I was asked to tip while shopping online — guilt-tipping has gone too far
He thought it put the “gratuitous” in gratuity.
As if “guilt tipping” wasn’t prevalent enough in the brick-and-mortar sphere, the gratuity-pressuring trend has metastasized to e-commerce as well.
A TikTok influencer raised eyebrows after revealing that he was asked to tip while shopping online, as detailed in a video with more than 400,000 views.
“Online shopping and this company asked for a tip??” wrote Noah Miller — who goes by @whiteboyonthebeat on the platform — in the caption over the clip.
The seven-second snippet showed the digital shopper flashing a quizzical expression before showing the tip list on the transaction, which apparently was made through the Shop Pay app; it asked customers whether they wanted to leave a gratuity before checking out.
Tip options ranged from 5% to 15% percent, although there was also an option to leave a custom tip, as well as “none.”
Needless to say, the TikTok commentariat was equally flummoxed by the digital tip jar with one commenter writing, “THERES NO WAY.”
“Like is the tip gonna make it ship faster orrr,” wondered one person, while someone else wondered to whom the gratuity would go, prompting a reply from Miller: “The mailman???? Idfk.”
“Me when the self serve frozen yogurt place asks for a tip,” quipped another TikTok wit.
The Post reached out to Miller and Shop Pay for comment.
The poster’s video comes amid a swarm of complaints about “guilt tipping,” in which patrons are pressured to leave tips at pizzerias, coffee shops, fast-food joints and other places with minimal customer service or even self-service.
“I was somewhere spending $23 on just coffee and pastries and the suggested tip was another $8 and I simply said no way. I’ll give a dollar or so as a custom tip amount, but let’s have a reality check here,” Jared Goodman, a 26-year-old recruiter who lives in Brooklyn, told The Post. “Recently I got a quick bite with my girlfriend and the suggested tip amounts were 25, 35 and even 40%. That’s just insane.”
A June survey by Bankrate found that 32% of Americans were annoyed by pre-entered tip screens, while 30% thought that the present tipping culture has gotten out of control.
And gratuity fatigue isn’t limited to digital donations.
The same data found that Americans are tipping less than in previous years, with (66%) of the survey’s respondents having a negative view of tipping.
Meanwhile, 41% of respondents felt that businesses should pay their employees better in lieu of relying on customer contributions.