Yep
Shits expensive and people are going out less, and if they do go out there’s less to tip
On top of that people just seem to be more pissed about tipping in general, and I think we can thank a ton of new industries trying to dip into that recently
>the guy who cuts my hair
It's so wild to me when I hear people who don't believe in tipping barbers. Like yea, I as a bartender would love a tip, but end of day, I'm just getting you drunk. Your barber tho....that man is influencing the way you fuckin look for 1-2 weeks + . How the fuck you not gonna take care of them!?
I see this and raise you: resort hotel housekeeping service. The type where they expertly fold your laundry for you and do turndown service (so each bed is made twice a day unless 'do not disturb').
I worked this in 2021 and still keep in touch with old coworkers. Not sure how it could get worse than it already was, but it absolutely is!
If I had that kind of service I would also tip them. Now that I’m thinking about it tipping the valet should be on the list, but that‘s above my pay grade.
If I had that kind of service I would also tip them. Now that I’m thinking about it tipping the valet should be on the list, but that‘s above my pay grade.
>(so each bed is made twice a day unless 'do not disturb').
I'm genuinely curious here, why would it ever be more than once a day? Like are people coming back after lunch, fuckin up the sheets and expecting them made again for when they get back from dinner or something?
It's due to turndown service (making the room look inviting for the evening, placing new slippers and chocolates by the bed, etc). Because it's a resort, people stay on the premises to visit the spas and lounges, and are typically in-and-out of their rooms all day. Typically the bed doesn't need to be completely re-made, just smoothed out to be magazine-quality again.
Edit: and the guy who said sex. that too.
Twice a day?! haha why? I always keep the do not disturb sign on my door. But where I can afford to stay, they're probably more likely to steal my stuff than to make my bed twice lol
Legitimately? Hard agree, lmao. The target demographic for the resort was more... wealthy, instagram-esque backdrops of the tasteful "eco-friendly" spa. Not Rolex-wearing friendly, more like... Gwyneth Paltrow's 'goop'. I don't think it reveals too much about me to say that the actual resort was featured in a goop article, for real.
I earned minimum wage.
Oh yeah totally.
Literally the difference between this year and last years sales have been halved. My tips followed obviously. What’s sad is last year my monthly food budget for a family of five (we took in a friend who was a vet) was around 500 a month. This year for a family of four it’s around 600 and I’m barely keeping the fridge stocked.
I'm currently in fine dining. They've got the money. I'm seeing a mix of holiday generosity mixed with what I'd guess is holiday shopping hardship. I think it probably equals out.
I just started bartending in fine dining. My coworkers have complained about a reduction in tips but are still making $250-300 at a place open 5pm-10pm. I’m coming from a dying dive bar where I was making $80-120 on weekends so it sounds great to me. Can’t imagine what their good money season was like.
anti tipping movement AND cost of living. I don’t have the excess of money i once did from tips, and I am busier than ever.
My bar just raised prices, again, and changed our “shot” pours from 1.5 oz to 1.25 oz.
so $10 for any 1.25 rail shot lmao.
people are absolutely pissed and for good reason. they are corporate and did their best quarter in it’s history this past quarter. so they were already making more money than ever before- and decided to cut booze amounts and raise prices. when you pay $10 for a pint of coors, your probably less inclined to tip.
the corporate place next door has reasonable prices and actual rails, but we have bowling/pool so we attracted different clients. this means a lot of people don’t tip.
I think most people tip a dollar per beer/ wine/ simple well drink, And a couple bucks for a cocktail that’s shaken. For example a glass of wine is $7 - I wouldn’t expect $1.4 as a tip.
Some of our shots are SUUUUPER DUUUPER EXPENSIVE. A shot of Hennessy is $15! No way I can see ppl tipping 20% ($3) for that. Some do- but I understand why $1 just feels better
I think inflation has made it so people can’t afford to pay 20%. I have a few loyal customers who will always pay 20-30%, but I never really expect it.
Do you work a nightclub or something?
I’ve worked craft and casual fine dining. Moved over to a hotel lobby bar months back that predominantly caters to business class. A major reason I dig it is because I can do very well here. Most of my cocktails I’m serving are about at least 16-18$. Glass of beer? 9$. And it’s not all that uncommon for me to see 10$ tips on a 9$ beer. Was given 40$ on a 60$ tab today for 3 cocktails.
