Keep the change! These two words – accompanied by a smile – turn a lower bill into a higher one, without anyone complaining about the incorrect result of the addition. Because rounding up is known as a tip in a number of industries and countries. However, this mathematics of friendliness and contentment is heard less and less.
There are currently two reasons for this: on the one hand, since the corona pandemic, significantly more people have been paying with a debit or credit card – you have to actively initiate a tip and cannot elegantly answer “That’s right!” as with cash payments. waive the change; on the other hand, inflation means that many are cash-strapped and do not want to pay more than the bill.
Less tip because of card payment?
At Christmas, the SonntagsBlick published that inflation and the decline in cash are causing problems for beggars and aid organizations. And the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” recently reported how tips in German restaurants, hotels, hairdressing salons and taxis are on the wane: “Concerns about price increases seem to be overturning this well-rehearsed ritual.” In addition, the card reader is “a natural enemy of employees”.
How does the tip flow in Switzerland at the moment? “From my point of view, I don’t see any noticeable change,” says Susanne Aregger (29), restaurant manager at Lucerne’s Hotel des Balances. And Danilo Azzarito (36), founder and owner of the women’s and men’s hair salon Liebevoll in Basel, says: “Currently I haven’t noticed any change except for the increasing number of card payments.” Before Corona, half paid by card, now over 90 percent – without affecting the tip.
In the Restaurant des Balances directly on the Reuss, guests have also been paying more often by card since the pandemic – and here Aregger sees consequences for the service staff: “For smaller amounts, a little less is given relatively than with guests who pay the bill in cash.” If you pay the bill with a card, you usually ask whether the service employee gets the tip and not the company.
Restaurant in Lucerne: “When paying by card, a little less is given than with guests who pay the bill in cash,” says Susanne Aregger from the Restaurant des Balances.
In Balances, they make sure that the distribution of the tip remains more or less balanced and that the employees in the background also benefit from it. Each ward waiter and waitress gives one percent of the daily turnover, limited to 25 francs.
At the end of the month, 55 percent of this goes to the kitchen and the office, 15 percent goes to the chef de service – Aregger and her two deputies share equally. Azzarito from Coiffure Liebevoll passes on his annual tip of around 4,800 francs at the end of the year: “My employees get it paid out on top of their wages.”
Many tippers want to know where they’re going. This is confirmed by a study recently published by the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW) in Winterthur. “Around half of those surveyed want to ensure that the tip goes directly to the service person collecting the fee,” says the representative survey of 1,179 people throughout Switzerland.
84.9 percent around the restaurant bill
To ensure this, 76.4 percent give the tip in cash. 22.6 percent of card payers in German-speaking Switzerland also accept coins and banknotes, and in French-speaking Switzerland the figure is even 40.2 percent. Because: “In Switzerland, by far the most common reason for tipping is to show gratitude to the service staff,” says the study. And that can only be done in direct contact.
Although the service has been included in the price in the Swiss hospitality industry for almost 50 years – specifically since May 17, 1974 – according to this survey, 84.9 percent still consider it opportune to give an overtip voluntarily. Because tipping has a long tradition and is deeply rooted in people: In German-speaking countries, the word “dringelgelt” has been attested since the 14th century, as stated in the “German Dictionary” (1854) by the Brothers Grimm.
Regarding the meaning of the word, it says: «Small sum of money for services performed outside of the rule, or for other special occasions, originally for drinking, bibale; also called beer money.” In Russia and China, the tip is called “tea money”. As early as 1788, Adolph Freiherr von Knigge (1752–1796) advised “giving the wagon master a good tip” in his behavior classic from 1788.
Hairdresser in Basel: “Men tip more often, women more generously,” says Danilo Azzarito from the Liebevoll hairdressing salon.
Originally there was a financial bonus for every service well performed. But today the postman rings twice, puts the package in front of the door and rushes off again – no time for a face-to-face encounter. And in the museum there is no longer a cloakroom attendant to take your coat for safekeeping. Instead, you stuff it in a box and need the two francs for the coin deposit lock instead of as a tip.
“In no other situation in Switzerland is giving tips anywhere near as common as in waiter service restaurants,” write the Winterthur researchers. At 45.4 percent, a service in the beauty and wellness area – such as the hairdresser – is rewarded with tips most frequently, followed by bars/nightclubs at 41.4 percent and transport services such as taxi rides at 40.5 percent.
