Exclusive | Tipping experts clear up controversy over gratuity at self-service kiosks and other sneaky surcharges

We’ve reached a tipping point: self-service kiosks are asking for tips, while shoppers feel pressure to tip cashiers who don’t cook a thing.At restaurants, where a tip of 15 to 20% has been standard for decades, suggested tips are climbing higher and higher.In a viral incident earlier this month, TikTok creator BD Powell claimed that a Shake Shack kiosk at the Salt Lake City airport raised the price of his items after he selected “no tip” during checkout.Shake Shack denied that the man’s total changed after not selecting a tip, saying the change in price was due to an error.

But the incident struck a chord just the same.People are fed up with feeling forced into tipping.The Post spoke with tipping and etiquette experts to clear the air about when and where to tip, how to avoid tipping guilt, and how tipping may actually be hurting the restaurant industry.

Columbia University professor William Michael Lynn told The Post that the country’s anti-tipping sentiment is growing.“People’s attitudes towards tipping have gotten worse,” said Lynn, who has been studying tipping for over 40 years.“They’ve started to dislike it more and more.”According to Lynn’s research, 32% of people said they wanted tipping abolished in 2016.

That number climbed to 52% by 2022.“Even in traditional settings, people are asking for larger and larger amounts,” said Flynn.“Nowadays, people are starting at 20% and going up to 30% in terms of the tip options they provide.

It’s this expansion in occupations asking for tips and in the amounts that they’re asking for that’s fueling this dissatisfaction.”Etiquette expert Jacqueline Whitmore says people should feel no obligation to tip at unmanned kiosks, and discourages the practice.“If you’re not having any contact, if somebody’s not bagging up your food, if there’s no one touching your food, no one cleaning your table, there’s absolutely no reason to add any additional tip … any tip at all,” Whi...