Americans have been taking to social media to slam out-of-control tipping suggestions, which they say have become unjustifiably high in recent months. Inflation, self-checkouts, and a new expectation to tip for transactions as simple as buying a bottle of water have prompted many to share their frustrations online. Social media users have recently posted images of receipts that appear to show suggested tipping of as high as 30%-50%. Americans are now becoming even more fed up after a new bill in Colorado passed, allowing workers at Walmart and McDonald’s to accept tips. In Maryland, a unionized Apple store is also in talks to implement a tipping system. Consumers say they increasingly encounter iPad machines prompting them to tip, even when they haven’t interacted with a single employee. While business owners say the automated prompts significantly increase tips, which boosts the staff’s pay, critics of the new tipping culture say employees are putting the responsibility to pay their employees onto the consumer, instead of raising their pay themselves. Some consumers have complained that all this badgering does is make people want to stop tipping altogether, which could ultimately hurt the employees.
