Tip (Gratuity)

A tip (or gratuity) is an additional voluntary payment made to service workers — most prominently in restaurants, but also for delivery drivers, hotel housekeeping, salon services, and rideshare.

In the US, the standard restaurant tip is 18-20% of the pre-tax subtotal. Best practice is to tip on the pre-tax amount; tipping on the post-tax total is increasingly common but technically tips the staff on the tax — a marginal difference.

Restaurant receipts in the US often print suggested tip amounts at the bottom: "15% = $X.XX, 18% = $Y.YY, 20% = $Z.ZZ". This is helpful but the customer can write any amount on the tip line.

In many other countries (Japan, much of Europe), tipping is uncommon or even discouraged — service charges are baked into the bill. Some US restaurants are now adopting a similar model with explicit "service charges" replacing optional tips.

For rideshare (Uber, Lyft) and delivery (DoorDash, Uber Eats), tips appear as a separate line item editable post-delivery via the app.