>>I still top 20% out of guilt

hmmmm

>>but it might be that service in general is poorer now.

I wonder why that might be? You have allowed emotion to screw the system. the entire purpose off a tip is pay for the service. no serivce no tip. People work of incentives, if they know they will get 20% no matter what why would or should they give you good service?

you set the expectation, and now complain that people have given you exactly what you expected of them

When did tipping 20% become standard in the US? I was talking to a colleague about this recently and they mentioned it but I could’ve sworn it used to be 15%

I want to say around-ish a decade ago? It definitely used to be 15% when I was growing up.

Although based on some recent news articles I found when I tried searching for a more definitive source, tip amounts have gone down in the past year or so.

I don’t think it is just you- ten years ago I remember distinctly working somewhere where the brand new POS tip screens used to have 10, 15 and 20 percent tip buttons; now I frequently see 15 20 25 or 20 25 30 as defaults on those screens.

It's true! I remember before we use to just double the tax and that was the tip. (When it used to be 7.25% in California) Nowadays we're taking a second and thinking before eating out.

In more cosmopolitan areas it's been normal for a while now. I remember 18 & even 20% being discussed over 10 years ago. And these days starting to see 25% pop up in conversations.

It actually used to be 10%. It’s crept upwards for years

I do wonder why it’s creeping upward though given it’s proportional and would increase as prices increase - perhaps it’s a symptom of employers paying even less after controlling for inflation etc. when comparing then vs now

The minimum wage (roughly what tipped workers earn) has been falling for decades, so I think at least some of the upward creep can be attributed to the knowledge that the workers are getting screwed, hard.

I assume it is at least partly a status symbol thing when going out as a group to eat, especially amongst young people.

During the pandemic. 15% used to be the norm, then people (including me) started paying a bit more to help out restaurant workers who were dealing with a sudden precipitous drop in business. I'm about over it though.