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Tipping culture is out of control. Everyone wants a tip now. And don't get me wrong, I'm all for tipping and tipping generously where it applies. But really, guys, we're tipping at the self-service kiosk at Shake Shack. Adding 30% gratuity to your crumble bill because a 17-year-old put cookies in a box? It's out of hand.
A columnist for the Seattle Times has even gone as far as calling tipping culture psychological warfare. Now, I don't know if I'd go that far, but I know pretty much all of us can resonate with the moment the iPad spins around and the cashier says, it's just going to ask you a few questions. Like you don't know what questions it's going to ask. Your hair looks nice today.
I like your glasses. You're not getting the tip. Enough is enough. And that's why today we're talking about when to tip, how much to tip, and when you can skip the tip altogether guilt-free. More on that right after I give you a tip, which is if you hit that like and subscribe button, you tell Uncle YouTube you want more content like this, which gets you more of what you like and less of what you don't. These sound like good ideas. Why wouldn't we like them?
And that tip, my friends, cost you $0. And because it costs you nothing, hit the share button while you're at it, okay? How are you gonna tip the crumble guy but not share with a friend? This is a free show. First, let's talk about the data. According to a recent survey done by Ramsey Solutions, seven out of 10 people say that tipping is out of control in the US, and eight out of 10 people say that tipping requests are on the rise. Two out of three people say they feel pressure to tip in places where they don't feel it's even necessary.
What kind of places, you might ask? Well, places like drive-thrus, your mortgage broker, online retailers selling office chairs. These are all real things. So if people are generally not feeling how often goods and services are saying, give me more, why are businesses still doing it? Well, the truth is because
because it works. A while back, researchers at Iowa State did a study on that suggested tip screen we all love so much. And here's what they found out. It increased someone's chances of tipping by 38%. And that was back in 2015. I'd be willing to bet that percentage is way higher now. Now, I'm fully aware of the living wage argument that people in these jobs aren't paid enough, so we should tip them to cover that. But think about this. Why is it your job to subsidize their salary?
Let's put the heat on the business owners to pay fairly, not on the customer. Or if you're a business owner, roll those into the prices of the product and the service instead of putting it on us to do that through a tip. Now, if you're in a job where you're not paid fairly, regardless of the tips you make,
please leave, go somewhere else where you're paid more and you get paid what you're worth. And eventually employers will realize they need to pay more fairly because otherwise the tipping craziness is only gonna get crazier. And I honestly think it's gonna cost us in the long run. People will get so sick of tipping asks
the pendulum will swing the other way. And the more they have to say no to tipping asks, the more people will get comfortable with it. Like ignoring solicitors at your front door or strangers in the street. - I don't know why you trying to act like you don't hear me. I know you can hear me, your windows is down. - And all of that will make people less generous, not more generous. And anyway, the fact remains, not everything really deserves a tip. So if you felt that awkward tension of the tip or not to tip, here are the rules that I follow starting with situations where I don't think a tip is required.
Probably not going to happen.
Tipping the tooth fairy for snatching my pearly whites from under the pillow. No, tooth fairy. That's breaking and entering. You're not getting a tip for that. Listen, I know I'm getting ridiculous, but you have to be clear about your boundaries, people. Otherwise, it's going to continue to get out of control. Okay, now that we got that out of the way, let's talk about how to calculate a tip. I'm afraid we need to use...
Math. Because if you're gonna tip a percentage of the bill, say 20%, that involves math. And for a lot of people, solving a math equation is equivalent to walking through the valley of the shadow of death and you take a look at your life and you realize there's nothing left. So let's make this easy. I'm gonna teach you an easy way to calculate a tip. Number one, figure out the percentage you wanna tip. Let's say 20%. Then either hit the percent button on your calculator or move the decimal point over two places to the left, 0.20. Then multiply that number by the total bill.
Ta-da! That's how much you should tip. So here's an example. Let's say your total at the local Chili's is 28 bucks. Your server did an outstanding job to make sure you never saw the bottom of those bottomless chips. So you decided to tip 20%. Move the decimal place over to the left, 0.20, multiply by 28. Boom, you've got your tip.
560. You can do the same for any other percentage, whether it's 15%, 20%, or 25%. Or if that's too complicated, no shame, broski, just do the old splitski. Put a decimal in the middle of that $28 total bill, 2.8, and then multiply that by two. That's 20%. 560. Boom. Boom. Roasted.
And since we now know how to calculate our tips, let's talk about the 12 situations where I do tip and how much starting with servers. For a server at a restaurant, you should really tip 20%. Most servers are making around two bucks per hour. And so they're counting on those tips to make ends meet. It's part of their planned compensation. I don't make the rules, that's just the way it goes. And if I'm feeling generous or they did an amazing job, sometimes I'll give even more. Now, if I get really bad service, I may knock that 20% down to 15 and that's okay. But you should never completely skip
You don't know what's going on in their day. You don't even know if it was their fault. We don't know what's happening. Give them the benefit of the doubt and just be generous. It'll make their day. Takeout. Okay, this one is tricky. I don't think you should feel pressure to leave a tip when you pick up your chicken tendy dinny from O'Charlie's.
