When Not to Tip — Where Tipping Isn't Expected

8 min read · Updated February 14, 2026

You Don't Owe a Tip for Everything

Tipping culture has expanded aggressively in recent years. Tablet point-of-sale systems now prompt you for tips at places where tipping was never expected — self-serve frozen yogurt shops, fast food counters, drive-throughs, grocery stores, even retail shops. This phenomenon has earned its own name: "tip creep" or "guilt tipping."

Let's be clear: there are many legitimate situations where tipping is not expected, not required, and not something you should feel bad about skipping. Here's a straightforward breakdown.

Situations Where You Should Not Feel Obligated to Tip

Fast Food and Quick-Service Restaurants

You ordered at a counter or a digital kiosk, your food came out on a tray or in a bag, and nobody waited on your table. This is not a tipping situation. The fact that the register screen flips around with a 20% tip option does not change the nature of the transaction. Those screens are designed to pressure you, not to reflect an actual social expectation.

McDonald's, Subway, Chipotle, Chick-fil-A, Wingstop, Panera Bread, drive-throughs — none of these have traditionally involved tipping, and the addition of a tablet or kiosk doesn't change that. You're ordering food at a counter. That's it.

Coffee Shops — Starbucks, Dunkin', and the Rest

Baristas occupy an awkward middle ground, and the big chains have made it more confusing by adding tip prompts to every transaction.

At Starbucks, if a barista spent two minutes building your custom oat milk shaken espresso with extra shots, tipping $1 is a nice gesture — but it's still optional. Tipping 20% on a $7 latte as if you sat down at a restaurant? That's not a social requirement, no matter what the screen says.

Dunkin' is even more straightforward — it's closer to fast food than craft coffee. You're grabbing a drip coffee or a pre-made drink. A tip is not expected.

The rule of thumb: the more involved the preparation, the more reasonable a small tip becomes. But counter-service coffee is not table service, and nobody should feel guilty for pressing "No Tip" on a $4 cold brew.

Self-Service Establishments

If you poured your own frozen yogurt, assembled your own salad, or filled your own cup, you performed the service yourself. A tip jar or screen prompt at a self-serve business is a bold ask. You can ignore it without guilt.

Grocery Stores and Gas Stations

Nobody tips the grocery cashier who rings up $200 worth of groceries — even though that's real work. Baggers, stockers, and deli counter workers are employees earning wages, not tips. The same goes for gas station attendants in states like New Jersey and Oregon where full-service pumping is required by law.

Some grocery stores and convenience stores have started adding tip prompts to their POS systems. This is the business trying to shift costs to customers, not a reflection of any social norm. You don't owe a tip for buying groceries or gas.

Retail Shopping

Clothing stores, electronics shops, bookstores, hardware stores — retail workers do not receive tips and do not expect them. If a retail checkout terminal asks you for a tip, the business owner programmed that in to pocket extra revenue under the guise of "supporting the staff." Feel free to hit "no tip" every time.

Government Employees

Mail carriers, DMV clerks, public transit operators, police officers, firefighters — government employees generally cannot accept tips, and in many cases it's actually illegal. The USPS allows small gifts during the holiday season (up to $20 in value), but that's a gift, not a tip.

Medical Professionals

Doctors, nurses, dentists, physical therapists, and other medical professionals do not accept tips. It would be inappropriate and could even create ethical complications. If your healthcare provider did an exceptional job, a thank-you note or a positive online review goes much further.

Services Where Gratuity Is Already Included

Always check your bill. Many situations include a built-in gratuity:

• Large party dining (usually 6+ guests): An automatic gratuity of 18-20% is almost always added. Check the bill — tipping on top of auto-gratuity means you're essentially double-tipping.
• Catering and banquet events: Gratuity is typically included in the contract price.
• Hotel resort fees: Some resorts include service charges in their daily fees.
• Cruise ships: Most cruise lines add a daily gratuity charge to your account automatically.
• European restaurants: Service is included in the price in most of Europe. See our guide to tipping culture around the world for specifics.

If a service charge is included, you have already tipped. Adding more is purely optional and should only happen for truly standout service.

When the Business Owner Serves You

Here's a lesser-known rule of traditional etiquette: you don't tip the owner of a business. The logic is that the owner sets the prices and keeps the profits — they're not working for tips. This traditionally applied to salon owners who cut your hair, restaurant owners who serve your table, and similar situations.

In practice, this rule has softened. Many small business owners work just as hard as their employees, and the line between owner-operator and employee can be blurry. Use your judgment, but know that declining to tip an owner is not a faux pas.

Situations That Are Genuinely Debatable

Pickup and Delivery Tip Screens

You ordered a pizza, drove to the shop, and picked it up yourself. The screen asks for 20%. You put 0. That's correct. You did the driving. Nobody served you. The kitchen made the food — that's what the price of the pizza covers.

Contrast this with delivery: if a driver used their own car, their own gas, and their own time to bring food to your door, that's a personal service worth tipping for. The difference is clear — pickup means you did the work; delivery means someone else did.

The same applies to any takeout or pickup order. Traditional etiquette says no tip is required. Someone packaged your order and included utensils — that's part of the job. Tipping $1-2 or rounding up is a kind gesture. Tipping 20% on a $60 takeout order as if you sat down for full table service is not something anyone should expect of you.

Counter Service With Some Actual Service

This is the gray area. If someone at Subway spent five minutes building your sandwich exactly to your specifications, that's a small personal service — a dollar or two is reasonable. But grabbing a premade sandwich from a cooler and having the cashier ring it up? That's retail, not service.

The tip screen presenting you with 18%, 20%, and 25% options for handing you a muffin from the display case? That's tip creep, and you can decline without remorse.

Genuinely Terrible Service

This one makes people uncomfortable, but let's be direct: if you received genuinely terrible service at a sit-down restaurant — your server was rude, neglectful, or hostile — tipping very little or nothing is a valid response.

We're not talking about a busy server who was slow to refill your water. We mean situations where the service was actively bad: your server disappeared for 30 minutes, was rude to your guests, got the order wrong and blamed you, or made the experience unpleasant.

In these cases, leaving a very small tip (5-10%) actually sends a clearer message than leaving nothing, because it shows you didn't simply forget. But leaving nothing for genuinely hostile service is also acceptable. You're not obligated to reward someone for making your experience worse.

If you want to be fair about rating the service you received, our tip calculator lets you rate service on a scale and gives you an honest percentage based on what the experience actually deserved.

How to Handle Tip Screen Pressure

Those flipped tablet screens are engineered to make you uncomfortable. Here are some practical strategies:

• Remember the screen is not a person. A machine asking for money doesn't deserve the same social consideration as a human being who just served you.
• Have a policy and stick to it. Decide in advance where you do and don't tip, and follow your own rules consistently. It removes the in-the-moment anxiety.
• Hit "no tip" or "custom amount" without apology. The cashier sees people decline tips constantly. They're not judging you. They didn't program the screen.
• Don't let percentage options anchor you. When the lowest option is 18%, the business is trying to anchor your perception of what's "normal." You can always enter a custom amount.

The Bottom Line

Tipping is appropriate when someone provides you with a personal service — waiting your table, cutting your hair, delivering your food to your door. It's not appropriate as a default surcharge on every transaction where money changes hands.

Don't let tip creep or guilt screens override your common sense. Tip generously for good service in tipping-appropriate situations. Decline politely everywhere else. And if you need help figuring out the right amount when a tip is called for, use our tip calculator to get a fair suggestion based on the service you actually received.