Nearly 9 in 10 Americans Are Fed Up With Tipping, According To a New Survey

Food & Wine ^ | Mar 20, 2025 | Nicolette Baker

[Svartalfiar]

I don’t like having to provide a tip prior to receiving food or services.

If you pay first, I generally don't add tip. Unless it's a place I go to regularly, then I'll normally add a dollar or two.

[Svartalfiar]

Maybe it depends on where you live, but 20% is considered standard for tipping now, and has been for about 10-15 years.

Everywhere I know, standard's been 15% for a long time. Though most still aren't sure how it changed from 10%...

[Svartalfiar]

The big problem with tipping nowadays is that the base price is so high. Burger joints now charge $11, $12, $15 for a burger. Fries are $5 more. Plus $3-4 for the large sweet tea. Entire meal is $20 before tax or tip, when five years ago it was $8-10 for the whole meal. Regular beers like Shiner used to be $3-4, maybe $2 on happy hour. Now it’s $6-7 most places.

When meal prices have doubled or more, suddenly you’re spending a lot more on the tip also, and that’s the big thing I think that hurts. On top of idiots like this author thinking the standard 10, maybe 15% tip is now suddenly 20% as a minimum tip....