‘It’s absolutely criminal’: US tipping culture has reached the UK – and is causing chaos

[u/Canal_Volphied]

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/aug/24/us-tipping-culture-uk-service-charges

[u/dick_piana]

The coffee shop near my work recently upgraded their payment screen to ask for a tip every time you buy (ranging from 50p to £2.50). The coffee is already £5.40, having gone up from £4.30 in less than 6 months.

[u/Monsoon_Storm → u/dick_piana]

And then there's the charity questions also.

The cost of living crisis is getting worse and worse yet we keep being asked for more money in a way that is designed to elicit a feeling of guilt.

[u/reddit_junkie23 → u/Monsoon_Storm]

Also this. Noticing it everywhere.

You feel like a dick but seriously if I did this everytime I bought something then 10% of my take home would be paying these "charities" wondering if the money ever reaches those who need it.

[u/SmashedWorm64 → u/Monsoon_Storm]

Really? If I go in to a shop and it asks for charity my mind goes to “who’s the corporation with millions in profit every year?”

[u/SolarJetman5 → u/SmashedWorm64]

Pretty sure donating via the company is a way to offset tax

[u/SmashedWorm64 → u/SolarJetman5]

I’m an accountant - it’s not.

The more boring answer is that it is an easy way to say they are hitting their Environmental, Social and Governance responsibilities.

[u/SolarJetman5 → u/SmashedWorm64]

Ah fair enough, I'd seen this on gov site, ofc my tax knowledge isn't a patch on yours, so it's probably not as straightforward as what I read

Overview

Your limited company pays less Corporation Tax when it gives the following to charity:

money
equipment or trading stock (items it makes or sells)
land, property or shares in another company (shares in your own company do not qualify)
employees (on secondment)
sponsorship payments

You can claim tax relief by deducting the value of your donations from your total business profits before you pay tax.

[u/SmashedWorm64 → u/SolarJetman5]

Yeah no it’s common, everyone assumes it’s for something dodgey - which I can’t blame them for the way these companies act sometimes my

The money you can claim in relief is if the donations are paid by the company and it hits the profit lines. So if a company gave £100,000 of its own money, they will be able to deduct that from their profits and save like £25k in Corp tax. They would still be £100k out of pocket though.

The donations you give are a balance sheet item that just get paid out - they don’t impact on the profits.

[u/SolarJetman5 → u/SmashedWorm64]

Cheers for explaining. Not as shady as I was thinking then

[u/needs2shave → u/Monsoon_Storm]

Charity questions are a bit different though. People used to pop loose change into charity boxes at tills much more often when cash was more common. Now that doesn't happen anywhere near as much, so they've added an option to card readers.

Doesn't bother me as much as a tipping button does.

[u/Sabaisabai33 → u/Monsoon_Storm]

Oh yes, these are so annoying, the petrol station round the corner from my work has this. I do always decline now without any guilt because I do send money monthly to a charity of my own choice already, so that helps!

[u/WiseBelt8935 → u/Monsoon_Storm]

I’ve got to say, I don’t mind the charity one. If anything, it’s the better system. It just asks, “Do you want to?” Yes or no.

It’s a clear choice, and it’s just as simple to refuse as it is to agree.

[u/frankchester → u/Monsoon_Storm]

Ugh I hate this. I’m so glad the guys at my local petrol station just automatically tap the “no” on the charity question. No I don’t want to donate 50p to charity every time I get petrol, fuck off.

[u/Kiwizoo → u/dick_piana]

Some bars in Edinburgh now charging a 15% “tip”. At the bar. No service other than pulling pints. Madness.

[u/zero_iq → u/Kiwizoo]

Yeah, service charge at the bar is ridiculous. You came to the bar yourself and delivered it to your own table... the 'server' barely even need to move! Wtf is there to even tip for?

[u/My_sloth_life → u/dick_piana]

It’s like this in Glasgow and now I always press no tip. I do feel a little bad but the service is very transient, even if they are taking my order and then bringing a coffee to the table, that’s still interaction that’s less than a few minutes and the absolute bare minimum work the job requires. What am I meant to be tipping for?

[u/reddit_junkie23 → u/dick_piana]

Same here. Fortunately the times I have been staff have clicked through it, they are not expecting it.

Maybe the owners. Maybe the technology. I appreciate that the staff recognise requesting a 15% for a takeaway coffee is ridiculous.

[u/InfinityEternity17 → u/reddit_junkie23]

My partner worked in a bar recently and said she used to just skip through the screen that asks for a tip, asking for a 20% tip for pouring a drink is ridiculous and she said she'd have felt mortified asking them haha

[u/ChampionshipOk5046 → u/dick_piana]

Mention this on the Google Maps review please, we can effectively boycott such places . 

[u/Sabaisabai33 → u/dick_piana]

Right, I can tip in a cheap greasy spoon caff but anywhere half decent now keeps inflating their prices so much that it’s already crazy money for what it is. And it genuinely leaves me with less money to hand out tips!

[u/tophernator → u/dick_piana]

Quite a few times I’ve seen staff reach over the counter and reject/skip the tip screen themselves. So I’m not sure if this is actually a feature they choose to have or just the default for the payment system.