These days, customers who visit a restaurant to pick up a carryout order, or even a fast-food drive-thru, may be greeted by a prompt on the screen asking how much they’d like to tip.
In some cases, it’s just a kiosk making the request, but other times the cashier might be waiting for the customer’s response.
« It usually catches me off-guard, » Chris Nordstrom, a commercial real estate executive in Kansas City, Missouri, told Fox News Digital.
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« It’s not that I mind tipping in the right context, » he said. « It’s just that fast food, by nature, has traditionally been a non-tipping experience. »
Just 12% of U.S. adults tip when eating at a « fast casual restaurant, » according to a Pew Research Center survey.
About 77% said the quality of the service they receive is a « major factor » in deciding whether to tip and how much.
« I don’t tip if I pay before I eat, » wrote one person on Reddit.
Another user wrote that if there’s a tip option at a fast-food restaurant, « it should be an instant zero … unless they make less than minimum wage, no need to tip. »
Most fast-food restaurants are required to pay the federal minimum wage, and some states have an even higher minimum wage.
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Tipped restaurant employees also earn at least their state’s minimum wage, according to the National Restaurant Association.
« More often than not, I don’t tip at fast-food places unless the staff has gone above and beyond – or if it’s a locally-owned spot that I want to support, » Nordstrom said. « Tipping is tied to service – not just the act of handing over an order that was pre-prepared. »
But people who work in the service or retail industry may have a different perspective.
« If the option comes up, I’m always happy to tip, » Blair Dubinsky, a client advisor at a luxury-brand retail store in New York City, told Fox News Digital. « Working with the public isn’t easy, and if that’s the way I can thank them, I don’t mind doing it. »
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The custom of tipping is strictly American, according to Sarah Aynesworth, a Texas-based etiquette consultant who trained at the Protocol School of Washington.
« ‘TIP’ is an acronym for ‘to insure promptness,’ which began during Prohibition, » she told Fox News Digital. « People would get their alcohol delivered faster if they gave a little bit of extra money. »
Aynesworth said she does not always tip the customary 20% when dining at a casual or fast-food restaurant.
« That’s really for more of a seated, served meal, where someone is refilling your water and giving you an experience, » she said. « At a fast-food restaurant, you’re paying for fast food. »
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For those who do decide to tip, pay attention to the numbers on the screen before tapping, said Aynesworth.
« Sometimes they are prompting you to pay even more than a normal percentage, » she said.
Nordstrom said he has noticed auto-tip options creeping higher, sometimes starting at 25%.
« When I’m being prompted to tip for things like grabbing a water, it seems a bit excessive, especially when the cashier is staring at you, » he said. « It feels as if the social guilt aspect has overtaken the spirit of tipping. »
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Dubinsky said she often tips fast-food workers – not out of obligation, but simply as a courtesy.
« I don’t think people should necessarily feel like they need to tip at a fast-food restaurant … however, people put in the effort to take the order and make the food, so I think it’s very polite to tip. »
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If picking up takeout food and there’s an option to tip, she said she will usually leave one, but not if picking up food from a window, « because I’m not interacting with anyone. »
Nordstrom said he believes it should not always be expected.
« If tipping becomes an expectation everywhere, regardless of the level of service, then its meaning as a reward for above-and-beyond hospitality is lost — and it becomes more of an additional tax. »
Source link : https://www.foxnews.com/food-drink/restaurant-tipping-etiquette-should-tip-fast-food-takeout
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Publish date : 2025-04-25 11:00:00
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