How did tipping become customary in the United States?

Tipping came from European practice, but early Americans resisted it as a mark of aristocracy. It took off after the Civil War and became entrenched in the early 20th century. Several factors contributed, and historians do not agree on a single cause. These include travelers bringing the habit home, employers paying low wages to newly freed workers, the growth of hotels and restaurants, and the effects of Prohibition. [1] [2]

By the late 18th century, giving tips to servants had become customary in England and elsewhere in Europe. In the early United States it stayed uncommon and drew harsh criticism, since many Americans saw it as tied to European class distinctions and at odds with egalitarian ideals. In his 1916 book The Itching Palm, William R. Scott argued that being servile was incompatible with American citizenship. The country also lacked many of the commercial settings where tipping was growing in Europe. Stand-alone restaurants were rare before the Civil War, and early hotels were small, with meals eaten family style with the proprietor. [1] [3]

Cornell's Lynn says no one or two things explain it, but that tipping took off after the Civil War as Americans who had traveled in Europe brought the custom home. Others point to the end of slavery. Freed Black workers in service jobs were often paid little and relied on tips. The Pullman Company hired Black rail porters almost exclusively and paid them $27.50 a month in 1915, and investigations concluded they could not live on that without tips. NPR's Throughline likewise describes restaurant owners hiring cheap labor and not paying wages, because tips were expected to make up the income. [1] [2] [4]

Business changes mattered too. As cities grew, hotels added large dining rooms with waitstaff. Guests sometimes tipped for better food, which managers treated as bribery. Marc Mentzer argues that Prohibition, from 1920, cut hotel alcohol revenue, and owners came to welcome tips because they reduced pressure to raise wages. Hotels also moved to separate pricing for meals, which made tipping read as thanks for individual service rather than a bribe. [1] [5]

Opposition continued. Early 20th-century unions objected that tips left workers dependent on customers, and some hotel managers feared annoying guests. Between 1909 and 1915, six states criminalized giving or soliciting tips, but the laws were largely ignored and had all been repealed or overturned by the 1920s. In 1942 the Supreme Court held, in Williams v. Jacksonville Terminal Co., that an employer could count customers' tips toward the wages it owed. In 1966 Congress created the tip credit, which lets employers pay tipped workers a sub-minimum wage. The federal figure is $2.13 per hour. [1] [6]