Tip Creep
If you’ve ordered a sandwich or coffee recently, you were probably faced with the question of whether or not to tip. Your order is in, you’ve swiped your card, and your barista flips a tablet displaying a slick graphical interface with “a few questions.” There are customers in line behind you, your barista is waiting, and you’ve got to make up your mind: 20%, 15%, or nothing at all?
Recently, a number of articles have been published lamenting the phenomenon of “tip-flation.” More businesses than ever seem to be asking for larger and larger tips, and critics worry that American tipping culture—once confined to sit- down restaurants and countertop jars—is spilling over into places it does not belong. Tipping is standardly used to compensate employees who make less than a living wage. Waiters, waitresses, and bartenders often have exemptions from minimum wage laws, and tips make up for the difference between their low hourly wages and take-home pay.
Despite the long-standing customs surrounding who to tip, businesses have recently started soliciting tips for employees who make regular hourly wages as well. Customers report being prompted to tip cashiers, mechanics, and online vendors. In some cases, it isn’t even clear which employee (if any) will be the recipient of customers’ generosity.
Although tipping is fully optional, some customers also take exception to what they see as emotionally manipulative presentation of their options when it comes time to leave a tip. The digital interfaces on payment machines often suggest relatively large tips as a default, and customers looking to leave less than the recommended amounts (which often run up to 25% of the total bill) need to navigate additional menus. Even these relatively small design choices can “nudge” customers in the direction of larger gratuities, and opponents of “tip-flation” claim that these nudges are objectionably manipulative. Moreover, customers are often asked to decide how much to tip by the employees who receive the money, and some worry that this puts social pressures on consumers who would otherwise decline.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Do we have a moral obligation to tip service employees whose wages are set with tips in mind? Do we have a similar obligation to employees who make regular hourly wages?
Are payment interfaces that suggest large tip amounts by default objectionably manipulative?
Is a system of compensation that relies on tips unjust? Why or why not?
References
[1] NPR, “The driving forces behind ‘tip-flation'"
[2] NBC, “Prodded everywhere to tip, Americans often say no”
[3] Vox ReCode, “Everyone wants a tip now. Do you have to give them one?”
EXPLORE MORE CONTEXT
Article
Article