Do you tip the pizza delivery guy..?
 

I don't order pizza that often...And nowadays, every pizza joint seems to have these online ordering deals to simplify the process...Use my debit card, everything is clean cut...I hate having cash on me, so this works out well...

But tonight, a guy delivered my pie, even picked my paper up out of the driveway when he came in...

And for the first time, I wondered if I should be tipping...

Now, when I go to a restaurant and sit down, I start my server out with with their 15% percent...If the service is great, average, or shitty, I adjust accordingly...

But the pizza guy had a somewhat blank like stare on his face when I grabbed my pie and just said thanks...Should I be tipping pizza delivery dudes..? Why..? I noticed on my receipt that they charge a delivery fee, so I figured I was cool...When I got my physical receipt though, it said, 'Driver gratuity not included'...Hmm, seems they expect people to tip drivers...

I don't know, just curious to what everyone else thinks...

A tip isn't required... in anything.

It's commonplace to tip the pizza guy, so I understand how he might be confused. Besides, if I worked such a shitty job, I'd expect a tip of some sort.

I always tip the pizza guy. 15% isn't a bad rule for anything I figure.

Pizza guys usually pay their own gas and get maybe an extra $2-3/hr to pay for car upkeep. Yes, you should tip them.

I always tip 5 bucks. Maybe more if it's a large order.

Around here, at least, the drivers get as shitty of a pay as all the other workers. No additional money for gas or anything.

Pizza guys definitely expect a tip. For the kind of shit delivery people put up with, I tip well. $3 is standard, $4 or more if it's a big order or they're particularly pleasant.

See http://www.tipthepizzaguy.com for details about this.

http://money.cnn.com/pf/features/lists/tipping/

It depends on where you live; assuming you live in Nevada, the above is a social norm.

Then again, the drivers throw themselves on the mercy of the public, so you can do whatever you feel is right.

Hope you dont order from the same pizza place twice. Well, get the same driver twice. You may get extra toppings or cold pizza.

I always tip $2, but pizza here is $6 so that's 33%. It's funny at first it took about 30mins and a little cold. After two or three orders the time is now at 12mins and it's hot. I can almost set my watch by it.

Punk is correct, its not required. But is it recommended? You bet your ass it is.

I always tip delivery guys pretty good. They do have to pay their own gas, and I imagine its one shitty job so a tip kinda keeps them going. Also, if you have any beers about I always get a good response when I give them a beer as well as the monetary tip.

You should have been tipping them 8 years ago when gas was $2/gal. You should be tipping them double now.

Either that or drive your pizza-starved butt down to the pie store yourself.

"Hey, I didn't order sausage!"

Oh, so wrong, so, so wrong... LOL!

Every time. Usually 25%.

I always tip any delivery food I get, usually around 2 bucks or more. I'd go higher more often but it is only 1 street over from me lol....

I make my own Pizza.

My brother died while delivering pizzas.

I always tip the pizza guy.

I have too admit I "make" mine more often than I order that is for sure. I buy the 3 cheese oven roasted Presidents Choice pizza's and then add my own toppings like bacon, green olives, pineapple, onion, sausage...etc...mmm tasty...



/sorry end thread jack

Really sorry to hear that, kind of puts the rest of the world in perspective.

We do too (or should I say my SO does), or we go out (our favorite pizza place is an experience, I don't know how else to put it). We rarely (maybe twice so far this year) order pizza for delivery any more, but when we do, I always tip at least a couple bucks.

I'd love to order Pizza... the fact is it just suck here. I have yet to find a good pizza on this island.

still????

even Pizza Hut sucked back in the late 80s. I figured they would at least get something remotely better...

always. Last time we ordered was back in January and 6inches of snow. The guy came in about 20 minutes.Igave him $7.

oh right... forgot about that tipping part....

yes, always tip the FOOD DELIVERY guy, it doesn't matter if it's pizza or chinese food...

yes, still. You can find good gourmet pizza but that's not what I am looking for. I want delivery pizza at a reasonable price.

And, I do tip the delivery guy but on a couple bucks.

Wow, thanks for the responses guys...I live a good neighborhood about 2 miles from the store I order from, but I have never known anyone that delivered pizzas, so I didn't know how they were treated...My Mom used to manage a Domino's, but as a part of her management training she had to do every job in the store, including make deliveries...I've never heard her mention it, so I really didn't think that it was a huge deal...

I'll probably give the guy a couple bucks from here on out...

I usually just round up to the nearest $5. That works in most situations, unless the order is $19.97 or something. Then I just tack an extra $5 on top.

I think etiquette dictates that you tip more for long distances or bad weather. I'm not entirely sure on that, and I don't order pizza often enough to worry about it (2-3 times per year).

Usually you can add driver gratuity on those sites, that's what I do if I'm strapped for cash.

I do absolutly. I hate comming off cheap, I like commending people on good service and I expect good service the next time. nearly every time I order pizza it's the same guy showing up with it. I can't emagine he's getting paid alot for this job not to mention his gas allowance may not be up to date.

