There are three main reasons tipping has changed so much in the last few years.
Reason #1: The pandemic
"It goes back to the pandemic," says Shubhranshu Singh, a professor at Johns Hopkins Business school. He says during the pandemic, we started tipping people we didn't use to tip and we started tipping more than usual as a way to support essential workers at a time of crisis.
The pandemic went away, says Singh, but the tip-spectations didn't.
Reason #2: Technology (+ the power of the nudge)
At the same time, says Singh, the technology around how we pay has been changing. Mix that with the pandemic-era culture shift around tips, and it makes for a powerful combination.
"Now the screen turns," says Singh. "And that person who gave service to you is in front of you and there is this social pressure."
And that social pressure is powerful. Singh points out that when it is absent, we don't tip. In the case of Uber and Lyft, where customers are asked to tip after their ride is complete, more than 60% of customers don't tip at all and those who do tip, typically tip around 5-10%.
Reason #3: The job market (+ inflation)
And even though customers are complaining, businesses aren't fighting it because of the third main driver of tip-flation: the job market.
Jung says restaurants, coffee shops and other service businesses have been competing tooth and nail for workers, luring them in with better benefits and higher pay.
At the same time, businesses are trying to keep prices as low as possible with price-sensitive customers reacting to any sign of inflation.
"The wage workers are receiving isn't sufficient," Jung says. "So now everybody is using this very weird way to increase wages while maintaining the same menu price."
In other words, tipping is a way to pay workers more without actually paying them more ... so restaurants can keep prices low.
Are we at a tipping point?
But tipping culture might be reaching a tipping point. A survey from Bankrate found that two-thirds of customers now have a negative view of tipping.
And this year, tips are down nearly 10% for restaurant servers. So while we're tipping for airport snacks and footlong subs, we're giving less to the workers whose pay depends the most on tips.
But even if tip-flation starts to reverse course, don't expect to pay less. If tipping goes away, Jung says, companies will need to raise workers' wages in an official way. And they will pay for that by adding fees to what you buy or ... the old fashioned way: by raising prices.
"You see this whenever inflation is on the rise," says Jung. "You see businesses trying to bring in more money any way they can: fees, extra charges. If tips go down, prices will go up. One way or another, we're still gonna be paying."
want je geeft uiteindelijk toch een tip als het eten lekker was en als de service goed was. Dus ik probeer zulke restaurants zoveel mogelijk te vermijden.
Gelukkig konden we ook kiezen voor 0% of geen tip en dat heb ik ook gedaan. Waarom ze daar om een tip vragen weet ik niet, het is duur genoeg om de hond daar achter te laten. Ze kwam thuis met haar neus geschraapt en elbogen kaal. 
Is de eerste keer en waarschijnlijk ook de laatste keer dat ze daar heen gaat, maar we hadden geen andere keuze.
