Why are a lot of Canadians bad tippers?

Question

Please understand that I'm not trying to be mean and I think most Canadians are nice people, but I would like to know why so many Canadians are bad tippers? I work at a restaurant near a major shopping area in Buffalo, NY and more than 50% of our customers are Canadian. I always smile, I am nice to everyone, but most of the Canadians I serve never tip more than a few dollars. The worst time was when I served a group of 6 Canadians, we had a great conversation and they seemed really nice, and then they left me a $2 Canadian coin, that I can't even use here.

Other employees and myself have never received more than 10% in tips from Canadians, and the general rule is that 15% - 20% + is acceptable for average service. Unlike Canadian restaurants, servers in the U.S. earn far below min' wage, so we rely mostly on tips. Even the Toronto Star did an article about this.

Why are so Canadians bad at tipping? Is this something they do only in the U.S. or are they just unaware of this?

Thanks for the answers so far and I agree with the comments about the U.S. restaurant industry needing to have some changes and I know that in some countries they don't tip at all, but for the most part, in North America, tipping is part of the culture even more so in the U.S. than Canada, and I just think it would be nice if some Canadians could try to understand that.

Answer 1

First - a "tip" is for EXCEPTIONAL service, not average service.

Second - the value of the tip is generally proportional to both the value of the meal (before tax, not including alcoholic drinks) AND the level of service.

From personal experience, most Canadian restaurants provide "average" service at a level that equates to "exceptional" in the US. Even then, the tip is often no more than 10 percent. In part, this is due to the understanding that Canadians are paid a relatively high wage ... in part it is also because of the significantly higher taxation applied to everything purchased.

In both respects, Canada is more in line with European nations than with the US. In the US, a "tip" is expected ... and therefore not worked for very hard. In Europe and Canada, the tip is more unexpected ... and therefore more gratefully received. The higher wage rate also tends to result in a more professional attitude toward service ... which often means more exemplary service as well.

Answer 2

Canadians are horrible tippers and that is fact. Been a server for years and it don't matter how good you do, they generally tip 10% or less. People who visit from another country should check up on the "standards" of the country they plan to visit and be aware of these things. 10% is like a slap in the face.
I wish people were required to tip first....THEN get the service.. because rest assured.....tips would ALWAYS be 20% or more like 30% if they had to tip first and then get the service they tipped for.

Answer 3

Were at a restaurant with a large group (about 30 people) next to us of Canadian snowbirds. While we were eating they were leaving. They apparently had been there some time and had had drinks, a meal and dessert. I would suspect that the waiter must have been serving them for over 1 1/2 hours. They wound up leaving him a total of $5 in tips and many did not sign there credit card receipts and many took the restaurant's copy with them. A disgrace.

You know the difference between canoes and Canadians? Canoes tip!

Answer 4

The problem is not with the American gratuity system and it is not with the quality of service either. I have been a professional server for almost 30 years now. I do just fine and know how to provide excellent service. I think that Canadian visitors need to understand what is customary in the United States and do their best to adapt to that. When I visit other countries I take the time to learn about their customs, shouldn't others do the same?

Answer 5

Cheap Tippers

Answer 6

bottom line..... Canadians will always try to justify why they are soo damn cheap. just because things are handled a certain way in your country doesn't give you international amnesty to do what u ******* want when you travel outside of Canada. so show some ******* respect for other human beings. In the USA waiters/waitress rely on tips for a living...and i mean heavily. the cost of living alone will even drown a well paid worker. if you choose to not tip then you should choose to not eat at restaurants in the USA. if you expect EXCEPTIONAL SERVICE BUT only order a donut then your as big of an asshole as they come. stop exploiting people because your cheap. just stay home. we're better without your business then to have your asses taking up our real estate space and not give real paying customers a place to sit and eat.

Answer 7

Wow that really sucks. I myself tip at least 15% no matter where I am. Unless the service was horrbible then no, I wouldn't tip that much.

Why can't you use the $2 Canadian there? New York accepts CDN money unlike other states like PA.

I think it may also depend on where you work. A lot of people tend to tip Tim Horton's employees here and I think thats ridiculus. Tipping is something you do because the person either went out of there way, is an employee who makes below minimum wage such as bartenders and waiters/waitresses or did something for you because you didn't want to such as pump your gas in minus 20 weather. So where do Tim Horton's employees fall under that? They're not a waiter or bartender that is making below minimum wage (they make above minmum wage), they're not waiting on you while you sit there for an hour or hour and a half... it frustrates me when Tim H employess expect a tip. All they do is hand you your coffee and/or bagel & doughnut. Heck, people that work at Subway or Burger King make more of an effort for your order and do people tip them? No.

