Australians’ tipping habits are not keeping pace with higher menu prices, new research shows, as household costs soar and diners grapple with pandemic-era hospitality charges.
A report by Lightspeed Commerce, using payments platform data, found that the average tip amount dropped in August to 8.1% of a total bill.
This is the lowest amount in four years recorded by the point-of-sale and software company, and the first time it has dropped below 9% since early 2021.
Good, fuck tipping
so? Go fuck yourself.
We pay our workers here. A tip is something you give your server in appreciation for good service if you want to. It goes directly to the worker, it shouldn’t be tied into the pricing of the business, that’s a separate arrangement.
I’ll tip the waitress who politely put up with my dad as he makes a racist fool of himself over dinner. She doesn’t deserve that at work, she deserves compensation (and my dad wonders why we only go out once a year)
I’ll tip the barista who managed to pull some tables together and keep track of my 25+ coffee order as I attempted to wrangle all of my students into a Cafe when Melbourne decided to rain on our botanical garden excursion. No one in hospo wants a 25 top coming in unannounced, let alone a group as roudy as my students. They deserve a tip.
I’ll tip the restaurant that took the time to ask me clarifying questions about my allergies and make me something off menu after cleaning down the kitchen for cross contamination. I wasn’t expecting anything more than black coffee because I knew going in, there was nothing on the menu I could eat. It’s my friends favourite restaurant and it’s their birthday so I’m not going to reject the invite. I don’t expect the staff to cater to me, but they do, so I feel a tip is warrented.
Tipping has it’s place, I tip more than most, my friends will often make fun of me for how often I tip (look, I’ll be honest, I do tip a lot because I have allergies and as a customer I know I’m extra work) but the way the Australian service industry is trying to use Americanised tipping culture to compensate for wage theft and stagnated income rates is disgusting.
Ayup. Tipping is a reward, not an expectation. I’ll tip great service, in recompense for a situation I know is a hassle, the usual suspects. I’m not gonna tip for a basic job of serving me shit that you’re already paid to do.
The article says that 0.52% of transactions have a tip, and the average tip is 8%.
At 0.52%, it’s a stretch to describe tipping as a ‘habit’. Most of that is probably American tourists or people fat fingering the tip prompt.
Routine/Daily tips should always only be rounding errors. If a coffee costs $4.50, the coffee shop Tip Jar got 50c. It is there so you can avoid carrying around Silver change. If you need that extra 50c so you can afford your Saturday coffee, you are not obliged to use the Tip Jar. Even if you don’t need that extra 50c there should not be an obligation to tip.
So? We don’t tip in Australia. We have overtime, holiday leave loading (literally paid more to go on holiday), superannuation, etc. We don’t need, nor want tipping. This isn’t a country that pays adults $12 an hour, and has no benefits.
Is superannuation like a pension?
It is a pension yes. It’s over 10% and rising to 15% in the coming years.
If it weren’t for the spiders, maybe I’d consider moving there 🫣
Is government mandated saving for retirement. Most Superannuation funds are good but some if the big ones were there purely as a political lobbying bodies.
Fortunately for everyone, legislation was introduced that allowed employees to choose their own superannuation funds.
The ones that didn’t perform (and only survived due to kickbacks to Payroll Managers) were forced to change their portfolios to ones that actually produced dividends for their members or close up shop.
They became Real Estate investors that sprucked “SeLf-MaNaGeD SuPeR fUnDs” where they could con people out of their Super to fund rental properties.
Australians’
tipping habitsemployers fail tokeep up withpay even a living wage, whilerisingraising restaurant pricesFixed that for you
FUCK TIPPING.
I was glad to see this bit at the end:
The number of payments with tips has remained stable throughout the last year with 0.52% of payments including a tip in August 2023, according to Lightspeed.
Still, we really do have to be vigilant in our efforts to prevent tipping being normalised. You can bet restaurant owners are going to be pushing it whenever they see an opportunity, so we need to be pushing back harder.
Does that represent the US tourists who tip out of habit?
Great, good, gorgonzola. We don’t do that here.
These type of articles are designed to try and normalise this behaviour. Not having it. Price is on the menu and is tax inclusive. Get fucked.
I’m absolutely horrified that tipping is still as high as 8% for those who do tip.
Get that absolute nonsense out of our country. It benefits no one and will only do great harm in the long run. Just look at the mess that is American hospitality.
The tip requests on digital termals in a lot of places in my area of USA start at 18% and tax isn’t included in the menu prices. Absolute bullshit. This is at counter service places.
“Australians don’t do American thing, BUT WHY???”
Shouldn’t it be? “The fair work commission hasn’t increased the minimum wage in line with inflation”? Fuck tipping. Fuck it to hell
I’ve never seen the stats before and 8% seems really high?? Is there some subset of Australia that tips all the time that I rarely see?
Edit: nvm, the stat is confusing as other commenter pointed out.
The number of payments with tips has remained stable throughout the last year with 0.52% of payments throughout the hospitality sector including a tip in August 2023, according to Lightspeed.
Would appear from this article that average tip amount would be the average of all tips actually given, not tips from all charges. Fuck tipping, raise wages.
Wait until you see how few Australian tenants tip their landlords.
I’m surprised to hear it’s that high in Australia. Edit: Like others I misread the stats. 8% is the average to amount of the tip, only 0.5% of transactions include tips. I just got back from the US and it’s awful over there.The last two times I remember tipping in Australia (excluding “keep the change”) was one for a local food truck I like during the pandemic lockdowns. The other was a few years before that at a restaurant after I told them we were there for my mum’s birthday to get a candle in the desert, the chef instead took her back into the kitchen and showed her how they prepared several of the dishes (and we got the candle).
If you pay 5%, business can pay 95% for the employee to survive. This mean your action is encouraging that the job to be 5% slavery
Wait, it’s not April 1st, is it?
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Australians’ tipping habits are not keeping pace with higher menu prices, new research shows, as household costs soar and diners grapple with pandemic-era hospitality charges.
A report by Lightspeed Commerce, using payments platform data, found that the average tip amount dropped in August to 8.1% of a total bill.
Andrew Fraser, Lightspeed’s managing director for Asia Pacific, said more customers have been leaving tips in recent years, although the size of the gratuity has fallen as a percentage of the total bill.
“With inflation driving costs up, this is impacting the additional money that is able to go back to hospitality staff for their service.”
Tony Green, chief executive of the Australian Foodservice Advocacy Body, said the long-term practice in Australia had been to tip about 10% for good service.
This also raises a question over whether the wait staff, or restaurant owner, will receive the gratuity, although Tax Office rules dictate the venue operator must pass the tip to the employees.
The original article contains 508 words, the summary contains 162 words. Saved 68%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
