People are a little bit stingier in barber chairs and Ubers than they were just a few years ago.
The shares of adults who say they always tip their hair stylists, servers at sit-down restaurants and food delivery people have each fallen 8 percentage points since 2021, according to a Bankrate survey released Wednesday. That rate slipped 7 percentage points for taxi and ride-hail drivers over the same period.
Three years ago, the economy was reopening from the pandemic and inflation was higher than it is now, but so was concern for front-line workers.
At the time, three-quarters of consumers reported always tipping restaurant servers, but today just two-thirds do. Despite modest upticks since last year, barely more than half of people now count themselves reliable tippers of hairdressers (55%) and food delivery drivers (51%), while only 41% say the same when it comes to ordering a ride.
The survey reflects Americans’ growing ease bypassing ubiquitous tipping prompts, from coffeeshops to airport terminals in the post-Covid economy, especially as sticker prices have risen. While consumer spending has held remarkably steady, many households are feeling the squeeze from persistent inflation and tightening their belts accordingly. Some of that newfound caution may be factoring into when, where and how much people tip.
The reality is that many of these jobs rely on tips. If they were to “pay them a living wage” then the cost of the service would just go up.
Don’t get me wrong, I want tipping to go away, and it’s gotten absurd where people are asking for tips now. But it’s absolutely stingy to not tip in these places where traditionally they would be tipped. If you don’t want to tip, don’t buy their services. It should be a recognized part of the cost: you just think it should be made official, some think it should be based on the quality of service they received.
The cost would not increase. That is not how supply and demand works.
It is extremely unlikely this has not been explained to you before.
