# Tipping - a primer for a US tourist **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Tags:** vacation-travel\ **Created:** [May 22, 2023, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-a-primer-for-a-us-tourist/984444 "2023-05-22T22:58:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2023, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-a-primer-for-a-us-tourist/984444/81 "2023-05-24T15:31:13Z")
Excuse me if this has already been alluded to, but server income in the U.S. is heavily influenced by location and type of restaurant. Servers in a big-city upscale restaurant tend to make much higher incomes than counterparts in small town places who’ll really appreciate decent tips. I don’t get much of the resentment about tipping from visitors to the U.S. Your own countries’ pricing builds in higher basic wages (a better system in my opinion), but it tends to even out in places where tipping is customary. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2023, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-a-primer-for-a-us-tourist/984444/82 "2023-06-01T21:56:11Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > You can also tip your driver or your guides if you think they did an excellent job or went above and beyond. For example a bus driver who closes the door and about to take-off but then sees you coming and stops the bus and let’s you on and grabs your bags too, that’s definitely above and beyond and worth $2-3. For a regular city bus? I’ve never seen anyone tipping the driver in that situation. I have not tipped on intercity buses either. On a tour bus, yeah. Fast food: I’ll occasionally throw a dollar in the tip jar if it’s a place I like to go to regularly - or if I am paying with cash and have just a little bit back in change. I’ve gotten more generous with tips since COVID, since many in the service economy were badly hurt. If I do curbside baggage check at the airport, I’ll tip the attendant a dollar or two per bag. Ditto if I need to leave my bags at a hotel during the day (checking out in the morning, but still going to be spending the day nearby). If you have food delivered, tipping is expected there, too. You are usually presented with the option of adding a tip at the time you place the order - which is convenient, but also means you can’t adjust the amounts if the service is especially good or bad. Some wait staff might prefer cash tips even if you’re paying by credit card. They are SUPPOSED to track such tips, and report them as income for tax purposes, but I suspect that many do not do so. ---
**Author:** ![Orville\_mogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/aeb1de/32.png) [@Orville\_mogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orville_mogul)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2023, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-a-primer-for-a-us-tourist/984444/83 "2023-06-02T10:27:13Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > At one time it was ten percent, then twelve, then 15, and now about 18 percent. Some places look down their noses at you if you tip below 20 percent. When I was in the US a couple of months ago, several times the options on the payment screen were 25%, 30%, 35%, and Other. Needless to say I chose other. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2023, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-a-primer-for-a-us-tourist/984444/84 "2023-06-02T11:14:39Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > I don’t get much of the resentment about tipping from visitors to the U.S. Your own countries’ pricing builds in higher basic wages (a better system in my opinion), but it tends to even out in places where tipping is customary. There is a strong link between corruption and tipping in a nation’s culture. US tipping culture is another symptom of how deeply broken American society is, but refusing to participate punishes those in need. > **[Here's-a-Tip\_Torfason,Flynn,Kupor-Tipping-and-Bribery-6-6-12-SPPS.pdf](https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/9491448/Here's-a-Tip_Torfason,Flynn,Kupor-Tipping-and-Bribery-6-6-12-SPPS.pdf)** > > 607.14 KB ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2023, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-a-primer-for-a-us-tourist/984444/85 "2023-06-02T13:01:58Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > There is a strong link between corruption and tipping in a nation’s culture. US tipping culture is another symptom of how deeply broken American society is… There is a correlation between having big feet and being tall. Having established that statistical correlation, would you suggest that someone who meets me looks at my feet to try to determine whether I am tall? The study you linked about the correlation between tipping and bribery is interesting, but it is silly to use that general statistical correlation in order to claim that the U.S. specifically is corrupt when we can observe directly whether the U.S. is corrupt **using the same index that the study uses to establish the correlation**. > **[Corruption Perceptions Index](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption_Perceptions_Index)** > > The Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) is an index published annually by Transparency International, a German registered association, since 1995. It scores and ranks countries by their perceived levels of public sector corruption, as assessed by experts and business executives. The CPI generally defines corruption as an "abuse of entrusted power for private gain".: 2  > From 1995 to 2011, the index was scored on a scale of 10 to 0. Since 2012, the Corruption Perceptions Index has been ranked on... If you think the U.S. is corrupt, all I can say is that you have never visited anywhere with serious corruption. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2023, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-a-primer-for-a-us-tourist/984444/86 "2023-06-02T13:59:21Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > I don’t get much of the resentment about tipping from visitors to the U.S. I think it’s a combination of (A) visitors being in a lot more tip-worthy situations per day than the average US resident and (B) unfamiliarity with tips leading people to etiquette guidance that assumes everyone ought to be a 99th percentile tipper who hands out money left and right in every interaction. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2023, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-a-primer-for-a-us-tourist/984444/87 "2023-06-02T14:05:05Z")
“My tourist theory. Any Ohioan crossing the state line into Florida should be fitted with a metal box that rests against the small of the back. Every ninety seconds a bell rings and a dollar bill emerges part way from a slot in the top of the box. The nearest native removes it. That would take care of the tipping problem. At places where hundreds of them flock together, the ringing of the bells would be continuous.” - Travis McGee, in _The Deep Blue Good-Bye_ ---
