Should You Tip on Takeout at a Restaurant? Coffee? Experts Say.

• Some people are experiencing “tip fatigue” as more and more businesses demand tips for an increasing number of products and services.
• But customers are fighting back, with some workers saying they are more dependent on tips than ever before.
• Is it okay to just NO tip in some cases — even when asked? Here’s what the experts say.

Tipping culture seems to be spreading everywhere you look – and some customers are fed up with it and wondering when they can just NO tip.

After all, today, when you shop at a café, a local store, or even at a self-service checkout, the checkout screen may ask you to leave a tip.

While some customers may ignore these prompts, bored with tipping, others may simply wonder what the unwritten rules are today.

Their frustration is obvious: About 59% of U.S. adults have negative attitudes toward tipping (down from 66% in 2023), and more than a third believe the tipping culture is out of control, according to Bankrate. questionnaire since June.

“People are being asked to tip in situations where they traditionally wouldn’t be asked to, and in jobs where they’re used to tipping, they’re being asked to tip more — and it’s that perceived social pressure that’s irritating people,” said a tipping expert Michael Lynnwho is a professor of consumer behavior and marketing at the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University.

Business Insider spoke with tipping and etiquette experts to find out when you can skip a tip without making a faux pas.

“Take it as a suggestion, not an obligation”

During the pandemic, people began to tip more generously, setting a up-to-date precedent for how much some workers expected to earn in tips. Now, as the world adjusts to a post-pandemic normalcy, some companies are still relying on tips to boost their employees’ pay.

The prevalence of tip-prompting registers also stems from the rise in the number of companies that have introduced direct-to-consumer systems over the past few years, such as Toast and Square.

Thomas Farley, a Fresh York etiquette expert known as Mr. Manners told Business Insider that these factors don’t necessarily translate into an expectation that customers will tip more.

“Just because the screen in these point-of-sale or over-the-counter transactions gives you that suggestion, you should treat it as just a suggestion, not an obligation,” Farley said.

At self-service checkouts you can skip the tip…

We know we should tip for the service we receive, but what if we provide the service ourselves?

“The thing that really surprises me is that people are being asked for tips at self-service kiosks and checkout lines,” Lynn said. “That’s what surprises me the most because it’s unclear who is getting the tips.”

If you’re billing yourself, don’t worry about tipping, he says.

… and skip tipping for takeout and counter service like coffee

If you’re picking up your food yourself, you can probably skip the tip. (Of course, food delivery is different when it comes to tips.)

“If you don’t want to tip on a takeout order, the food is just sitting on the counter and you take it, you’ve already paid for it and you’re leaving, you just take it and you’re leaving,” said etiquette expert Avery Johnson of Southern Academy of Etiquette. However, he notes that it’s OK to tip 10% or more on takeout if you have special requests, like extra items.

Lynn also doesn’t tip when ordering takeout—or in situations where she’s served at the counter, like when she orders a frosty brew coffee and a pastry at a coffee shop.

Don’t feel pressured to tip for the sweatshirt you just bought

Customers who have never tipped in this type of transaction before may wonder if they should spend a few dollars more.

Even in those situations, Farley said, customers are not obligated to tip. “It’s a tough transaction to make, especially if someone is smiling and being nice and, you know, providing nice service, but still not obligated to do it,” he said.

…or a tip for a meal you’ve already paid for

Farley said the most unexpected tip request he ever received was a request for a tip at a restaurant where the menu indicated a standard 20% commission would be added to the bill.

But when the waiter handed Farley his final bill, the card reader told him to tip him another 20%.

“I was very confused,” Farley said. When he asked the server why the second charge was made, he said the server told him the 20% tip charge applied to all service, but the 20% charge on the card reader was specific to his service that evening.

“The service wasn’t being provided at 40%, it was being provided at 20%, and I had to pay 40%,” Farley said.

If you’re concerned that you might find yourself in this situation, Farley said you can ask the restaurant to waive the initial tip fee. “If you’re determined and don’t think that’s the burden that should be on you, the restaurant owners I’ve met and interviewed will tell you that if consumers push back and ask for that fee to be waived, they’ll comply.”

Otherwise, he suggested you “do some research” on a particular restaurant’s tipping policy to avoid a potentially awkward encounter.