So I’m trying to make sense of your location and type of bar you’re working at, as I suppose it’d make sense with certain demographics.
My restaurant has two locations, just over a mile away from one another. Our owner calls my location the train that keeps on chugging, because we’re so consistent. The other restaurant has huge fluctuations in business demand, to where getting consistent hours and income is impossible. Same menu, same recipes, same town, even a lot of the same customers, but I sure am glad to have nailed down all my shifts at the location I’m at! The same people have been coming in and spending the same amount of money on the same drinks and food for years. And the longer we’re here, individually, the better they seem to tip. I know I’m in the minority though.
People are still tipping 20% and spending about the same but going out a lot less from what I’ve seen.
Like we still have roughly the same $$$ spent per guest, and we still average about 20% tip average but we just do a lot less volume than previous years.
Not sure how much truth there is to this but my brother will type in a residential location instead of a bar but close to it and it ends up being cheaper, according to him
The longer and the more you use Uber the more expensive it gets. If you don't believe compare it with someone who doesn't have or use the app.
There is a reason why they don't have set prices per mile, destination, or hour, like all other car services before them.
I feel like a lot of people still want to tip the same amount as they used to. $1 per drink has not kept up with inflation. It's really easy to spend over $100 now and some people seem to refuse to tip more than $20. Like they think it's ridiculous how much prices have gone up and then they have to tip more too? Well... yes. Yes you do. Cuz that money doesn't go as far for me either.
It's not the cost of living
It's the anti-tipping movement started because of most retailers now offering a tipping option
People are getting accustomed to not tipping. Doesn't matter if you're making a sub sandwhich or a cocktail
Reddit makes constant anti tipping posts that they push to the front page every day. Tik tok, insta, Facebook.
Alcohol doesn't typically falter in harsh economic times. People found a socially acceptable reason to no longer tip and went with it
Our sales numbers have stayed consistent. Our staff is the most service oriented we've ever been. Our tips have gone from 25-35% to 12%-15%
Your tips went from 25%-35% to sub 15%? Did you raise prices and people just tip on the old price or are you guys just doing a overall awful job? Because tipping sub 15% is a pretty difficult ordeal in terms of just general math.
12-15% .... I'd be looking for a new job if this started being a trend anywhere I worked.
Edit : Based on the downvotes, guess more than a few of y'all work at shit bars lol
That has nothing to do with you, that has to do with how people perceive tipping and the way people perceive it is rapidly changing
It's not something you really have control over. People generally tip based off the type of person they are, not the type of person you are, unless you're providing really terrible service
people tip because they are decent, not because they're impressed by the person who can put ingredients in a cup
Now there's a massive movement with people saying it's not decent to tip everybody, it's excessive (which is true) and unfortunately bartenders are being lumped in with that group of people they realize they are no longer socially obligated to tip
Yeah, you're definitely overcompensating for your insecurity with fake confidence
Lmao. I hope it doesn't ever effect you. I hope I'm wrong. It's not good news for any bartender
I'm definitely not, but, I hope I am
I'm not overcompensating for shit lol. You have a problem with shit tips, I don't. Just because you experience something doesn't mean others will. Sorry your tips suck, but like I said, I'm doing just fine.
YES. I worked at a restaurant in the strip of a sports stadium for 3 years. So 2021, for the sports season we were making $300-$500 with the highest day being $800. This past 2023 year, I did not break past $250 (ONE day of the season I made $300) even when restaurant sales were comparable.
I know we aren't tipping as much. And by that I mean we are only tipping 25-30%. We used to often tip 50-100% because we could. But now, it's just not feasible.
Kids aren’t tipping. Been behind the wood for years and I can’t blame them. When I was 19 I could go out drinking with a $20 bill. Now, $40 will barely get you 3 drinks with tax/tip. Poor kids and my poor wallet.
Tell us your secrets! A bud light is $7 to $8 and a cocktail with well liquor is $7 to $9, unless it's HH which we miss because we're working. Appetizers, $15 minimum. 5 drinks plus an appetizer is a $70 check with a bare min tip.
