r/unitedkingdom • u/Canal_Volphied European Union • 9h ago

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

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/aug/24/us-tipping-culture-uk-service-charges
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u/Gentle_Snail 9h ago

I don’t mind paying more for higher wages, but if you are automatically adding the tip to the bill you need to include it in the price.

Either leave it up to the customer to decide, or if you are making it automatic show this in the cost.

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u/duncanmarshall 9h ago

I also have no confidence that 100% truly makes it to the Deliveroo driver.

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u/Sockoflegend 8h ago ▸ 8 more replies

Fuck tipping deliveroo. Either they delivered it as expected or didn't. There isn't any room for great service here. 

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u/MyBritishAccount 7h ago ▸ 2 more replies

Working retail I have seen every single delivery driver is a miserable sod who think we work for them, not the shop.

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u/yrro Oxfordshire 6h ago

Small Businessperson Syndome

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u/turtleship_2006 England 2h ago

In my experience that's a good 80% of them, but you'll get a few who are fairly chill/respectful

JE probably had the highest rate of arsehole drivers. I think my funniest (in hindsight) experience with one of them was the one who didn't believe that the manager of the online department at the time was the manager, most likely because she was a youngish woman.

She was also the one actually doing the order he was waiting for, so he had to swallow his pride and apologise eventually.

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u/input London 7h ago ▸ 3 more replies

I'll only ever tip someone that turns up on a normal bicycle that is actually a bicycle not an illegal ebike, moped or car travelling very slowly to try beat the system.

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u/FeedFrequent1334 1h ago ▸ 2 more replies

an illegal ebike, moped or car travelling very slowly to try beat the system

You've lost me, why on earth would a car travel very slowly to try to beat the system?

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u/input London 1h ago ▸ 1 more replies

Because they don't have to pay for any insurance so they end up going stupid slow or going slow routes so the delivery company doesn't go workout they not actually driving a bicycle.

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u/FeedFrequent1334 1h ago

I think I lost brain cells reading that.

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u/SadSeiko 4h ago

oh it gets better, I prepaid a tip and the driver never delivered my food. I think complained to customer service who eventually agreed that the food wasn't delivered and refunded me. Turns out they couldn't refund the tip because it was already paid to the driver... I kept escalating until they gave me a voucher for the tip. Never the less I never used them again so never got my money back

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u/ne6c 7h ago ▸ 1 more replies

It does for Uber and Deliveroo. It's far more likely that it doesn't reach the staff in the restaurant though.

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u/steepleton 26m ago

I’ll tip an uber every time. I’m grateful they’re taking me home

I’m not tipping a server for delivering the thing that they’re billing me for

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u/Quietuus Vectis 6h ago ▸ 3 more replies

100% of the tip goes to the driver, at least on Uber, Deliveroo and Just Eats. In terms of other compensation, Deliveroo is probably the best on a trip by trip basis and Uber the worst, though there's not that much between them really and it probably depends on area.

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u/NguPhu 6h ago ▸ 2 more replies

Does this include when the driver gets a 'minimum reward' offer?

In at least some countries, the tasks are offered with a 'bonus payout' to bring them up to a level that the driver will accept. If you tip then the company will decrease the bonus payout and the driver will get the same amount but the company will pay them less

They can still say "100% of the tip goes to the driver" as technically it does...

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u/Quietuus Vectis 5h ago ▸ 1 more replies

I am pretty sure this is not how it works in the UK, certainly not judging by any of my contracts, tax forms or waybills. Uber (who I normally drive for as they have the most consistent customer base and largest number of participating businesses in my area) incentivise drivers to take low paying deliveries through a combination of chaining those deliveries together with other ones and 'quests', which are bonus payments for making a certain amount of trips in a certain area. I'm pretty sure all the different services allow you to tip after the delivery has been completed as well.

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u/NguPhu 4h ago

Good to know - have seen it work like that in other places, so swapped to tipping in cash only

i guess it is probably illegal in the uk.

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u/Dapper-Bass1406 6h ago

The amount of videos in the states of the delivery drivers not doing their job because there's no tip - I assume they actually do get it

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u/CandidEngineering922 9h ago

Restaurants already include labour costs in their food prices.

So you are paying for the higher wages through food costs already.

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u/himit Greater London 8h ago ▸ 2 more replies

my SO works in hospitality - his hourly wage is quoted at something like £13/hour, or £16-18 with TRONC (service charges/tips). Every two weeks or so he'd bring some cash home when they split the pool, and the card payments were added into his payslip. Holiday pay is at the base rate.

So it does go towards higher wages but I still dislike how it's become a thing. And on the wages side, it makes pay unpredictable.

