When Tipping Becomes a Customer Experience Problem

If nearly half of your customers were irritated by a business practice, would you treat it as urgent? Customer satisfaction is a key driver of financial performance, yet many companies in service sectors ignore a growing source of frustration: tipping. Once confined to hospitality, requests for gratuities now appear in unexpected places—airlines, medical offices, auto repair shops, logistics providers, even butcher counters and impound lots. Digital payment systems, the gig economy, and the Covid-19 pandemic have accelerated this trend.