Tipping Culture Is Completely Broken
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In our first video essay of 2025, we're diving into the dark evolution of tipping culture in America, and how we got to a place where customers — rather than employers — are becoming more and more responsible for workers' livelihoods.
Special thanks to:
Georga-Kay Whyte:
Jake Cornell:
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00:00:00 Intro
00:03:59 Ad break
00:06:00 Intro
00:09:56 The history and dynamics of tipping
00:21:18 The tipped minimum wage
00:30:40 “The screen is just gonna ask you a few questions” culture
00:39:17 What it's actually like to live on tips
00:49:52 The entitlement of withholding tips
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I feel like all the tips I leave in a week would add up to one meal I could have purchased additionally that week. Also the way the cashier hawk watches the register once it asks you for a tip is crazy
Wealthy business owners love this model because you’re subsidizing their workforce costs.
exactly
Just like Walmart is being subsidized by taxpayers.
Tipping Fatigue is real and we the customer should not be blamed for it
Especially with the cost of living being what it is. Ok I can get behind “don’t go out and dine if you can’t tip.” That’s a luxury. But don’t get fast food, coffee, or any of the other things that include a tipping option now?? I often don’t even know it’s coming.
There was one time there was a tip option somewhere I didn’t see it coming and the worker there told me that the workers don’t even get the tips – it wasn’t an industry that’s typically considered a tipping industry (it was like an electronics store), so there was no regulatory requirement. The store had started leaving the option for tipping on their machines and people had started leaving them, and the store just swallowed the extra profit. You were just literally choosing to pay a higher price for the hell of it.
Tipping culture is really strange for me as a Brazilian.
Just recently a video went viral, about a restaurant that was charging a 10% tip, and a group of customers were refusing to pay it.
There was a big tumult, and the clients called the police. Not only the clients were able to leave without paying, the police asked them to press charges against the restaurant.
Turns out that’s illegal here, and the owner may face up to 1 year in prison
I’d rather businesses increase the price of goods and services and completely remove service fees & tips.
My husband and I recently went to a restaurant and when were handed the bill, the waiter informed us that there was an automatic 20% tip added to the bill. While that was the amount that we would have tipped, we were taken aback by the fact that the restaurant thought that was appropriate. Upon reviewing their menu closer, we found the fine print that indicated that a 20% tip would be added to all bills, no matter the size. I’m all for restaurant staff making a living wage, but that was not the way to do it. Just raise the prices of the food by 20% and then pay the staff appropriately!
They should have just called it a service fee instead of a tip.
I think adding an automatic tip is fine as long as it’s clear that they’re going to add it. It’s basically the same as raising the menu prices and telling people that tips aren’t expected. But if they just directly raised the menu prices then people would irrationally think the food is more expensive compared to a restaurant where tips are expected. And also people would be inherently a bit uncomfortable with the idea that they really don’t need to tip. Adding an automatic service fee (or automatic tip, whatever you want to call it) works better within the current system where most restaurants expect tips
What was the name of the restaurant?
California *almost* banned those hidden fees entirely. Until Scott Wiener put a carve in the law for restaurants.
We’re all so tired. It’s been difficult and guilt-inducing, but I’ve learned to say no over the past few years and it’s been good for my mental health. I still tip at sit down restaurants but anyone else- baristas, ice cream shop, smoothie place, casual restaurant where I order at the till- my answer is “no.” I’m paying for the product and not the service. My breaking point was when my local SELF SERVE yogurt place started asking on the screen and I realized there was no end in sight, and I just needed to start saying ‘no.’ 🤷♀️
Same about the self-serve place!
I feel the same way. I too had a breaking point at being asked to tip at self service just like the froyo thing.
I treat coffee places with the same rule as bars: If i see you making the drink, $1 tip per drink. Otherwise I don’t tip unless its a sit-down place
I feel like it further enforces the class divide too. “Don’t do __ unless you can afford to tip.” So now poorer people aren’t supposed to grab a frozen yogurt or fast food burrito?
@@tatianaliane1624that argument has hardly ever been used to justify the fast food/self-serve tipping prompt. Realistically it’s only been applied to sit-down restaurants and delivery services.
If the business cannot pay a living wage, the business should not exist.
One of the problems seems is small business are less and less being able to exist because of big corps / the government supporting them makes it not able to compete and give those good wages which I also would love to see
@b0nitaapplebum and that’s why we need co-ops. Ownership of the business by all employees, not some external entities. I 1000% understand that corporations are making small businesses more and more unviable. And yes, more does need to be done for these small businesses in all sectors, from grocery stores to high end tech.
Consumer boycotts, grassroots movements, union organization, we need to do absolutely anything we can.
If that was a reality you would erase millions of businesses. Cuz…. No one is being paid a living wage.
What about the 20% on top of already expensive services such as beauty, spa, etc. It’s something about American culture that I find very odd
Because those services are considered to be a luxury, not a necessity. You could make the argument that grocery delivery is essential and requires tipping less than the services you mentioned.
Additionally, many of those services are performed by independent contractors in the US, not traditional W2 employees. Someone working at a salon or spa performing certain tasks aren’t often considered “workers” of the salon itself.
