These tips are anything but booming.
Baby Boomers are the worst tippers according to a new survey of over 2,000 Americans, with the generation’s average tip percentage landing at 16.40%, more than two percentage points lower than the national average of 18.85%.
Meanwhile, Millennials tip the most, averaging 19.49%, with Gen Z trailing behind at 19.31%.
“Baby Boomers and the few representatives of the Silent Generation (those born between 1925 and 1945) included in this poll are also the most likely age group to never tip,” the survey authors wrote.
“Data also shows that Millennials are the most reliable tippers, leading in almost every category, especially at restaurants, hotels, and personal services.”
The TradingPedia poll, conducted by MarketsChain, surveyed 2,005 Americans over age 18 about their tipping habits. But, despite the buzz around “tipflation” frustration and “tipping culture” in recent years, only 7% of respondents admitted never tipping in any scenario.
Meanwhile, Delaware — a state notorious for no sales tax and low taxes overall, per the study — was deemed the best-tipping state in the US, with a 21.25% average tip that is higher than what is widely expected.
While Indiana, West Virginia, New Hampshire and Iowa trailed behind, California and Washington had the lowest tips, at 17.4% and 17.51% respectively. New York, however, falls on the lower end of the scale at 18.39%.
But that’s just the tip of the iceberg for these findings.
The tip gap
Men and women have different tipping habits, according to the poll results.
While approximately 78% of men and women respectively tip at sit-down restaurants, more than 57% of women tip for grooming services, such as the hairdresser, compared to about 30% of men.
But the tables turned when it came to other situations.
Approximately 45% of men tip at hotels compared to 39% of women, and more than 44% of men leave a tip for taxis and rideshares while just under 34% of women do.
Tippers can be choosers
While the younger generations were found to be more generous tippers, they are picky as to what services or scenarios they’ll cough up cash for.
At sit-down restaurants, just over 75% of Gen Z diners tip while more than 83% of Millennials leave some cash. Meanwhile, 81% of Gen Xers and a meager 66% of Boomers will leave a gratuity.
From there, the number of people in each age group who left a tip dwindled, despite Millennials proving to be the best tippers in each category.
At fast food eateries, over 67% of Millennials said they’d leave a tip compared to approximately 57% of Boomers, while more than 47% of Millennials gave gratuity at grooming services like the hair salon or barber compared to approximately 38% of Boomers and an estimated 37% of Gen Xers.
But at coffee shops, Boomers and Millennials were neck-in-neck, with over 52% and 53% tipping respectively.
While Boomers over the age of 61 were less likely to tip on taxis, takeout and food delivery, they were more likely than all other age groups to tip on furniture deliveries and at the grocery store.
Why do people tip?
More than half of the people polled said that the tip is dependent on the quality of service rather than thinking about the livelihood of the service worker, their own wallet or societal pressure.
“Determining how much to tip can be confusing for many customers, who may worry about insulting the server by giving too little or wonder if their tip is excessively generous,” the survey authors wrote.
Just over 57% of people agreed that the quality of the services and “the staff’s attitude and professionalism” influence how much to tip — if at all.
More than 13% of people said they tip because it is what is “expected” of them, “even if they feel it is undeserved,” while 21% of respondents said they “take into account how much the tip will cost them,” especially with the high cost of living.
Lastly, only 7% of people said they take workers’ wages into account when tipping.
Tipping prompts: fantastic or frustrating?
The researchers also explored whether the introduction of tipping prompts on kiosks at the till affect how much customers tip, if at all.
Approximately 66% of survey participants said they dislike automatic tipping prompts, while another 16% said they begrudgingly follow the prompt anyway, a phenomenon dubbed “guilt-tipping.”
Only 12% of people said they didn’t mind the tip prompts and left a tip for the suggested amount, per the survey results, and roughly 5% of people actually said it is “convenient.”
“Despite the increased prevalence of tipping prompts, there is evidence of ‘tip fatigue’ among consumers,” the authors noted.
“Experts attribute this decline to consumers feeling overwhelmed by frequent tipping requests, especially amid rising living costs.”
