Business owners are often caught in a tricky spot as consumer concerns over tipping have escalated.
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The debate over when, where and how much to tip has gained steam since the Covid-19 pandemic. But like many other aspects of post-pandemic life, America might be reaching a new normal when it comes to gratuities.
Unfortunately, many employers have found themselves stuck in the middle of customers and employees — a scenario that poses a number of practical challenges for businesses.
Memes depicting unlikely places where tips are being requested have become popular among frustrated customers, including a recent viral image of the total solar eclipse prompting onlookers to tip for the privilege of looking at it. A recent survey by CouponBirds found 76% of Americans say tipping culture has gone too far, with 47% saying they're being asked to tip at automated or self-service stations.
Other surveys echo a sentiment among American consumers that tipping has become a bigger issue.
Overall, 66% in CouponBirds' survey say they tip purely to avoid awkwardness and 63% do it to avoid confrontation, while 84% of Americans believe the minimum wage should be increased for servers.
But an internal survey of customers by employee scheduling and payroll platform Homebase found about 48% of its customers said tips went down in the past year.
And although it seems much of the internet is vocally against tipping, those complaints haven’t reached most business owners, with 67% saying they have never gotten customer complaints from their tipping practices.
'New normal' in tipping culture
But tipping may be settling into a new pattern.
“There’s a new normal that's going to come with respect to tipping,” said Rushi Patel, chief resource officer and co-founder of Homebase. “If the volume of tips are coming down, it likely does echo the frustration that the consumer is facing when they are dining out, and also this concept of tip fatigue.”
