By Retail Brew Staff
less than 3 min read
Definition:
Remember when tipping your server 15% was standard, as opposed to today, when tipping less than 20% feels like a crime? That’s tipflation. But tipflation is more than that, and the aspect that really seems to get up everyone’s left nostril is not that we’re expected to tip more per transaction, but that we’re expected to tip in more situations. Enabled by the relatively new phenom (and ubiquity) of tip-prompt screens, consumers increasingly are asked how much they want to tip at fast-food drive-up windows, when picking up food at restaurants, and even at self-checkout, the last of which one infuriated consumer told the Wall Street Journal was “emotional blackmail.”
Origins of tipflation
According to Google Trends, which has data for searches dating back to 2004, the term was virtually nonexistent until appearing in November 2022, and searches for “tipflation” peaked in July 2023. Since consumers feel the pinch of this the most when they’re stretched, it will come as no surprise that this is also when inflation peaked post-Covid lockdown, per the Congressional Budget Office.
Tipflation in context
It is a monster that assumes many forms, and among those we’ve documented are the rise of “kitchen appreciation fees” assessed by restaurants to help compensate back-of-the-house workers, tips being solicited at a concert merch table and pick-your-own apples orchard. We also told you about a TikTok user whose viral video drew the line by saying he would never tip if he ordered while standing up, and about a poll that asked respondents if they agreed with that don’t-tip-if-prone rule: 62% did.
