I can't imagine anyone tipping 18-20% rather than 15% because it makes them feel like a big shot.

It's not about how much more you tip, it's just that it's "more" at all.

x + 2(.1x)
x + .1x + (.1x)/2

I usually use 15 as a baseline and 20 if theyre good. As diablo said, I think having your percentage rise over time is kind of silly, especially since it seems like places raise their prices with a bit more frequency at this point than in the past.

isn't the comparison actually

20% - Figure out 10%, double it
15% - Figure out 10%, then figure out half of that, then add half to the 10% (and try not to forget both of those different numbers while you're adding them in your head) (while trying not to look like you're thinking too hard about what the tip should be)

Figuring 10% is easy for anyone, just move the decimal. 5% is hard. Not for you, maybe, but for the general population. $73.70 is $7.37 for 10%...quick, what's half of that? doubling is easier.

And I think there's a theme of looking for the easy solution here:

And people used to carry those "tipping calculator cards" in their wallets.

hell, maybe they still do:

http://www.tipping.org/tipcards.html

...this tip card has a bit of, what, social engineering built into it, with columns for 15% and 20%. As if to say, here's the *minimum* you should give, and here's an alternate amount--if, say, the service was better than just the *minimum*...

none of that really answers the question of why-have-tips-gone-up, though. I think it's due to

1) mathematical simplicity. maybe that's find 10% and double it. maybe it's take 8% tax and double it. either way, it ends up somewhere in the above-15% range. and if you're aiming for a 15-20% tip, no one knows how to get to 17 or 18%...so it's easier to figure 20% and shave a bit off, than to figure 15% and add a bit on.

2) social engineering. there's a lot of rhetoric about 15% as the, you know, absolute minimum acceptable amount. really, the implication is that, if you "only" leave 15%, then either you're a cheapskate or the service must have been noticeablly awful in some way. (seems like these definitions used to be applicable to people leaving 10% or less) so there's been an inflation of the definitions of cheap/acceptable/good tipping.

2a. This may be a nit, but I'd always understood the traditional amount-to-tip-on as the meal itself, not the drinks & tax. But these days it seems like the amount at hand is the total bill (again, perhaps because it's easier to work with the final total than to try to figure it out w/o drinks/tax...also perhaps b/c that inflates the amount, as noted above in the autgrat of 18% becoming 19.5% when done after tax). that's possibly going to account for some difference, too.

2b. one last thought - perhaps younger generations are learning tipping habits/culture differently than older ones. again, no one's carrying tip cards around anymore.

Yeah I pretty much always just double the tax. So i guess i actually tip 16.5% or whatev.

I tip 20% because I'm Asian and am trying to undo a stereotype.

Standard was 15%. Big groups of people, and even smaller (6) would go to a restaurant, the wait staff would get short changed for various reasons, and then the restaurant implemented a standard gratuity of 15% for parties more than 6.

Over the years, that percentage has gone up to 18%, even 20%. As that automatic gratuity (which is oxymoronic in itself) percentage increased, so has the idea of what a standard tip should be.

That's my theory.

I think it's as simple as "it's generational". My parents were very frugal, me not so much and my daughter and her husband even less. And I think that's pretty typical.

when i grew up the standard for excellent service was 10%. less for less service. some time ago wait staff pushed for 15%. and soon that became the norm and now its like 20% if you fall for the speal.

prices have risen the fastest in the food industry and the percent tip in dollars has outpaced inflation without the need to give a higher percent of the bill. i dont be gruge anyone for wanting more that human nature. in higher end places the wait staff make more than the managers.

i believe that the current generation have less value on money(good) and feel fine about bettering others (good)

dean,

"Diablo, I'd be interested to see how the wages of servers v. the mean wage has altered since you were in college. I'd guess that servers wages have risen less in real terms that the general increase in wealth. This would be my explanation."

That's a big part of what I'm wondering here.

If we look at the following factors:

Restaurant sales
Server fixed wage
Server tip

What is (Server fixed wage)/(Restaurant sales) now vs. 20 years ago?

What is (Server fixed wage + Server tip)/(Restaurant sales) now vs. 20 years ago?

I'm curious if the overall labor cost for restaurants has stayed at the same percentage, of if the restaurants have reduced labor cost as a percentage of expenses by keeping the second number constant, taking advantage of the increase in tips to pay their employees less.

Pyro,

"I'd always understood the traditional amount-to-tip-on as the meal itself"

Yes. People used to talk about "tax + tip" being a certain combined percentage applied to sale. Now most people talk about tip on top of the amount of the bill, which includes tax.

I think that's due to two things - laziness in math and some good work by the tip-receiving community in always talking about it like that, resulting in a couple extra percent coming their way.

