Higher sticker prices have made some people stingier in recent years, a new Bankrate survey finds. “They’re no longer appreciating service industry workers as much.”

People are a little bit stingier in barber chairs and Ubers than they were just a few years ago.

The shares of adults who say they always tip their hair stylists, servers at sit-down restaurants and food delivery people have each fallen 8 percentage points since 2021, according to a Bankrate survey released Wednesday. That rate slipped 7 percentage points for taxi and ride-hail drivers over the same period.

Three years ago, the economy was reopening from the pandemic and inflation was higher than it is now, but so was concern for front-line workers.

At the time, three-quarters of consumers reported always tipping restaurant servers, but today just two-thirds do. Despite modest upticks since last year, barely more than half of people now count themselves reliable tippers of hairdressers (55%) and food delivery drivers (51%), while only 41% say the same when it comes to ordering a ride.

The survey reflects Americans’ growing ease bypassing ubiquitous tipping prompts, from coffeeshops to airport terminals in the post-Covid economy, especially as sticker prices have risen. While consumer spending has held remarkably steady, many households are feeling the squeeze from persistent inflation and tightening their belts accordingly. Some of that newfound caution may be factoring into when, where and how much people tip.

  • Bertuccio@lemmy.world
    203·
    6 months ago

    The cost would not increase. That is not how supply and demand works.

    It is extremely unlikely this has not been explained to you before.

        • EatATaco@lemm.eeEnglish
          3·
          6 months ago

          I agree. Right now with tipping the true cost is obscured. If you take away tipping, the services would just charge more.

        • EatATaco@lemm.eeEnglish
          16·
          6 months ago

          My article certainly does not prove your point. It shows that when companies replaced tipping with high wages, they had to raise the cost of their goods/services. Which is exactly what I said.

          • Bertuccio@lemmy.world
            61·
            6 months ago

            No. It says when they raised their prices according to something other than supply and demand people stopped buying from them.

            Because prices are controlled by supply and demand. Not costs.

            The fact that they also don’t understand that doesn’t mean you do.

      • brygphilomena@lemmy.world
        71·
        6 months ago

        When entrees are all up in the 30s versus in the 20s, it doesn’t matter if [customers] know that you are gratuity-inclusive.

        I tip 10-15%, how are prices so much higher that then jump into the 30s for a meal? Most of my meals our, tip included, don’t hit the $30 threshold. I think that their prices, even accounting for tips included, were off.

        “I think a lot of people don’t see the system as being broken, or anything. And a lot of people love tipping,” he observed. “They feel some kind of power.”

        He thinks people like tipping because they have power? That’s kind of fucked.

        They spend a bunch of time saying that the locations they included tips in payed $5-6 less per hour. How can they even say they ran a location with tips included if they didn’t even match the tipped wages? They overcharged for food and still didn’t pay the staff enough. I’d say that’s a lot of mismanagement rather than a failure of a no-tipping restaurant.

        Here’s another core concept that places don’t seem to understand, if your business cannot make it without underpaying staff then you shouldn’t be in business. Someone else who can manage it will fill your gap in the market or the market will correct itself.