25% at restaurants with servers, 5-10% for buffet-style and takeout orders, $1-3 at coffee and no societal tip expectations at a fast-casual restaurant like Subway. (side note: as kind of a nerd, I find it fascinating to see what the tipping screen looks like when it’s shown to the consumer: dollar amount? percentages? Is there an option pre-selected? No tip selected? I think it’s especially interesting when the options are $1,2, or 3 at a coffee shop where the coffee itself was $3, so I’m staring at 33.3, 66.6, or a whopping 100% (!) tip instead of the generic percentages that we typically see. but I digress).
Delivery drivers are still expecting to be tipped, though I will say that from personal experience, I think this is a farse. Delivery drivers have the easiest job for any pizza place, and I’ll die on that hill. Do with that information what you will.
When traveling, it appears that small tips of $2-5/bag or night are expected for bellhops, shuttle drivers, and housekeeping, whereas concierges and valet parking are a little more service quality-based tips.
Finally, bartenders and hairdressers/barbers seem to fall in a similar category of 15-20%. In my experience, I’ll typically do that for a barber that doesn’t own his own business. However, if I’m getting my luscious locks meticulously maintained by someone who owns and operates their own business, I’m less likely to tip. My half-baked reasoning here is that they get to set their prices anyways, so they should really just charge more, while a wage worker has their floor capped by their boss. Probably flawed logic, but it’s been an effective heuristic for me.
Whew. If you made it this far into the post, I hope that you found some of that beneficial! Quite a bit of the research was sparked by a tweet from Ndamukong Suh (yes, that one) a couple years ago, and I dove into more of it here.