Tipping in Canada: Poll Shows Canadians Are Divided on the Issue

When it comes to tip etiquette, a new poll suggests there’s little agreement among Canadians on where and how much to tip.

The poll, conducted by Research Co., found that 37% of Canadians would tip 15-19% if they received exceptional service at a restaurant that is not busy.

But at one busy restaurant, 34% said they would tip 20% or more if they received exceptional service. This number climbs slightly, to 36%, if the restaurant was exceptionally busy.

Similarly, for good but not exceptional service, 34-41% of respondents said they would tip 15-19%, depending on restaurant traffic, but only 19-25% said they would tip. a tip of 20%. or more.

Only 4% said they wouldn’t tip at a restaurant if the service was good or exceptional.

For average service, 41% said they would tip 10-14%, while 28% said they would tip 15-19%. Only 4% said they would tip 20% or more, while 7% said they wouldn’t tip at all.

When it comes to below average service, 36% said they would tip 10-14% if the server was clearly working in an understaffed environment. Nine percent would tip no tip and 21 percent would tip less than 10 percent, while 28 percent would still tip 15 to 19 percent.

However, for poor service when the server is clearly not busy, a majority said they would tip less than 10%. Among respondents, 31% said they would not tip and 30% would tip between 1 and 9%.

« Two in five Canadians aged 55 and older (40%) would leave a sit-down restaurant without tipping if they perceived their server to be inactive and distant, » said Mario Canseco, president of Research Co., in a statement. hurry. “The proportions are lower among Canadians aged 35 to 54 (29%) and 18 to 34 (24%).

MOST CANADIANS WON’T TIP FOR TAKE-OUT

Just over half of Canadians (54%) said they don’t tip when picking up their takeout meal, while 20% said they tip less than 10%.

About 48-53% also said they never tip in cafeteria-style restaurants and take-out restaurants, but more than half (57%) said they tip in cafes at least occasionally. time.

For food delivery orders, 40% said they would tip 10-14%, while 29% said they would tip 1-9%.

Some restaurants across Canada have chosen to eliminate tipping and instead pay their staff higher salaries. The poll suggests that most Canadians might support this model, with 59% somewhat or strongly agreeing with the following statement: « If food server salaries were better, there wouldn’t be need to tip waiters.

METHODOLOGY

The survey interviewed 1,000 adults in Canada online from December 10-12, 2022. The data was weighted to reflect Canadian census data on age, gender and regional breakdown. The margin of error for this survey is ±3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.