Should You Tip on Takeout or Coffee Orders? Here’s When It’s Okay to Skip

• Certain individuals are encountering " tipping fatigue" as more businesses request tips For additional products and services.
• However, customers are resisting this trend, despite some employees stating that they now depend on tips more than before.
• Is it alright to just do this? not In certain situations—despite being prompted to do so—here’s what the experts advise.

Tipping culture appears to be spreading everywhere you look — and some customers are sick of it, wondering when it's OK to simply not tip.

After all, these days, when you make a purchase at a coffee shop, convenience store, or even a self-checkout kiosk , you could receive a prompt on the checkout screen asking for a tip.

While some customers might be disregarding these instructions due to tip-induced exhaustion Others may simply be curious about the unwritten rules that have emerged recently.

Their frustration is clear: Roughly 59% of US adults have a negative view of tipping (a decrease from 66% in 2023) and more than one in three think tipping culture has gotten out of control, according to a Bankrate survey from June.

"People are now expected to leave gratuities in situations where such contributions were not typically required before, and also to increase their usual tip amount for roles where tipping is customary—this perceived social pressure is what frustrates many individuals," explained the tipping specialist. Michael Lynn , who serves as a professor of consumer behavior and marketing at the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration.

Business Insider consulted tipping and etiquette specialists to determine precisely when you can skip a gratuity without committing a social blunder.

Consider it a recommendation, not a requirement.

During the pandemic, people began tipping more kindly, setting a new standard for worker expectations regarding tip earnings. As society adapts to the post-pandemic era, many companies continue to depend on gratuities to enhance their employees' paychecks.

The widespread presence of checkout stations featuring tip suggestions also stems from this. increasing number of companies that have implemented retail-oriented checkout technologies , similar to Toast or Square, over the past few years.

Thomas Farley, a New York-based manners consultant referred to as Mister Manners said to Business Insider that these elements do not automatically mean that customers ought to increase their tips.

"Even though the display during these point-of-purchase or over-the-counter transactions offers you this recommendation, consider it simply as a suggestion rather than something obligatory," Farley stated.

You have the option to bypass adding a tip when using self-checkout kiosks...

We understand the importance of tipping for services we get, but how should we handle situations where we’re the ones offering the service?

What truly astonishes me is that individuals are now expected to tip for using self-service kiosks and check-out lanes," Lynn stated. "This is the aspect that shocks me the most since it’s uncertain as to whom these tips are going.

If you're scanning your own purchases, there's no need to tip him adds.

... and avoid tipping for takeout and counter service, such as with coffee.

If you're collecting your own meal, you might as well omit the tip as well. Of course, food delivery differs when it comes to gratuities. .)

"If you don't want to leave a tip for your takeout order, it's just sitting there on the counter and you grab it, you've already paid for it and you're out, you're just going to grab it and go," said etiquette expert Avery Johnson of The Southern Academy of Etiquette. Still, she notes you can tip 10% or more on carryout if you had special requests, like extras, for example.

Lynn similarly omits tipping when ordering takeout, as well as in scenarios where she orders at the counter, such as grabbing a cold brew and a pastry from a café.

There's no need to feel obligated to leave a tip for a sweatshirt you recently purchased.

The guidelines for tipping etiquette can become somewhat unclear when tips automatically appear as suggestions during retail transactions, according to Farley.

Pretend you secured tickets to catch the year's grandest musical event , and you decide to purchase a $100 sweatshirt as a memento of the event. You head over to the merchandise booth where the attendant has to use a pole to retrieve the sweatshirt you chose from an overhead display. As you proceed to pay at the checkout, the screen asks you whether you’d like to add a tip to your payment.

Customers who have never previously tipped for this kind of service might question whether they should add an extra amount now.

Farley mentioned that in such situations, customers are not supposed to leave tips. He explained, "Even when someone offers a smile and provides excellent service, making for an agreeable interaction, tipping remains optional."

... or a tip on a meal for which you've already covered the gratuity.

Farley mentioned that the most surprising tip request he has ever encountered was at a sit-down eatery where the menu clearly stated that an automatic service charge of 20 percent would be added to the total bill.

When the server handed Farley the final bill, though, he was hit with a prompt for another 20% tip by the card reader.

"I was very confused," Farley said. When he asked the waiter why there was a second charge, he said the server told him the 20% gratuity charge was for the whole staff to split, but 20% prompt on the card reader was specifically for his service that night.

"The service was not 40% service, the service was 20% service, but I was stuck into paying 40%," Farley said.

If you're worried you might find yourself in this situation, Farley said you can ask the restaurant to waive the initial gratuity fee. "If you feel strongly about it, and you feel that burden shouldn't be on you, restaurant owners that I've encountered, and have read interviews with, will say that for any consumers that push back and request that that charge be removed, they will comply."

Otherwise, he suggested "do your homework" on a restaurant's tipping policy, so you can avoid a potentially awkward encounter.

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