r/helsingborg • u/Mrva_Iz • 22d ago
Tipping culture
Hej everyone!
I recently moved to Sweden, and there’s one small thing that’s been confusing me a bit, so I was hoping some locals could help explain it to me :)
Whenever I pay for a drink or coffee at a bar or cafe, the card terminal usually asks me to manually enter the total amount or add a tip. Coming from a place with a different tipping culture, I’m not quite sure what the norm or expectation is here.
Is tipping actually expected in everyday situations like grabbing a quick coffee or a beer, or is it purely optional? What do locals usually do in these scenarios?
Tack!
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u/BountyHNZ 22d ago
It's because the scumbag owner has intentionally left the option on hoping you will help to normalise tipping so he can justify paying his wretched staff less one day.
Absolutely do not tip.
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u/Alpharoll 22d ago
Do not tip. We have unions and people within the service industry are well paid. You're a customer, it's not your responsibility to pay wages for someone else's employees.
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u/Inevitable-Zone-9089 21d ago
I don't know about "well" but they are paid are paid above subsistence level. If they can get enough hours that is.
That said, tipping on a terminal makes me feel iffy. How do I know the staff gets the money and not the owner?
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u/Alpharoll 21d ago
You don't, and a lot of times they don't get anything. There's a gay bar/restaurant/club in old town, where someone told me to only tip cash, if I absolutely want to tip, because it's the only way the bartenders get any of the money. But truly, we should refuse to tip at all in Sweden, because it does more harm than good. If the owners start relying on the customers to supplement the income of their employees, they'll find ways to lower their pay which is very bad. We don't want to end up like the US.
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u/carloscage 18d ago
Describe "well paid"
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u/Alpharoll 18d ago
A lot more than disability or welfare. Enough to be able to pay the rent, eat proper food and engage in social activities a few times a month.
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u/carloscage 17d ago
So you are comparing a person making good food, providing service, being customers psychologist, assistant, allergy controller, sometimes a best friend, doing everything with smile, working weekends and nights to a person with disability and talking about welfare? And being able to pay rent and ho to a cinema a few times a month is "well paid"?
Wow
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u/Alpharoll 17d ago
None of what you typed makes any sense. Are you a child or perhaps suffering from a mental health emergency? You sound psychotic.
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u/carloscage 17d ago
Insulting my criticism to your comment definitely makes you feel good about yourself. Again, in your own reply to my comment you put children in the same pot with mental health emergency, guess who needs some help lol
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u/CaucSaucer 21d ago
Do not leave tips in sweden, ever. People are compensated for their time here, and those new terminals are trying to shame people into paying more for less.
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u/Ok_Culture_1223 21d ago edited 19d ago
Please, do not tip for a coffee or a beer. At a nicer restaurant, if the service is exceptional and they go out of the way to make special arrangements for you, of course you could tip a few %
If the food is good and the staff is nice - that’s not something to tip for. It’s people working and doing their job just like all of us do our job every day without expecting tips.
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u/Cute_Instruction733 19d ago
Even in nicer restaurants do not tip. There is usually a bit higher wages in establishments like that. No need to tip.
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u/deepeddit 21d ago
No, normally you don't tip but you can. The terminals are programmed that way because also tipping money must be accounted for.
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u/sweprotoker97 21d ago
Tip is entirely optional, I would never tip anywhere but an actual sit down restaurant where the food and service was exceptional and never more than 10%.
People that say we have zero tipping culture and that its a new phenomenon is very weird to me, I'm closer to 40 than 30 and when I grew up my parents almost always tipped at restaurants when the food and service was good.
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u/KungenBob 21d ago
Display brief annoyance, press the Ingen Dricks button and try not to complain out loud to the worker who doesn’t buy or design EPOS systems.
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u/Difficult-Term-1671 21d ago
Det där är ett oskick. Lämna aldrig dricks i dessa situationer. Möjligen om du äter middag med bordsservering, men även det är frivilligt.
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u/piratedrake84 20d ago
I dont tip. In Sweden, you get an livable salary. If you need more money, Ill give you a tip.. Its is to change jobs. I tip only if the service was exeptional! It usualy is not.
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u/thesweed 20d ago
Tipping is not expected or particularly common, but of course some are gonna ask for it, who doesn't want extra money?
If you go out to eat, most people would probably round up the check and that'd be the tip, but over the counter coffee, idk who tf would tip for that..
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u/Hot-Host-8665 20d ago
It is weird. It has for decades been the case that you almost never tip as long you are sober.I grew up with no sober tipping. (Some drunk tipping, but everything is weird when you are drunk.)
With the machines you describe tipping has been kind of reintroduced. I think the culture hasn't really settled around it.
But, no one will get angry if you zero tip. It is not US. Zero tipping is always a valid option.
