Do you feel like tipping is out of control? A lot of folks do, as something that used to just be for good service is now an expectation at all kinds of businesses. But pushing people into it only makes them resent “guilt tipping” even more and Americans are now spending almost $500 a year tipping more than they’d like to, according to new research.
The survey of 2-thousand U.S. adults looks at how much “tipflation” is costing us and finds:
- The average American reluctantly tips $37.80 in a month because of the pressure or awkwardness of the options given to them.
- That adds up to $453.60 in guilt tipping over a year.
- Respondents tipped more than they want to six times in the last month, on average.
- More than half (56%) say pressure to leave bigger tips is a regular occurrence and 26% feel they’re always or often forced to tip more than they’d like.
- In the last month alone, 49% have noticed the options for tipping on tablets and digital devices increase.
- Almost a third (31%) say they’ve been asked to tip for a service they wouldn’t normally have considered tipping for in the last few weeks.
- Gen Z (16%) and millennials (16%) are almost twice as likely to say they “always” feel pressure to tip than Gen X (9%) and only 5% of baby boomers feel that constant tipping obligation.
- When buying something in a store, a third (33%) of both Gen Z and millennials always or often feel pressure or are made to feel guilty when tipping, compared to 23% of Gen Xers and 13% of baby boomers.
- But about a quarter (23%) of all respondents say they’d likely leave a tip for a service that had no human interaction, like a vending machine or a self-checkout kiosk.
Source: SWNS Digital