I think it is very simple: people came to the conclusion that, regardless of percentage, less than a buck is inexcusable, a buck is not really that great and a couple bucks is better. It is a small leap from there to 'what can 2 bucks get you nowadays: not much', so I'll leave 3 or 5. Pretty soon you are routinely tipping in the 20+% range on your low and mid-priced meals in order to leave something you view as substantial and it becomes your standard, even when you are dining at higher end places.

When you could actually buy a beer or something for a buck or 2, that tip seemed OK. When those prices went up, those tips seemed lame.

KJS

What I'd be interested in is the percentage of expensive restaurants compared to 20 years ago. I'm 34 so I don't know if it is because I'm getting older and thus am exposed to pricer establishments more often or if they are simply more common.

I think bottle service is a good example. Until 6-7 years ago I had never heard of bottle service. Until 2-3 years ago it was something that was only offered in major cities. Now it seems like any half decent club is pawning off $40 bottles of vodka for $250-350.

If people are spending more then it means they will probably be inclined to tip more as well. Eventually the higher tip percentage starts to spread from the more expensive establishments to the rest.

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The increased use of credit might also have been a factor. I hate credit but I believe it is probably easier to over tip with credit than cash.

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Frequency of going out has increased over the last few decades. I go out a lot so I tip much better than average. While I wouldn't say I'm friends with the staff you do get a relationship of some kind with them if you see them a few times a month.

Also at least in Canada I think the removal of $1 and $2 bills has led to higher tipping. Nobody wants a pocket full of change so much easier to leave behind coins than bills.

I think that this is merely because the ballerness of El D and his friends has increased over the years. They have more money to throw around, they eat in nicer restaurants and so their tipping level has increased. I'm sure there are plenty of stingy tippers still out there.

I doubt that Diablo has his finger on the pulse of the actual staff as to what they expect from their customers. The "expected" tip is calculated from 1. His friends and 2. 2+2. His friends like to keep up appearances and cheap 2+2ers don't like to be flamed.

iron,

"I doubt that Diablo has his finger on the pulse of the actual staff as to what they expect from their customers."

I doubt iron has any f'ing clue about anything.

First off: Also, if you don't agree with the premise of this question, DON'T RESPOND IN THIS THREAD, thanks.

Secondly, I have extensive experience in the bar/restaurant industry and am friends w/ tons of servers/bartenders. Tipping has increased, both in terms of amount and expectation.

Finally, I don't f'ing care about the fact that plenty of stingy tippers still exist. I mean, there are still virgins in their late 20s. That doesn't change the fact that about 50% of kids in high school are having sex.

I'm from Illinois (non-Chicago area) and I personally tip based off 20%. Sometimes more sometimes less. I don't know anyone who tips based off 10% in non-Chicago IL, which should be comparable to Indiana and Wisconsin.

I don't know why I tip as high as I do. It isn't about "being a baller" or anything, because I certainly am not that.

I think that it is like Ray Zee said. I just have less of a value for money. It's not detrimental for me. I don't have credit card debt or anything like that (just college loans). The other reason, I assume, is that there is some intrinsic motivation within me and I enjoy helping others, also as Ray stated.

El D,

I feel it may contribute somehow to this thread by saying that I am 22 and have always considered "standard tip" to be 15-18%. This is what I was always brought up on.

That said, I tip 20% or so almost every time I eat.

Tony,

10% is def on the cheap side anywhere, but my experience in the midwest and south is that tipping is still closer to 15% than 20% there for most, while in more urban/cosmopolitan/whatever cities like SF/NYC/LA/Boston it's closer to 20% for quite a few more people.

Autograt of 18% in Texas or Atlanta would be received pretty poorly, I'd guess (I haven't done group dinners there for a long time, though, might be wrong), but it's pretty common now for groups in SF/NYC.

Have we become more of a service economy?
It would make sense then, that more people have worked service jobs, and thus know what it's like to depend on tips for their income.

I think the bulk of the reason is sociological. If I had to guess, I would say that the incremental moves are because (as has been suggested) people want to feel 'better' than the norm. If the norm is 15%, then 20% is 'better'. Also, I am sure this is pushed by the perception of what more rich and/or famous people do. I don't think this really goes on at a conscious level though. This seems similar to words and names coming in to and out of fashion with the masses to me. We are, as individuals and cultures, striving by large to be better than the norm, however we perceive better than the norm as being.

I think there's a common perception today that there's a larger gap in wages between the high-end and low-end jobs. Tipping has become a form of charity. People feel that the minimum wage is not high enough, that the typical entry level service job is not enough to live on, and take it upon themselves to provide what they feel is a more fair income for them. Whether or not this perception is true could be an interesting thread subject.

It's common here for groups.

I stated this as well but I dont think its getting enough attention as a factor in this thread