I usually write in or give $3-4 on a $20 pizza.

also I do a fair ammount of takeout. I tip there too. about the same ratio. I don't want to get home and find they put on grilled onions when I asked them to hold the grilled onions. I tip for good service.

I work for a living and I have to prove my validity with real phisical results I can't hide in paperwork or fast talking. I apreciate others who do a good service for me. I don't want them to walk off saying "ass hole" under their breath. especially food service people.

Nevermind....

I always tip at least $5.

I work the afternoon shift at a pizzeria. I take orders, prepare food for my shift and the night shifts, and i deliver the orders.

The average tip i receive is 2-4 dollars regardless of the size of the order. After the cost of gas is added in my average tip drops down to 1-3 dollars. I often wonder why waiters get tipped ~15% while drivers merely get whatever change is left over... waiters never have to worry about getting a speeding ticket while striving "to insure prompt service.

In the UK, I think if you tipped the guy he'd wonder where the hidden cameras were.

I live 2 miles from the pizza place, and they charge for delivery. The system in this country means that minimum wage is actually something people can live on, and the vehicles (usualy scooters) belong to the company.

For all of these reasons, I do not tip the delivery guy.

The Chinesse place I also get food from is only a couple of miles away, and the delivery guy is the owner - I figure he's had my money already in the bill, so I don't tip him - I do buy from him pretty often though, and when I go to the shop in person they greet me fondly - which is not the case for other customers I see there, so I must be doing something right.

Even though I'm Canadian, I always tip the delivery guy - pizza, Chinese, whatever.

Tipping isn't as big of a deal in Canada? I know that's the case in many countries, but hadn't heard that about our friends up north.

I used to deliver in the evenings... for perspective, I went through a tank of gas in a weekend (3 5hr shifts) doing nothing but delivering in a 3 mile radius from our shop.

Tipping is what made the job actually earn you a living - otherwise I was almost paying the shop to let me deliver their pizzas, because not only are you having to buy gas, you're using your personal vehicle much more than if you were doing your normal daily driving.

Sorry, bit of a joke in reference to an earlier thread on how Canadians are lousy tippers.

I always tip the delivery person. I normally give about $3-4, more if the order is larger.

Before or while calling I would look to see how much cash I had. If I didnt have enough to tip the delivery I put the pizza on debit and gave the cash to the bearer of manna.

I dont really order pizza anymore.

Ever since discovering the "Take & Bake" joints near us, we haven't ordered pizza delivery. They have way better pizza and its cheaper. They don't deliver, so you gotta go get it.

When we did get delivery, it always seemed like such a jip. A large pizza without a coupon is like $16, plus tax, plus delivery charge, plus tip... even with a not-too-generous $2 tip you are approaching $25 for a pizza that's worth no more than probably $5... blah. Chinese is a better delivery option for us.

I don't order pizza for delivery much anymore, and when I do order pizza, I usually specify that I'll pick it up for carryout, mainly to avoid having to tip. I remember always being confused as to how much or what percentage to tip. I think it usually always varied between 10 and 15%. I had known that 15 was the norm for waiters, and the argument was that delivery guys didn't do as much as waiters, so back off the percentage a little.

Lately I've been tipping waiters closer to 20, more out of good karma, I suppose. Based on what I've been reading here, I'll probably try to tip delivery guys a bit more, but I haven't had any food delivered to my house in months, probably years...

Absolutely. Always. I even tip the kitchen help when they made me a BLT at a restaurant that doesn't offer a BLT on the menu. People, you have to tip. Deliverers don't make that much, and it's a tough job.

Never tip if it is expected.

Nothing pisses me off more than kids who think they deserve extra money for doing their job, they already get paid.

Yeah, standard rule should always be to tip anyone in service. And with delivery (pizza, or any other kind of order-in) you should tip at least $3 or $4 if you live in a small city or large town, or at least $5 if you live in a big city. More if possible, since gas costs have shot through the roof. Obviously, if it was really crappy service, that's different, or if your delivery person was rude or something.... But other than that, tip and tip well.

I worked delivering pizza, delivering cafe food, waitering, and a whole bunch of other crap service gigs like that when I was trying to work as an actor. Tips are indispensable: restaurants generally pay minimum wage, or not much above it. Delivery work is highly irregular, and conditions aren't great: you end up having to do a lot of scut work at the restaurant that isn't covered by tipping or extra wages, and you pay for your own gas, insurance and so forth. Plus, drivers usually have to give a cut of their tips to the supervisors and the kitchen staff.

Not only are you just a better person for tipping the delivery guy, but it can really work in your favor. Delivery people remember who tips well, and who stiffs them, and service is often prioritized accordingly. I don't just mean the occasional delivery driver who gets too fed up with the guy who always stiffs him, and puts some ice on the pizza, or spits in the pasta or something. But much more often, drivers remember who tips well, and they'll bust their ass to get the order correct and delivered quickly. They may even sometimes slip you some free extras to keep you happy. I was never a spitter or a pie-icer, but I sure remembered who tipped well, and I'd sometimes throw in some free cheesecake or breadsticks, and I'd work hard to remember what kind of salad dressing they liked and stuff.

