Canadians are getting fed up with tipping culture, according to a new survey.
Tax firm H&R Block polled more than 1,500 Angus Reid Forum members in February and found that around two-thirds of respondents think tips should be abolished altogether.
Meanwhile, 93 per cent of respondents said they believe tipping is “out of hand” and is often applied to goods and services that don’t warrant it.
Traditionally, tips were meant to be a reward for quality service. But now the option to leave a tip seems to be everywhere — even when there’s no apparent service provided, such as at self-checkout counters or when you’re just buying a bottle of water at a coffee shop.
Sylvain Charlebois, professor at Dalhousie University’s Agri-Food Analytics Lab, refers to this emerging phenomenon as “tip creep.”
Charlebois says many people started to feel tipping fatigue after the pandemic, when prices began rising.
“During COVID, people felt generous, they wanted to help the (hospitality) sector,” he said. “But after a while people felt there was some abuse going on and a lot of (them) were turned off.”
Foodservice group disputes main finding
Restaurants Canada, the foodservice industry group, says that some Canadians are expressing tipping fatigue because they are seeing prompts at businesses where tipping is not usually expected.
But the group maintains that Canadians overall still like having the option to reward good service with a tip, according to a statement provided by spokesperson Milena Stanoeva.
“We encourage patrons to tip based on their own assessment of the service received and their comfort level,” Stanoeva said.
Some Canadians boycotting tips
The H&R Block survey found that around 40 per cent of Canadians have avoided going to places with tip prompts at cash out, including coffee shops, convenience stores and fast food counters.
A majority of respondents — 89 per cent — also said they think the tipping percentage amounts have become too high, with many feeling comfortable clicking the “no tip” option.
“The percentage is another issue,” said Charlebois of prompts that can begin at 18 per cent and go up to 30 per cent. “But, frankly, a lot of people just felt they were providing not necessarily a reward for good service, but a wage subsidy.”
A reward or wage subsidy?
In 2025, a previous survey by H&R Block found that 88 per cent of Canadians believed that tipping culture lets employers off the hook to pay employees’ adequately.
Consumers might feel that they shouldn’t be expected to subsidize somebody else’s wages, especially in the current economic environment.
“A lot of people are experiencing financial hardship right now,” said Charlebois.
But getting rid of tips entirely could also lead to restaurants having to adjust their menu prices higher, he added.
In a statement, Restaurants Canada said most restaurants operate on single-digit profit margins, while being hit by double-digit increases in all their input costs over the past two years.
“Diners are also more sensitive to price increases, so restaurants need to balance all of these factors when making decisions about staffing and wages,” said Stanoeva.
