The tablet at a self-serve counter is asking for 20%. Do I have to tip?

You scan your own sandwich at an airport kiosk, tap your card, and the screen asks whether you’d like to add 15, 20 or 25 percent. Nobody took your order. Nobody carried anything. There may not be a person within twenty feet. Or the screen swivels toward you at a coffee counter while the cashier watches, and the line behind you watches the cashier watching you.

It feels awkward because the prompt borrows the look of a restaurant check, where a tip really is part of the deal, and drops it into a transaction where it never used to be. Your finger hovers over “No Tip” as if it were a confession.

Why the tip screen isn’t a bill

A tip is thanks for personal service. At a self-checkout, the service is you. The prompt is there because payment software makes it effortless to add, not because a custom changed. Cornell consumer-behavior professor Michael Lynn put it bluntly to ABC7: businesses “are taking advantage of an opportunity,” and the same report notes that whether to tap No Tip is ultimately up to the customer.

The public agrees that the ground has shifted. In Pew Research Center’s 2023 survey, 72% of US adults said tipping is expected in more places than five years earlier, and 40% opposed businesses suggesting tip amounts at all, versus 24% in favor. The same survey shows what people actually do: only 25% always or often tip when buying a coffee, and just 12% at a fast-casual restaurant, compared with 78% for a haircut. Declining at the counter is the majority behavior, not the stingy exception.

Pre-filled screens may even backfire. In Bankrate’s 2025 survey, 38% said they were annoyed by pre-entered tip screens, and 27% said they tip less or not at all when they see one, while only 11% tip more. Etiquette guidance hasn’t moved either: the Emily Post Institute’s tipping guide lists no obligation for takeout and treats the tip jar as an occasional thank-you when someone provides “a little something extra.”

So the screen is a question, not a bill. Answer it the same way you would have answered a jar by the register.

What to say

Usually nothing at all. A calm tap and a sincere thank-you are complete manners. If you feel the moment needs words:

When the answer changes

• Real extra work. A complicated order for the office, a dozen custom drinks, a cake boxed with care: a small tip, or 10% for a large takeout order, is gracious.
• You’re a regular. Tipping the same barista now and then builds goodwill the screen can’t.
• It’s really table service. If you order at a kiosk but someone brings food, refills water and clears plates, tip as you would at a sit-down restaurant. See our US tipping guide for amounts.
• There’s already a service charge. Read the receipt; an extra tip on top isn’t expected.
• Holiday season. Year-end thank-yous for people who serve you regularly are a separate custom; our holiday tipping guide covers it.