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When it comes to dining, leaning at least 15% to 20% is traditional etiquette, experts say.
It seems many Americans disagree.
Nearly 1 in 5, 18% of people tip less than 15% for an average meal at a sit-down restaurant — and another 2% tip nothing, according to a Pew Research Center survey of 11,945 American adults. More than a third, 37%, said 15% was their standard tip.
“That surprised me,” said Drew DeSilver, co-author of the study, about the fact that more than half of people, 57%, give 15% or less.
“The United States has a more highly developed subversive culture than most other countries,” he added. “But there is such a lack of agreement on (it).”
Pew hasn’t done historical polling on tips, so it’s unclear how these stocks have trended over time.
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Why do consumers get beak fatigue
Americans are more likely to tip for a sit-down meal than any other service: Two-thirds of American adults always tip a server when they dine out, according to Bankrate. The Pew survey found that 81% always tip for a meal at a restaurant, a higher percentage than tipping for a haircut, food delivery, buying a drink at a bar or using a taxi or ride-sharing service, for example.
Ethics expert Diane Gottsman recommends tipping 15% to 20% for sit-down restaurant service in 2023.
However, studies suggest that “advice fatigue” has caused drinking rates to decline recently. For example, the average nationwide tip at full-service restaurants fell to 19.4% of the total check in the second quarter of 2023 — the lowest amount since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to Toast data.
And the proportion of people who always tip restaurant servers dropped four percentage points from 2019 to 2022, according to Bankrate.
![Why you should tip](https://image.cnbcfm.com/api/v1/image/107320248-Screen_Shot_2023-10-19_at_10925_PM.png?v=1697802901&w=750&h=422&vtcrop=y)
“People’s willingness to tip, even in restaurants, is going down,” said Michael Lynn, a professor at Cornell University’s School of Hotel Management and a consumer and tips expert.
Americans became more generous drinkers in the early days of the pandemic, embracing the practice as a way to help service workers and their employers. Now they’re “getting fed up,” Lynn said.
“You can understand why: We are asked to tip in circumstances and for services that traditionally are not tipped,” he said. “And the amounts we are being asked to fine are higher.”
The spread of top promises was known as “type creep”. It comes at a time when pandemic-era inflation – which peaked last year at a high not seen in four decades – has pinched household budgets.
Tips buy social approval
One of the challenges related to drinking rates is the lack of a “centralized authority” to guide standards, Lynn said.
Most people — 77% — cite service quality as an “important factor” when choosing whether and how much to tip, according to Pew.
However, service is ultimately a weak predictor of consumer behavior, Lynn said. In fact, social approval – from our dining partners, waiters and others – are much stronger determinants.
“We buy approval” with tips, Lynn said.
Only 23% of Pew survey respondents cited social pressure as a major factor.