Whether it’s the high tip percentage options offered at points of sale or inflation in general, Canadians are taking multiple factors into account before deciding to tip less or skip the tip entirely. Per a September 2026 Restaurants Canada report, eight-in-10 are cutting back on restaurant visits to make ends meet.
“I started to not care for [tipping] when every little thing started to ask for tips, like pick-up, mobile order, take out, etc. I only tip if I am sitting down at a restaurant and servers are working, like it was ‘back in the day.’ Not for take out, not for getting a coffee, pick up,” said one disgruntled Toronto resident on Reddit.
Another said they “despise tipping” and feel slightly bad for hitting 0% at the point of sale, but believe that paying employees is “not my responsibility as a customer.”
A new report from tip-management company Actual™ (formerly named Atlas) suggests the people on the receiving end are noticing the difference, too.
The survey was conducted in August 2026 by Angus Reid on the tip-management firm’s behalf. Its findings noted that 67% of tipped hospitality workers said their tips had decreased over the past two years.
Ontario workers saw the steepest decline, with a whopping 72% of tipped workers reporting a drop. The share was 39% in 2024.
Many workers count on tips for the basics
For a lot of the people surveyed, tips aren’t a bonus. The report found that 43% rely on tips to cover essentials like rent, groceries, and bills. That figure rises to 51% in British Columbia and Atlantic Canada.
Tips also play a role in who stays in the industry. About 61% of workers said that tip income influenced their decision to remain in hospitality, and the report says that share climbs to 74% among servers and other front-line staff.
Restaurants don’t have much room to make up the difference through higher pay.
“According to Restaurants Canada, the industry benchmark for a healthy restaurant is a 10% profit margin. The national average has sat below 5% for years, and in 2024, average restaurant profits fell to just 2.8%, an all time low,” the report reads. “With food and alcohol costs, labour shortages, and inflation all rising at once, most operators are running on very thin margins already.”
Should a tip reflect service?
Most of the workers surveyed aren’t asking customers to tip more regardless of what they get.
Some 76% believe tipping encourages better service, and only 6% say it hurts service. About 62% say tips should reflect service quality rather than a flat percentage of the bill. That view was less common in Quebec, where 50% agreed, which the report links to the province’s May 2025 tipping rules. Among all workers surveyed, 67% of women held this view compared with 57% of men.
There’s also a gap in how workers think customers see things. Only 15% believe customers understand the financial impact of tipping, and 41% say customers understand little or nothing about it.
Tipping culture has become a sore spot in Canada
The worker survey lines up with how many Canadians say they feel about tipping. In a February 2026 Angus Reid survey commissioned by H&R Block Canada, 93% said they’re annoyed by tip prompts at self-serve locations such as fast-food counters. About 89% said current tip percentages are excessive, and 41% said they actively avoid businesses known for aggressive tip requests.
Behaviour appears to be shifting too. In the same survey, 67% said they select “no tip” more often than they did a year earlier, and 79% said they enter their own amount rather than accept a suggested percentage. And 67% said tipping should be eliminated altogether, while 88% said it lets employers underpay staff.
Experts quoted by CP24 in January say the card machine itself is part of the story. Wayne Smith, who teaches hospitality and tourism management at Toronto Metropolitan University, described a kind of social anxiety that comes from servers standing by as customers decide, a change from the days when diners signed the bill and left.
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