Is tipping preying on guilt or recognizing hard work? Readers on 'tipflation.' | Letters
Editor's Note: James E. Causey wrote about his frustration with being asked seemingly everywhere for tips declaring "I'm all tipped out."
He cited a Pew Research study showing that more than ever, Americans are being asked to tip service workers. More than 70% of adults say tipping is expected in more places than it was five years ago. They even got a name for it: “tipflation.”
We asked readers for their thoughts and they delivered. No tip required but the responses are sincerely appreciated. Here's what you had to say:
‘Tipflation’ can sour the taste of an otherwise great meal out
James E. Causey speaks for many of us, I am sure in his column “Is tipping out of control?” on April 7.
I have always tipped people, and without objection, but “tipflation” introduces two new factors that can quickly sour the taste of an otherwise great meal.
First, it no longer feels like a voluntary gift, but something ranging from either an obligation to outright blackmail, and completely unrelated to the quality of the service. Second, because tips are usually based on a percentage, there is an insidious — and often unrealized — increase over time in the actual amount that is tipped.
I'm all tipped out. Seems like everyone's asking no matter level of service.
For example, not that many years ago, one could get a modest lunch for $10. A standard tip was 10% or $1.00. Now a modest lunch may have doubled to $20, but because an expected tip may be 20-28%, the actual cost of that part of the dining experience is quadrupled.
People are quick to complain about the cost of food, but may not realize tips may be 4-5 times what they were. Unfortunately, I am not convinced it is bad enough yet that an establishment that advertised “no tipping” would draw enough new customers to cover necessarily increased prices.
Roger W. Kautz, Menomonee Falls
What gets me is the suggested tipping amounts on the bill
Tipping never really bothered me until businesses started printing the amounts desired (expected) for tipping on the total bill.
The implication, it was no longer an appreciation for the service but rather an expectation.
I now avoid those places as much as possible as I find it insulting.
Andrew Blaha, Waukesha
A standardized tip chart not based on the price of food would help
Yes, I am also all tipped out. But I would like a more standardize tipping. I think it is very unfair to tip by the price of the meal. I go to a family run restaurant and the food prices are very reasonable. Then I go to a high-end place with food prices very high.
In the family restaurant, the wait staff does the same thing as the high-end place. Also, in the family place, they are faster and they do much more than the wait staff at the high-end place.
So my question is: Can we get to a tip chart for service not based on the price of food? This also applies to other services rendered. Instead of by price, there should be a standard tip for services rendered.
Diane Phillips, South Milwaukee
I will tip for good service but not just to pick up a hamburger
Regarding tipping, we are tipping for service.
We shouldn’t be expected to tip at every restaurant we go to. By tipping at some locations, we’re subsidizing these employees salaries.
I don’t mind tipping for good service, but not just to pickup a hamburger from McDonald’s.
Richard Krajeck, Cedarburg
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I was shocked to get asked for a tip for putting cookie into bag
I am so glad Causey chose to write an article about tipping.
I have been shocked to see this happening more and more in places you would never expect it.
I went to a store and only picked out one cookie, which they put in a bag and handed to me. Well, when I inserted my credit card, sure enough — on it was a space to put in how much I would like to tip. It took the worker less than 10 seconds to hand me the cookie. Then I went to another store and picked up a few pieces of chocolate in a bag and, once again, the question came up again on my credit card — how much would I like to tip?
By now it really caught my attention. My next stop was an office supply store, and during the check out I was so perturbed I told the gal who checked me out about it. She told me that was incredible, as she, being in a store that sold office furniture, was often asked to carry heavy things to the car for a customer and she had never gotten a tip.
So should we soon have to begin tipping the check out girl in a grocery store, or the bagger? Or the person who waits on us in a department store? Or how about the UPS guy who delivers a package to us?
This is just crazy. Just click “no thanks.” Don’t encourage them!
Karen Maihofer, Cedarburg
On trip to New Zealand I was chastised for American tipping
Regarding tipping, I was recently in New Zealand where a business owner chastised me for being a part of the American tipping community!
He said he didn’t want his country to be part of the tipping society that the United States had become.
Why should I support an owner by subsidizing his low wage offer by tipping to make the job more palatable? Other countries pays a living wage.
Jerry Parsons, Eau Claire
Customer service jobs can be demanding, physically challenging
While I’m not an expert on tipping, as a grocery store delicatessen worker, I’d like to offer my insight into what Causey refers to as “subpar customer service.”
He writes that when he goes to a restaurant “I want a person to greet me with eye contact and a smile” I happen to know that a smile can be hard to come by for a service worker.
Customer service is tough to master due to the variety of personalities facing a service worker. Grocery workers, for example, are required to watch videos on cleanliness, food preparation and security, but there are none on customer service. That’s a purely learn-as-you-go process.
Other challenges include having to spend long hours walking and standing on hard floors; intense multi-tasking, which includes replenishing food in cases and wiping down countertops in between filling customers’ orders; and getting caught between an overworked kitchen staff and customers’ picky demands. Not helping matters is the ongoing labor shortage.
As much as service workers need to work at maintaining a friendly attitude toward customers, the customers themselves need to learn to say, “I appreciate you.” For me, this simple yet meaningful statement is a real smile producer.
Matthew A. Perta, West Allis
Some establishments simply prey upon a sense of customer guilt
Regarding tipping, the establishments that provide virtually no “services" and ask for a tip are preying upon people’s sense of guilt.
They probably realize many won’t bite, but enough will feel guilty and offer an additional tip added to the bill. Most of these receipts contain an option of none or $0. I find it easy to choose that option without any guilt as I have done for decades at these types of establishments.
Service is service, and I willingly tip for that, though, truth be told, nobody ever tipped me at work when I did my job — even beyond the tasks I was paid to do. Tips have given food and hospitality establishments an excuse to underpay their employees, and now it has extended to everywhere else: fast-food restaurants, take-out establishments, dry cleaners, etc.
Ironically, more and more of these businesses no longer take phone orders and rely solely on phone apps, so where is the service that the customer is supposedly paying for? Also, not everyone has or uses apps on their phones. Should I feel a need to compensate these establishments for their negligent loss of business as a result of a disregard for the easy/more convenient accessibility of their products and services?
Richard Sweet, Chicago, IL
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsinites share their thoughts on tipflation
