Explaining U.S. Tipping Practices

Dessert might be the icing on the cake after a good meal, but it’s usually not your last move. You still have to tip.   

And we don’t tip just after we eat. 

It’s after we get a ride, a haircut, a coffee or a hand with our bags. 

But why do we tip? 

Cornell University professor Michael Lynn has written dozens of papers on tipping. He says there are five reasons we do it: 

To show off... 

To help the server's income...  

To get better service in the future... 

To avoid disapproval from the server... 

And because we feel a sense of duty. 

But it wasn’t always this way.