In 2023, tipping — or choosing not to — has expanded into a near-universal ritual of food service.

Customers at a humble takeout joint might face a choice among three double-digit gratuities on a touch screen, under the penetrating gaze of a cashier.  

Two societal forces, the COVID-19 pandemic and touch-screen point-of-sale tablets, have conspired to transform American tipping culture.

The gratuity has colonized the food-service universe, from fast-food restaurants to food trucks to farmers markets.

 
“My family went strawberry picking last weekend,” said Ted Rossman, a senior industry analyst at Bankrate.com. “I made the reservation. They asked me for a tip. I asked my wife, ‘What are we tipping for?’” 

How did it change?

Before the pandemic, most Americans understood the restaurant tip as an elastic reward system for servers, a labor force whose salaries depend on them. Outside of table-service restaurants, gratuities were largely confined to tip jars.   

Then, touch screens arrived and changed the tipping dynamic. Counter-service restaurants could present customers with a default tip: 18, 20 or even 25 percent. The easiest response was to pay it. 

And the pandemic added a moral imperative to the tipping ritual as restaurant dining ceased, leaving takeout and delivery as the sole options. Pandemic ethics encouraged diners to tip generously to support idled waitstaff.  

Now, the pandemic has waned, and restaurant life has resumed. Yet, the tipping touch screens remain. 

The Hill’s Daniel De Visé explains why here.