Idahoans are cheapest tippers in the nation? This new study makes zero cents. (Ahem.)

Out-of-state transplants moving to Idaho must be cheapskates.

Or wait — could it be natives getting stingier because of growing Boise’s cost of living?

Either way, a new study says that Idaho is the nation’s worst state for tipping. This cringey distinction was bestowed upon us by Moneypenny, an answering-service company that says it manages 15 million phone calls and chats annually for clients.

In a blog article titled “The United States of Tipping,” Moneypenny claims that Idaho’s average gratuity is 16.71 percent. The best tippers live in New Hampshire, Moneypenny says, where the average tip is 20.47 percent. Moneypenny surveyed over 2,500 people, it says. When I emailed a marketing manager, she explained that each state had 50 participants. Moneypenny used Google Surveys to acquire the data, she added.

Maybe it’s true, Idaho. Maybe we’re terrible tippers. Think about your most recent gratuity experience. I ordered two pints from a bartender last weekend, and I tipped a standard buck a beer. Now that I’m doing the math, it wound up being 16.7 percent — almost exactly the bottom-dwelling Idaho average.

Or maybe we shouldn’t buy the Moneypenny study. After all, 50 people is not a massive sample size.

Here’s where things truly get weird, though. In 2017, Time published a similar article about tipping. It argued that Idaho was the nation’s best-tipping state — with a fairly similar gratuity. Idaho’s average in that study was 17.4 percent. The chintziest tippers were in Hawaii, Time said, which averaged a low 14.8 percent.

Time’s data was compiled by payment-processing company Square, known for a credit-card reader that plugs into mobile devices. The transactions came from more than 2 million sellers ranging from small businesses to chains.

Back then, I interviewed a service-industry worker and a cosmetologist in Boise. Neither sounded convinced that Idaho was the top-tipping state in America.

“People are nicer here,” the waitress acknowledged. “I will say that. But I haven’t really ever seen it reflected in tipping-wise.”

One study saying Idaho tippers are great. Another survey claims we’re horrible.

Something tells me we’re somewhere in the middle.

One other interesting tidbit? On average, Moneypenny said, men tip better than women.

Want to leave me a little gratuity for that insight? Thanks. I prefer beer.

This story was originally published January 21, 2020 at 4:50 PM.