How to tip in the United States?

Question

Tipping customs in the United States can be surprising for people who travel there for the first time. It happened to me whan I used a shuttle van service out of LAX a few years ago. To sum up the bias: I am French; a country where service charges are included and eventual tips to waiters in restaurants are only a few euros.

Although I paid by credit card, the driver gave me a pen and a form on which I could write the tip amount. At that moment, I was really missing simple rules that could help me define how much a suitable tip could be.

Afterwards, I heard about different calculation tricks. Some people say it's 20%, others 18%; some suggest to double the sales tax.

• Is the rule the same for all occasions to tip, or are there different amounts depending for a table service restaurant, the tip jar of a fast-food restaurant, a bar waiter, a taxi driver?
• When someone gives outstanding service although not used to get tips, how much is appropriate? For instance, we had an airport car rental shuttle bus driver calling a competitor rental company for us to see if they had cars available, since the rental company of that bus was sold out.
• Restaurants often add a gratuity for large parties. Are patrons expected to tip beyond this amount and how much?

Answer 1

Tipping in the US is much more common than elsewhere. In much of the US service staff are deliberately paid very low wages and expected to make it up in tips. Remember this when comparing prices in North America and Europe - the price of a restaurant may look low, but you are going to have to pay up to 30% extra on it - 15% tax and 15% tip.

I can't do better than recommend this Tripadvisor page. It squares with my experience. To summarize:

• Normal tip in a restaurant for normal service is 15%. 20% for excellent service, 10% for poor (0% for really terrible). However remember that bad food is not the same as bad service.
• Tip in all restaurants, but not fast food joints. The tip jar is largely for show, and if you throw in a quarter you are tipping above the average.
• Some restaurants add a gratuity charge, especially for large groups or foreigners, in which case that is the tip. There is no need to add more tip, unless the service was remarkable. If the service was bad ask to have the gratuity charge reduced, but refusing to pay a gratuity charge added to the bill has resulted in legal action in extreme circumstances.
• The article recommends tipping in cash to ensure that the tip gets to the server, but nobody does that. It's too complicated, it's not my place to get between a server and their employer.
• The article has a whole list of other places where you should tip.
• Service staff are generally pretty tolerant if you undertip or fail to tip.

Answer 2

Is the rule the same for all occasions to tip, or are there different amounts depending for a table service restaurant, the tip jar of a fast-food restaurant, a bar waiter, a taxi driver?

Rules are not the same. In a restaurant it is considered typical to tip ~15% for an average service. If the service is good, go for double sale tax (in CA/NY at least). Some restaurants put the suggested calculations on the bill. For cabs, I usually round up to the next $5, unless there was something extraordinary (like the driver carried my bags 10 floors up or something). I never tip at fast food restaurants (I almost never eat there too, though). Jars - put a $1 bill, if you really liked the service - put two.

When someone gives outstanding service although not used to get tips, how much is appropriate? For instance, we had an airport car rental shuttle bus driver calling a competitor rental company for us to see if they had cars available, since the rental company of that bus was sold out.

I would say "thank you" is enough. It might offend people, if you give a tip in a situation usually not considered a "tip-giving" situation. But that's just me.

Restaurants often add a gratuity for large parties. Are patrons expected to tip beyond this amount and how much?

If gratuity is charged, I never add tips.