Who likes tipping?
Trick question: no one likes tipping. At least, people are definitely more than just fatigued by it. It seems like, no matter where you go, every store is asking for an extra couple dollars on top of your total. Even though there are places like cowdog that don’t ask anything of their customers, there are loads more in the city that present you with that dreaded tipping screen.
OUT OF HAND
Research Co. is a company that specializes in qualitative data collection. More specifically, they conduct public opinion polls and analyze that data. Just recently, they did an online survey among 1,001 Canadian adults, asking their opinion on a variety of tipping-related topics. The resulting report has some interesting findings.
Most importantly, Canadians are more than just a little annoyed at how often they’re asked to tip.
Although “more than half of Canadians (53%) say they leave a tip ‘all the time’ after visiting a sit-down restaurant”, many are irked at the tipping recommendations at the end of a meal. Moreover, Canadians are far less likely to tip “all the time” in non-sit-down restaurant scenarios.
These include bars (37%), to-go restaurants (15%), coffee shops (14%), cafeteria-style restaurants (12%), and fast-food restaurants (10%).
This is especially prominent in scenarios where Canadians are seemingly part of the food or ordering process, such as when picking up food themselves or ordering online. 57% of them “think a tip is not necessary” in these situations.
GOOD SERVICE = GOOD TIPS
Notably, Canadians are still willing to tip as long as they’ve been served well. If they’ve received exceptional service at a sit-down restaurant, a third of Canadians (36%) are willing to leave a tip in the 15% to 19% range. Additionally, “just under one-in-five (19%) would move to the 20% to 25% range.”
And if the restaurant is even busier, then the tips get larger– provided that the service is superb.
Canadians don’t find tipping to be applicable in these four practices, though. In fact, they “disapprove” of them. This includes:
- Online retailers prompting suggested tips (71%)
- Coffee shops prompting suggested tips when the customer is using a credit card (65%)
- Suggested tips on bills at sit-down restaurants (57%)
- Sit-down restaurants prompting suggested tips when the customer is using a credit card (53%)
It’s hard to say where tipping culture is headed in Metro Vancouver. While it does not seem as if it is going to end, it is safe to say that Canadians are getting quite sick of all of it.
Even if many are still willing to tip in certain scenarios (good service, and if employees are not being paid enough (68%, -2)), that does not mean people are not experiencing tiredness due to the sheer volume of tipping requests.
If you’re curious, you can read the entire report here.
How do you figure out who to and not to tip?
