Should you tip for dry cleaning? Getting an ice cream?
How much?
Are you tipping for great service, or because you suspect someone might not make a good wage?
If you’re confused, you’re not alone.
A Pew survey published in November found that 7 in 10 Americans feel they’re expected to tip in more places compared to five years ago, but aren’t sure about when and how much they should be giving.
Tipping has become especially confusing on delivery apps in New York City, possibly because of a new law passed in July that effectively raises delivery workers’ wages to around $18 an hour.
Since that law went into effect, several delivery apps have removed the option to tip during the checkout process — an omission that has prompted some speculation.
In the Guardian, Wilfred Chan wrote that removing the tip prompt was a way for “the delivery bosses” to “reassert their dominance.”
WNYC’S Alison Stewart spoke with Kat Kinsman, Food & Wine’s senior features editor, about tipping: particularly whom to tip, how much to give and when to do so.
Below is an edited transcript of their conversation.
Stewart: Why do you think we’re having these conversations around tipping now?
Kat Kinsman: People don’t know the rules. Things are constantly changing, the nature of our interactions with people who work in service are changing. Practices vary from state to state, from household to household, and there are just so many more opportunities to tip.
I wish we could get rid of tipping altogether and just have people have a livable wage, but we are not there yet, hence the nervousness around the whole thing.
As soon as you said that, someone texted, “Scrap tipping altogether, legislate living wages for all.” What do these conversations about tipping reveal about wage issues?
Kinsman: I think people don’t understand that there is a minimum wage and then there is a tipped minimum wage. Say, for instance, in New York City, there is a $16 minimum wage. The way that actually breaks down,…
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