With Christmas, Hanukkah, and New Year’s Day fast approaching, more than half of all Americans are planning to give a special holiday season tip to their childcare providers, children’s teachers, and housekeepers, a recent report from consumer financial services company Bankrate revealed.
Eighty percent of respondents who plan to give holiday tips said their intention was to express their gratitude, while 47% said it was to reward especially good service, and 40% said they left gratuities to be generous.
Callie Fruit, one of the survey’s respondents, told Bankrate that she prioritized the service providers she planned to tip based on the frequency of her interactions with them.
“The only one I see regularly is our USPS mail carrier,” she said. “She’ll interact with my kids, which I appreciate.”
Despite increasing numbers of Americans complaining about tipping culture writ large, more people plan to give holiday gratuities this year than they had in any of the Bankrate’s previous end-of-year surveys.
In another departure from typical tipping culture, Gen Zers and Millennials actually plan to give more money to service providers than Gen Xers and Baby Boomers. In five of Bankrate’s six service provider categories, Gen Z – the youngest adult cohort – either led the generations or tied for first in the amount they planned to give as an end-of-year tip.
“Traditionally, younger Americans have been viewed as lesser tippers than older adults, largely because they don’t tend to have as much money and also because they aren’t as ingratiated with those social norms,” Ted Rossman, a Bankrate senior industry analyst, said in a statement.
“It’s still true that Gen Zers and Millennials are worse tippers at restaurants and other year-round tipping venues. But when it comes to the holidays, young adults are the most generous tippers.”
Click through to learn which professions can expect holiday tips this year and how much money Americans plan to give them.
