The tradition of holiday tips to thank service workers endures, even as Americans have gotten tired of the regular requests for tips the rest of the year.
More people said they planned to tip workers like housekeepers, child care providers and trash collectors at the holidays this year than in previous years, according to a survey published this weekby the financial website Bankrate, which began polling in 2021. A significant majority of those surveyed said they tipped “to say thank you.”
“Holiday tipping has held its own,” said Ted Rossman, a senior industry analyst at the site, even though the typical amounts people expected to give were mostly flat with previous years. (The online survey of about 2,400 adults was conducted in late October and early November.)
The subject of tipping has become more fraught in recent years. Surveys show that consumers are confused and frustrated with tipping expectations generally. That’s particularly true for the suggested amounts on payment screens that confront patrons of coffee shops, delivery services, food trucks and ride sharing companies. The Pew Research Center published a survey last year in which most Americans said that tipping was expected in more places than it was five years earlier. And a separate Bankrate survey last summer found that a third of those responding considered tipping culture in the United States to be “out of control.”
Yet misgivings about tipping apparently carry an asterisk when it comes to the December holidays. “A lot of people are fed up with tipping, but it does seem the holidays are a special case,” Mr. Rossman said.
Academic research backs that up — at least, when it comes to tipping in sit-down restaurants. Sit-down meals are one area where there is some agreement, the Pew survey found. More than nine of 10 respondents said they “often” or “always” left a tip in that setting.
