Tighter Budgets and ‘Tip Fatigue’ Have Led 62% To Forgo the Practice This Holiday Season — Where Else Americans Are Cutting Back
Written by
Yaël Bizouati-Kennedy
Edited by
Nicholas Morine
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‘Tis the season for giving and for tipping, but the majority of Americans are deciding to forgo this tradition, citing “tip fatigue.” There is an apparent developing willingness to push back against what consumers perceive as an increasing and omnipresent practice.
A new Achieve survey found that a whopping 62% of consumers do not plan to give holiday tips or buy gifts for service workers, nor do they plan on making charitable donations to religious institutions or other charities this holiday season.
“In many ways, this is not surprising,” said Andrew Housser, co-CEO and co-founder of Achieve. “The persistent inflation we have seen over the past year — combined with the resumption of student-loan debt payments — has put many consumers over the edge when it comes to personal finances and debt.”
Housser added the findings did show that family members are the most frequently cited gift recipients, and that 61% of respondents said giving gifts to family members was extremely or very important to spend money on during the holidays.
“People are prioritizing holiday expenditures and focusing more on those closest to home,” he added.
Tip Fatigue Setting in With American Shoppers
Tip fatigue has two main drivers, Housser added: consumer weariness of the growing number of tip requests, as well as ongoing inflation, which has led to higher prices across most consumer goods and services.
As Housser explained, the growing number of tip requests is especially prevalent with establishments that have started to use new touch-screen payment terminals.
“Consumers are balking on requests for tips on every single purchase — even on very small in-person ones — and find it very annoying,” he said.
In addition, establishments that recently started using new touch-screen payment terminals are also increasing tip fatigue.
While Housser said that these terminals proliferated during the pandemic, the manufacturers of the terminals (and the cashless payment apps they incorporate) typically earn a cut of the total amount charged to consumers.
“That creates an incentive for them to include automated requests for digital tipping in their technology,” he added.
In turn, consumers’ annoyance has grown to the point where it’s making many of them feel less generous this holiday season, he said.
Delivery Drivers, Mail Carriers May Get Tips This Holiday Season
The survey also found that among consumers who are giving holiday gifts and tips to service providers or making charitable donations, package delivery drivers and mail carriers are the most frequent recipients.
Indeed, more Americans plan on tipping their mail and parcel delivery workers — 12% — than those who said they will donate to their religious institutions this holiday season (11%).
In addition, 17% said they will donate to other types of charities. And in terms of amounts, 56% of individual holiday tips and charitable donations will be less than $50, 24% will be $50-$99 and 20% will be more than $100.
Who Are Consumers Spending Money On?
This holiday season, Americans are choosing to spend the most on spouses and significant others, with 44% saying as much. Children also rank high among respondents’ gift recipients, including young kids in respondents’ immediate family — 26% — and their extended family — 27%. Many adult children (26% of those polled indicated this demographic as recipients) can also expect a gift, the survey found.
Finally, some are not in the giving mood at all. A significant 15% of respondents do not plan on buying gifts for anyone this holiday season.
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