Revealed: The staggering amount Americans spend every year tipping more than they want out of guilt

Americans are spending an average $453 more a year on gratuities than they would like to thanks to 'guilt-tipping.'

Guilt-tipping, paying a tip out of awkwardness or pressure when you would rather not, is on the rise. 

Consumers say they have paid an average of $37.80 a month on reluctant tips because they would feel guilty about not doing so, according to new research. The amount is on top of what they wanted to tip, which was not specified.

A new poll by Talker Research found that over a quarter of the 2,000 surveyed said they are 'always or often forced to tip more than they would like.'

Typically, the average respondent had tipped more than wanted to six times in the past month alone.

A quarter of Americans admit paying a tip out of awkwardness or pressure

Americans are spending an average $500 more a year on reluctant gratuities

The study also found that Gen Z and millennials 'were almost twice as likely to say they 'always' feel pressure to tip than older generations.'

In comparison just 9 percent of Gen X and 5 percent of Boomers felt the same way.  

'We know that tipping has been a hot topic,' Van Darden, head of media relations at Talker Research, told USA TODAY. 

'It's trended on TikTok, there's all kinds of online conversation about it, it's been in the news as people transitioned out of the high peaks of COVID and delivery services' Darden explained.

How consumers are choosing to fight back against 'guilt tipping' shame

'Whether it's the watchful eyes of a barista, the hastily swiveled tablet or the waiter handing you the card machine, more than half (56 [percent]) of respondents note that pressure to tip higher is a regular occurrence,' Talker Research wrote in their research. 

Almost a quarter of respondents felt so beholden to guilt-tipping that they would leave a tip for a service that requires no human interaction, such as a vending machine.

The survey also found that customers were becoming frustrated by the amounts they were expected to tip as well as how often. 

Forty-nine percent of survey respondents said the tipping percentages offered on tablets had increased in the last month alone. 

The poll also found that a third of people were asked to tip for a service that they wouldn't normally consider doing so for. 

Gen Z and millennials 'were almost twice as likely to say they 'always' feel pressure to tip than older generations.'

Three-quarters of Americans believe tipping culture has gone too far and most say minimum wage should be increased to off-set the need for gratuity, a new study by CouponBirds shows

The findings come amidst a widespread backlash against 'tipflation' which has seen tipping culture spill out from bars and restaurants and into stores, takeout chains and even self-service machines

Another recent study found that three-quarters of Americans believe tipping culture has gone too far. 

The findings come amidst a widespread backlash against 'tipflation' which has seen tipping culture spill out from bars and restaurants and into stores, takeout chains and even self-service machines.

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Tipped over the edge! Three-quarters of Americans believe tipping culture has gone TOO far as nearly half have been asked to add gratuity at a self-service machine

84 percent of respondents to the CouponBirds survey argued that the minimum wage should be increased to off-set the need for gratuity.

Across the board, tipping was most common for restaurant service. Some 59 percent of consumers said they would tip at dinner while 43.8 percent they would for food delivery.

It was followed by hairdressing and beauty services - which 41.1 percent of individuals said they would tip for.

Some 39.6 percent said they would add gratuity in a taxi while 36.8 percent said they would tip at a bar.

The least likely place shoppers would tip was at a convenience store or Bodega. Some 4.9 percent of survey respondents said they would add gratuity in this instance.