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  • What is going on with tipping culture?

  • A growing number of folks are fed up with tipping.

  • If I have to do something, I'm not tipping.

  • And the endless ways it seems they're being asked to pay extra.

  • Tell me why I just got frozen yogurt, which is self-serve.

  • You do it all yourself.

  • And at the end, there was a tipping screen for what?

  • Even Curb Your Enthusiasm's Larry David is frustrated.

  • I've noticed, like in the little coffee shops, right?

  • If you go in and you get a croissant with a cup of coffee, you know, there's a tip spot, right?

  • And it freaks people out a little bit.

  • And the fatigue is real.

  • A new survey from PopMenu reveals 60% say they're tired of being asked to tip for various services.

  • And nearly the same amount feel pressured to tip.

  • That fatigue is having an impact on the service industry, including restaurants.

  • Fewer consumers now say they tip servers 20% or more.

  • What's on the rise?

  • Tipping less.

  • Nearly a third said they tip as little as 10%.

  • The survey shows people want to tip less and less often.

  • What does that tell you?

  • I mean, that tells me that inflation has really worn us down over the past few years.

  • It tells me that we were extra generous during the COVID years, and we're settling on a new normal.

  • Tipping has been a hot topic on the campaign trail, too.

  • We are going to not charge taxes on tips.

  • Eliminate taxes on tips for service and hospitality workers.

  • And voters in at least two states, Massachusetts and Arizona, will face questions about how to pay tipped workers on the ballot in November.

  • Call me crazy, but unless someone is serving me or seating me somewhere,

  • I just don't feel like tips are necessary.

  • But for many service workers like Devin Ashby, tipping is vital.

  • It really is the difference between people being able to pay their rent, people putting food on their table.

  • She says her base pay is $1.17 at a Mexican restaurant in Nashville, where customers order at the counter and are automatically asked to tip.

  • When you realize that you have to serve yourself, or you see how easy something is done, how you're able just to kind of like walk in and pick up your food, realize it's because real people put work behind it to make it that easy for you.

  • And that's why you should tip.

  • That's a good point.

  • That's probably something a lot of folks don't think about.

  • Christy, if so many people are fed up with tipping, according to that survey, any options, any alternatives?

  • So that survey found that 61% of consumers would rather just pay a higher price.

  • They'd just rather pay higher prices on the menu, and then that would compensate and pay for the wages of the workers, right?

  • They don't want the hassle of the tipping.

  • They just want to pay more.

  • But, you know, some experts say, would they really?

  • They're so fed up with inflation.

  • If you said, OK, we're going to get rid of tips, but we're going to just raise prices, would they really pay?

  • There's some doubt that they would really pay higher menu prices.

  • There are two valid points.

  • Like, if you don't do anything, I get why you don't want to tip.

  • But that girl's making $1.17.

  • She needs tips.

  • That's ridiculous.

  • And also, she needs tips.

  • And I think anyone who's ever worked in the food service industry is like, come on, kill ourselves.

  • And we make very little.

  • One interesting thing about the surveys,

  • I found that right after COVID, we got real generous.

  • We were tipping 40% because we felt so thankful for the people who were doing these jobs.

  • And now, at two years into the inflation story, we're like, OK, now we're a little inflation-weary.

  • And so we're getting back to normal, not necessarily getting cheaper and stingier, but getting back to normal.

  • But don't you also think there's an element of confusion?

  • Like, if you see a service charge, a delivery charge, if you see all of these other charges, it's like, maybe the tip's included.

  • And DC is in the middle of this.

  • They have a five-year plan to move away from tips and put it in the menu prices.

  • So to end tipping, the whole culture in DC, and I think they're two and a half years into it, and there is some confusion.

  • There are service fees on the menus.

  • People walk in, they're like, wait, I don't know.

  • Am I supposed to tip a little bit, a lot?

  • So it would be a real transition to move away from that.

  • I think the technology, too, puts this psychological thing where, like, it used to be the bill you tip.

  • Now it's like, hi, y'all done here?

  • Or do you want to tip me?

  • I know.

  • I'll just be waiting.

  • I call it smoothie shame.

  • You get a smoothie, they turn it around.

  • Everybody in line knows I just put zero.

  • Yeah, I know.

  • Not Christine.

  • All right, thank you.

  • We know who is a generous tipper.

  • Oh, we know.

  • Of course, of course.

  • This man.

  • Daddy Warbucks over here.

  • Those of us who are fortunate enough, let's spread it around a little bit.

  • Slash all day or click the link right here.

What is going on with tipping culture?

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