Five Tips on Tipping

If you want to get into a heated discussion, gather a group of your friends together and ask them about when and who you should tip.

Whether you hate it or don't mind it, tipping is a part of life in the U.S. It can also be an added stress when you're not sure whether to tip -- especially around the holidays.

The cost of tipping is often overlooked in household budgets and can take quite a bit of money out of your bank account over time. Conversely, if you happen to work in a job that relies on tips, that money can be a significant portion of your overall pay.

According to a recent PayScale.com study on tipping, pizza delivery drivers receive 36% of their overall wages from tips. Bartenders count on tips for 47% of their take-home pay. And waiters/waitresses depend on tips for 61% of their wages. How you ultimately decide to tip can have a great effect not only on how much you spend, but on a person's income for that day.

"For jobs where tipping is common and a high fraction of the wages, like waiters and gaming table dealers, tips are not 'bonuses'. Tips turn a minimum wage job into a living wage," says Dr. Al Lee, PayScale.com's director of quantitative analysis. "The person paying the tip provides more of the employee's income than the official employer."