Valuetainment
"Do Something For It" - Tipping Culture GOES WILD With 30% Digital Guilt Trip
21 Aug 2025
Chapter 1: What is the current state of tipping culture in America?
America's tipping culture spirals. From 15% to 30%. As digital guilt trips kick in. Rob, can you run a poll? Is this about Moyles? How people actually treat these things. Because I see it now. I'm buying clothes. They're asking for tips. I just bought clothes.
Chapter 2: How are digital kiosks influencing tipping behavior?
To the traditional U.S. tipping went from the norm of 15% to 20% for goods and services has escalated from 25% to 28%. And 30% driven by point of sale systems like Square, Clover Toast, which flash preset tip buttons. The rationale behind this is the most... People emotionally don't want to feel cheap, so they won't pick the lowest option.
These systems often hide the custom option, creating pressure as the person who just rang up flips the screen around and stands there watching while you make your choice. This shift, termed guilt tipping, is fueled by technology, inflation, and pandemic-era habits, pushing consumers to tip out out of shame rather than appreciation. Vinny, your thoughts on this?
Well, it's crazy that this story came up yesterday because right before the podcast prep meeting, I was at Starbucks, and I'm not even joking. I just went in for a muffin. The girl went right there. A muffin. A banana. Banana. Right there, Tom. Grabbed it, gave it to me, swung the thing around, and the options were 25, 28, and 30. And I was like... And they're looking at you like a puppy.
And I was like, listen, you didn't do any. If you grab the muffin, because I like it warmed up. If you grabbed it and you threw it to some other barista, like, you know, the fish vendors and you grab it and they slammed in the microwave.
of you 25 but 30 it's absolutely ridiculous and you know what it makes me feel like like you know that awkward uncomfortable moment rob have you guys been to publics um in like the past couple months where you're standing there checking out again your groceries and then loud as hell the girl that's running it goes would you like to donate to the children's hospital and it's just a moment because everybody looks at you and you're standing there with ice cream and lottery tickets you're like i can't
I can't afford it. What a cheapskate. See, I hate you, but it's just putting me in that awkward situation. If I want a tip, I'm going to tip, but you have to do something for it. You literally can't grab something.
You got to dance. You got to do something.
You know what somebody told me the other day, too? They went to go strawberry picking in California. I'm not joking. You know, when they go to check out the thing, it was $25. I think it was somewhere like Bakersfield.
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Chapter 3: What is guilt tipping and how has it evolved?
25%, 30%, 35% on the think the tip for you going to pick your own strawberries.
I went into the field here. I picked my own berries.
No, Tom, but listen. But I was sitting here watching you, giving you that good positive energy for you to pick the right ones. Remember when I told you, no, stay to the right. Stay to the right. That's 30%.
It's unbelievable.
Adam, your thoughts on this tipping thing?
Yeah, well, you ever go to a store and you order Starbucks, whatever it is, and they flip the thing around? Yeah. And then it's just like you feel like Clint Eastwood in the good and bad. They're like... It's awkward. 10, 20, or 30%. I'm like, dude... All you did was hand me a sandwich. You provided no value. You turned around and did this. I'm not tipping you $7 because you gave me a sandwich.
It's not happening right here. So I feel you on this. It's making things very awkward. You know, Trump talks about no tax on tips. We're not going to have any tax on tips. How about no tips for no value? If all you did was flip this, I'm not going to do a Russian roulette standoff with you right now to give you $7 for handing me a sandwich.
Save that money. I mean, you Uber. You Uber. That's something like the guy's driving me somewhere safe. You know what I mean? You tip, correct? Safe? Careful out there, buddy. But you know what I'm saying?
Like, what are the top... So Uber driver's performing a service, number one. That's what I'm saying. And there's a fee for the service. And you know that the service fee goes mostly to Uber. There's a part for him. But when you get into Uber and they say... Is the temperature okay for you like this? Yes. Okay. He's giving me a service. Would you like music on?
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Chapter 4: What awkward checkout moments do consumers experience?
And I'll say, no, thank you. I'm going to make a call and everything. But they're being very nice, and they're polite. And there's a bottle of water, and then there's mints, and it's clean. Yes. I appreciate that. Yeah. This guy's working. And so now he's going to drive 30 minutes from the airport for me. You know what? I'm going to give him a tip. Yeah.
Especially if it's a safe driver and it's a safe ride and it was clean and everything. Now you're tipping for experience and effort above neutral.
Yeah. The only time I give a tip when I'm doing an Uber in Miami is if they speak English. Because... No drivers speak English in Miami. Zero. None. If you speak English and you're driving Uber, no offense, you need to find a better profession because you get paid on the amount of value that you can provide. Why do they not pay maids a lot of money? Because anybody can clean a floor.
Anybody can drive a car. And I know that I'm coming at the English-speaking mi gente out there. but anybody can drive an Uber. I don't even know how these people, these people are probably not documented. If I needed to, I would like to see what Uber's doing in their hiring process. Not one Uber driver in Miami, hablas ingles. They say, hablas espanol, which I do.
