Tipping culture in America has taken a turn for the extreme, with people feeling obligated to tip for everything from getting their car fixed to picking up a cup of coffee. The rise of Square, the company behind those infamous swiveling iPad screens that prompt you to tip, has played a major role in escalating this phenomenon.
While tipping was originally meant as a reward for good service, it has now become a way for employers to pay their staff less, with many states allowing servers to be paid below minimum wage if they receive tips. This practice has led to consumers feeling pressured to compensate for low wages by tipping more than ever before.
The influence of billion-dollar corporations like Starbucks and Subway in asking for tips has also contributed to the tipping culture becoming out of control. These companies could easily afford to pay their employees better, but the tip option has become a way to maximize profits without increasing wages.
The manipulative tactics employed by Square and other businesses, such as pre-selecting higher tip percentages and awkwardly asking for tips at every turn, have made people uncomfortable and wary of tipping excessively. The inequality in tipping, based on race, gender, and appearance, further highlights the problematic nature of the current tipping culture.
Despite these issues, tipping seems unlikely to go away anytime soon. While tipping can be a way to show appreciation for good service, it has become a complicated and often guilt-inducing practice. It’s important for consumers to be aware of when and where tipping is appropriate, and to not feel pressured into tipping for every little thing.
Watch the video by Shelby Church
Tipping is out of control I’m just going to say it today we’re expected to tip so much more than we used to be for various different kinds of services and often times for larger amounts I remember when I was a kid it seemed like 15% was the
Standard tip for good service and now it’s a minimum of 20% if you don’t want to offend your server even if the service isn’t good and what’s Wild is we’re expected to tip more now on top of really crazy inflation that we’ve already already had so not only does
Everything cost more but everyone expects a tip where do we draw the line and people are sick of it studies and reports are showing that more and more people are just hitting no on the little iPad so let’s get into it today has tipping culture gone too far when should
You tip and when should you draw the line and who is to blame here for this new tipping culture that we have before we get into it I want to thank the sponsor of this video which is betterhelp shout out to better help cuz they’re the first sponsor of the
Commentary series and I have actually used better help myself so I can speak to it a little bit if you’ve never heard of better help are you living under a rock because they sponsor a ton of YouTubers and podcasts if you’ve never heard of better help it’s a service that
Connects you to licensed therapists that are trained to give you helpful unbiased advice I used it after I had jaw surgery cuz I had a really hard time accepting how my face looked it was really weird looking for like a full year after that and it was so hard to deal with because
Everyone I talked to in real life was like oh you look the same oh it looks fine and I was like nobody understands it was just difficult because I feel like nobody got it so talking to somebody who was unbiased and also trained in how to talk about these
Things was very helpful because I feel like my friends and family thought they were helping but like it wasn’t always helpful I’ve also dealt with anxiety before especially around like big life decisions like moving things like that it just I like to have an highest opinion I just really like that I find
Better help useful for that sort of thing if you are struggling right now with anxiety or depression I really feel for you because it’s very difficult in those moments to even remember what it’s like to not feel that it can be very overwhelming but you can get help and
The the awesome thing now is there’s really like no Stigma anymore and it’s easier than ever to get access to therapy like we can do it from the comfort of our homes now which is really awesome especially with better help if you want you can start with just the
Messaging you can do phone calls or video calls whatever you’re really comfortable with if you want to get started you can use my link it’s betterhelp.com church I’ll have it linked down below you’re going to answer a few questions and then better help is going to match you with a therapist that
Has experience with what you’re dealing with and has been helping people for years with similar things to you if you want to let better help connect you with a therapist that can support you from the comfort of your own home check out the link below or go to betterhelp.com
Church you can get a special discount on your first month when you use my link or when signing up if you select me as your referral so thank you to better help for sponsoring and now on to tipping culture who’s to blame okay because I figured it
Out you guys it’s Square that’s right the company that makes the little iPad that swivels around square if you’re not familiar is the point of sale iPad that a lot of companies use now to process transactions and it is really convenient you can tap to pay and you can add a tip
Which is a cool feature if you don’t have cash however square has enabled pretty much every business to just add on a little tip feature we’re being asked to tip places where things are just thrown in a microwave and warmed up not just coffee shops and restaurants
