Americans aren’t letting inflation get in the way of leaving more tips—but that doesn’t mean they’re happy.
According to payment processing company Square, people in the US are more likely to leave gratuities in 2022 than in the previous year.
Food service businesses saw an increase in tipping frequency in the third quarter of last year, even on the heels of inflation reaching a 40-year high, data provided by Square showed.
While inflation cooled at the end of the year, it still remained high—but not high enough for consumers to reduce how generous they were with hospitality staff.
In the last quarter of 2022, the frequency of tips left at full-service restaurants in the US increased by 16.5% from the previous year. In quick-service restaurants—like coffee shops and fast-food outlets—the rate at which American staff tipped increased by 16% annually.
Frustration with the growing culture of tipping
US consumers may be tipping more often, but that doesn’t mean they’re too happy about how many businesses are now asking for gratuities on top of the service price.
Complaints have surfaced over the past year about service providers from mortgage companies to locksmiths expecting tips, as workers who would not normally be paid gratuities took advantage of digital payment methods to ask for tips during transactions.
Last year, Starbucks rolled out a new tipping system that allows customers to pay with a credit or debit card to give a barista $1, $2 or a custom tip. The change was met with some reaction from customers who felt the change.
“I went through Starbucks Drive and got one drink and now they ask if you want to tip if you pull out your card to pay when they see you, so awkward,” one Twitter user said. wrote at the time. “Just pay these people a better wage.”
A representative for Starbucks was not available when contacted by fortune
The rise in digital tipping requests, which often ask consumers to leave a gratuity of up to 30% of their bill, has fueled the debate over “tipping guilt”, with many disgruntled consumers taking to social media to air their grievances.
“I’m not going to give you a tip just because you turn on your iPad and I press a button,” said one person on TikTok. “For me it’s just a company that’s trying not to pay employees what they deserve – they have the assets to pay more but don’t want to. They’re giving them this option to tip, this social pressure to tip.
“The culture of tipping has disappeared,” said another in a video shared on the platform.
“Today I went to Shake Shack and there was no one at the counter, you go to a small kiosk, a small computer screen, you push everything you want to order, and before you know it, the next screen that comes up is ‘tip,'” he said, previously jokingly adding: “I work here now – you should tip.”
Shake Shack did not immediately respond fortunerequest for comments.
Others have been described as pressed into tipping– and have admitted that they have to do it even if the service has been bad.
An increase in tip requests can backfire
According to one expert, many consumers in North America are experiencing “tip fatigue,” which arises because they are “bombarded with more frequent tipping requests.”
Michael von Massow, a professor of food economics at the University of Guelph in Canada, wrote in an article last month that ultimately, the increase in tipping demand may reverse.
“At the very least, tip fatigue means that customers leave interactions that involve tipping with negative feelings,” he speculates. “But at worst, tipping fatigue can lead customers to tip less or stop altogether. That pressure increases the risk of tipping alienating consumers who find the number and variety of services they expect to tip too much.
A spokesperson for Square told fortune if it is possible that a restaurant that previously did not ask for tips, now activates the tipping function when expanding its business.
“With this expansion, the business wears many hats, with tips reflecting the additional workforce that will be employed,” he said. “While your local market doesn’t expect tips during normal grocery store hours, they may ask for tips in situations like holding pop-up dinners or cheese-making workshops. Due to the economic pressures of the pandemic and others, businesses are also trying to find mechanisms to provide support for his staff.
He added: “As more digital payments go, so do physical tip jars.”
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