How much do you tip a delivery guy?

[french fries]

I've never really known how much one is expected to tip delivery guys. Let's say you're delivered a pizza for $22, which includes a $1.50 delivery fee... how much do you tip on top of that?

And what if you're ordering food from a fancier restaurant and get a $65 bill, do you increase the tip just like when you tip at a restaurant, or is delivery-tip more like a flat fee?

Thanks!

 

[boar_d_laze]

The delivery fee doesn't count towards the driver's tip because it goes to the restaurant and not to the driver.  That is, it's a surcharge and not a gratuity. 

How much I actually tip depends a lot on what's in my wallet and how the things round off if paying cash -- for instance, if it's a $13.82 bill, and all I have is a twenty, I'm not going to ask for change; but if I can make $19 out of my wallet, I will.

Unless something special is involved I tip around $5 no matter how large or small the bill.  That seems fair for the driver's 10 minute round trip, doesn't it?

BDL

 

[french fries]

I see. So more of a flat $5-ish fee than a percentage really. Great - thanks for the tip, if you pardon the pun! /img/vbsmilies/smilies/smile.gif

 

[abefroman]

I see. So more of a flat $5-ish fee than a percentage really. Great - thanks for the tip, if you pardon the pun! /img/vbsmilies/smilies/smile.gif

LOL, yep, $5 seems the norm nowadays, I usually give $5 including the delivery charge.  Ex. if the delivery charge is $3, I'll tip $2, if the delivery charge is $1.50, I'll tip about $3.50.  One Chinese place charged a $5 delivery charge, so the guy didn't get a tip, I didn't reorder from that place, because that is obviously excessive.

I don't believe in delivery charges, and they driver's should complain to their boss about them, or work somewhere else.

 

[french fries]

LOL, yep, $5 seems the norm nowadays, I usually give $5 including the delivery charge.  Ex. if the delivery charge is $3, I'll tip $2, if the delivery charge is $1.50, I'll tip about $3.50.  One Chinese place charged a $5 delivery charge, so the guy didn't get a tip, I didn't reorder from that place, because that is obviously excessive.

I don't believe in delivery charges, and they driver's should complain to their boss about them, or work somewhere else.

That makes a whole lot of sense - thanks!

 

[boar_d_laze]

Fries, 

How can you say that makes sense?!

The delivery charge represents gas, insurance, wear and tear on the car, and so on.  It is not part of the gratuity. Since driving got so expensive, restaurants started passing on the cost.  Reasonable?  Your call.  If you don't like it, don't order from those who impose it.   It's petty, small, cheap and obnoxious to screw the driver because you don't like the restaurant's policy.  If you don't like it, don't order from them.  It's no reason to stiff the help.

Please explain how it makes sense to tip $5 for an $18 bill, and $3 for a $20 tab.  If you didn't want to pay $20 plus tip to have pizza delievered, then why did you order it?  You knew how much it was going to cost when you hung up the phone. 

The driver is typically a minimum wage worker who performs a separate service.  Tip her for what she did or didn't do.  Expecting the driver to do something about the restaurant's policy is jejune, to say the least.  Short tipping her is just a way of taking out your anger on someone who is in no position to fight back or do anything about it.  Bullying is all it is.

BDL

 

[abefroman]

First, I consider $5 to be a generous tip, you still have people that will only tip a buck or two on a $30 order. So even with a $1.50 delivery charge, $3.50 is still an good tip in my opinion.  If there is a $3 charge, they $2 is an allright tip anyway.  Because I want to give a generous tip, doesn't mean I should be stiffed by a restaurants greed for the delivery charge.

It's petty, small, cheap and obnoxious to screw the driver because you don't like the restaurant's policy.  If you don't like it, don't order from them.  It's no reason to stiff the help.

>>Just because the delivery charge is high, it doesn't mean you should end up over paying for delivery.

The delivery charge represents gas, insurance, wear and tear on the car, and so on.  It is not part of the gratuity. Since driving got so expensive, restaurants started passing on the cost.  Reasonable?  Your call.  If you don't like it, don't order from those who impose it.   

>>A lot of the time they use their own car an #1, get a higher hourly wage for doing so, and #2 they get to make a deduction for the mileage (anything other than the first and last trip of the day, which is probably to and from the restaurant).