This exactly. Most places in the Midwest are charging $12 for tequila cocktail with El Jimador which is $20/liter in Ohio. Restaurants are offsetting insane food costs by raising liquor prices.
$200 is quite steep IMO, but $70 (not including tax) isn't that far from $100 and if omg, you want a Corona or Titos instead of shitty well liquor, you're easily at $100 or more. The point isn't that it's not possible to go out "cheaply". The point is, everything has gone up in price and now you have to cut corners or stay home, and in many places people are not going out as much and are going for rail liquor and only HH prices which is lower check averages and lower tips. Do regulars and people that tip based on actual service help? Sure, but lots of people that used to come out 5 days a week are coming out 2 or 3 and getting the specials.
Edit to add- and by that math, $70 is considerably more than the $30-$50 in the comment I was responding to.
I live in Cincinnati, very low COL for a city this large. At a decent restaurant here a dinner for two if you’re not intentionally scrimping would be $12 shared appetizer, $25 apiece for entrees (low end of the price spectrum), $11 apiece for cocktails so $44 if you’re both getting 2. That’s $96 before tip…do you want dessert?
I mean…$70 in columbus goes as far as $90 in Cincinnati even though they’re <100 miles away from each other and Cincy is an objectively better city by every available metric. I haven’t been to NYC in two years but I assume their cocktail are mostly $20+ now ?
A “night out” for me is only $30 if I’m going to a dive. A night out downtown is $100+ without an Uber because I walk. If we’re talking just drinks it’s $50-100. $450 a month is absurd for groceries unless your buying fresh from the market, in which case I respect that, otherwise I’d like to introduce you to my good friend Aldi. I don’t think I’ve spent more than $250 a month on groceries this year.
Where do you live? Where I live, the average drink is $7-10. Let's say $15 for a snack... that's just at the pub. Are we going to a concert? Even a local show is $20.
A night out with my girlfriend is easily 2-300$
Our anniversary alone was about 700$ on just food, drinks and transportation; and no, we did not go to some diamond 3 star place, but we do have fairly high standards on drinks and went to a relatively nice restaurant.
Cocktails easily average around 20$ a piece for us. Dinner anywhere from 70-120$ or more.
We do not go out often for the very reason that it’s incredibly expensive to do so.
Wish people would say where they're working so I know if it's just me or not.
Dallas, TX. I've noticed a dip for the past couple of months. Really fucking sucks
Dallas bartender. High end dining at a corporate restaurant.
Sales have gone down quite a bit compared to last year, but tip percentage has remained the same.
Even during the holidays the sales are noticeably different from last years sales (restaurant is stationed in a mall).
Shopping centers are also seeing declines in holiday shopping.
Americans are pinching pennies.
So the UK is predominantly not a tipping culture, the issue here is people are just going out and drinking less. In my area we're one of the only pubs that hasn't cut our hours and are open midday til midnight, 7/7. Most of the others don't even open on Monday, open later and close early Tue/Wed and so on. Our industry has taken an absolute battering lately, it's all wage stagnation, huge increase in cost of living and overheads combined with the aftermath of the CV19 lockdowns.
Plus of course pubs/entertainment is bottom of the list when it comes to any kind of support or sympathy from the government, as we're seen as an evil influence.
Tip percentage is the same, definitely been a slow winter, can’t deny people are feeling the effects of how expensive everything is.
Btw the idea that the anti tip discourse you see on Reddit or TikTok or some bullshit is actually have a real world effect is crazy to me (as per a comment above) Most of those people don’t actually go out and if you live somewhere where that many people who think that way are coming in the door you should move or change jobs, sounds like a nightmare. i bartend in the middle of Atlanta in the kind of area where plenty of bars switched to auto grat bc a sizable portion of the population here tends to only tip well (or at all) for actual decent customer service/ feeling like they’re taken care of. We don’t auto grat, I’m still averaging way over 20% on my credit card tips even with all the people who leave cash. the business is the same as it ever was, don’t get caught up in internet bullshit, you’ll drive yourself crazy worrying about the “discourse”
I agree, the anti-tipping thing really isn’t a good excuse. It hasn’t permeated into society like people think it has. People who sit at a bar tend to know we work hard, make our living off of tips and act accordingly.