But all kinds of places gift shops gas stations I’ve heard I really think it’s because of that little iPad we’re kind of conditioned now when we see the option for that we feel like we should tip whereas before that point of sale service you know these businesses could
Add little tip jar but it was less common for people to actually put stuff in it you know maybe if it was like really exceptional service but for whatever reason the iPad makes people think oh I’m supposed to tip here aren’t I or am I do I have to I don’t know a
Lot of us know now when we go in somewhere and we see that little iPad it’s going to ask you a few questions and it’s kind of awkward it’s a lot like this Tik Tok inser your card and it’ll ask you just a few little prompts here okay um
Um okay this one just cracks me up because sometimes it really does feel like that I have heard that people at the register can’t actually see what you put when you’re done but there are times where I swear they’re just like hovering just to like see if you press anything
So awkward and while tipping historically has been a way to reward really good service I think now what it’s turned into is just a way for employers to get away with paying their staff less and having them kind of survive off tips there are a lot of
States in America where if tips are accepted they don’t have to pay the minimum wage to servers not in California that’s not the case there’s a lot of States where people make $2 $3 an hour are tipping culture so it now feels more like an obligation on the consumer
To compensate for the restaurant not paying their staff as well and there is the argument that if they eliminated tipping they would have to raise prices at restaurants and I say I’m down for that there are a few restaurants in La that do that already one of them cun
Nori one of my favorite sushi restaurants in La they have a 16% service charge and they say no tipping there’s no line to tip it’s just built into your bill and it it’s just nice I honestly like it a lot you don’t have to do the math it’s like just simple
They’re not expecting a crazy amount either like 16% is less than what I would have tipped actually unless everyone is doing it it would hurt hurt that restaurant because their prices would look higher when they’re really about the same at the end of the day but
The psychology of it all people look at the menu price and forget about the tip until later so it wouldn’t really work unless everybody did it I’m sure as all of us know and this is really the case for a lot of my commentary videos this
Is mainly a us thing this isn’t really that big in Europe growing up I heard that you it was rude to tip in Europe like you do not do that the people make a living wage and if you try and tip them it’s offensive I think now I’ve
Heard that it is a little bit different I think you know they’ll accept a small tip more often but it’s not like in the US where they’re asking for a tip everywhere and they’re asking for 20% or more it’s more like 10% and a lot of countries in Europe if you just didn’t
Tip at all they wouldn’t think anything of it which is so wild to us so why don’t they tip in other places well the most common answer is because they already get a living wage in the US it’s legal in a lot of states to just not pay
Servers minimum wage if they’re able to accept tips whereas in Europe they’re always paying them more of a living wage historically in Europe they haven’t really needed the tips to to live their life so today we’re asked to tip more than ever for various different things
And I wanted to go through my list that I’ve made of when I think you should tip and when I don’t think that you have to and when maybe you should but you don’t really have to this is what I think you should have to tip for restaurant rests
Valet also Postmates and Uber Eats you should tip those people because they don’t make that much this is what you should not have to tip for picking up to go food a lot of times you don’t even interact with anyone in the store you just grab it off a shelf anything where
You have to provide the tip before you get the service so if you’re paying at a cashier and they’re asking you to tip but you don’t get the service until 20 minutes later I even saw one girl got asked to tip on her massage before she
Got a massage retail stores in my video about the wedding industry it came to my attention that there are some wedding dress shops that ask for a tip no I think anything retail just bake it into the price anything where it is an owner operator setting their own price for
Example a hair stylist that has their own little Salon I don’t think they should be asking for the tip because they can just bake it into the cost if it’s a hair stylist that works at like a Super Cuts or something they’re paid paid an hourly wage that they do not set
You should tip them anywhere where the food is just pre-prepared and you’re basically just being asked to tip a cashier I don’t think you need to tip that anything medical I was asked to tip last time I got Botox and no I didn’t I
Made a whole Tik Tok about it and a lot of nurses commented saying that that is messed up so most people stood with me on that one even Ubers I don’t think you really need to tip for Ubers unless they’re like helping you with your luggage or something another new thing
We’ve seen in the Tipping industry is these billion dooll Corporation ations enabling a tip feature okay so it really used to be if a local coffee shop had a tip jar like no one thought anything of it cuz you know you’re supporting the local coffee shop I feel like it was
When Starbucks added the tip feature that we were all like whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa what’s going on here they can probably afford to pay people a little bit more now I don’t know I don’t know the financials of their business Starbucks last year made a billion
