#6 Blacks and Tipping

I have always heard people, numerous Blacks and some Whites, say that Black patrons are poor tippers. I have witnessed this as well, but never thought my personal sample was valid on the entire group. I have even called out a few poor tippers in my day, and they always say they are bad at math, or the service was poor/racist, or they were distracted, and this is why they tipped poorly, to which I mutter BS. So are Blacks really bad tippers? Also, does the race of the participants affect the tip? Check your seat belts and air bags folks.

A little bit of robust research at Cornell (here) presents that not only do Blacks tip 20% less than Whites, Black servers get smaller tips all around, including from Blacks, AND Blacks tip Black servers lesser amounts than do Whites. Wow! There's that Black-on-Black racism question again. A few more facts: tip disparities remain despite comparable service; Blacks are less familiar with the 15-20% tipping norm than Whites; socio-economic status of tippers or servers does not seem to matter; Blacks stiff (fail to tip at all) at 3-7 times the rate of Whites.

So the question remains. Why are Blacks such poor tippers? We have one answer, in general terms – Blacks are less knowledgeable about tipping. The good professors at Cornell, the leading school in hospitality, would say that the service industry needs to educate folks on tipping. Accurate tipping is also a mathematical exercise, so education attainment plays a big role. I would add, critically, that a variation on oppositional culture (resistance) bleeds into tipping consideration, regardless of the race of the server, with non-black owned businesses portrayed, in the mind of the tipper, as ‘the man’. I wonder about results for black patrons in Black-owned establishments?

Lastly, the researchers go to great lengths to avoid stating why White and Black patrons tip Black servers less than equivalent Whites. However, I will say the answer for both that Cornell avoided – racism. Once all other influences are accounted for, both Whites and Blacks are negatively influenced by the race of the server, even when the service is measured as better from the Black server (taxi study). But, the research stops here unfortunately. Until academics can study these conclusions completely and openly, without taboo violation and reprisal, the toughest questions will remain as mysteries.

James C. Collier

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