So possibly if you fall under something like that may be why you're not getting decent tips. But by the sound of it you are a waitress. And I'm sorry to hear that people are being cheap towards you. Please understand we're not all like that. Maybe you could speak to your boss and ask that gratuity be added to the bill due to the lack of tips you receive. A lot of places do that. Or even some place have it if theres 6-8 people gratituity is automatically added on.

Hope it gets better!

Answer 8

Being in the service industry, you have a better perspective on this than others do, so I respect your observations and will believe you when you say you've noticed a trend from Canadians. I'm going to assume that you were able to determine the nationality of the people you served from talking to them or seeing their car license plates, etc.

I cannot speak for all Canadians, so I will only tell you from my point of view, that I would guess that we are simply unaware that in the US, you rely so heavily on tips.

I generally only tip for meals, room service, valet service, taxis, or if the bag boy at the store carries my groceries to the car. If I go for pickup, or if the bag boy just hands me the groceries after bagging them, I don't tip. And that goes for most other people I have seen in Canada.

My lunch and dinner (or room service) I will tip approximately 10% for basic service, 15% for good service, and 20% for exceptional service.

The only thing I don't like is that tipping seems to be tied to the cost of my food. After all, my server did just as much work to bring me a surf&turf meal as they would have to serve me spaghetti or a pizza. Which is why I for breakfast, my waitress might get $5 on a $3.25 meal just because I believe you should not tip just purely based on the cost of the meal.

Some may say that I'm a "non-typical" Canadian, but before I had the "comfortable" job I have now, I mowed lawns and worked for Texaco to earn a living, and I know how hard it is in those positions to make ends meet.

However, like another person answered to you...remember that tipping is generally something people do as a gesture that you have done something right and they are happy with you. If you get a small or no tip, the first question should not be whether they are Canadian or not, but whether I did everything I could to make their stay and their meal as enjoyable as possible. Sometimes, it is not even your service but the chef's lousy food that turned off the customer. One of my pet peeves is when I am finished a meal and then it takes 10-20 minutes for me to get the check so I can pay and leave.

So good luck to you in this holiday season. I hope you run into a bunch of nice tipping Canucks that will change your opinion of us!

Answer 9

There's likely a number of reasons for this some of which have been mentioned here already. One thing to keep in mind is that until recently the exchange rate wasn't very good which no doubt has had in impact on spending in general by Canadians south of the border, including tipping.

10-15% is customary in Canada, so expecting upwards of 20% is expecting a lot.

Most people I know do not considering tipping mandatory (as would seem to be case from what you're saying). A tip is a bonus from the customer for providing exceptional service, not just average service. You're paid by your employer to serve the customers. The fact that servers in the US are paid below minimum wage is not likely to be something that most out-of-country tourists are going to be aware of. (And an article in a Toronto paper is hardly going to be read all across the country.) It's also not my problem, as a customer. As was suggested by another poster, perhaps it's time for servers to unionize or to petition the appropriate government to put an end to this.

I have certain expectations when I'm eating out, and those expectations don't change simply because I'm south of the border. I expect "average" service at the very least. The more a server goes out of his/her way to make sure my dining experience is as enjoyable as it can be, the more likely I am to be generous when tipping. I don't expect the quality of service to deteriorate when I chose not to order alcohol (that seems to happen a lot).

And before you try telling me I don't know what it's like being a server, I worked as one for many years.

Answer 10

Are you giving good service? If I don't get good service, I don't tip well. You may THINK you are doing well, but perhaps it's time to pay more attention to how you behave towards your customers. Most of us Canadians probably have no idea of how much you make. Minimum wage here is considerably more than that. I would question your employer or look in to labour laws. We are a frugal bunch.....our heating bills are astronomical.

Answer 11

In Canada we tend to tip 10-15% unless it was exceptional service. In my family we were taught to tip 20%, unless the waiting staff was rude or slow, and did not have a good reason, as in if they weren't all that busy and the food still took over an hour to get to us.. I find, however, that some places over charge for food anyhow, and maybe that's why we don't tip as much.. We're not going to pay 30$ incl. a tip for a meal that we could have made at home ourselves, in half the amount of time, for only, say, 10$. I have to disagree with a previous answer when she talks about Tim Hortons employees. I find that they do tend to be more courtious to customers than wait staff at restaurants do. I always tip when I go to Tim Hortons as long as I get efficient service.. If you can make me 5 coffees in under a minute, I think you deserve a little more credit than minimum wage.. I generally do get a smile as I go in there, and get good service, no matter what part of the country I am in. I've currently been in the UK for two months, and am going to be here for another few, and I cannot WAIT to get back to a Tim Hortons.. Those employees deserve some credit!
So in general - Wait staff, don't just be nice when you're taking their order or bringing them their food, strike up a bit of a conversation, don't be shy..