Dollars so they could probably afford to pay people we also see places like subway is now notorious for asking for a tip a lot of these places want a 20% tip when you’re not getting like a sitdown restaurant Service A lot of times I order Chipotle online and they also ask
For a tip this is just another one when the billion dollar companies jumped on board I feel like that’s when people were like no this is too far I would argue that these billion dooll companies they can afford to pay the employees more but you know they’re seeing it as
An opportunity too to get a little more out of the customer so that they don’t have to I think the thing is they found it’s harder to retain employees like people don’t want to work at a Starbucks anymore and for these companies I think just enabling the tip option was a way
To maybe try and keep them cuz people could earn a little bit more without the company actually having to pay a whole lot more so one thing I don’t think I’ve really heard people talk about is how I think that tipping can backfire on the companies when they go too far with this
So I’ve had a few circumstances where the Tipping just made me feel so uncomfortable that I never went back to that place so one example I once went to this food truck this was on a trip in Alaska so I never went back there cuz obviously I’m never in Alaska but if I
Lived in the same town as this place I would never go back either so at this food truck you just ordered at the cashier as you do with a food truck and right after she said to you very loudly would you like to leave a tip like very
Loud yelling it for for everyone here like it was comical actually so of course everyone was said yes and she’d be like how much like making sure that everybody heard that I honestly thought it was so funny I had never seen that before I was kind of like props to this
Girl you know she’s going to get a ton of tips but also so awkward if I knew a place was going to yell very loudly asking if I want a tip or not I would not go there I think a lot of people you know they genuinely are fine with
Tipping for good service but they don’t like the OB obligation to tip on everything whether it’s good service or not with a food truck really are you getting service I mean a food truck is kind of a questionable one I don’t know if most people tip on food trucks but I
Feel like it’s similar to a coffee shop most people probably aren’t tipping that much or anything at all if they’re going to a food truck just if I were to guess in that case you know if I lived in the same town as that food truck I Pro I
Just wouldn’t go back because I don’t like feeling obligated to in that kind of situation like it just felt like everyone was pressured into it and there’s actually a store in Seattle an ice cream shop called Molly Moons and they noticed that the Tipping screen was making customers uncomfortable so they
Took it out just take a look owner Molly moon Nel says those checkout screens made customers and her workers uncomfortable employees don’t really want to stand there and think about how much influence you have over what they’re going to take com so she raised prices and raised pay what’s your
Minimum wage here we start Folks at $21 an hour it does take away from the customer experience when you have to go through that awkward do I tip for this or not it just makes you feel a little weird about that business in general things like ice cream it’s like just
Charge a little bit more for it you know and that’s what they decided to do another instance where this backfired is when I was getting my hair done I went to this girl that I had gone to many times before but for whatever reason her prices were much higher this time I also
Bought some product and the subtotal was $600 and keep in mind this is an owner operated just little Boutique Salon just this girl who owns her own little chair within like one of those Phoenix sweet salons so it’s not super expensive and I bought some shampoo and conditioner so
It was asking me to tip on the total including the shampoo and conditioner and I was honestly taking back that it was $600 because this was in Seattle and normally getting your hair done there is not that expensive like that’s more of La prices and I don’t even pay that much
In La I thought okay does this include the tip because she owns her owns business and I felt so awkward so I asked her like oh do people normally still tip or how does it work and she just deflected the question like whatever you makes you comfortable you
Know and I was like this is just really uncomfortable so I didn’t know what to do so I just tipped the 20% and I never went back because now my total was over $700 for like some balage or whatever now where I get my hair done in La it’s
Usually about $400 okay blonde hair is still expensive so you know it’s timec consuming it takes like 3 or 4 hours and this girl is really good but she charges me about $400 and she says the tip is included you don’t have to tip on top of
That which I very much appreciate and she has earned my service again and again and again because I like how she’s transparent about it she does a good job she owns her own business so she can bake in the tip to that price and so I
Support her business cuz I like the way that she runs it and honestly she does a way better job but the point is I think a lot of businesses don’t realize that if you’re going too far with making your customers feel uncomfortable with your tipping practices they’re not going to
Come back because not everywhere’s doing that and same thing when I was asked to tip for Botox I’m not going back to that place I just think that’s ridiculous because I know that most places do not ask for a tip on Botox cuz it’s considered a medical thing you’re not