I know it makes it even more expensive but it’s because the house takes like 40 to 50 percent I think. Most of those service people are not salaried employees of that business.
i remember back in the day when a 20% tip was considered extremely generous and reserved for only when the service was the best of the best
Yeah, cost of living went up and minimum wages didn’t, so tipped service staff need the customer to cover more of it. But people want to kid themselves that the real price of food is lower than it is so those service staff won’t get real wages because it would show up in the sticker price.
@@AshenVictorthe service staff need the OWNER to cover more of it
@@AshenVictor Tipping is a percentage, so the cost of the food/service increasing means that the more historical 15% is also still more money. Expecting an extra 5%-7% on top of the 15% and consumer already paying more is just ridiculous.
I hate services that ask for a tip before you get the service… I don’t usually use doordash but when I have i felt like if I don’t tip then I will be at risk of having bad service, instead of a tip being a reward for good service. I just want it to be gone altogether
this is very true. doordash/ubereats drivers can see if you left a tip in the app and decide whether or not they accept your order based on that
I feel like Doordash is a different situation. You’re basically bidding on a service. People pick what jobs to take based on what people are willing to pay. These people aren’t actually employees at all.
Also “if you can’t afford to tip, you can’t afford to go out” is great and true from a personal finance point, but if those people who tip 5-10 percent or whatever dont go out then what? The restaurant loses business and the waiter loses out on the little tip they may have received. Unless the place is always packed, its not a good perspective for the business i think
Like, the below minimum wage worker isnt going to get tip money if the person stays home either… lol.
I don’t think these businesses OR the tipped employees would actually like if a large swath of their customer base started making the wise financial decision to not go out to eat.
Such as the money saving advice of tipping 18 instead of 20. In this video she makes the point that it will translate to a few thousand dollars in loss to the waiter if customers did this. So what would happen if it went from 20 to 0?
Idk, i think “dont go out if you cant afford to tip” is more of a frustrated refrain from underpaid people directing their frustration at whats in front of them instead of seeing what theyre saying as against their best interest anyway. Its just a distraction to keep the frustration angled horizontally instead of up.
From my perspective, its not a call to action telling people to stay home when they’re tight on funds. Its an attempt to guilt people to go out and pay more anyway.
In Australia NO ONE tips. Aussies would rather see the business close. if you need tips to survive you are being exploited, and you should not allow that business to get away with it.
Same with Europeans. Especially Eastern Europeans, we would rather see businesses close than have to tip.
I’ve seen it in some place (e.g. uber eats) and I flat out refuse on principle
Tried to order a custom cake, and the google form had a MANDATORY tip% question. Like the cake hasn’t even been made yet. Plus, the business owner is setting the cake price. Why does this call for a tip? I could hit the ‘other’ option and put $0 but then I’m nervous they’ll make a bad cake. So I’m just not buying the cake there :/
I saw that at a hair salon recently – I had to input my credit card in order to make an appointment online, and it wanted to force me to pre-select a tip. I just didn’t make the appointment at all and I will never patronize that business now.
That is really shady. I’m a very generous tipper, but definitely not before the service has even been rendered!
@@stenomaestro same! I would absolutely tip *after* I got the cake but not before I’ve even seen or tasted it.
I experience this as well. There are many places I no longer go to because just to make an appointment you need to tip. Exact same scenario as the cake example. People in my neighborhood are tipping their pest control people. I just want to know how much something costs. My friend paid $10,000 to a small company to move her belongings. She was then expected to tip. Tip what? 20% on $10k?
As someone who lives in Europe, this is bizzare. I didn’t tip when I lived in Canada either. This a exploitative on both sides and it won’t stop unless people (consumers) fight back.
As European would completely agree!
Agreed, as a Canadian. We don’t have a sub-minimum (“tipped minimum”) wage here anymore, at least in Ontario. I still tip for table service these days, and even then only because people literally will shame you if you don’t. But I don’t tip for anything BUT table service at a restaurant, and even then I will tip only 15%. And now I’m wondering if I should even be doing that for anything but exceptional service – all the employees are supposed to be making at least minimum wage.
As a Canadian who travels, I’m finding it more and more confusing to go to Europe and other places if they are heavily visited by American tourists. In the last decade there’s become a sudden expectation of tipping to an American level in spaces where that never used to exist. Tourist areas are now a mix of American culture and the country’s culture and it’s really hard to navigate.
@@tatianaliane1624 As someone who lives here, please don’t tip. We don’t want the American tipping culture to ruin things for us here. Especially in places like Eastern Europe where people’s wages are very low, American style tipping is starting to make things unsustainable for local people. Please don’t tip when you come here.
I totally agree since is ridiculous for tipping culture to even be invented
You could say the US has reached a tipping point
Pun appreciated.
Very underrated comment. Well done.
I found it interesting when I went to Japan because tipping is considered an insult. As a European, I tip only at sit down restaurants and when the service is good. The US really needs a tipping (and unionising) revolution.
My wildest experience was when we were told we were told there’s an ADDITIONAL 15% added to our check at a restaurant to pay for their staff’s healthcare.
Like WHY burden your customer with this?
As a restaurant server, it is so frustrating to go to a counter type of place and be prompted to tip 15-18% when I literally saw the cashier for 2 seconds. Where as I will do a full service at a table and it is also the same 15-18% options!
Where I live, the options are 20%, 22% and 25%. 🫤