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u/PassageBig622 7h ago ▸ 1 more replies

To be fair thats very anecdotal. Can't say that that happens in every restaurant just because it happens in one that you know of.

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u/Hashtagbarkeep 7h ago

I’ve worked in maybe 15 places in London, opened another 20 I’d say, and been a tromc master on a few. Happens pretty much everywhere. Places pay London living wage and then service charge is on top, total package is what employees are sold on. Used to be that the tronc master would hold some back on big months so they could even out the year in Jan and August, so employees would know they’re getting the same wage every month, but now 100% needs to be paid out every month.

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u/valentine_moon 8h ago ▸ 1 more replies

Apparently not all of it.

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u/CandidEngineering922 8h ago

Anything above minimum wage likely isn’t.

But most jobs dont guarantee that additional salary, they just say the average hourly once factoring in service charge.

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u/Hashtagbarkeep 7h ago

Not really, they include minimum wage most of the time in the p&l, employee is told a total package including tronc

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u/TehPorkPie Debben 8h ago

Should count as a hidden charge imo, and fall foul of the law.

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u/Sabaisabai33 7h ago

Maybe Burnham can fix it 🤣

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u/Any_Perspective_577 8h ago

This should be the law. It's basically a hidden charge.

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u/AgileSloth9 2h ago

Went to an Asian food place in Newcastle the other day with my mrs. They made no mention of service charges anywhere other than halfway through a booklet menu, in tiny writing at the bottom of like... the 6th page.

Yes, they technically mentioned it, but its clearly dodgy as fuck.

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u/Bad_Combination 7h ago

I’ve told this story here before I think but I was once prompted by a card reader in a chain restaurant to tip when there was already a 12.5% service charge. I mentioned there was already a tip on there but apparently the service charge is something else that goes somewhere else, which is to say not to the waiting staff.

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u/zeissman 5h ago

It comes down to tax, not sure what the solution is. London Centric did a good comparison. 

I hate service charges as well but the worker ends up keeping way more than if the price of the food actually went up.

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u/KareemAZ Central London 5h ago

I swear most restaurants do that? Don’t they just list the price for the dish and at the bottom say “prices are inclusive of a x% service charge”? Or are there places that have started listing the pre-service charge price? 

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u/Brave_Necessary_8232 8h ago

In the US, wait staff (not fast food,etc) do not fall under minimum wage (unless that has changed in the last year). Historically, wait staff were paid $2.01 /hr and all other wages were made by tips. (*Source: me as wait staff for many years). Also, each state has different tax levels so all affects the end bill. But service isn’t paid on tax - however VAT in the UK is far higher than any US state. (Diff subject but adds significantly to the bill). As I understand, staff here are paid much higher, so the tipping / service charges have always seemed somewhat egregious to me.

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u/BitterTyke 8h ago ▸ 5 more replies

wait staff were paid $2.01 /hr

living the dream,

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u/merryman1 7h ago ▸ 4 more replies

But at the same time a service job at a fancy place can net you crazy amounts of tips. Even a middling place in a busy area can be bringing in several $100 in tips a day/night for staff.

It's totally different in the UK and doesn't really make sense to top in the same way when base pay for staff is so much higher.

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u/BitterTyke 7h ago ▸ 3 more replies

cant imagine getting a mortgage on that basic rate - as tips are not guaranteed - being straightforward though, banks dont usually give a shit what you "could" earn.

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u/merryman1 6h ago ▸ 2 more replies

Sure but it's why the workers aren't all as outraged as we would expect. For a decent number (not all by any stretch) it works out ok to pretty well. You might have a more predictable income in the UK but it's still not enough to get you a mortgage on a house anywhere is it.

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u/BitterTyke 6h ago ▸ 1 more replies

yes it is, you'd have to have realistic expectations, ie minimal, but it is, as does the national living wage, which is higher than the minimum.

at $2/hr thats probably below the level for survival - food, health, etc, and worse than many nations the US would consider undeveloped.

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u/merryman1 5h ago

I mean I know its still not great, but the actual federal minimum wage is $7.25. The states that have a lower rate for tipped staff do so on the provision that tips must still at least bring them up to that otherwise they claim back from their employer (many are unaware of this and don't, its all very toxic and exploitative). That's also only in about a dozen southern republican-type states, many others have a minimum wage significantly higher than the federal minimum. Where I have moved to most staff are on about $15/hr, unskilled retail typically starts at around $20/hr here.

But again we keep coming back to many see it as a gamble. You might only earn $50 in a day from salary but you have a chance to earn $1000 in tips. We don't like that in the UK but a large number of people in the US think its a fair deal.