Supposed to tip on medical stuff like it’s just weird I just think it’s something for businesses to keep in mind it makes customers uncomfortable just be transparent about it tipping culture is not out of control you guys are just which is what I use used to
Think until my parents were visiting me and they’re like air conditioning bro so I drive my dad over to pick up the car he’s like I literally just paid I don’t know 500 bucks to have my car fixed and then the guy swivels at the car mechanic
Swivels the screen around and is like you want a tip 20% 25% 30% and he’s like I never don’t push a button for a percentage to tip but I didn’t tip are we tipping car mechanics now and I was like no you set your own prices you know
Just set it to what you want to be paid don’t ask for a tip it’s so weird another thing that I’ve noticed is the standard of tipping has gone up over time I swear when I was a kid it was like 15% is what people said the
Standard was to tip does anyone else remember that is this like Mandela effect I don’t know I feel like when I was younger this is before I was the age to like pay for things and actually tip myself I feel like people just said 15% and then I don’t know when it just
Became 20% 20% is standard it kind of feels like 15% is actually rude so it begs the question when will it become 25% 30% I feel like it could happen thank you so much for your purchase I’m just going to spin this iPad around sure I have been to restaurants or bars
Where they have one of those like mini iPads like one of these and it will have three amounts that you can choose from and they pre-select the highest one and it’ll be like 30% like they think you’re not going to notice I’m like and I hate
To say that because you know there are times where I have tipped 30% because the service was really good but there’s just something that rubs me the wrong way about them like pressing it and then expecting you to just not notice and pay the 30% tip like no no it’s always the
People who don’t even give good service that are like pre-selecting it like that too another thing I’ve noticed more recently is places automatically adding in a service charge but still having a line to so I went to Joshua Tree recently and both of the restaurants that we went to added a 20% service
Charge but they still had a line to tip it would honestly be easy in some cases to miss that service charge and not even notice it and then still tip luckily my friend Lauren did notice it but again it made it awkward because we were like is
This the tip what is this for are we still supposed to tip on top of it what’s going on like if I have to ask the server what it is that’s awkward again that’s putting me in that situ situation where I’m like ooh I kind of don’t want to come back here because
They like make it weird I think it’s totally fine to have the service charge and to just include the tip like that but be upfront about it you know the server needs to say hey just you know the tip is included or like so you don’t
Need to tip any more than that if you don’t want to but they act sus about it they’re like hoping that you don’t notice and you accidentally tip more so then they get like a 40% tip I really feel like that’s sometimes what they do but again there are restaurants that do
This well kazunori they just include the service charge there’s no line to tip they say like that is the tip that’s how you should do it if you’re going to include the service charge don’t make us feel like we need to tip more on top of that if you’re including the tip calling
It a service charge is confusing because it’s like is that the tip or not I don’t know and now I feel weird about it something I think is kind of funny with tipping culture is in America we don’t notice how nuanced it is until a European comes here Europeans trying to
Understand how we tip is kind of hilarious because in Europe you don’t often have to tip that much so they’re a little bit like wait how does it work just take a look at this Reddit post it’s pretty funny this guy says i’ go into a local bakery to have a coffee and
Some pastries for breakfast the bill is $6 do I hand the server a tener and tell them to please give me back $2 so the tip is two what if I pay by credit card it’s like do not worry if you’re paying by credit card you will have the option
To tip do not worry about that um I spend a full night in a bar having lunch beers five in total do I pay and tip after each beer and obviously we know like you would just pay and tip at the end usually if you just have a tab open but it’s just
Funny how we don’t even notice like oh you do kind of tip different amounts for coffee for a bar or a restaurant I think one of the biggest problems people have with tipping culture now is that we really feel guilted into it am I obligated to tip at a restaurant when I
Place it to- Go order this is kind of Middle Ground here on the Togo order dining in I’m outrageously tipping valet I’m outrageous tipping tipping at a a fast food joint no tipping at the Starbucks line no this one I’m kind of going to be 5050 one is I don’t want to
Be guilted into anything I’m with you B almost never have I regretted being generous there’s very few times I look back unless I was guilted into it you know cuz they’re in there working and I’m just try I’m doing well God’s blessed me why not I do resent this spin
Thing at the counter and that is guilting I’m not doing that a lot of times I think we genuinely would love to give a tip especially if you have good service we just don’t want to feel like obligated to for everything the square iPad just it makes you feel like a cheap
Skate if you don’t tip even for things where it’s not even really a service like when they’re just going and grabbing a croissant and it’s asking for a tip I think it’s all about the UI of square the way that they present three tipping options as larger than the no
