Post quickly before this thread is closed, about good and bad tipping experiences.
How do American visitors feel when they visit the UK and Europe? Are you shocked by the lack of tipping, or at least the very different environment? Were you prepared and did you know that is not so commonplace, or expected?
A couple of years ago while travelling abroad and in a remote location I needed the help of a mechanic with my hire car. A local (25 miles) garage sent someone out and he arrived within an hour. It took him less than 10 minutes to fix the issue, it was something he had encountered several times previously. I offered him a tip to buy a few beers for his prompt and service, but he declined and said “thanks, but I’m just doing my job”. I was flabbergasted.
I was in the states recently (visiting a theme park) and one of the kids in our party was a little cranky (very hot & overtired) and complaining that the pizza wasn’t the one they expected. I think I had ordered a cheese and tomato, rather than ‘cheese pizza’. Tbh, I didn’t realise these were different things.
A staff member overheard and said, “let me get that sorted for you”
5-10 minutes later they came back with a cheese pizza on the house.
I was really impressed and tried to push some $ into their hand as a thank you (when in Rome). They declined, saying they just wanted us to have a great time.
I was super impressed and it genuinely made a difference to our day.
IMHO the tipping culture in America is a sign of dysfunctional peak capitalism. As an (ex) tourism consultant that worked in developing countries the American tipping culture, when it raised its head in these destinations, caused significant problems, undermined service levels and encouraged business owners to stop rewarding staff properly. My2c.
Most Europeans traveling to the US have huge problems with American tipping culture. Yet it appears that this very problematic culture is trying to establish itself in European countries.
I am in Stockholm, Sweden right now, where tipping is, or was(?), pretty much nonexistent, except (occasionally) for excellent service in a very few fancy restaurants. Today, each time I am about to tap my card to pay for some services, I am presented with several tipping options. I do not like it at all.
Tipping culture is out of control in the US right now. I try to tip on quality of service and effort. As a few have said they have tried to top for those that have gone the extra mile and the tips were refused. In some jobs at some businesses (like the kid who takes your cart to your car at the grocery store) employees are told not take tips. I think most people just want to do a good job and have the customer be happy.
But I used to work in food service. Minimum wage for food service hasn’t changed since I started in it in the 80s - roughly $2 an hour. Servers rely on tips. No one in the US can survive on $2 an hour. And giving excellent service can result in a livable wage for those workers.
My problem with tipping out of the US is knowing whether to tip and how much. I always try to do research for a new country and oftentimes find conflicting info. Then you have places like Mexico where there are arguments about how Americans tip too much in restaurants. I think Americans are used to rewarding good service. It is hard to leave a paltry 10% tip when someone has taken such good care of you. When I worked on food service and did a really good job I’d often get 10% or more over the standard 15% to 20% tip.
I’ve always disliked the American attitude towards tipping especially in restaurants. Why on earth should the customer have to pay for their food AND be expected to give a huge tip just to supplement the salary of the underpaid Server??!! Restaurants should PAY their staff a decent wage so that a tip becomes what is was originally designed to be - a reward for excellent Service.
In my state at that time, tipped employees could be paid $1 per hour less than minimum wage (so $1.10/hr when I started), and suggested tipping rate was 10% for food service. Tips were not taxed.
When I left service, min wage for tipped staff was $2.10, 12% was the average/expected tip, & tips were taxable reported income, calculated at 12% of your food sales total.
Today in my current state/city, servers make $21/hr, & expected tipping rate is 20-22%. Many restaurants also add a mandatory 18-22% “service charge*” to all checks; good luck figuring out who that goes to, or if it means you should also still include a direct gratuity to your server, & what gets taxed. Tips are suggested with every single transaction pretty much everywhere, including self-service & fast food restaurants & many retailers.
It is absolutely out of control, & a sign of late-stage-capitalism run amok. The constant moral dilemma of who & what I should be tipping is mentally & emotionally exhausting.
*we consider it the newest example of a “junk fee”
I haven’t noticed a lack of tipping much when traveling to the UK and Europe other than the percentage. Tipping is very much expected in middle eastern countries. The only place I’ve ever encountered where tipping is verboten is Japan and, once upon a time, Australia.
But tipping has definitely gotten out of control. I bellied that’s largely thanks to COVID-19 when people started tipping generously and POS systems streamlined the process. Tipping went from 15% expected in sit down restaurants to solicited everywhere and running north of 20%. It’s ridiculous and I am far from alone in my sentiments. I’ve taken to ignoring all tip solicitations. Additionally, we don’t eat out as much because… ridiculous.
