Main reason why I prefer non-tip society vs tip society and this is coming from

[theking]

...a guy that has worked in restaurants, food delivery, ...industry that rely on tips. The main reason is the confusion and the chaos a tip society can cause for all parties involved:

'It's more than fatigue': 30% of Americans say tipping in the US is 'out of control' — even self-checkout machines now ask for tips. Do you agree?

It’s beyond just showing appreciation for your Starbucks barista and Uber Eats driver — tipping prompts have even spread to self-checkout machines, and frustrated Americans are ticked off.

About 2-in-3 adults have a negative view of tipping, according to a recent Bankrate survey.

While 41% believe businesses should pay employees better instead of relying so heavily on tips, 32% are annoyed about pre-entered tip screens and 30% feel that tipping culture has gotten out of control.

“It’s more than fatigue, it’s irritation,” Michael Lynn, a professor of consumer behavior and marketing at the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration, told CNBC.

“It’s not tip creep, it’s tip gallop.”

Consumers are starting to tip less
Despite the recent escalation in tipping prompts, it appears the frequency of tipping in the U.S. has been trending downward since 2019.

For example, dining at a sit-down restaurant is still the most common service for Americans to leave tips, but according to Bankrate data, 73% of U.S. adults who dine at sit-down restaurants always tipped in 2022 — compared to 75% in 2021 and 77% in 2019. Tipping has also slowed down in other businesses, like salons, cafes and food delivery services.

And the practice can vary based on demographic. Women are significantly more likely to tip than men, and Gen Z is the least likely to tip compared to older generations.

While 16% of U.S. adults say they’re willing to pay higher prices if American culture could do away with tipping, 15% reported being confused about who and how much to tip.

That said, nearly half of Americans still tip at least 20% at sit-down restaurants — which etiquette experts say is standard practice.

What’s triggering the fatigue?
As tipped workers generally receive a federal minimum wage of $2.13 per hour — a rate that was set back in 1996 — they rely mainly on tips to make ends meet. However, researchers now worry that companies are using tips as a way to pass the buck of ensuring employees receive fair wages to consumers. About 40% of respondents in the Bankrate survey agree employers should pay their workers better instead.

[theking]

Some Restaurants Are Charging 'Kitchen Appreciation Fees' And People Are Furious


As the U.S. continues to struggle with a nebulous job market and high turnover rates, many food businesses have taken a broader scope at how to best accommodate their employees. For a restaurant located in Saint Petersburg, Florida, kitchen appreciation fees are one way they ensure the well-being of their staff members — and another way to anger customers.

One person was shocked to find that a restaurant charged them a kitchen appreciation fee.
In the “r/mildyinfuriating” subreddit, a forum for people to share moments that have left a twinge of anger in their hearts, one agitated customer uploaded a photo of their restaurant bill with a hand-drawn circle around a line that read, “Kitchen Appreciation Fee (3.25%) $1.30.” The user captioned the photo, saying, “Is this a thing now?”

RELATED: Dunkin' Donuts Worker Exposes The Gross Kitchens & Disgusting Working Conditions After Quitting

restaurant receipt showing kitchen appreciation fee
restaurant receipt showing kitchen appreciation fee
Photo: Reddit

Unlike what some people might think, these types of surcharges have been around well before the pandemic’s unfortunate arrival; however, businesses have been implementing them more in recent years.

RELATED: 'No-Quit' Notice In McDonald's Forbidding Employees From Quitting Sparks Angry Debate About 'At Will' Employment

What is a kitchen appreciation fee?
A kitchen appreciation fee is an additional (and typically optional) charge allocated towards kitchen workers and back-of-house (BOH) employees who don’t get tipped for their services.

In a way, it’s a restaurateur's attempt at closing the wage gap disparity between BOH and front-of-house (FOH) staff members. So, why is there a wage disparity? In short, front-end workers, such as hosts, servers, bartenders, bussers, and the like, are considered to be a part of the tipping pool; therefore, their wages are significantly smaller than that of their fellow back-end counterparts who get paid a flat hourly rate sans earned gratuity.

Of course, this may not apply to all restaurants depending on the region.

[theking]

Tipping etiquette is clear as mud  :

Gen Z is rejecting everything they’ve been taught about tipping. It could be the start of a big shift

Just because inflation is finally cooling doesn’t mean Americans have financially recovered. Last summer, it hit a 40-year high, coinciding with Gen Z entering the workforce and generally curbing their spending. With economists debating whether inflation will be “sticky,” another habit is sticking around, according to a recent Bankrate survey: The 26-and-under crowd are the stingiest tippers.

Just 35% of Gen Zers told Bankrate they always tip their server at a sit-down restaurant. At the other end of the spectrum, 83% of baby boomers said they always tip. Boomers were more generous tippers than Gen Zers across the board, Bankrate found, including when it comes to food delivery workers and taxi or Uber drivers.

Every year, fewer and fewer people drop their change into the tip jar—much less tip 20% after a meal. Just under two-thirds (65%) of U.S. adults always tip their server when they go out to eat at sit-down restaurants (the activity that they pay tips for most commonly). But even that is winnowing away, Bankrate found. Last year, just shy of three-quarters (73%) of diners said they always tip. A year earlier, that was 75%, and it was 77% in 2019.

The pandemic obliterated the tipping economy, and led to the shuttering of countless independent bars and restaurants, leaving swaths of tipped service workers looking for stable income. Three years on, America is mostly back to normal (with the notable exception of going to the office five days a week), but tipping has yet to regain its former glory. Baby boomers still tip more than any other generation, and Gen Z is in dead last place.

To be sure, as the youngest and least wealthy generation, this may be because Gen Z has the least money to spend—yet rather than taking restaurant visits out of their budget, many simply get stingy when the bill arrives. The spread also falls along gender lines: Women tip more frequently than men do, Bankrate found.

That’s not just at restaurants; 60% of women tip their hairstylist every time they get a cut, while only 46% of men always tip their barber. Generational divides are stark here too. Fewer than a quarter (24%) of Gen Zers tip their hairstylists, compared to 40% of millennials and 67% of Gen Xers.