I used to own a bar/restaurant in Jacksonville, Florida. And like virtually everyone who has ever worked in the restaurant business, I’m a heavy tipper.
At least, I thought I was.
I can remember a time not long ago that tipping 20% was considered a monster tip, offered for exceptional service. Now that’s the smallest tip on the screen, and I’m supposed to give it to the counter person for handing me a muffin? And they’re going to watch while I choose which button to click?
In the past, it felt good to reward hard-working people for their exceptional service. Now I’m being made to feel guilty for not tipping 25% for no service at all.
This swivel-screen ritual has become one of the most stressful parts of buying, well, just about anything. And it’s no accident.
I’ve spent decades watching companies find new ways to pry a few more dollars out of customers, and this is one of the worst. The tablet hands you an awkward decision at the worst possible second — and guilts you into paying the person at the counter so the owner doesn’t have to.
In a Pew Research Center survey, 72% of Americans said tipping is now expected in more places than it was five years ago.
More people oppose those on-screen suggested amounts (40%) than actually like them (24%).
Well, here’s what nobody tells you at the counter, so I will: Saying “no” is allowed. A tip is a reward for service, not a surcharge on every transaction. And a lot of these prompts have no business asking.
So, let’s walk through it. Here are seven times you can tap “no tip” and sleep just fine.
1. When someone just hands you something over a counter
You walked up. You ordered. Someone poured a coffee or bagged a muffin and slid it across the counter. That’s a transaction, not table service.
There’s no server refilling your drink, checking on you, or working for a sub-minimum wage. The whole justification for tipping — that the worker’s pay depends on it — usually doesn’t apply here.
Pew found only about 1 in 4 Americans always or often tip when they grab a coffee. The other three-quarters aren’t monsters. They just noticed there’s nothing to tip for.
2. When you’re buying a packaged product off a shelf
I went to a Grateful Dead concert last year in Vegas. After buying a radically overpriced T-shirt, the counter person offered me the tip screen. Seriously? I took the shirt off a shelf. You rang it up and put it in a bag. Now I owe you something? The band that arrived in a limo isn’t paying you enough?
A bottled water. A bag of chips. A T-shirt. If the “service” was someone scanning a barcode, you’re being asked to tip on plain retail.
Tipping was never part of buying stuff. It crept onto these screens because the software makes it a one-tap add-on, and businesses figured, why not ask?
You can decline every single time. Nobody did anything tip-worthy.
3. When you’re checking yourself out
This one’s almost funny. You scanned the items. You bagged them. You did the labor. And then the machine asks you to tip.
Tip whom, exactly? Yourself?
Self-checkout kiosks and vending screens are the clearest case of tip creep gone insane. If there’s no human being providing a service, there’s no tip to leave. Tap right past it.
4. When you pick up your own takeout
Delivery is different. Someone drives your food to your door, often in their own car and on their own gas. That’s worth a tip.
But when you drive to the restaurant, park, walk in, and carry the bag out yourself? You’ve done the delivery. A prompt asking for 20% on an order you fetched is a stretch.
If someone genuinely went out of their way — remade a wrong order, packed it with care — sure, drop a couple bucks. Otherwise, no guilt.
And if you lean on apps a lot, know that there are plenty of ways delivery apps overcharge you before a tip ever enters the picture.
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5. When there’s already a service charge on the bill
More restaurants now tack on a mandatory service charge, wellness fee, or inflation fee — sometimes 18% to 20% of the check. Then the screen asks for a tip on top.
Read the bill before you add anything. If a service charge is already baked in, you may be about to tip twice for the same meal.
In that same Pew survey, 72% said they oppose businesses adding automatic service charges, regardless of party size.
It’s just one more entry in a long list of junk fees that businesses count on you not noticing. If the fee’s already there, you’ve paid.
6. When the lowest option on the screen starts at 20%
Notice how the buttons keep climbing? What used to be 10%, 15% or 20% is now 20%, 25% and 30%, with 35% lurking for the brave. The screen is nudging you to treat a once-generous tip as the new floor.
Don’t take the bait. The preset buttons are a suggestion, not a bill. There’s almost always a “custom” or “no tip” option — sometimes buried a tap or two deep, but it’s there.
Decide your own number based on the service you actually got. If you want a refresher on fair amounts for the times a tip is warranted, this guide on how much to leave in every situation lays it out.
7. When a skilled pro sends you a tip prompt
The tablet has spread to places tipping never reached — plumbers, HVAC techs, furniture installers and even some contractors now send invoices with a tip line attached.
These are skilled workers who set their own rates and charge accordingly. You’re already paying a full — often hefty — price for the job.
A couple of weeks ago, I had some furniture delivered. I did what I always do for everyone; I offered them water. When they were taking out my old sofa, they found a $100 bill and immediately walked into the kitchen and handed it to me. (It turned out to be official-looking prop money, the kind used in movies, but they didn’t know that.)
That was a cool thing to do. Although they never asked me for anything, I gave them $20 and was happy to do it.
That’s what a tip is supposed to be: a kind gesture for someone who went above and beyond. But it’s not expected the way it is for a restaurant server whose sole income is tips.
If they knocked it out of the park, tip away. If they just did the job you hired them for, the agreed-upon price is the deal.
Here’s the thing to remember the next time a screen swivels toward you: The guilt you feel isn’t yours. It was designed. The prompt, the climbing percentages, the person watching — all of it engineered to make “no tip” feel like a crime.
It isn’t.
Tip well, even generously, when someone actually serves you — the waiter who made your anniversary dinner, the driver out in the rain, the stylist who nailed your cut. That’s what tipping is for.
But a machine asking for 25% because you bought a water? Just say no. And you should, because this outrageous behavior will continue until we collectively refuse to put up with it.
And if you want to trim the whole tab, there are plenty of other ways to cut costs while dining out.
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