One third of British Columbians do not tip for bad service: poll

Have you ever left no tip for a waiter or waitress who provided bad service? It turns out one out of three British Columbians has.

A new poll conducted by Insights West revealed 32 per cent of British Columbians consider it acceptable to not leave a tip at a sit-down restaurant if the service was below average and the server was clearly not busy.

The results also show that B.C. men are more likely (35 per cent) than B.C. women (30 per cent) to not tip.

People 55-years old and above were also the most likely (41 per cent) to leave without tipping.

However, a third of respondents (32 per cent) also said they would tip 10 to 14 per cent for bad service anyway.

British Columbians are also more understanding of below average service when the server is clearly working in an understaffed environment, with just seven per cent saying they would leave no tip.

POLL: Should tipping be abolished?

When provided with average service in any environment, most British Columbians (53 per cent) would leave a tip of 10 to 14 per cent. Only four per cent said they would not tip at all.

For good service when the restaurant is busy, half (51 per cent) would opt for a tip of 15 to 19 per cent.

British Columbians would dig deeper into the wallet for exceptional service when a restaurant is busy — 34 per cent of respondents said it would warrant a tip of 20 to 25 per cent.

READ MORE: How do you decide how much to tip?

When it comes to food delivery at home or the office, half of British Columbians (51 per cent) would offer a gratuity of 10 to 14 per cent, but six per cent would not tip at all.

When picking up food to go, 70 per cent of British Columbians say they would tip nothing.

Forty-four per cent of British Columbians never tip at coffee shops.

Seventy-one per cent of British Columbians say food servers cannot get by on their salaries alone and it’s important to tip them, but two thirds say that food servers nowadays simply expect a tip, but don’t work hard to earn it.

The results are based on an online study conducted between Feb. 13 and Feb. 15, among a representative sample of 805 British Columbian adults with a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.

Let us know what you think.