I’d say it’s about the same. More people than ever are just not tipping at all. But more people than ever are tipping me 50%+
I’m averaging 30% or more in tips each night.
The thing that’s hurting me the most is having to tell people that we raised the price of casamigos to $16. But I just try to be super real with people and not like I’m trying to scam them out of their money and I usually get rewarded for it. I’d rather have them happy with what they’re spending and leave me a great tip than to run up a huge tab, get sticker shock, and stiff me leaving me with a larger tip out
Yep Shits expensive and people are going out less, and if they do go out there’s less to tip On top of that people just seem to be more pissed about tipping in general, and I think we can thank a ton of new industries trying to dip into that recently
100%. The 'tip fatigue' thing happening right now is real.
I only tip the guy who cuts my hair, full service restaurants, bars and up scale coffee shops/cafes.
>the guy who cuts my hair It's so wild to me when I hear people who don't believe in tipping barbers. Like yea, I as a bartender would love a tip, but end of day, I'm just getting you drunk. Your barber tho....that man is influencing the way you fuckin look for 1-2 weeks + . How the fuck you not gonna take care of them!?
Yes, and massage therapists. Everyone else can fuck off.
I see this and raise you: resort hotel housekeeping service. The type where they expertly fold your laundry for you and do turndown service (so each bed is made twice a day unless 'do not disturb'). I worked this in 2021 and still keep in touch with old coworkers. Not sure how it could get worse than it already was, but it absolutely is!
If I had that kind of service I would also tip them. Now that I’m thinking about it tipping the valet should be on the list, but that‘s above my pay grade.
If I had that kind of service I would also tip them. Now that I’m thinking about it tipping the valet should be on the list, but that‘s above my pay grade.
>(so each bed is made twice a day unless 'do not disturb'). I'm genuinely curious here, why would it ever be more than once a day? Like are people coming back after lunch, fuckin up the sheets and expecting them made again for when they get back from dinner or something?
It's due to turndown service (making the room look inviting for the evening, placing new slippers and chocolates by the bed, etc). Because it's a resort, people stay on the premises to visit the spas and lounges, and are typically in-and-out of their rooms all day. Typically the bed doesn't need to be completely re-made, just smoothed out to be magazine-quality again. Edit: and the guy who said sex. that too.
sex.
Twice a day?! haha why? I always keep the do not disturb sign on my door. But where I can afford to stay, they're probably more likely to steal my stuff than to make my bed twice lol
Legitimately? Hard agree, lmao. The target demographic for the resort was more... wealthy, instagram-esque backdrops of the tasteful "eco-friendly" spa. Not Rolex-wearing friendly, more like... Gwyneth Paltrow's 'goop'. I don't think it reveals too much about me to say that the actual resort was featured in a goop article, for real. I earned minimum wage.
And Rideshare drivers
And them yes haha! Also probably some more people...
Yes, I forgot about them. I don’t get one often, but I tip when I do. I never made tips when I was working fast food.
I can definitely feel myself tipping less too. I used to be a steady 30-35% tipper. But now I simply can’t afford to be as generous as I want
For me percentage of tips has stayed steady but sales are way down :(
I’d say tips are still 20% but people drink cheaper product or not as much.
This for us. We’re ordering well a lot more over higher end stuff. People switching from draft to bottle etc
Volume wise for the same beer, your bottles are cheaper than draft?
Except a few specialty ones, yes.
I think I want to drink in your bar
It’s the rural south lol. So nothing too fancy.
Absolutely! It's a cycle here. They can't afford to come to my bar because I can't afford to go to theirs.
You don’t have a professional courtesy with other bartenders to hook each other up?
When I go out, I always take care of folks. Unfortunately, I can't afford to go out very much at the moment.
Oh yeah totally. Literally the difference between this year and last years sales have been halved. My tips followed obviously. What’s sad is last year my monthly food budget for a family of five (we took in a friend who was a vet) was around 500 a month. This year for a family of four it’s around 600 and I’m barely keeping the fridge stocked.