Peter Hostettler (64) has been driving through Bern for Nova Taxi for over 30 years. Passengers reward his services with an additional CHF 400 per month. “I have the impression that tips have recently been about the same despite Corona and inflation,” he says, “but regular customers make fewer trips.” However, he still gets more tips from locals than tourists.
200 francs for a travel tax of 20 francs
Hostettler sees no difference in gender, but women’s and men’s hairdresser Azzarito does: “Men tip more often, women more generously.” The highest amount he has ever received is 200 francs. “That was in the first week after the lockdown,” says Azzarito. “The customers were so happy to be able to have their hair taken care of again that they wanted to pay us for the missed appointments because of Corona.”
The largest tip that taxi driver Hostettler has ever received was 180 francs – and that for a fare tax of 20 francs! And Susanne Aregger from Balances in Lucerne also has such an experience. “That was when I was still working as a chef de rang,” she says. “Back then, I received 200 francs from American guests who enjoyed a nice meal and fine wine.”
The Americans have a special relationship with tips anyway (see also the box on other countries). In his doctoral thesis on the “tipping culture” submitted to the Technical University of Dortmund (D) in 2009, Markus Dobler from Berlin quotes: “In the USA, the annual amount of tips in restaurants alone has been estimated at 21 billion dollars.”
Taxi in Bern: “I have the impression that tips have recently been about the same, despite Corona and inflation,” says Peter Hostettler from Nova Taxi.
A seemingly enormous sum, but in the United States tipping is an essential part of wages, without which service workers would not even earn minimum wage. With the “Consolidated Appropriations Act 2018”, the US government caused background workers such as cooks and dishwashers to be included in the distribution.
The USA has a comparatively short tradition of tipping: traveling compatriots only brought the custom home from Great Britain after the Civil War (1861-1865). There was a counter-movement as early as the turn of the century, and individual states made tipping a punishable offense. By 1926 at the latest, these laws were no longer in effect, and tipping is a social norm in the United States.
At the end of the 19th century there were also efforts to abolish tipping in German-speaking countries. The German lawyer Rudolf Jhering (1818–1892) wrote: “In my opinion, tipping is a customary form of begging. (…) But every beg presupposes inner and outer humiliation; the man who is aware of his worth does not beg (…).»
Friendliness is more important than performance and quality
Dobler also establishes a certain “master and servant” relationship in his dissertation when he explains under the “tip-taker factors”: “People who you find pleasant are more inclined to give more tips than you other people”, and concludes: “Whoever smiles increases his chance of a higher tip.”
The current ZHAW study confirms this statement: According to it, “the friendliness/sympathy of the service person” is the most important factor for the size of the tip – only then do the “performance of the service person” and the “quality of the food” follow. According to this survey, the “appearance of the service person” is of the least importance.
When it comes to the reasons why Swiss people give tips in restaurants at all, as mentioned at the beginning, gratitude towards the service staff tops the list. But according to the survey, the second most important reason is: “Because the service staff have low wages and depend on tips.”
You should always keep that in mind, be it in a restaurant, taxi or hairdresser’s salon – or if you happen to run into the stressed-out parcel postman.
Pay please!
5 until 10 Percent is the portion of a bill that is usually added as a tip in European countries.
84.9 percent of Swiss people usually give a tip in a table service restaurant, according to a recent study by the ZHAW.
400 Both the taxi driver in Bern contacted by the SonntagsBlick magazine and the hairdresser in Basel receive an average tip of CHF 1,000 per month.
1974 Switzerland abolished tips in the hospitality industry. Since then, giving a so-called overtip has been a voluntary matter between the guest and the service staff.
21’000’000’000 According to a 2009 dissertation, dollars is the estimated annual revenue from tips in restaurants in the United States.
5 until 10 Percent is the portion of a bill that is usually added as a tip in European countries.
84.9 percent of Swiss people usually give a tip in a table service restaurant, according to a recent study by the ZHAW.
400 Both the taxi driver in Bern contacted by the SonntagsBlick magazine and the hairdresser in Basel receive an average tip of CHF 1,000 per month.
1974 Switzerland abolished tips in the hospitality industry. Since then, giving a so-called overtip has been a voluntary matter between the guest and the service staff.
21’000’000’000 According to a 2009 dissertation, dollars is the estimated annual revenue from tips in restaurants in the United States.