My take is that it is spreading not due to culture, but due to how all new point of sale systems / card terminals come with a "tip" feature implemented.

I'm from Europe, and have traveled here extensively. Tipping is pretty rare, but for the past maybe 5 years, almost all new payment terminals have the tipping option.

No, it's spreading because corporations are waking up to what an insanely good deal "pay my employees for me" is.

In my state an employer is only responsible for raising an employee's effective wage (for the entire pay period) to minimum wage if the tips don't.

You can tip someone working as a waiter $100 and unless they've already hit minimum wage for that pay period, all you're doing is handing $100 to the owner because it's $100 they don't have to pay in wages. Once the waiter has met minimum wage, then the money actually goes to them.

This is why power/hegemony are good. This is what Euros get for their lazy, easy lives of "work to live" and siestas. You don't get to have your own culture anymore. Start working hard or continue to fade into obscurity.

Because they know they can get away with it.

It is also not "tip" anymore, it is just "whatever pays the most" gets the service. It is just to maximise profit out of suckers, something US have perfected (from insurance to fast passes).

Living in Ireland from 2013-2023 I saw tipping get _much_ more common, sadly.

Yep. It's wonderful throwing a few extra bucks to some euro waiter and watching them treat you better than everyone else.