Ask a Yank (non political questions) thread.

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

The US also has the insane tipping culture (I won’t start ranting again about it), which must add thousands of dollars onto an average US family’s yearly budget..we don’t have that to factor in to our budget over here.

I myself disagree with the poster who responded to you but also disagree with you too . The amount of people that are tipped these days is quite a lot and much more varied than pre-pandemic so even some counter service places that never had tips can expect them. But the other part of the equation is the pricing of food which has also gone up with some even having surcharges for ingredients like some restaurants have done for eggs. So it's kinda gone hand in hand. Whether it's thousands..that's the part I would disagree with but would agree with you that there's fatigue around all the opportunities we have now where tipping is expected.

However, just speaking towards my own personal situation the greatest impact to our budget has been the sales tax on groceries. In my state we would pay the same tax rate on groceries as normal sales tax and in my area that varies from 9.3/9.4% at the lowest to more than 11% (right around my house is nearly 9.5% to 10.5% the higher due to a special tax district for the shopping center).

Several years ago we finally after years of politician promising got a reduction in the STATE portion of the sales tax charged. It was gradually reduced from 6.5% to now 0% which that 0% started January 1st of this year.

We still pay sales tax for the county, city and special tax district if it applies but on the groceries that count (which there are still a lot of exemptions where you'll still pay the normal sales tax rate) it's had the biggest impact to our budget. I had a receipt from the end of December and the beginning of January and the difference was more than $50 less on the January receipt just for grocery purchasing when the subtotals were close enough to each other to be used as a comparison and the sole reason was the total sales tax being charged was significantly less. This was also shopping at Walmart where the pricing for items is the lowest I can get outside of some particular items over at ALDI. That over the course of the year would amount to thousands of dollars for the average family.

 

[lanejudy]

I myself disagree with the poster who responded to you but also disagree with you too . The amount of people that are tipped these days is quite a lot and much more varied than pre-pandemic so even some counter service places that never had tips can expect them. But the other part of the equation is the pricing of food which has also gone up with some even having surcharges for ingredients like some restaurants have done for eggs. So it's kinda gone hand in hand.

I don't tip at counter service. They can put out all the jars they want and even make me click "no tip" on the payment screen, but they aren't paid a tipped wage and have done nothing extra for me. The only exception is occasionally at the creemee stand I'll toss my change into the "college fund" jar (largely because the girls who work there are very friendly with DD).

But yes food costs have increased, which increases the overall bill and the tip. We ate out -- or did take-out -- a lot more during the pandemic. Nowadays it's back to our usual habits and we simply don't eat out a lot. The overall cost of dining out is part of the budget but tipping is a small portion. Maybe all told less than $200 per year is paid out in tips. Definitely not "thousands."

I don't know what other people you tip on a regular basis. I don't have a lawn service or housekeeper, don't order local delivery, nobody helps carry my groceries to the car, nobody pumps my gas (except maybe DH) or cleans my windshield for me, I rarely see the delivery driver who drops off packages on the front steps (not even on the porch) and no tip to the mailman. I don't tip my hairdresser because she owns the salon. I don't take taxi's and ride share is virtually non-existent here. We don't travel much so bellhops, etc. aren't a regular occurrence though I will tip when we do travel. I'm drawing a blank on who else you might tip on a day-to-day basis.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I don't tip at counter service. They can put out all the jars they want and even make me click "no tip" on the payment screen, but they aren't paid a tipped wage and have done nothing extra for me. The only exception is occasionally at the creemee stand I'll toss my change into the "college fund" jar (largely because the girls who work there are very friendly with DD).

But yes food costs have increased, which increases the overall bill and the tip. We ate out -- or did take-out -- a lot more during the pandemic. Nowadays it's back to our usual habits and we simply don't eat out a lot. The overall cost of dining out is part of the budget but tipping is a small portion. Maybe all told less than $200 per year is paid out in tips. Definitely not "thousands."

I don't know what other people you tip on a regular basis. I don't have a lawn service or housekeeper, don't order local delivery, nobody helps carry my groceries to the car, nobody pumps my gas (except maybe DH) or cleans my windshield for me, I rarely see the delivery driver who drops off packages on the front steps (not even on the porch) and no tip to the mailman. I don't tip my hairdresser because she owns the salon. I don't take taxi's and ride share is virtually non-existent here. We don't travel much so bellhops, etc. aren't a regular occurrence though I will tip when we do travel. I'm drawing a blank on who else you might tip on a day-to-day basis.

