The Truth About Tipping Culture. When Are Most Americans Actually Leaving a Tip?

Not too long ago, I used a self-checkout machine at a store and I was asked by the automated payment processing system if I wanted to leave a tip. I'm not the only one this has happened to, and this is not the only situation where I've been asked to provide a gratuity when I felt the request was unreasonable.

Tipping culture has gotten out of control due to the rise of automated payment apps asking for tips in tons of new situations -- and often defaulting to a gratuity of 15% or more if you don't opt out. This can impact your personal finances.

Since you're now being asked to open your wallet and leave a tip in so many different circumstances, it's confusing to figure out when it really is appropriate to have this extra money come out of your checking account. To help navigate this complicated tipping culture, it can be helpful to look at when your fellow Americans are leaving money for the customer support staff members who are assisting them.

Here's when most Americans do, and don't, tip

According to Pew Research, there are four situations when the majority of Americans always leave a tip:

• At a restaurant with servers: 81% of people always tip under these circumstances and 11% often do.
• After getting a haircut: 65% always tip their hairdresser and 13% often do.
• When having food delivered such as ordering UberEats or DoorDash through a delivery app: 59% always tip their driver and 17% often do.
• Purchasing a drink at a bar: 53% of Americans tip their bartender every time and 18% do so often.

Using a taxi or ride-hailing service is a little bit more of a gray area, though. While a combined 61% either always or often tip, only 43% of Americans say they do so every time. By contrast, it's far less common to tip at a coffee shop, where only 12% always tip and 12% of people tip sometimes. And if you are tipping at a fast food restaurant, you are in the minority -- only 7% always tip and 12% tip often.

How you can decide whether a gratuity is appropriate

For most Americans, there is one deciding factor that determines whether they put a tip on their credit cards when making a purchase -- the quality of the service. A total of 77% of adults responding to the Pew Survey indicated that the service they received is the major deciding factor both in determining whether to tip at all and in deciding what amount is appropriate.

This makes good sense in some situations, especially as one purpose of tipping is to reward people who go the extra mile. However, many restaurant workers actually receive less than the minimum wage because it is expected they will receive a tip, so if you aren't leaving them something, this can have a major negative impact on how much money they bring home. So, unless you receive truly terrible service, you should tip the staff member who took care of you for a wage as low as $2.13 an hour.

Ultimately, if someone provides you with a skilled service, goes the extra mile for you, or works in an industry where tips are standard like food delivery, tipping them is the right thing to do. But, if you're taking care of yourself at a self-checkout or a staff member does nothing but hand you a coffee, you're probably OK not to pay them extra for this limited effort.