“The Tipping Phenomenon in the US: How It Has Gotten Out of Control”

If you want to see another social phenomenon out of control in the US, watch the clip below on tipping and what it has come to in the US.

I mean, I know that here in Romania many people don’t like to leave something in restaurants or other places, and they also don’t like the social pressure that sometimes forces them to do that. There’s nothing wrong with that. Leave a tip if you want. If not, no.

But consider that around here the usual is 10%. In the Americans, you are even suggested 30%. In addition, more and more types of stores and services ask you if you want to leave something.

I’ve had it too. I was in New York, I went into a donut shop and bought two donuts. I think they cost about 4-5 dollars. The saleswoman turned the tablet towards me and on the screen I was invited to tip $2, $3 or $5. I thought the scene was funny, considering the entire service took 15 seconds, he actually took a donut off the shelf and put it in a bag for me. Imagine if we asked you to tip when you buy two bagels.

In the middle is an interesting accumulation of factors. You know how we say that waiters are underpaid because the patrons assume they get a tip anyway? Well, in America there is a law in this sense! Specifically, many states have a law that says that employees are not required to be paid minimum wage as long as they collect money from tips as well.

From what I understood a few months ago from another discussion, there is a kind of Big Restaurants association that is doing everything possible to keep that law because it is in the interest of the patronage. Ridiculous situations have been reached. In one state, citizens voted in a law requiring restaurants to pay staff the legal minimum wage. The state’s governor then canceled the citizens’ vote and that bill.

Along with that came modern technology. In the old days, the tip was left in a jar or discreetly on the bill. Now, there are big-screen cash registers, basically one-legged tablets, on which you choose the tip.

I’ve seen them in the US too, they’re made by Square. It’s a foot tablet that the employee types your order on, then gives it a spin, the screen rotates to face the customer on the other side of the counter, and various suggested tip values ​​appear on the screen. It was the same with my doughnut.

More recently, something similar is also used in fast food and supermarkets.

They also have large touchscreen POS for restaurants. It’s easier to leave something when you just need to press a button on the screen:

This technology works in two ways. First, people are afraid of being perceived as stingy by those behind them in line, so they leave some tips. There are studies that show that the average tip percentage left by customers increases with such cash registers. Of course they all want them.

The second way is subconscious. You are offered three tip values. The biggest one seems absurdly big to you. The smallest would make you look stingy. You choose the one in the middle.

This is part of the classic theory of subconscious choices, what seems like a good deal, why there are small, medium and large drinks and so on. More importantly: this is why the proposed percentages increase. Once there were 10%, 15% and 20%. Now it’s 20%, 25% and 30%. If most customers choose the middle option, its value has steadily increased.

(By comparison, we saw only one restaurant that had tip suggestions on the bill and they were 8%, 10% and 12%.)

If you want further proof that it’s gone too far there, read on New York Mag’s guide to tipping in NY. There are expressions like “anything under 20 percent is rude”. When delivering the food “tip a minimum of 5%, or 20 percent, whichever is higher”. If you pick up your food from the restaurant, leave a minimum of 10%.

You can also find other information through the comments there. Tip tip on more and more online sites, including one that delivers auto parts. Author’s word, 20% of a $400 piece is $80. Why would you leave an $80 tip because someone puts your item in a box and delivers it to the courier?

That’s pretty much the situation. In our country it is jokingly said that why would you support the income of the waiter with a tip that the patron refuses to pay him decently. In the US, that’s basically how it is by law.