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Burning questions: How much should I tip?

$ 5 dollar tip on the table with

Photo credit: iStock | $ 5 dollar tip on the table with receipt, on a tray ,at a restaurant.

Erica Marcus

Erica Marcus (face disguised) is Newsday's food writer. Erica Marcus

Marcus has covered food for Newsday since 1998.

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What's the average restaurant tip?

There are no official figures, but Michael Lynn, a Cornell professor who has researched and published widely on tipping, said his "best guess was around 18 percent." And that figure has been slowly rising.

In general, Lynn said, "tipping guides provide a rough estimation of what people actually do." Etiquette books in the 1940s and '50s suggested that...

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