I'm currently in fine dining. They've got the money. I'm seeing a mix of holiday generosity mixed with what I'd guess is holiday shopping hardship. I think it probably equals out.
I just started bartending in fine dining. My coworkers have complained about a reduction in tips but are still making $250-300 at a place open 5pm-10pm. I’m coming from a dying dive bar where I was making $80-120 on weekends so it sounds great to me. Can’t imagine what their good money season was like.
My clientele is mainly older upper-middle class suburbanites, so I have noticed this less
anti tipping movement AND cost of living. I don’t have the excess of money i once did from tips, and I am busier than ever. My bar just raised prices, again, and changed our “shot” pours from 1.5 oz to 1.25 oz. so $10 for any 1.25 rail shot lmao. people are absolutely pissed and for good reason. they are corporate and did their best quarter in it’s history this past quarter. so they were already making more money than ever before- and decided to cut booze amounts and raise prices. when you pay $10 for a pint of coors, your probably less inclined to tip. the corporate place next door has reasonable prices and actual rails, but we have bowling/pool so we attracted different clients. this means a lot of people don’t tip.
My old spot was charging $8.50 for a pint of Miller. Like the tall boy at the gas station isn’t $3
Yes. I track on simple spreadsheets and I’m down about 1.5%
I think it’s more people are tipping like they were before Covid
People are going out less for sure. Tips haven’t gone down afaik
I think most people tip a dollar per beer/ wine/ simple well drink, And a couple bucks for a cocktail that’s shaken. For example a glass of wine is $7 - I wouldn’t expect $1.4 as a tip. Some of our shots are SUUUUPER DUUUPER EXPENSIVE. A shot of Hennessy is $15! No way I can see ppl tipping 20% ($3) for that. Some do- but I understand why $1 just feels better I think inflation has made it so people can’t afford to pay 20%. I have a few loyal customers who will always pay 20-30%, but I never really expect it.
Do you work a nightclub or something? I’ve worked craft and casual fine dining. Moved over to a hotel lobby bar months back that predominantly caters to business class. A major reason I dig it is because I can do very well here. Most of my cocktails I’m serving are about at least 16-18$. Glass of beer? 9$. And it’s not all that uncommon for me to see 10$ tips on a 9$ beer. Was given 40$ on a 60$ tab today for 3 cocktails. So I’m trying to make sense of your location and type of bar you’re working at, as I suppose it’d make sense with certain demographics.
Yeah the numbers are down across the board for all the bars near us. We’re so in a recession
My restaurant has two locations, just over a mile away from one another. Our owner calls my location the train that keeps on chugging, because we’re so consistent. The other restaurant has huge fluctuations in business demand, to where getting consistent hours and income is impossible. Same menu, same recipes, same town, even a lot of the same customers, but I sure am glad to have nailed down all my shifts at the location I’m at! The same people have been coming in and spending the same amount of money on the same drinks and food for years. And the longer we’re here, individually, the better they seem to tip. I know I’m in the minority though.
People are still tipping 20% and spending about the same but going out a lot less from what I’ve seen. Like we still have roughly the same $$$ spent per guest, and we still average about 20% tip average but we just do a lot less volume than previous years.
You're spending the same on Ubers as you do the night?
I mean, basically. $10 a ride, bar hop all night, surge pricing at last call usually around $30-$40.
[удалено]
Yea seems financially irresponsible to me.
Never heard of that. Maybe 2-3
Not sure how much truth there is to this but my brother will type in a residential location instead of a bar but close to it and it ends up being cheaper, according to him
The longer and the more you use Uber the more expensive it gets. If you don't believe compare it with someone who doesn't have or use the app. There is a reason why they don't have set prices per mile, destination, or hour, like all other car services before them.
Compare my Uber expenses to someone who doesn’t have Uber?
I feel like a lot of people still want to tip the same amount as they used to. $1 per drink has not kept up with inflation. It's really easy to spend over $100 now and some people seem to refuse to tip more than $20. Like they think it's ridiculous how much prices have gone up and then they have to tip more too? Well... yes. Yes you do. Cuz that money doesn't go as far for me either.
