Majority of New Yorkers Don’t Believe in Tipping Fast Food and Takeaway

If you think tipping culture is out of control, keep reading.

Last weekend I was out of state and popped into a cute but relatively new cafe to grab coffee. After ordering my frou-frou latte, the barista turned the screen around for payment and the screen was already pre-selected to tip at 25 percent.

I doubt I am the only person with this story. And while I did tip the bubby barista 20%, I couldn't help but wonder about her salary and whether she relied on tips to get by.

It seems there's been a strong push to tip more than 20% over the past few years, either due to the pandemic or stagnating minimum wage.

Considering the federal minimum wage has been stuck at $7.25 an hour since July 24, 2009, there was some justification behind the push.

Then inflation hit and people needed to be frugal to stay afloat in most cases - and the so called "tipping culture" wars began. Tipping percentages were rammed under a microscope, with a growing number of people complaining about how much they spend on gratuity.

A recent Bankrate survey found nearly 70% of Americans have adopted a negative view on tipping.  Other studies looked into what states are the most and least likely to give a tip.

Read More: New York Declared 5th Worst State at Leaving Tips

Now a new study is out to find out how people actually feel about gratuity and, shocker, even less people are open to the concept.

PlayStar asked New Yorkers about the nature of tipping in the Empire State and roughly 30% of respondents admitted to tipping because they feel sorry for the servers, especially if they know they get paid poor basic wages.

About 26% say they are open to tipping up to 30% if they enjoyed the product or service they received, but a more reasonable 56% of respondents say they keep their tips strictly between 10 and 20 percent.

A resounding 60% of participants say tipping shouldn't even be an option for takeaway coffee or fast food. Of that number, about 20% said they would be open to leaving a tip if the service was exceptional.

On the topic of ordering food, 8% of respondents say they actually leave a tip if they drive out to pick up takeaway.

But, if a delivery driver brought that same order to their home, a whopping 76% of respondents said they'd leave gratuity.

Just 4 percent of those polled said they don't tip their server on top of a bill at a sit down restaurant.

However, the biggest finding of all is that about 25% of all respondents, or 1 in 4 New Yorkers, subconsciously add a tip - as if they're conditioned to do so.

Considering tipping was seen as optional as little as a decade ago, this certainly shows... something. I'll leave that up for you to decide.

Do you think tipping is a problem, or is this a symptom of an even greater issue?

Get our free mobile app