How do we go from tipping to racial profiling? I'm just letting you know. Adam, what's your point? I'm just letting you know, Tom, you've probably been an Uber twice in your life.
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Chapter 5: How do inflation and technology affect tipping habits?
Let the expert handle this.
They need to handle... Actually, how many times do you think you've been in an Uber or Lyft?
Oh, I mean, I can give you the number. Thousands and thousands and thousands of times.
Give me a number. Like, what is it? 5,000 times. Oh, okay, got it. 5,000 times, yeah. Wow. Yeah, that's a... So 5,000, the average amount is what? 10 bucks, 20 bucks, 30 bucks? No.
For me?
Yeah. I live in Miami, Pat. What would you say the average is? What's the average? 40 bucks. Okay, so 200 grand on 5,000... So 200 grand spent in how long? 10 years?
It's been about 10 years, Pat. 10 long years.
So if you had an $800 monthly payment, so it's cheaper to own a car than Uber.
100%.
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Chapter 6: What are the expectations for tipping in service industries?
Don't you need insurance? Don't you have a valet?
Don't worry about it. Didn't you have a flat tire the other day? I got you, buddy. I got you. You keep doing what you want. There was no way speaking English on him, so for, you know. Do you guys know what day today is? Does anybody know what day today is? Today happens to be the National Lemonade Day. Today is actually the National Lemonade Day.
So when you think about the National Lemonade Day, we launched this campaign a few months ago, if you remember. Rob, if you can go to it, it was the Zested Forward Lemon Box, which ended up becoming a hit. And we got so many awesome stories and testimonies. The other day I was reading all the reviews at the bottom of what stories people were saying and the reaction they got from folks.
It's absolutely awesome. I'm going to read this to you. Imagine someone's having a bad day. Things are not going the way they wanted. This box shows up. Valuetainment. They open it up, and there's a message there, an inspirational message there that they hear. And then outside of the inspirational message, there's a few items.
A Zested Forward hat, Future Looks Pride hat, a few other items, and it's a way... What is that audio, Rob? Is that Adam? You? Okay. So I want to read some of these stories to you of people who use this and send it to others and what their experience was from the people that received it. So here's one. Hello. Yes, yes, yes. Amazingly zest. Help me surprise.
Help me to surprise gentleman who has everything and more for his 98th birthday. That's awesome. He was looking and listening to Patrick. Never seen anything like that. Whispered. Great idea. Touched the heart. Me too. Thank you. My appreciation is going out to you, Lilia. Okay, so that's one right there. Next one. My sister-in-law is going through chemotherapy.
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Chapter 7: How do personal experiences shape attitudes towards tipping?
She was very surprised and blessed by the gift. Thank you for thinking of such a lovely gesture. God bless you. Here's another one from Eric Stewart. My customer is going through some hard times with business and family. The VT Lemon Box put a smile on his face with a heartfelt thank you. Great idea, guys. I can go on and on and on with these stories.
Folks, if you know a friend or family that's going through challenging times, go to vtmerch.com, place the order, zest it forward to somebody, make someone's day. Sometimes the best feeling in the world isn't receiving the gift. Sometimes the best feeling in the world isn't you getting the promotion, isn't you getting all of that. Sometimes it's just doing it for somebody else.
So if you want to start your day, for me, any time I was having a bad day in sales the last 25 years, the first thing I would do When I would go through a lot of rejections, I would call five of my clients or five of my guys, and I would tell them how amazing that I would find a way to make somebody else's day. Then my spirits would come up.
Then I would perform and go out there and make my calls and meet with my clients that I needed to. So if you want to be able to do that for somebody else, send this to someone. Not only will you bless someone's day, but it's going to come back and do the same thing to you. So that's one. Number two, August 27th, I want to remind you guys of what's happening here on the campus.
August 27th, we're giving private tours of the entire campus. Right now, we're building a soccer field here. Literally, we're building a futsal field here, one of the biggest futsal fields in all of the state of Florida. That's being built right behind me as we speak.
Every time people come and see our campus, they're like, we had no idea you guys had nearly 200 employees and you guys are doing all this stuff. Yes, this is what we do. Really? Yes. So if you're somebody that wants to come and get a private tour of what we're doing here, add value attainment, line holding, all you need to do is have a ticket that you bought to go to the Vol Conference.
So if you're somebody that's going to the Vol Conference, if you get a general ticket, you can come here to network in the hangar. There'll be a lot of surprises there. But if you're somebody that gets a platinum on executive, our guys will give you a tour of the entire operation. Obviously, no cameras when you come to the executive floor.
And if you get a founder and a CEO ticket sold out, but if you get a founder ticket, and even if you're an existing CEO ticket holder, you come through, I'm going to give you the tour of the entire property multiple times with all the other people that are coming down. We've already had hundreds of people that have registered.
This is limited to a certain amount of people because we're going to have security all over the place. If you want to go out there and get registered, get yourself a ticket. Rob, how does somebody register to put their names on the list?
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