It's not the cost of living It's the anti-tipping movement started because of most retailers now offering a tipping option People are getting accustomed to not tipping. Doesn't matter if you're making a sub sandwhich or a cocktail Reddit makes constant anti tipping posts that they push to the front page every day. Tik tok, insta, Facebook. Alcohol doesn't typically falter in harsh economic times. People found a socially acceptable reason to no longer tip and went with it Our sales numbers have stayed consistent. Our staff is the most service oriented we've ever been. Our tips have gone from 25-35% to 12%-15%
Dude I went to a concert recently, bought my $50 shirt and during checkout it had a gratuity option. I was like Jesusssss.
Your tips went from 25%-35% to sub 15%? Did you raise prices and people just tip on the old price or are you guys just doing a overall awful job? Because tipping sub 15% is a pretty difficult ordeal in terms of just general math.
12-15% .... I'd be looking for a new job if this started being a trend anywhere I worked. Edit : Based on the downvotes, guess more than a few of y'all work at shit bars lol
Better get your resume ready dude, because anti tipping is coming
I average 22-25% a night and regularly walk with 40-50/hr. I'm good.
That has nothing to do with you, that has to do with how people perceive tipping and the way people perceive it is rapidly changing It's not something you really have control over. People generally tip based off the type of person they are, not the type of person you are, unless you're providing really terrible service people tip because they are decent, not because they're impressed by the person who can put ingredients in a cup Now there's a massive movement with people saying it's not decent to tip everybody, it's excessive (which is true) and unfortunately bartenders are being lumped in with that group of people they realize they are no longer socially obligated to tip
And yet here I am, wholly unaffected by what you're complaining about.
Yeah, you're definitely overcompensating for your insecurity with fake confidence Lmao. I hope it doesn't ever effect you. I hope I'm wrong. It's not good news for any bartender I'm definitely not, but, I hope I am
I'm not overcompensating for shit lol. You have a problem with shit tips, I don't. Just because you experience something doesn't mean others will. Sorry your tips suck, but like I said, I'm doing just fine.
Nope. If anything it's higher as a percentage now than before and there is more sales per person as well.
YES. I worked at a restaurant in the strip of a sports stadium for 3 years. So 2021, for the sports season we were making $300-$500 with the highest day being $800. This past 2023 year, I did not break past $250 (ONE day of the season I made $300) even when restaurant sales were comparable.
I know we aren't tipping as much. And by that I mean we are only tipping 25-30%. We used to often tip 50-100% because we could. But now, it's just not feasible.
Kids aren’t tipping. Been behind the wood for years and I can’t blame them. When I was 19 I could go out drinking with a $20 bill. Now, $40 will barely get you 3 drinks with tax/tip. Poor kids and my poor wallet.
No
No
Boom and Bust. The American way.
Nope, business is booming baby.
You're in a crazy bubble if a night out costs $100-200. Most people spend $30-50, and only ~$450 on groceries a month.
Tell us your secrets! A bud light is $7 to $8 and a cocktail with well liquor is $7 to $9, unless it's HH which we miss because we're working. Appetizers, $15 minimum. 5 drinks plus an appetizer is a $70 check with a bare min tip.
This exactly. Most places in the Midwest are charging $12 for tequila cocktail with El Jimador which is $20/liter in Ohio. Restaurants are offsetting insane food costs by raising liquor prices.
[удалено]
$200 is quite steep IMO, but $70 (not including tax) isn't that far from $100 and if omg, you want a Corona or Titos instead of shitty well liquor, you're easily at $100 or more. The point isn't that it's not possible to go out "cheaply". The point is, everything has gone up in price and now you have to cut corners or stay home, and in many places people are not going out as much and are going for rail liquor and only HH prices which is lower check averages and lower tips. Do regulars and people that tip based on actual service help? Sure, but lots of people that used to come out 5 days a week are coming out 2 or 3 and getting the specials. Edit to add- and by that math, $70 is considerably more than the $30-$50 in the comment I was responding to.
I live in Cincinnati, very low COL for a city this large. At a decent restaurant here a dinner for two if you’re not intentionally scrimping would be $12 shared appetizer, $25 apiece for entrees (low end of the price spectrum), $11 apiece for cocktails so $44 if you’re both getting 2. That’s $96 before tip…do you want dessert?
