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.
It will always be like this… until it isn’t. Your argument is tired. “The moment” eventually has to happen to force change. You take things like the 40 hour work week and weekends for granted, but people died in labor demonstrations and factory disasters to secure that comfort for us all. I pay my federal/state taxes and local levies, I support social safety net programs. These tips will not be the difference between someone eating or not, but it may be enough for them to force the ruling class to cede just a little more profit to the workers (or pressure the state to act against business of those social safety net programs are being more heavily utilized).