Not Sure How Much to Tip? A New Study Shows You’re Not Alone
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Listen at schwab.com slash washingtonwise.
What is the tipping confusion introduced at the start of the episode?
Here's your Money Briefing for Tuesday, November 21st. I'm Arianna Espuru for The Wall Street Journal, filling in for J.R. Whelan. To tip or not to tip? New research suggests that the answer could depend on your age.
So a lot of younger people think, all right, well, when I get my coffee or when I get my haircut, it's required for me to tip. That is part of this social contract. Whereas older people see it as more, OK, well, how good was the service? Am I used to tipping here?
WSJ personal finance reporter Julia Carpenter joins us after the break.
This episode is brought to you by Charles Schwab. Decisions made in Washington can affect your portfolio every day. Washington Wise from Charles Schwab is an original podcast that unpacks the stories making news in Washington. Listen at schwab.com slash Washington Wise.
How did the pandemic change tipping behavior and norms?
Is tipping an obligation or a choice? A new study shows the answer varies by generation. Wall Street Journal personal finance reporter Julia Carpenter joins me to discuss.
How does age or generation influence whether tipping is seen as an obligation?
Julia, it feels like people have been talking about tipping more and more in the
When I was speaking with experts for this story, they all mentioned the pandemic as this turning point, or I don't want to say tipping point, that's too corny, but turning point in how we tip. During the pandemic, we saw people working in service and people working in hospitality as doing something very risky, as doing something risky. potentially dangerous. And we tipped them accordingly. People were leaving 30% tips on delivery. People were asking for ways to support businesses. People were treating it as combat pay. That's a phrase from one of the experts I spoke to for this story. Now that we have seen a normalization and we know what that period of time was, people are like, Do I keep tipping that much?
What factors determine how much people tip across different situations?
Do I tip less to make up for that much? Do I go back to what I was doing before? So we're all a little confused right now.
This new research from Pew shows that tipping is actually another example of this generational divide. How does age factor into how much someone tips?
The really interesting thing from this research regarding age and generations is that younger people are likelier than older people to see tipping as an obligation. And older people are likelier than younger people to say they see tipping as a choice. So a lot of younger people think, all right, well, when I get my coffee or when I get my haircut, It's required for me to tip. That is part of this social contract. Whereas older people see it as more, OK, well, how good was the service? Am I used to tipping here? They have other experiences that they're reflecting on so that we see that sort of fracture in the research there.
Not all tipping is equal. A lot of times people tip between 15, 20 and 25 percent. What did the study say about the amount that people tip?
So regardless of generation, regardless of circumstance, when Pew asked people, why do you tip a certain amount here and then tip a different amount there, people say it's about service. So if they have a relationship with the person they're tipping, if they really enjoyed the service that they received that they are now tipping for, they will tip more.
Does holiday seasonality affect tipping and gift-giving to service workers?
If they did not like it, if they're not used to tipping in these places, if they had a bad customer service experience, they'll tip less. So everybody, regardless of circumstance, said service is the number one thing that determines how much they tip.
Around this time of year, holiday tipping is really popular for the person, you know, delivering your mail, walking your dog, or cutting your hair. Does this confusion about how much to tip or whether to tip at all impact holiday tips?
It speaks to how conditional so many of these things are. It's an individual choice, right? All of the experts I spoke to said that tipping is emotional, which we don't think of because it's money. We think, okay, we're just adding 30% on the end of this bill. But it is emotional because you are, especially around the holidays,
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:01–0:28
2
What is the tipping confusion introduced at the start of the episode?
0:28–1:33
3
How did the pandemic change tipping behavior and norms?
1:33–1:45
4
How does age or generation influence whether tipping is seen as an obligation?
1:45–2:41
5
What factors determine how much people tip across different situations?
2:41–3:58
6
Does holiday seasonality affect tipping and gift-giving to service workers?
3:58–5:23
7
How do tip prompts and on-screen suggestions shape tipping decisions?
5:23–7:14
8
What are the study’s overall takeaways about the generational divide in tipping?
7:14–8:51
Speakers
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