Tipping on Delivery - How Much?

[DonRocks]

Question: When a place has a $2 delivery charge, does it generally go to the restaurant, or the driver? In other words, should this factor into any tip that you leave for the driver? I generally leave 10% for delivery, but I'm not sure what's reasonable (and if the answer is 20%, then I need to go drop off some money at my local Thai delivery place for two years of under-tipping). I ask because hotels, for example, include a "service charge" in room service, usually around 20%, which does indeed represent the tip (every single time, I ask, "Is the service charge included?" And the room service carrier always responds, "Yes."), but I'm not sure about a "delivery charge." [This will obviously be split into its own topic].

[Mark Dedrick]

This is a great question, and I don't know the real answer. Typically I'll tip right about 10%, or perhaps a little above, for delivery, regardless of any delivery charge. But I'm not sure if that's correct or not, and I conceivably also need to visit a couple of places and make amends.

[DanielK]

So my data is 25 years old, but when I had a brief job as a delivery person, it was simple: places that offered free delivery gave the delivery people a better salary and allowance for gas. If they charged for delivery, I got a lower hourly salary. Either way, the tips were needed to make the job pay above minimum wage once I paid for gas.

[Genevieve]

I tip 15-20% (usually 15, but I may round up) for delivery under normal circumstances. In nasty weather (huge rain, wet snow), I tip more.

[qwertyy]

I tip 15-20% (usually 15, but I may round up) for delivery under normal circumstances. In nasty weather (huge rain, wet snow), I tip more.

Ditto. Wrapping up my food, getting my drinks, and driving it all to my home merits 15% minimum.

[thetrain]

I know for pizza delivery most, if not all, places do not give the delivery fee to the driver, it goes to the restaurant. I give a minimum of $3 or $4 tip on small orders and then tip approximately 10% on orders above $40.

[thistle]

I almost always only order delivery if it's raining or snowing, & I generally tip 20%, because I feel guilty about someone driving out in weather I wouldn't want to go out in....

[Barbara]

I suspect, but do not know for sure, that the "delivery" fee goes into a tip pool for the folks who pack the stuff up. Since I have a nephew who delivers pizza in NoVa, while attending NOVA, I suggest you tip a very great deal.

[Ericandblueboy]

When the pizza is $10, delivery fee and tax is $3, and I tip another $3. Between the tip and delivery fee, it's 50% of the cost of the pizza. As far as I know, the delivery fee is kept by the restaurant....I'm really only tipping 25%.

[darkstar965]

I usually do 10-15% cash for the delivery person since can never be sure whether a tip on a credit card will get to the deliverer.

Also, Don, not sure what hotels you're staying at but I know many that charge at least one (and sometimes two) 'delivery'-related charges where those monies do not go to the person knocking on your door. The more transparent hotels will at least tell you as much so you can tip the deliverer and be sure they get something. This doesn't apply to all hotels, of course. But it does to some including some of the large chain business hotels. Part of the ridiculous nickle and diming (er, twenty and fifty-ing more like it) that hotels have been doing for eons; long before the airlines went into near-fatal bankruptcy and began doing the same a few years ago.

[SeanMike]

The delivery fee is one reason I stopped ordering pizza.

The other is places that allow to order online, but you have to put the tip in before it gets delivered. I don't mind tipping 20% personally on delivery, but when it takes over an hour and shows up luke warm at best, I want part of my tip back.

[DonRocks]

http://www.rd.com/slideshows/13-things-your-pizza-guy-won’t-tell-you/?trkid=outbrain-all#slideshow=slide11

[jasonc]

how did you have the 11th item of a reader's digest online article queued up for this very topic?

[DonRocks]

how did you have the 11th item of a reader's digest online article queued up for this very topic?

My institutional memory here runs deep.

[B.A.R.]

20-25%. Thankless job, with a lot of pressure to get there on time and usually little support from manmagement (ie: pizza supposed to be there in 30 minutes. Comes out of the oven 25 minutes after I ordered, and the driver now has to make up the time-distance shortfall.)

I rarely order delivery and do so purely for my convenience. I am quite grateful it showed up at my door and tip accordingly.