**Author:** ![FinsToTheLeft](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finstotheleft/32/2930_2.png) [@FinsToTheLeft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinsToTheLeft)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2023, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-a-primer-for-a-us-tourist/984444/88 "2023-06-02T14:20:24Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > You are usually presented with the option of adding a tip at the time you place the order - which is convenient, but also means you can’t adjust the amounts if the service is especially good or bad. Many of the delivery services, like Uber Eats, allows you to change the tip post-delivery. This has actually coined a new term, Tip Baiting, where the customer promises a large tip and then changes it to a more reasonable or no tip afterwards. [Uber Eats Tip Baiting - What Is It And What To Do About It? - Financial Panther](https://financialpanther.com/uber-eats-tip-baiting/) ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2023, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-a-primer-for-a-us-tourist/984444/89 "2023-06-02T14:23:07Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > If you think the U.S. is corrupt, all I can say is that you have never visited anywhere with serious corruption. I grew up in Pakistan and have lived in the US for most of the last 35 years but have worked in six other countries in Asia and Europe. I have worked for companies that have major operations in dozens of countries (if not 100+) my entire career. Compared to Canada, Japan, UK, France, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark, the US is much more corrupt in my experience. Compared to Southeastern Europe is a different matter. Just to give one example of police corruption. In Pakistan the cop will just stop you and demand a bribe, otherwise he will cite you, boot your car, whatever. In the US we had the police come to our facilities, declare that there was a security situation, and then bill us for tens of thousands of hours of police overtime. Most of which was never worked, and almost none of which was requested by us. Both seem equally corrupt to me. One is just dressed up in fancier clothes. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2023, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-a-primer-for-a-us-tourist/984444/90 "2023-06-02T14:38:09Z")
> [@Mighty\_Mouse](#): > > Compared to Canada, Japan, UK, France, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark, the US is much more corrupt in my experience. Anecdotes aside, the carefully researched corruption index that I linked (the principal reservation would be that it only measures public sector corruption) places the U.S. about 5 points (on a 100-point scale) below Canada, Japan and the average for developed Europe, and well within the range of variation among developed European countries. It is not accurate to describe that as _much_ more corrupt. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2023, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-a-primer-for-a-us-tourist/984444/91 "2023-06-02T15:10:39Z")
> [@FinsToTheLeft](#): > > Many of the delivery services, like Uber Eats, allows you to change the tip post-delivery. This has actually coined a new term, Tip Baiting, where the customer promises a large tip and then changes it to a more reasonable or no tip afterwards. This is a truly fucked-up arrangement. I wonder if it would hold up in a class action against Uber Eats. So the driver sees a total payout from the app beforehand (the tip is not even broken out separately) and chooses to accept the delivery job based on that payout. That doesn’t seem to me to have the characteristics of a tip, it’s more like a combination of the customer and Uber Eats are proposing a price for a delivery contract. It’s seems wrong to me that a proposed and accepted price can be reduced unless the driver failed to complete the contract in some way (delivered the wrong food, took longer than some specified window). ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2023, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-a-primer-for-a-us-tourist/984444/92 "2023-06-02T15:59:52Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > If you think the U.S. is corrupt, all I can say is that you have never visited anywhere with serious corruption. I was responding to this: If you think the U.S. is corrupt, all I can say is that you have never visited anywhere with serious corruption. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2023, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-a-primer-for-a-us-tourist/984444/93 "2023-06-02T16:50:37Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > If you think the U.S. is corrupt, all I can say is that you have never visited anywhere with serious corruption. I have over 25 years as a foreign aid worker, having worked in over 30 countries. I think that the US ranks very high in the list of corrupt nations I have spent time in. Tipping culture exists because employers are able to provide less than a living wage and they are able to do that because they are able to buy politicians to make it so. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2023, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-a-primer-for-a-us-tourist/984444/94 "2023-06-02T16:57:10Z")
