How much do you tip? How much should you tell a customer? An educator’s guidebook to tipping policies in the U.S.

Leisure and healthcare businesses have always had to hire, but as Americans start eating out more and travel more, they are often able to offer pay increases that are higher than inflation.

Saru Jayaraman, president of One Fair Wage, which advocates to end subminimum wage policies, encourages customers to tip. But tips should never count against service workers’ wages, and customers must demand that businesses pay workers a full wage, she said.

Thetip credit is a unique industry subsidy that lets employers meet pay requirements more cheaply. According to workers, labor lawyers and regulators, it is often abused as an expense in a tight labor market.

“A 10% tip for takeaway food is a really common amount. Lizzie Post said they saw change or a single dollar per order. Asking the worker if there is a suggested tip amount is a great way to find out what you can do.

The worker is standing. Other customers are standing behind, waiting impatiently and looking over your shoulder to see how much you tip. You have to make a decision in seconds. Oh lord, the stress.

Michael Lynn is a professor of consumer behavior and marketing at Cornell University and is one of the leading researchers on US tipping habits.

Adding to the changing dynamics, customers were encouraged to tip generously during the pandemic to help keep restaurants and stores afloat, raising expectations. Data from Square shows that the total tips at full-service restaurants were up 25% compared to the previous quarter, while the tips at quick-service restaurants were up 17 percent.

Customers should approach the touch screen option the same way they would a tip jar, according toiquette experts. When prompted on the screen, leave change or a small cash tip in the jar.

William Scott wrote a 1916 novel, “The Itching Palm,” about tipping in America, and its relation to the relation of master and slave, and argued that it was as undemocratic as a man giving a tip.

A Starbucks employee spoke under the condition of anonymity and stated that someone can afford to tip on a few trips.

After the Civil War, tipping was used to keep down wages of newly-freed slaves in service occupations. Pullman was the most notable for its tipping policies. The railroad company hired thousands of Black porters, but paid them low wages and forced them to rely on tips to make a living.

The gig economy has also changed tipping norms. An MIT study released in 2019 found that customers are less likely to tip when workers have autonomy over whether and when to work. A University of Chicago study found that around 1% of users always tip, while nearly 60 percent never tip.

What makes it confusing, Lynn said, is that “there’s no central authority that establishes tipping norms. They come from the bottom up. Ultimately, it’s what people do that helps establish what other people should do.”