As the holidays approach, Canadians say they're being tipped over the edge

Cathy Khalil recently tipped five bucks on an $18 box of doughnuts at one Ottawa store — and says she has no regrets.

"I think when people see [the options on the debit machine] they feel obligated, sometimes, to tip," Khalil said. "[But] I'm not tipping for the sake of tipping. I'm tipping because I want to tip, and it's coming from me."

She may be in the minority: As the holidays approach and Canadians shell out money for gifts, food and other festive purchases, some experts say people are recoiling from all those tip requests that come with an increasingly wide variety of debit or credit card purchases.

"It's starting to feel more like an obligation, something that you just have to do," said Cynthia Borja, a psychologist with the Decision Lab, a Montreal-based company that researches people's behaviour.

"People are starting to feel that it's no longer that act of giving thanks to that individual that's serving them."

Borja says Canadians are feeling what's come to be known as tipping fatigue. According to Decision Lab's own research, roughly three in five Canadians they surveyed felt pressure to tip more than they'd like to, while more than 80 per cent said tipping culture needs an overhaul.

Those findings echo polling done by the Angus Reid Institute earlier this year, which found roughly two in five Canadians feel the pressure to tip is pushing them over their spending threshold

As a result, they're not going out as much as they once were, Angus Reid found.

"Consumers are not only feeling fatigue," said Bruce McAdams, a professor at the University of Guelph who researches the restaurant industry. "They are also questioning what tipping is. Is it about what it used to be about originally? And no, it isn't."

The average gratuity jumped from 16 to 20 per cent between Jan. 1, 2019, and Jan. 1, 2023, according to technology and payment services company Square, which says it counts hundreds of thousands of Canadian businesses as clients.

We expect to tip for food delivery, at restaurants and hair salons. This expectation that we now pay extra in a wider range of situations is a sign of "tip creep," McAdams said.

"It's also your dry cleaner, your oil lube person," he said. "I was at a gift shop the other day and they asked for a tip when I was just paying for some candles."

Researchers have also noted that tipping is where one's biases emerge, with people forking over different amounts based on a server's age, race, gender or looks.

"It's been shown to be discriminatory. It creates inequity," said McAdams. "It can create divisions in restaurants between front-of-house and back-of-house."