I don't think it's so much an issue of "cheapness" as an issue of "paying someone to play a game with you." From an in-game POV, the DM may occupy a totally different role from the players, but on a social level, he's just another guy sitting around the table participating. Consequently, the "chipping in" model works much better than the tipping or payment model.
My time may be (sorry, is) worth a great deal of money from a work perspective, but I don't expect to be paid for my leisure time... and gaming is leisure time, including the planning portion, which is plenty of fun for me, despite the fact that I'm always the designated DM and I run highly plot-intensive campaigns with casts of thousands using highly tweaked rulesets, all of which requires substantial preparation.
Now, having players chip in food and drink or gaming books (or defraying the cost of such) is a different story; not everyone is made of money. I for one wouldn't dream of making someone pay the many and varied expenses of hosting or running a game (and yes, DMs have a more expensive burden on average, if only due to module and campaign sourcebook cost) without contributing something myself, no more than I'd dream of showing up to a party without a bottle of wine or the like.
OTOH, I don't really know what playing at a gaming store is like, so it's possible that circumstances differ there. But I wouldn't game with people I weren't comfortable hanging out with socially, anyway.