> [@Mighty\_Mouse](#): > > Both seem equally corrupt to me. One is just dressed up in fancier clothes. This. American corruption is codified, which I would argue is worse because it gives people the fig leaf to deny reality. American corruption is legal, hence our tipping culture. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2023, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-a-primer-for-a-us-tourist/984444/95 "2023-06-02T16:59:56Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > Tipping culture exists because employers are able to provide less than a living wage and they are able to do that because they are able to buy politicians to make it so. This is accurate, but not what I think of when people complain about corruption. Cops, building inspectors, judges, etc., taking bribes is what I think of. I think that’s rare in the US. But, of course, our political system is corrupted by money and power. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2023, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-a-primer-for-a-us-tourist/984444/96 "2023-06-02T17:02:32Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > This is a truly fucked-up arrangement. I wonder if it would hold up in a class action against Uber Eats. I’d think in order to get anywhere with such a case someone would have to thrash out what is actually meant by a “tip”. If it is truly discretionary and dependent on the service you get then altering it _after_ you’re received that service seems perfectly fine. If it is really just an agreed part of the contract price then it isn’t really a “tip” in any sense I’d recognise. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2023, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-a-primer-for-a-us-tourist/984444/97 "2023-06-02T17:09:49Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > Tipping culture exists because employers are able to provide less than a living wage and they are able to do that because they are able to buy politicians to make it so. No, restaurant owners are not achieving some windfall profit in a tipping culture. In free market economies, pricing is controlled by competition. The same competitive forces apply whether a server is paid direct by the customer in the form of a tip, as opposed to higher menu prices and wages. What’s important for market forces and competition to operate is _transparency_ of pricing, so that consumers can compare like with like. When their is a clear upfront understanding that the total cost at _all_ restaurants includes some add-on like a tip, there is no transparency issue. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2023, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-a-primer-for-a-us-tourist/984444/98 "2023-06-02T19:57:51Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > For example a bus driver who closes the door and about to take-off but then sees you coming and stops the bus and let’s you on and grabs your bags too, that’s definitely above and beyond and worth $2-3 That’s bizarre. Tipping a bus driver? I’ve never heard of such a thing. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2023, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-a-primer-for-a-us-tourist/984444/99 "2023-06-02T20:10:41Z")
That is certainly a type of corruption, but so to us our systemic racism, gerrymandering and corporate culture. The fact that we don’t see it for what it is: control of public resources by an aristocracy, is because we have been raised in a deeply corrupt culture. A South African friend of mine says that the biggest mistake white South Africans made was giving a name to apartheid, they should have just done what America did and they’d still be in power today. Bringing it back to the tipping culture in America, the person needing the tip probably doesn’t have health insurance. They probably can’t afford to take a sick day and they probably will never own a home. That’s corruption. The fact that people vociferously defend it means that it’s entrench corruption ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2023, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-a-primer-for-a-us-tourist/984444/100 "2023-06-02T20:39:57Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > If you are buying something _at a counter_ (food or otherwise) they will now very often take your credit card, then turn around a touchscreen to face you with suggested tip amounts. This is recent and basically bullshit, I always smile and hit “no tip” unless someone did something significantly more than just take my money at the till for a purchase. In places liek that, they often have a tip jar, so I put a buck or my change in there. According to my Down Under friends, that is the only common type of tipping done, like you buy a beer, you just dont pick up the coins or if the change amount is small you might even leave a bill and the coins. > [@Chefguy](#): > > I don’t tip anyone outside of restaurant staff. I guess then you dont frequent bars? Because tipping is almost required in a bar. > [@Chefguy](#): > > If you under-tip, nothing will happen other than you’ll have more money in the bank when all is said and done. If you are rude to your server nothing will happen other than you’ll be a rude jerk when all is said and done. > [@Munch](#): > > Coffee baristas get tipped. > Hair/nail salon workers get tips. > Masseuses get tips. From me- a buck in the jar. $5 from me, but I dont get expensive hair cuts. Yep. > [@Riemann](#): > > Absolutely - you should feel no compunction about undertipping from the baseline or not tipping at all if service was terrible. Y Yes. If Service is bad. But if the food is the issue, talk to your server or the manager, dont under tip for bad food unless the server wont do anything about it. > [@bobot](#): > > People who bring you food and drink while you just sit there get tipped. People who take your order then bring you food and drink while you just sit there get tipped, and likely 20%. If you order at the register, then a small tip for the server is nice, but not 20%, unless the service is fanfuckingtastic. Delivery drivers do get a tip. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-a-primer-for-a-us-tourist/984444.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-a-primer-for-a-us-tourist/984444.md?page=6)