I don't tip at counter service really either but what I said is that you have some counter service places that now expect tips that never had them. Businesses have added tip options to their screens that didn't before you're even getting some contractors or repair people asking for tips normally via the screen when you're doing payment. There is a HUGE pressure to tip, that has absolutely led to people feeling the need to tip at places they never did before because they are now asking for tips when they didn't before along with the tip minimum percentage on screens has increased quite a lot during/since the pandemic. Whether you or I personally tip is our own choice but there is no doubt that the sheer volume of situations one can find themselves being asked to tip has increased dramatically over the most recent years and for people that has impacted their budgets, to the extent the poster was saying? No like I said I doubt that it's thousands.

The poster isn't wrong in their impression about the tipping culture here in the U.S. but they do have an impression of the impact that is unlikely to be the case for the vast majority of us.

 

[lanejudy]

Businesses have added tip options to their screens that didn't before you're even getting some contractors or repair people asking for tips normally via the screen when you're doing payment. There is a HUGE pressure to tip, that has absolutely led to people feeling the need to tip at places they never did before because they are now asking for tips when they didn't before along with the tip minimum percentage on screens has increased quite a lot during/since the pandemic.

I don't find that "pressure to tip" because those positions don't really require a tip. Just because someone puts their hand out doesn't make me feel pressured. Regardless of what the payment screen suggests, people are not necessarily tipping. I live in a blue collar community and can guarantee you the trades people, contractors, appliance repair person, mechanics, etc. are not receiving tips from most customers. It's posts like this that give foreigners the impression that tipping is so mainstream in the US. It's simply not true.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I don't find that "pressure to tip" because those positions don't really require a tip. Just because someone puts their hand out doesn't make me feel pressured. Regardless of what the payment screen suggests, people are not necessarily tipping. I live in a blue collar community and can guarantee you the trades people, contractors, appliance repair person, mechanics, etc. are not receiving tips from most customers. It's posts like this that give foreigners the impression that tipping is so mainstream in the US. It's simply not true.

Right but I'm speaking towards en masse. I can tell you what I personally do but that doesn't refute the plethora of articles and stories people have told on this subject. I am not nor have I been a person who caves to peer pressure but observationally can say even I have noticed the tip screens and listened to and heard others describe their experiences. So yes of course for you it doesn't seem to impact you much (nor me for the most part) but there's true basis in the PP's across the pond observation. By your writing it doesn't seem as if you are doing experiences where you would encounter what others are encountering, it doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

 

[Buzz Rules]

There is never an obligation to tip anyone. I don't care what their job is or what the company pays them. Everyone is expected to do their job well. Period.

 

[steve_rob]

As a Brit who has just come back from the States the other week (not Florida, but still semi-Disney related as we did go to Hilton Head as well as New York), I definitely did notice the increase in the amount of places asking for tips that would not have previously.

Also noticed the increase in the "standard" tip - e.g. if you pay by card, the options you can click on for a pre-set tip were typically 18% / 20% / 22% (plus a Custom option as well of course), whereas in the past that always read 15% / 18% / 20%. The same went for when they bring you the check that has the "suggested tips" bit typed at the bottom - one place had the lowest of their three options down as 20%!

 

[lanejudy]

Right but I'm speaking towards en masse. I can tell you what I personally do but that doesn't refute the plethora of articles and stories people have told on this subject. I am not nor have I been a person who caves to peer pressure but observationally can say even I have noticed the tip screens and listened to and heard others describe their experiences. So yes of course for you it doesn't seem to impact you much (nor me for the most part) but there's true basis in the PP's across the pond observation. By your writing it doesn't seem as if you are doing experiences where you would encounter what others are encountering, it doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

My point is that the media makes it seem as though tipping is done much more than it really is. I'm not talking what you personally do, I'm talking about the fact that posts like this added to social media and to some extent mainstream media reports blow it out of proportion. It's simply not happening regardless of the fact that the electronic screens give everyone the option to tip for almost everything. Your writing it doesn't mean it's common or expected.