Australians’ tipping habits are not keeping pace with higher menu prices, new research shows, as household costs soar and diners grapple with pandemic-era hospitality charges.
A report by Lightspeed Commerce, using payments platform data, found that the average tip amount dropped in August to 8.1% of a total bill.
This is the lowest amount in four years recorded by the point-of-sale and software company, and the first time it has dropped below 9% since early 2021.
so? Go fuck yourself.
We pay our workers here. A tip is something you give your server in appreciation for good service if you want to. It goes directly to the worker, it shouldn’t be tied into the pricing of the business, that’s a separate arrangement.
The article says that 0.52% of transactions have a tip, and the average tip is 8%.
At 0.52%, it’s a stretch to describe tipping as a ‘habit’. Most of that is probably American tourists or people fat fingering the tip prompt.
I’ll tip the waitress who politely put up with my dad as he makes a racist fool of himself over dinner. She doesn’t deserve that at work, she deserves compensation (and my dad wonders why we only go out once a year)
I’ll tip the barista who managed to pull some tables together and keep track of my 25+ coffee order as I attempted to wrangle all of my students into a Cafe when Melbourne decided to rain on our botanical garden excursion. No one in hospo wants a 25 top coming in unannounced, let alone a group as roudy as my students. They deserve a tip.
I’ll tip the restaurant that took the time to ask me clarifying questions about my allergies and make me something off menu after cleaning down the kitchen for cross contamination. I wasn’t expecting anything more than black coffee because I knew going in, there was nothing on the menu I could eat. It’s my friends favourite restaurant and it’s their birthday so I’m not going to reject the invite. I don’t expect the staff to cater to me, but they do, so I feel a tip is warrented.
Tipping has it’s place, I tip more than most, my friends will often make fun of me for how often I tip (look, I’ll be honest, I do tip a lot because I have allergies and as a customer I know I’m extra work) but the way the Australian service industry is trying to use Americanised tipping culture to compensate for wage theft and stagnated income rates is disgusting.
Ayup. Tipping is a reward, not an expectation. I’ll tip great service, in recompense for a situation I know is a hassle, the usual suspects. I’m not gonna tip for a basic job of serving me shit that you’re already paid to do.
Routine/Daily tips should always only be rounding errors. If a coffee costs $4.50, the coffee shop Tip Jar got 50c. It is there so you can avoid carrying around Silver change. If you need that extra 50c so you can afford your Saturday coffee, you are not obliged to use the Tip Jar. Even if you don’t need that extra 50c there should not be an obligation to tip.