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u/Nappev 20d ago
Modern bars have tipping and they do go to the people working there and it is a sizeable chunk of their salary. But it’s not expected and it’s not like they instantly start treating you like shit like in the US. I usually look at it like I’m confused, press zero, the green button, look up and thank them for my drink.
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u/Icy_Difficulty5616 20d ago
Only time I tip is after a good meal at a restaurant with exceptional service.
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u/Zealous-Vigilante 19d ago edited 18d ago
The way they ask for tipping is quite recent occurance and is mostly disliked upon by swedes.
Tipping, if you want to give one, should usually be small, but after service, or as an example if you order several drinks in a bar over the course of an evening, you could leave a tip with your final drink if you found the experience pleasurable.
There are those who leave no tip, those who feel pressured to always leave, but there is no expectation to do it.
Tipping for coffee is kinds unheard of, and probably even frowned upon to do
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u/Ok_Lack3855 19d ago
And not just in Sweden. Denmark and Germany by my own experience also in very recent times have new terminal software that asks for tipping every time - 5 - 10 - 20% often as preprogrammed buttons.
That's the way to go if you want to nudge a cultural change big time. Just use tech. It works pretty well. Soon nobody remembers those days where we didn't consider tipping.
Some of you may object, but the terminal works the same every time and it never forgets to ask you. Day in and day out. You lose.
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u/R5A1897 18d ago
Should usually? Please be quiet. There is no tipping culture in Sweden. Their wages are high and they dont even do anything spectacular, unlike in USA and other parts of the world where they actually care about the customer.
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u/Zealous-Vigilante 18d ago
The tipping culture is if you found the service exceptional, you usually round up the bill, but it isn't required. It sounds like you misread my comment as "always" when I intended to say that if you feel like adding a tip, it should usually be small.
This means that a restaurant bill of 1232 kr could be rounded to 1300kr as an example
It is not a %, it is not mandatory, and it doesn't mean poor service to not pay a tip
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u/Content_Rise5564 19d ago
There's very little tipping in Sweden, I only think I've done it once or twice in my life. I also don't eat out that much though.
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u/Cute_Instruction733 19d ago
No. There isn’t a tipping culture and we certainly do not want one! We want our employers to make deals with the unions for fair wages so please do not fall for this scheme!
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u/Fabulous-Local-1294 18d ago
First of all, we dont have a tipping culture in Sweden, although in larger cities it could be argued that one has slowly started emerging the past 15-20 years. Its mainly fueled by young people with good jobs trying to feel cosmopolitan and show off, distancing themselves from the gray social democratic past. Vendors have caught on and most now offer an option to tip a preselected % when you pay or type in whatever total you please.
In Sweden we dont have a minimum wage set by law. Instead we practice what is referred to as "the Swedish model" where three parties 1. Employer, 2. Employee, 3. The union sign a collective bargaining agreement. The hospitality industry has their own collective bargaining agreement where all workers have the same rights and same minimum compensation. The agreement is a floor, not a ceiling, and employers can pay more if such a local agreement can be negotiated.
They all make living wages, and they all have fair working conditions. Unfortunately fewer and fewer of the last generations have chosen to join the union, which in turn means the union has less power to negotiate the collective bargaining agreement each year.
Its a vicious cycle where salaries stagnate due to low union participation and employers starting to see tips as a form of compensation.
TLDR
I urge you, NEVER EVER, tip. It is a cancer that in the long run will lead to even more stagnant salaries.
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u/Zealousideal_Land_73 18d ago
The only circumstance I tip regularly is Uber. On the basis that the uber platform depresses the fares they receive. Competition forced them on to the app, but I benefit from the convenience of the app so I add a little extra to soften what they lost in revenue.
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u/MrBonso 18d ago
Terminals often ask for tips, and that’s a relatively new phenomenon. Most people simply decline and only pay the minimum amount. We don’t have a tipping culture, despite what the terminals are telling you. The only context wherein tipping is relatively common in Sweden is when you’re dining at establishments with table service.
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u/_Makingprogress_ 18d ago
Don't listen to the people here. I work in a restaurant and tipping is normal and most people tip. Around 10% is appropriate. However, this is only when you sit down for a meal and get served and service. Everyone here on Reddit are somehow real weird about tipping and have never worked a day in a restaurant.
A quick lunch that your order at a counter, a fast food dinner, a beer ordered at the bar or a coffee ect is excluded from tipping.
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u/Beautiful-Hurry5039 22d ago
För en kaffe eller öl nej. Äter du på restaurang och är nöjd med service och maten, absolut.
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u/Ok_Maybe8541 21d ago
That’s just a way to milk some more money out of you, just look the person serving you in the eyes and press zero. 👍
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u/Tankeverket 22d ago
Tipping is not expected, personally I avoid it 9/10 times and might only add a tip if I go to a restaurant and had a good time, but at a bar or when grabbing a coffee? Never.