\n<\/p>\n
Tipping is an age-old American debate. How much do you pay and when? Is it a choice or an obligation? Generally, tech has at least made it easier over the years. Smartphones made it a breeze for friends to whip out a calculator to figure out tip and split the bill. And now, checkout screens everywhere, from in-person stores to delivery apps, have added buttons designed to make it easier for you to tip.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
That\u2019s convenient, until it\u2019s not. According to a new Pew Research Center report<\/a>, tipping culture in America has seen a shift in recent years. Seventy-two percent of Americans say tipping is expected in more places than five years ago. Not all of that is tech-related, but it\u2019s hard to deny the role checkout screens have in tipflation<\/a>. Even the Pew Research report notes the practice of tipping \u201cis undergoing significant structural and technological changes,\u201d including \u201cthe expansion of\u00a0digital payment platforms and devices that encourage tipping<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n On days I go to the office, I occasionally treat myself to a latte at a local coffee shop. It\u2019s all good, until I\u2019m paying. A part of me dies at the fact a small latte is now around $9 in Manhattan. The anxiety seeps in when, after I\u2019ve tapped my card against the terminal, it asks me how much I want to tip \u2014 20 percent, 25 percent, and a higher number that I\u2019ve blocked from my memory. There\u2019s an option to not<\/em> tip or to enter a custom tip, but those are smaller, and pressing those buttons fills me with anxiety that I\u2019m a bad person. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Most recently, a finance bro behind me sighed because I was taking too long to figure out the custom tip interface. I ended up pressing the 25 percent button in a social anxiety-induced panic. Or $11.25. At that price, I regretted the latte, and in my head, I heard Suze Orman\u2019s specter haranguing me for having my millennial treat.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Self-service kiosks<\/a> occasionally ask me if I want to tip, too. The audacity to even ask is staggering. And even if most people pick \u201cno tip\u201d in that scenario, muscle memory and social programming may mean someone accidentally does tip. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n How much of these tip prompts actually goes to the people you intended to tip?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Screens make all this easy partly because it cuts out the math. You just press a button that automatically adds on a percentage or, sometimes, a dollar amount. It\u2019s all built into the regular flow of checking out, and you don\u2019t have to rummage through your wallet to add to the tip jar. The thinking \u2014 whether it\u2019s about how much you can afford or how it affects your total \u2014 is meant to go out the window. It\u2019s similar to online or in-app shopping \u2014 just press the button and move on.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n It\u2019s common knowledge that service workers generally prefer direct tips \u2014 either handed to them or sent via Venmo. But where does that fit now that cashless payment options and checkout tip prompts are more commonplace? It\u2019s very easy for a business to add these checkout screens to their systems and<\/em> to set the lowest \u201ceasy\u201d option at a price that may be higher than you want to give. They also often make it harder for you to choose an alternative to the preset options. <\/strong>On these screens, the \u201cno tip\u201d or custom options are either smaller or lower down on the menu. And while no one is forcing<\/em> you to do anything, there\u2019s a gentle persuasion happening that doesn\u2019t always feel right. With DoorDash, if you don\u2019t pre<\/em>-tip, you now get a warning that your food may be delayed<\/a>. That makes sense if you view tipping to be an obligation rather than a choice \u2014 but for those who view tipping as a reward for good service, it can feel like extortion, too. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Wherever possible, I still try to tip in cash. At my local ice cream shop, it warmed my heart this past summer to stick my dollar in a jar labeled \u201cHelp me fund my study abroad to Italy.\u201d It felt a lot better than a digital prompt. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n