Tip button and just the fact that you have to go out of your way to press no tip I know like most people here have tipped for something before just out of social obligation cuz someone was maybe looking over at the screen and you didn’t really want to because like quite
Frankly there wasn’t really a service being provided I I mean in terms of they’re just grabbing something and handing it to you in my opinion that is not something that’s worthy of a tip that’s just what the job is but I do think sometimes you know coffee Baristas
At a local coffee shop like there’s some skill to that at least with a Barista they’re making the coffee like they’re making espresso shots and maybe some latte art like they are doing more of a service than just grabbing something pre-made and giving it to you but now
These Square machines I swear make us feel like a cheap skate if you’re not tipping when there is a tip option something about it I think it’s because quite often the pre-selected option is to tip and you have to go out of your way to hit other and type in zero or to
Hit no tip it makes you feel like you’re expected to tip even when again not really a service being provided because I’m all for tipping when there’s a service like a sit down restaurant or even a coffee shop like a local coffee shop okay so the thing with tipping is
That the more that we do it for various different things the more we reinforce companies being able to just pay low wages like think about it if tipping was never a thing people just would not do those jobs and then the employers would be forced to just pay a better wage
Would the prices go up probably a little bit but I think it would be less than you expect another issue I have with tipping today is that square is taking a percentage of those tips a lot of times if you’re not tipping in cash you probably wonder who is getting this
Money is it the business owner or they really Distributing it to the staff like where is it going and one thing I do know is that if it’s through one of the little iPads square is taking a cut back when Molly moon accepted tips she says the biggest winners were credit card
Processors they make more on the credit card processing fees very small cut it’s a payment processing fee of like 2 or 3% of the total transaction but that does include the tips you know when you think about how many companies use square square is probably making like over a
Million dollars off of tips other people’s tips a year but a lot of times I do Wonder like is this going to the restaurant owner like how are they making sure it’s going to the right person like if you want a tip really the best is always to just tip in cash I
Have heard of cases where the business owner is taking a cut of those tips and distributing it out amongst people and not always in an even way another issue that I have with you know making people rely on tips is that there is some inequality in how people TI we would be
Ignorant to think there aren’t some messed up people out there tipping certain people better based on their race gender how they look it’s messed up but there’s definitely people out there that are doing that even pretty privilege comes into play here like I made that whole video about pretty privileg
I do think more attractive people probably get better tips cuz they have that halo effect but also the New York Times found that black women who are tipped restaurant workers earned on average $5 an hour less than their white male counterparts Nationwide and Molly moon that ice cream shop even found this
To be true for their shop and she says the data from the very system that collected the tips showed they led to pay inequities black employees at Molly Moons were making a lot less than white employee you can tell that absolutely I do think people should be paid different
Amounts based on how their service is but definitely not on how they look but like you know there are people out there that do this maybe even subconsciously they might not realize they’re doing it but they’re doing it so this has been a lot of hating on tipping and hating on
The point Point of Sales Systems but the one thing I do actually like about it is I never have cash with me anymore and you know when I do want to tip it’s easier too I don’t like there have been times in the past where I literally had
To go to an ATM to tip and that’s way more annoying than the iPad system so at least the iPad system does make it easier for when we do want to tip cuz I feel like now you guys probably think I’m a cheap skate like no I do tip like
20% minimum when I go to restaurants and I tip at a lot of coffee shops I go to I do tip and I’ll tip well on things that are an actual service but when it’s not actually a service I’m I’ve been putting my foot down even if it’s a little bit
Awkward because it’s just like what will tipping ever go away I honestly don’t think so I think it’s too far gone I don’t think it’s ever going to go away it’s fine how it is at restaurants and even coffee shops but like it’s just got to stop with like the botox with like
Retail stores no I’ve even seen some people be asked to tip on online orders you guys I can’t with that I think we all have recognized it has just gone a little bit too far okay but let me know what do you guys think if you
Work in a a coffee shop or a restaurant or anything like that right now like what is your experience with people tipping are people still tipping a lot or do you notice the Tipping fatigue how do you guys tip where do you draw the line with tipping so thank you guys for
Watching this video and I’ll see you in the next one bye
Video “Tipping Culture Is Out of Control In America” was uploaded on 03/30/2024. Watch all the latest Videos by Shelby Church on Gretopia