Lately, it seems that nearly everything you buy comes with an option to tip.

It started with restaurants and bars, but now more obscure places, from the self-checkout counter to airport kiosks, are asking for tips.

Sixty-seven per cent Canadians already say they want to abolish tipping overall: 93 per cent of respondents said they were annoyed when a card payment machine asks for a tip when little to no human contact occurred, according to a H&R Block survey from earlier this year.

But Mawakina Bafale, a research officer at the C.D. Howe Institute, warns that those who want to see the end of tipping may not realize it could come with a downside in the form of more expensive products and services — not to mention job cuts — as businesses look to recoup the added expense.

“Routine prompts for a gratuity in transactions that involve no table service and little to no human interaction proliferate,” he wrote last week. “While it may be tempting for policymakers to mandate an end to tipping and sharply raise minimum wages, abrupt changes risk leaving the workers they aim to help worse off as sudden wage hikes could result in job losses.”

Even so, the wheels are in motion for a tipping culture overhaul.

In Quebec, Bill 72 has forced merchants to display a “no tip” option with equal prominence with the different tipping options and required that tips to be calculated on the pre-tax total.

In many places such as Australia and much of Europe, tipping is included in the bill or is considered uncommon.

Canadians are also taking matters into their own hands, with 65 per cent of H&R Block respondents saying they feel less awkward about selecting the “no tip” option, with 79 per cent of respondents also indicating that they will enter their own tip if the default options are too high.

“For some Canadians, the discomfort has escalated into something closer to a consumer revolt, with more people completely avoiding businesses with aggressive tip prompts,” Bafale said.

But is a complete end to tipping in Canada feasible?

Beast Pizza in Toronto tried it in 2022 and began offering employees $25.05 an hour, but after two years was forced to revert the policy as taxes, CPP contributions and food costs mounted.

“Individual restaurants that raise wages and drop tips face a competitive disadvantage against neighbours who keep prices low and let customers subsidize wages,” Bafale said. “So, their attempts to do what they thought was correct became unsustainable without a system-wide shift.”

  • Done with tipping? So are two-thirds of Canadians, H&R Block survey says
  • Posthaste: Tipping is everywhere. Have Canadians had enough?

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The federal government is opening the door to privately funding Canada’s airports, but most Canadians are skeptical of the idea.

A recent poll from Nanos Research suggests 53 per cent of Canadians oppose allowing private investment in airports, while 15 per cent are unsure.

Canada’s major pension plans have been investing in foreign airports for years, but have been shut out in Canada.

Prime Minister Mark Carney had previously said that opening up the airports could support “investments in Canada’s long-term growth.”

Read more here.

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Today’s Posthaste was written by Ben Cousins with additional reporting from Financial Post staff and Bloomberg.

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