Is “Tipping Culture” Getting Out of Hand? The Internet Calls Out Service-Worker Entitlement and “Tipflation”

“There was a tipping screen at one of those frozen yogurt places where you get everything yourself,” one said. “I did all the work! Tip for what?” Another lamented that they’d had the tip screen show up in the checkout lane at the pet store. Still a third made her own video talking about how she’d gotten a tip screen in the self checkout at an airport snack shop. That one made me LOL! Definitely not tipping for self-service!

Others flooded the comments with stories of their own, bonding over what many TikTokers are calling “tipflation.” Tipflation, also known as tip creep, is a term to describe the recent widespread expansion of gratuity to more industries, as opposed to being traditionally only prevalent in full-service restaurants.

My feeling is that tipping culture is not really at all out of hand, and that most service workers deserve a tip. I think perhaps the more likely truth is that checkout services that use tip screens are out of hand. That is to say, not every business that uses checkout software with a tip screen should. And when I don’t think it’s warranted, I’m going to keep hitting “No.”

Do you think “tipping culture” is a thing? Or is it just a new name for something that has always existed?