>>If the restaurant wants to offer delivery, then they should do so without extra fees.  The delivery driver is just part of their normal overhead They do make money off the sale of the food.  There was a time when no one charged for delivery.

>>It seems most of the places have the charge to mostly add an additional revenue stream, rather than to offset increased operating expenses.

The driver is typically a minimum wage worker who performs a separate service.  Tip her for what she did or didn't do.  Expecting the driver to do something about the restaurant's policy is jejune, to say the least.  Short tipping her is just a way of taking out your anger on someone who is in no position to fight back or do anything about it. 

>>I'm pretty sure they get at least the standard minimum wage, not like waiters to get a lower minimum wage plus tips.

 

[french fries]

Fries, 

How can you say that makes sense?!

The delivery charge represents gas, insurance, wear and tear on the car, and so on.  It is not part of the gratuity. Since driving got so expensive, restaurants started passing on the cost.  Reasonable?  Your call.  If you don't like it, don't order from those who impose it.   It's petty, small, cheap and obnoxious to screw the driver because you don't like the restaurant's policy.  If you don't like it, don't order from them.  It's no reason to stiff the help.

Please explain how it makes sense to tip $5 for an $18 bill, and $3 for a $20 tab.  If you didn't want to pay $20 plus tip to have pizza delievered, then why did you order it?  You knew how much it was going to cost when you hung up the phone. 

The driver is typically a minimum wage worker who performs a separate service.  Tip her for what she did or didn't do.  Expecting the driver to do something about the restaurant's policy is jejune, to say the least.  Short tipping her is just a way of taking out your anger on someone who is in no position to fight back or do anything about it.  Bullying is all it is.

BDL

Okay... now I'm confused. In your first answer you said that the tips go to the restaurant, not to the driver. So I figured it made sense, if the restaurant already charged a $3 delivery fee, to only add a $2 tip so their delivery money would be $5. I don't think of the delivery fee as a "normal fee for increased cost of gas", but more of a "compulsory tip": I thought restaurants were doing that because some people might not leave any tip at all. Kinda like the compulsory 18%-of-your-check tip for parties of 6 or more, in many restaurants: you don't add 20% tip on top of the compulsory 18%.

Back to the delivery tip: so who does that money go to then? The restaurant? Or the driver?

BDL, the good thing about your posts is they always make me learn new words. In this case "jejune" (I'd never heard that word before).

EDIT: I just realize now how I misread your first answer to that thread. You said "delivery fee" and I understood "whatever tip you give the driver", when you meant the delivery fee on the check, before you tip. Sorry.

 

[abefroman]

Back to the delivery tip: so who does that money go to then? The restaurant? Or the driver?

>epends on the restaurant, some will give it to the driver, some will keep it.

 

[petemccracken]

Back to the delivery tip: so who does that money go to then? The restaurant? Or the driver?

>epends on the restaurant, some will give it to the driver, some will keep it.

Hm, maybe it "depends on the driver" rather than the restaurant? /img/vbsmilies/smilies/crazy.gif, some will give it to the restaurant, some will keep it.

If I'm not mistaken, at least in the USA, a "delivery person" must receive at least the Federal/State minimum wage and it is my suspicion that a "delivery fee" is targeted to offset the cost(s) of delivery, BTWDIK

 

[boar_d_laze]

The delivery fee is part of the bill, just like food, beverage and tax.  It goes to the restaurant, not the driver.  It is not a gratuity or service charge.  It goes to cover additional expense incurred by the restaurant as a result of the request for delivery. 

If one or two individual restaurants choose to sweeten the driver's salary with some of the delivery fee, that's a good thing for the driver.  But it's unusual. 

Deliveries aren't free, there are a lot of associated expenses that are more expensive than they used to be.  For a joint which does 50 or 60 a day, they can run into money.  On the other hand, it doesn't cost more for a restaurant to deliver 10 pizzas to one address than it costs to deliver one.  So, rather than folding the cost into every item on the menu, they ring it up separately.  It actually assigns the cost in proportion to how its incurred, so all in all it's fairest for both the establishment and the patron. 

In any case, it's not a compelling reason to undertip the driver.  Neither is a two-tier minimum wage if such there is in your State or municipality.  

BDL  

BDL