But it's a nice gesture to leave the workers a little something something because they did pack the meal, make sure your order was right, bag it up and get it to you at the front. So one or two bucks is what I would do. If it's a bigger order, a group order, they went above and beyond, 10% is a nice thing to do. Restaurant delivery.
Absolutely tip here. After all, someone had to drive that rusty Kia Soul to your house and bring you that piping hot pizza or sub to your doorstep. And without them, you'd probably be eating like a two-month-old cheese stick and some cookie dough for dinner from the back of your fridge. And you might be thinking, well, George, they're already charging a delivery fee. Yeah, that doesn't go to the person delivering your food. So be generous and give them 10 to 20% for making the trip to get it to your doorstep. Bartenders, tip.
especially if the drink requires mixing, muddling, misting, mulling, garnishing, groveling, grappling, straining, shaking, and stirring. A
A dollar or two per drink is perfectly fine tip etiquette here. Valets. You should absolutely tip a few bucks, even if the valet service is free. I mean, have you seen how fast those guys run to get your car? I usually tip valet drivers about five bucks when they bring that car in a timely manner. And even more if it's a super swanky place. Uber, Lyft, and cab drivers. Yes, definitely tip here. Unless their driving caused me to fear for my life during the ride home from the airport. Ah! Ah!
That tip might be a zero there. But otherwise, if it was an overall safe trip, go ahead and tip 10 to 15%, which ride-sharing apps typically make super easy. Grocery delivery services, absolutely tip here. Most of the gig workers at companies like Ship and Instacart are relying on tips as part of their side gig income. So a 15 to 20% tip is a good rule of thumb for someone who braved the store, shopped for the kumquats, waited in line behind the senior in a house robe writing a check, fought the traffic,
and brought the groceries right to your front door. How convenient. Leave a tip. Hairstylist or barber. Trusting someone with your hair is one of the strongest levels of trust that there is. So always tip around 15 to 20%, or even more if that scalp massage took you to a higher place. And the same goes for a manicurist or a tattoo artist, which obviously I patron on the regular. In fact, just got inked the other day with my life to-do list. Huh?
Who needs gym tan laundry when you have eat, sleep, game, repeat? That's life, bro. Get used to it. This is who I am. All right, if you're traveling, there's hotel housekeeping. Now, a lot of people don't even realize they should tip here or they forget. I like to leave five bucks a night for the housekeepers because they do an incredible job keeping that room in tip-top shape and tip daily since you might not get the same housekeeper throughout your stay. And if you're traveling outside of the United States, find out ahead of time if tips are expected
And for what? If you're visiting France or Taipei, tipping isn't really a thing there. But if you're in South Africa or Peru, you'll want to leave your weight or something. Just Google it, bro. - Good to hear your voice. How can I help?
Flower delivery. You know, for when you remember your anniversary at 10 a.m. the day of. I would be tipping two to five bucks per arrangement for that flower delivery. Professional movers. This is a big one. Always tip your movers. I'd say 10 to 50 bucks per mover, depending on the level of difficulty and chaos and how much crap you had.
And if there was an exotic fish tank involved or over four flights of stairs, maybe a little extra something. It pays to keep Gilly Ray Cyrus safe. That's a real fish. I wish I was lying. My friend owns a fish named Gilly Ray Cyrus. So now we've covered when to tip. And here's my general filter for this. There has to be some kind of physical service provided that gave me a level of convenience and joy. Maybe some calories were burned.
That's when you earn the tip. Now let's talk about how to survive those excruciating moments where you feel pressured to tip when the iPad spins around. Number one, be polite. Don't be weird about it. Then just hit no tip or custom tip 0.00. Now this might hurt at first, but you'll get used to it. Kind of like working out for the first time. So I'm told. Never done it. But I'm told it hurts at first.
Or if you want to avoid the iPad debacle altogether, here's a life pro tip. Use cash. That's right. When you hand them cash, there's no iPad involved. It's amazing how that works. Listen, no matter what tipping situation you find yourself in, you can't go wrong with being generous. I am super pro generosity, but I'm not pro guilt tipping.
And hey, if you're in a good financial position, why not be outrageously generous? Maybe you want to join the #tipthebillchallenge and you double your meals total because you remember carrying trays of food you weren't eating to fussy customers who complained about the seeds in their lemon wedge. Generosity is one of the best parts about getting control of your money. When you get control of your income, you can joyfully give and dream about what it looks like to give like no one else. Plus, here's the thing. Your tip says more about you than the person you're leaving it for. And as long as you budget for it,
Tipping isn't a big deal. So include it as part of your budget and leave some cushion to be generous. Now, if you want an even more extensive list on how to tip in any situation, we've got an incredible article that I will link below. And let me just say, it is comprehensive. And if you want more commentary on tipping culture and you want to hear the story of the moment that made me give up waiting tables for life, check out our guilt tipping episode with my friend Rachel Cruz on my other show, Smart Money Happy Hour. I'll link that below as well.
And be sure to share this with your friends who earn tips as part of their wage. And if tips are a big part of how you make a living, I wanna hear about it. I wanna hear your thoughts on all of this in the comment section. Go light it up. As always, thank you guys for watching. I'll see you next time. Didn't get enough the first time, did ya? Thought we'd end on a high note.