I think there’s another factor that makes US “tipping” culture especially shocking to visitors. Most countries I’ve visited, the price listed for a thing is what you pay. Not so in the US. The listed or labeled price has sales taxes added and sometimes service fees. Those hidden sales taxes run 5% to more than 10% in popular destinations. Between the sales tax and tips, there’s little wonder that tipping is a shock.
I have traveled in many places where tipping culture is very different, and have worked recently in the food industry in the US, where tipping was the majority of my income.
I always look up tipping in whatever country I’m in. Where there is a tipping culture at all, I tend to tip slightly higher than the norm, which is always way less than I would in the US. The only time this backfired was in Marrakech, where we asked some diners who had been there a while next to us, and then the waiter chased us out because he wanted a bigger tip. I know some touristy areas expect US-level tipping even if it’s not the norm elsewhere in the country or city.
Within the US, tipping culture has gone a bit out of control. There are stores that sell goods that have tip jars! And tipping for to-go or delivery increased a lot during covid, as appreciation for folks who still went to work, and it was never clear if/when/how that would return to prior levels.
I worked for a few years post-covid in a popular cafe. It has a very loyal and generous clientele. But also I did not have expectations for, say, someone who just wanted a cookie out of the case. When I was younger I did a ton of food service, including a breakfast chain that just reported 15% of your sales as tip income for tax purposes - there were days that I was taxed on income I didn’t make! Boo.
I think if tip culture went back to 15-20%, and was more focused on service than just existence, customers wouldn’t be so put off about it. And if employers paid the “full value” of their employees’ wages, we’d have a lot fewer places to eat and drink, or dining out would go back to being for only the very wealthy - restaurants in the US have very low profit margins. Many, MANY places in Seattle already have instituted a mandatory “service charge” on top of their pricing, in an effort to afford their wages and sky-high rents without making individual dishes more expensive. That angers me far more than tipping culture - just price items what they cost!
When it comes to other countries vs the US, tax being included has more of an impact on me. I love just paying the price listed, and it’s such a shock to come home and have to add more than 10% (again - Seattle having the among highest sales tax rate in the US).
Plenty of replies from Americans and if any of you have visited the UK and Europe did you find the difference in tipping a welcome surprise? Did it mean though that the service was poor? If you did tip someone how did they react?
The minimum wage varies by state, in California, servers are paid the same minimum wage as most other industries. The state min wage is $16-17 per hour and higher in some counties/cities. Even with the higher wages, I’m noticing that the suggested tip options displayed on the tab at many restaurants have shifted from 10, 15, 18% to 20, 25, 30%. I enter the amount I feel is justified and usually won’t return to those businesses. When travelling, I typically ask locals about tipping and follow their lead
I found that tipping in tourist areas of Europe was pretty common, although at a much lower scale than we are accustomed to. But it didnt seem tipping was common in small towns or areas with fewer tourists. I wasn’t surprised, but one worry I had was that if a server knows/suspects I’m American, therefore a tipper, my lack of tip could seem rude compared to locals who don’t tip. I decided not to dwell that and just be a respectful guest
Federal minimum wage for servers is $2.13. Federal minimum wage for other workers is $7.75. So wait staff in your state are getting not only paid much more than the federal minimum for servers but also for not tipped employees. I don’t think $21 an hour is typical for the rest of the US.
Another thing I’d like to point out about tipping servers in the US is that oftentimes the server doesn’t get to keep the whole tip. If there is a busboy or bartender they often get a cut of the servers tips. The kitchen may get a cut too. Sometimes this cut is based on the server’s total tips but it may be based on their sales. Meaning if you don’t tip a server, they still have to tip other based on the price of your meal.
None of this might sound fare but this is the way it is in the US.
Waiting tables is a hard, oftentimes degrading job. If it wasn’t for the money many wouldn’t do it.
My experiences in Europe are about on par with @mdarden1x . In touristy areas where I was known to be American, the expectation (or my perception of it) was that I would or should tip like an American, and it was accepted without question when I did.
In more out-of-the-way places I tended to tip only in full-service situations, and leaned toward 10%. I was thanked with gratitude and/or surprise on some occasions, but never turned down.
Taxi drivers I usually tipped a standard couple of euros or pounds; responses varied.