I think the point of the original article is that tip prompts are expanding well beyond foodservice to stores and retailers where tipping was never previously part of the compensation structure. These companies did, and still do, pay well above "a living wage" but the additional money is still highly tempting.

Or both? We are in a system that requires tips for people to survive. You can begrudgingly pay tips while being against them in principle and trying to change the system.

Full-service waiters get paid below minimum wage and that justified tipping (to an extent). The rest of the "system" does not "require tips to survive." Certainly not bridal shops, online travel companies, and locksmiths, some of the examples in the article.