Originally Posted by
Often1
All depends where you are. I tip or don't in accordance with local practice. It's not fair to say that if you're from Western Europe where a tip is small and added for outstanding service that you don't need to tip in the USA where it's part of the process and expected.
I don't judge other societies for their choices.
That said, if you don't want to trip the bellman at a hotel in the USA, don't use him. If you don't want to tip the waiter at a restaurant, eat take out. The token booth attendant for the Subway in NYC doesn't expect a tip, but the cab driver does.
+1 With the caveat that I regularly tip for the food delivered to my door (obviously) at the same rate that I would tip a waiter (18-20%, more if it's from a cheap place, where a $5 tip to the delivery guy just feels like the right thing to do). If I am picking up take-out, I will also leave a tip, as the folks who prepared my order (usually the gentleman behind the bar and a waiter or busboy) are going to be charged on their taxes as if I had tipped, so . . .
That said, ITA. When in Europe, I don't go around saying how much better things would be if only they did things the way we do them back home.
If you don't want to tip in the US, minimize the circumstances in which tipping is culturally expected, and move on.