Recommend a Self-service Kiosk? How to deal with the many requests for tips.

If you feel like you’re being asked to tip more often, you’re not alone.

Most American adults say tips are expected in more places than five years ago, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey. Once limited to mainly restaurants, hotel portfolio services and taxi rides, invitations to tip – with suggested amounts – are now appearing on checkout touchscreens in more places, including casual restaurants without table service, mobile food trucks, delivery apps and even self-delivery apps. -service kiosks.

“People used to feel like there was a limit,” says Ismail Karabas, an assistant professor of marketing at Murray State University in Kentucky, who has studied tipping. “It’s much vaguer and it turns people off. Where do we stop?”

A survey published in June by the financial website Bankrate found that two-thirds of Americans have a negative image of tipping, while about a third felt the tipping culture was ‘getting out of hand’.

Ted Rossman, a senior industry analyst at Bankrate, said what was intended as a gesture of gratitude, or a reward for good service, increasingly felt like a surcharge. “The constant questions mislead people,” he said.

Mr. Rossman recalled encountering a tip screen at a self-checkout station at Newark Liberty International Airport this year. He was also surprised when he was asked to tip a strawberry farm that he picked himself. (He did it, he said, because his wife was in favor of it.)

“It’s becoming more and more an exception that you’re not asked to tip,” he said.

New digital payment systems have replaced the old-fashioned tip jar and made it easy for businesses to electronically ask customers for tips.

Michael Lynn, a professor of services marketing at Cornell University who has studied tipping, said people often leave tips for social approval, either from the service provider or from fellow customers. So it can be difficult for some to tap ‘different amount’ or ‘no tip’ on a payment screen if they have the feeling that the employee or others in line are watching. Under these circumstances, people may feel compelled to tip, or feel guilty about opting out.

Earlier in the coronavirus pandemic, more generous tipping practices emerged, inspiring people to help frontline workers. But as the pandemic subsided, inflation increased and tipping as a percentage of a more expensive meal became more noticeable. The Bankrate survey showed an overall decline in the number of people who said they always tipped in certain situations, including food delivery.

However, there appears to be some consensus about when tipping is appropriate, the Pew survey found, particularly at restaurants where they “always” or “often” tipped (92 percent of respondents said they ‘always’ or ‘often’ tipped there).

That’s not surprising, since tipping is a deeply ingrained practice at full-service restaurants. Professor Karabas said: “People expect it. It is an inherent part of the system.” In many states, the minimum wage for tipped workers is quite low, he said, and it is widely believed that servers “work for tips,” so tipping at least 16 to 18 percent of the tip is justified.

But dinners these days aren’t necessarily extravagant with tips, the Pew survey found. When asked how much they would tip for an “average” sit-down dining experience, the majority (57 percent) said they would tip 15 percent or less. Two percent said they would leave nothing behind. Only a quarter said they would tip 20 percent or more.

The Pew survey found significant support for tipping after a haircut (78 percent), food delivery (76 percent), buying a drink at a bar (70 percent) and using of a taxi or taxi service (61 percent).

However, in other situations, tipping is less common, for example when buying a drink in a coffee shop. Only about a quarter of people said they usually tipped in that situation. And at fast-casual restaurants this percentage was even lower (12 percent).

Yanely Espinal, director of educational outreach for Next Gen Personal Finance, which creates financial literacy courses for middle and high school students, said context was important. It’s OK not to tip or leave a small tip when you walk into a store for a quick cup of coffee or tea, she said. But if it’s a store you frequent or you order a complicated drink, you might want to consider leaving one.

“Use your judgment about when it makes sense,” she said.

The Pew survey found that 43 percent of adults had worked in a job where they received tips, and were generally more likely to leave tips.

Professor Karabas suggests thinking in advance about what you are going to do. “Expect that you may be asked to tip and decide what you want to do, based on your own personal feelings and budget,” he said.

For how much tip you should give, you can check the online guide at the Emily Post Institute, an etiquette company in Waterbury, Virginia, run by descendants of manners master Emily Post. Sample suggestions: While there is no requirement to tip for curbside pickup, a 10 percent tip is appropriate for curbside pickup or for a large, complicated order. And for food delivery, aim for 10 to 15 percent of the bill, but $2 to $5 for pizza, depending on the size of the order and the difficulty of the delivery.

Here are some questions and answers about tipping:

I don’t like being pressured to tip at checkout. What can I do?

Tipping remains voluntary, with the arguable exception of sit-down dining, because tips can make up a large portion of a server’s income, said Lizzie Post, co-chair of the Emily Post Institute. If you receive substandard service in a restaurant, she recommended tipping at least 15 percent, but then talking to the manager.

If the suggested tips really bother you, says Professor Lynn, paying with cash instead of a debit or credit card can help you avoid them. If you are prompted by a screen to tip in a non-traditional setting and you feel it is not warranted, feel free to skip it.

“Should you feel guilty?” Professor Lynn asked. “Not me.”

If I leave a tip at a self-service kiosk, who gets the money?

This varies, Professor Karabas said. Some companies may pool tips for groups of employees, while others allocate tips to the employee overseeing the checkout portion at the time the tip is entered. (For example, he said he recently visited a “robotic” coffee shop in Seattle, where the employee tending the shop explained that the employees received the tips generated during their shifts.)

Should I tip more during the holidays?

Holiday tips is “kind of a different beast,” Ms. Post said. “It’s really about thanking the service providers in your life at the end of the year.” This includes hairdressers, dog walkers and housekeepers. If you can afford to be generous, by all means do so, she said. But if your budget is tight, she suggested giving a card or personal note saying you’re sorry you can’t tip this year, but thanking you.