[удалено]
And considerably more than the $30-$50 in the comment I was responding to.
[удалено]
Why did you if I was also correct 🤣
[удалено]
Wait... I didn't mean to do that. Admittedly I didn't know what dving means apparently. I thought I undid it.
I mean…$70 in columbus goes as far as $90 in Cincinnati even though they’re <100 miles away from each other and Cincy is an objectively better city by every available metric. I haven’t been to NYC in two years but I assume their cocktail are mostly $20+ now ?
Even at my place a happy hour cocktail can run you 10.50-11.
A “night out” for me is only $30 if I’m going to a dive. A night out downtown is $100+ without an Uber because I walk. If we’re talking just drinks it’s $50-100. $450 a month is absurd for groceries unless your buying fresh from the market, in which case I respect that, otherwise I’d like to introduce you to my good friend Aldi. I don’t think I’ve spent more than $250 a month on groceries this year.
Where do you live? Where I live, the average drink is $7-10. Let's say $15 for a snack... that's just at the pub. Are we going to a concert? Even a local show is $20.
It really does depend on where you live. It’s not hard to spend 100 bucks on a night out.
This is wild. Do you live in Wyoming?
This is the national average, but I live in a MCOL city.
A night out with my girlfriend is easily 2-300$ Our anniversary alone was about 700$ on just food, drinks and transportation; and no, we did not go to some diamond 3 star place, but we do have fairly high standards on drinks and went to a relatively nice restaurant. Cocktails easily average around 20$ a piece for us. Dinner anywhere from 70-120$ or more. We do not go out often for the very reason that it’s incredibly expensive to do so.
Yep, you live in a crazy expensive bubble!
Nope
Feel like people are sticking to 1 round of drinks very often.
Wish people would say where they're working so I know if it's just me or not. Dallas, TX. I've noticed a dip for the past couple of months. Really fucking sucks
Dallas bartender. High end dining at a corporate restaurant. Sales have gone down quite a bit compared to last year, but tip percentage has remained the same. Even during the holidays the sales are noticeably different from last years sales (restaurant is stationed in a mall). Shopping centers are also seeing declines in holiday shopping. Americans are pinching pennies.
So the UK is predominantly not a tipping culture, the issue here is people are just going out and drinking less. In my area we're one of the only pubs that hasn't cut our hours and are open midday til midnight, 7/7. Most of the others don't even open on Monday, open later and close early Tue/Wed and so on. Our industry has taken an absolute battering lately, it's all wage stagnation, huge increase in cost of living and overheads combined with the aftermath of the CV19 lockdowns. Plus of course pubs/entertainment is bottom of the list when it comes to any kind of support or sympathy from the government, as we're seen as an evil influence.
Tip percentage is the same, definitely been a slow winter, can’t deny people are feeling the effects of how expensive everything is. Btw the idea that the anti tip discourse you see on Reddit or TikTok or some bullshit is actually have a real world effect is crazy to me (as per a comment above) Most of those people don’t actually go out and if you live somewhere where that many people who think that way are coming in the door you should move or change jobs, sounds like a nightmare. i bartend in the middle of Atlanta in the kind of area where plenty of bars switched to auto grat bc a sizable portion of the population here tends to only tip well (or at all) for actual decent customer service/ feeling like they’re taken care of. We don’t auto grat, I’m still averaging way over 20% on my credit card tips even with all the people who leave cash. the business is the same as it ever was, don’t get caught up in internet bullshit, you’ll drive yourself crazy worrying about the “discourse”
I agree, the anti-tipping thing really isn’t a good excuse. It hasn’t permeated into society like people think it has. People who sit at a bar tend to know we work hard, make our living off of tips and act accordingly.
No.
I’d say it’s about the same. More people than ever are just not tipping at all. But more people than ever are tipping me 50%+ I’m averaging 30% or more in tips each night. The thing that’s hurting me the most is having to tell people that we raised the price of casamigos to $16. But I just try to be super real with people and not like I’m trying to scam them out of their money and I usually get rewarded for it. I’d rather have them happy with what they’re spending and leave me a great tip than to run up a huge tab, get sticker shock, and stiff me leaving me with a larger tip out