Why Do We Tip?

Many folks would say that they tip to reward (or punish) the service they just received. Economists tend to look at tipping and ask what is the tipper trying to accomplish? Giving someone money at the end of service will not induce them to perform any better since they are already done. It could encourage the server to perform better the next time we see them, but in most cases, we tip people we will never see again. The potential of a tip could provide incentive to the server to give great service, but how much we tip or even if we tip at all after the service will not get us anything.

Perhaps we tip out of a sense of goodwill or fairness, perhaps as a thank-you for the service provided. Perhaps we feel good after tipping someone and that is the value we get for giving up about 15% extra. Then why don't we tip everyone who serves us instead of just certain people such as waiters/waitresses, hairdressers, or baggage handlers? How about a salesclerk at a department store, a bank teller, a pharmacist or even our doctor? Who we tip might be a topic for a future post, but it does point us in the direction of answering today's question.

Perhaps the main reason we tip is not to gain something, but to avoid the cost associated with not following a social rule. We just want to do what is expected of us. In the US there is a complicated set of rules for who to tip and how much and all we want to do is not offend anyone. How those rules on tipping came into place is unknown by most of us, but they are socially accepted and in many cases defensible, so we tend to follow them. We see the waitress carrying 4 platters at one time and know they are being paid a low hourly wage and reliant on tips, so we feel a duty to provide part of her wage.

It is said that you should reward great service with larger tips and punish bad service with smaller ones or none at all. However, tips tend to vary very little as service changes. For stellar service, we may increase our tip another 5%. Sometimes for bad service, we'll drop it to 10%, but often it will stay at a flat 15% because we really just want to be done and move on. In fact, some studies have shown that tipping changes the most for things that have very little to do with actual service.

As for how much to tip, that is always a big question. You can get some guidelines for both US and international tipping at the TIPPING PAGE. You can get some additional ideas on who NOT to tip at the TIPPING ETIQUETTE webpage.

So in this instance, we spend our tipping money, mostly to follow decorum (one we don't understand particularly well), rather than attempt to get something with our money. If you want to actually tip in a way that will get you even more, try this:

a) Tip the server at the beginning of service
- this may not work in many circumstances, but is amazingly effective in others. If you are with a group, give this a shot.

b) Tip regular servers more than you otherwise might
- this is the one time when you can prepay good service in the future

c) Tip big on small bills
- for a small amount (ex. a few extra dollars on a $20 haircut) you are making a big statement and providing the server with some warm fuzzies and yourself with some really good karma