7 Interesting Findings About How (and Why) People Tip

7 Interesting Findings About How (and Why) People Tip
Here are seven surprising statistics about customer tipping behavior in the United States.
by Square Jul 13, 2016 — 1 min read
7 Interesting Findings About How (and Why) People Tip

The only magic formula for increasing tips at your business is to provide friendly, exceptional service. But there are a few interesting data points that shed some additional light on why people tip more — and where. Here are seven surprising statistics about customer tipping behavior in the United States:

  1. Perhaps because it’s such a fast and easy checkout experience, people tip more when they pay with mobile wallets (like Apple Pay and Android Pay).
  2. Interestingly, according to a survey by the restaurant tech reviews firm Software Advice, people are more likely to tip if they’re required to to press a “no tip” button to opt out of tipping.

    [RELATED: The Decline of Magstripe Cards—And What that Means for Businesses]

  3. People prefer to use iPads to input tips themselves. Eighty-six percent of respondents in the Software Advice survey indicated this preference.
  4. Your location matters. New Hampshire has the most generous tippers in the country — people there tip an average of 17.1 percent on Square Point of Sale. And South Dakota is the stingiest — the average tip amount on Square Point of Sale there is 15.3 percent.

  5. Delaware bar patrons are the most generous in the country — their average tip amount on a tab is 23.6 percent, according to Square data. Virginia comes in last at an average tip amount of 16 percent per bar tab on Square Point of Sale.

  6. Having your register positioned close to both your cashier/server and customer helps increase tips. Forty-one percent of those surveyed by Software Advice said close proximity to the server or cashier while entering a tip amount would “probably” or “definitely” increase their likelihood to tip.
  7. It’s the norm to tip pretty high for coffee. Most people in the country tip 19 to 20 percent at coffee shops that use Square.
     

Square
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