How Much to Tip: A Practical Guide for Every Situation

US sit-down restaurants: 15% is the floor for adequate service, 18–20% is standard for good service, and beyond 20% signals genuinely great. This isn't merely custom — tipped workers in many states are paid a sub-minimum base wage (federally as low as $2.13/hour) on the assumption tips fill the gap, which is why restaurant tipping is treated as part of the price rather than a bonus.

Elsewhere: bartenders get $1–2 per drink or 20% of a tab; food delivery 15–20% with a $3–5 floor (a percentage of one burrito is an insult in the rain); hair and personal services 15–20%; taxis and rideshares 10–15%; hotel housekeeping $2–5 per night left daily, since different people clean different days; movers and valets appreciate $5–20 per person depending on effort.

The payment tablet flipped toward you at a coffee counter — with 20/25/30% buttons and the cashier watching — has muddied every norm. The honest answer: counter service tipping is genuinely optional. A drip coffee poured in five seconds doesn't obligate anything; a handmade drink, a big custom order, or a place you're a regular at merits a dollar or two. The buttons are set by the payment processor's defaults, not by etiquette.

Guilt-tipping at every screen adds up to real money for service that was never tipped historically — the same transaction at the same counter carried no expectation five years ago. Tip when someone did something for you; skip without ceremony when they rang up a muffin.

Group bills go wrong at the seams: someone tips on post-tax, someone on pre-tax, someone 'forgets' the appetizer. The fix is deciding the method before doing the math.

The convention is to tip on the pre-tax subtotal — the service didn't include the state's cut. The stakes are small: on a $100 bill with 8% tax, tipping 20% post-tax adds $1.60. Many people tip on the total for simplicity; either is defensible, and no server is auditing which you chose.

Abroad, US rates don't travel. Japan and South Korea don't tip — it can read as confusing or rude. Much of Europe includes service ('servizio,' 'service compris') and rounds up or adds 5–10% for good service. Australia, with a real minimum wage, treats tipping as genuinely optional. Thirty seconds of checking a destination's norms beats exporting 20% everywhere.