I recently had the honor of joining David Martin Davies on “The Source” at Texas Public Radio to talk about something that affects all of us: tipping. The episode, titled “To Tip or Not to Tip?” aired on November 16, 2023, and it sparked one of the most honest conversations I have ever had about the state of tipping culture in America.
David opened the show with a question that really set the tone: “Has tipping gotten out of control?” And honestly, I think the answer for most Americans right now is yes.
The Pressure to Tip Is Everywhere Now
If you have bought a coffee, picked up takeout, or even grabbed a bottle of water at a counter recently, you have probably been hit with a screen asking you to tip 15%, 20%, or even 25%. It is everywhere. And it is not just me noticing this. A majority of Americans now say they feel increased pressure to tip in more places than they did just five years ago.
David put it really well during the show when he described how “it just became too easy to add another page on the checkout touch screen and swing it around.” That is exactly what happened. The technology made it frictionless for businesses to ask for tips, and now consumers are stuck in this awkward loop of guilt and social pressure every time they make a purchase.
Here is what has changed about tipping in just the last few years:
- Tipping used to be reserved for sit-down restaurants and a handful of service jobs. Now it shows up at fast-casual counters, drive-throughs, self-checkout kiosks, and even online retail.
- Consumers feel confused and frustrated about when and how much to tip. The rules keep shifting and nobody is explaining why.
- There is zero transparency about where your tipped dollars actually end up. Does the barista get it? Is it pooled? Does management take a cut? Most of us have no idea.
- The whole system has shifted from genuine gratitude to what feels like middle-class guilt and social obligation.
Where Does Your Tip Actually Go?
This was one of the biggest things David and I dug into during the interview. He raised a point that really stuck with me: “Is this tip going to end up in the pockets of the person we interacted with? Or will it go into a pool to be split evenly among the staff?”
And that is the thing. Most of us just tap a number on a screen and move on with our day. We assume the person who made our drink or served our food is going to see that money. But the truth is, we rarely know. Is it split at the end of the day? At the end of the pay period? Does the house take a percentage? There has been no real communication, negotiation, or dialogue about any of this.
As someone who runs a technology investment company, I see this from a business perspective too. The technology behind these point-of-sale tipping screens made it incredibly easy for businesses to offload part of their labor costs onto the customer. That is a real problem when there is no transparency about where those dollars land.
Is Tipping Actually Fair?
David asked a question during the show that I think gets to the heart of the issue: “Shouldn’t a worker be compensated with an agreed upon wage that doesn’t fluctuate depending on who happens to use their service that day?”
That question really resonated with me. Think about it. A server working a Tuesday lunch shift might make significantly less in tips than someone working a Friday dinner, even though they are doing the same job with the same effort. That is not fair to the worker. And on the flip side, a customer should never feel like they are being held hostage for better service. Tipping was supposed to be about gratitude, not leverage.
I believe workers deserve predictable, livable wages. Tips should be a bonus for genuinely great service, not a substitute for what employers should already be paying.
How Technology Changed the Tipping Game
One thing I brought up on the show is how platforms like Square, Toast, and Clover completely transformed tipping culture almost overnight. Before these systems, you tipped at a sit-down restaurant because there was a line on the receipt. Now every point-of-sale system has a tipping screen baked in, and businesses turn it on by default because why wouldn’t they? It is free money from their perspective.
But here is the catch. The customer is now doing the math in their head every single time they buy something. “Do I tip at this place? How much? Will the person behind me see what I chose? Will the cashier judge me if I hit ‘No Tip’?” That mental load adds up, and it is turning a simple transaction into an emotionally charged decision.
What We Can Do About It
I do not think tipping is inherently bad. I still tip generously when I get great service at a restaurant, and I think most people feel the same way. What I do think is that we need to start having honest conversations about how tipping fits into the bigger picture of fair wages and worker compensation.
Here are a few things I think would help:
- Businesses should be transparent about where tips go. If you are asking customers for a tip, tell them exactly how it is distributed among your staff.
- Employers need to pay fair wages first and treat tips as a bonus, not a subsidy for low pay. Workers should not have to rely on the generosity of strangers to make ends meet.
- Consumers should feel empowered to tip when they genuinely want to, not because a screen is guilting them into it. It is okay to say no when you are picking up a to-go order you placed yourself.
- We need a bigger conversation around tipping policy at the local and national level. This is not just a consumer issue. It is a labor issue, a technology issue, and an economic issue all wrapped into one.
Listen to the Full Interview
I am grateful to David Martin Davies and the team at Texas Public Radio for having me on “The Source” to dig into this topic. It is a conversation that more people need to be having, whether you are a business owner, a service worker, or just someone who is tired of feeling awkward every time you check out at a coffee shop.
You can listen to the full 24-minute episode here: To Tip or Not to Tip? on TPR.
I would love to hear what you think. Has tipping gotten out of hand in your experience? Drop me a message or connect with me on social media. Let us keep this conversation going.