Similarly, with waiters: the fancier the place, the more you should tip-- not because you're paying for style, but at a fancier place, the waiters have to cut more people in on their tips...bus boys, wine waiters, prep cooks, dish washers. If you go to a really swanky place, and you tip your waiter $10, just know that probably only $3-5 of that ends up in your waiter's pocket. But the tipping karma thing works even harder for restaurant tipping than for delivery: waiters remember who tips well, and you will-- I assure you-- get better service, better tables, more attention, more perks. If you consistently under-tip waiters in a restaurant, don't be surprised to wait for a table, get poor seats, and minimal service.

Believe me, nobody gets rich waitering or delivering: it's not something most people choose early and deliberately, and it's very hard to make a living doing it. It's incredibly thankless, and you all would just never believe the rudeness that service workers have to deal with. For every decent joe or jane like you guys, there's five bastards who have no problem verbally abusing the poor schmuck who drove their dinner over to their house because they gave the wrong cross-street and the driver got lost, or screaming at the guy taking their order over the phone for having to put them on hold for a minute.

It's been ten years since I worked in food service, and I still remember some of the customers I liked best-- the college kids who tipped me by smoking me out; or the rich guy who ordered 25 pizzas, tipped me a hundred bucks, and a Cuban cigar; or the dozen sorority girls that ordered five pies, barely made the total by scraping coins from under the couch cushions, and tipped me by all flashing me for a thirty-second count. I also remember the customers that were the worst: the guy who never tipped me, and looked at me like I was dirt; the guy who screamed abuse at me in front of his family and passers-by for getting lost and being ten minutes late; the guy who made snide comments about my appearance, made vaguely anti-semitic remarks, and then tipped me a penny.

I tip very generously in all cases, and let me tell you guys, I have never regretted it for a moment. If I get to Heaven, I wouldn't be surprised if it's for tipping.

Did you not read any of the previous responses, wherein it is revealed that pizza delivery people largely pay for their own gas, drive their own vehicle, and pay for the maintenance? If they're lucky, they might get a couple extra bucks from the pizza place for those things, but that typically isn't the case. They rely on your tips to make ends meet. With gas up over $4/gallon, do you really think the pizza guy is making extra money off of your tip? I doubt it.

I used to tip 3-5 but I don't order as much as I used to.

Also know that many places don't give the "delivery charge" to the driver. Some may get a portion, but rarely do they get the entire thing.

So, tip your pizza delivery drivers - even if it's only a couple bucks, it's better than getting nothing.

We rarely get delivery, but it's always at least a $5.00 tip when we do. I even try to tip the staff when I pick up, although less than the delivery guy would get.

Last time I picked up at Dolly's, there was just one guy, doing all the cookin', waiting on the counter, bustin' his ass. I tried to give him a couple of bucks, to which he said, "Thanks, but I don't accept tips." Near as I can figure, either he didn't want anyone see him put cash into his pocket, or Dolly's has a policy about tips.

I always tip $3.

Yes, we do. Usually $4 or $5 on a couple of medium 'zas. We tip the Thai food and sushi delivery guys the same way.

They are usually courteous beforehand, and grateful afterwards, which is good considering many of them might be trying to eek out a living on a second or third job. Most delivery guys in my area are Middle Eastern, African, or Asian men in their late 30s and early 40s. This is not what I'd like to see myself doing at that age, yet they always seem to be courteous and grateful. They are always on time and say thank you. What is more deserving of a tip?

Haha, you damn Canadians.

to answer the OP here in iceland tipping in any form seems to be unheard of but back in au i´d usually tip $3aud. i was a delivery boy for a while for pizza hut and about 1 on 3 people would tip. it ranged from the rest of the note (as little as 5c up to $3.05c) but on occasion i was tipped $10 or more, usually by famous ppl.

EX DELIVERY DRIVER EDUCATION TIME.

1st off, Pizza delivery is the biggest SCAM ever as a job. They advertise that they hire at 12$ an hour (no shit) and when you get there, and after they have you fill out everything, and after the interview they will drop it on you that...

1. you get minimum wage. Period. They wholey pass the remainder on you to collect from your target deliveries. They expect the customer to tip, but they do nothing to encourage it. IN FACT, it's gotten so bad now that they help discourage it.

2. To discourage it, they came up with the BRILLIANT idea of "Delivery Charge" (WHICH THE DRIVER WILL NEVER GET) Think about that for a moment. Depending on area and company this varies from like 1.00 to 2.50 or so in my experience. This is a frivolous fee for no other reason than extracting free profits. It's not to cover anything that wasn't already covered in the cost of their pizza to begin with.

Totals that were sitting at 16.XX all of a sudden became 18.XX so those guys who just used to give you a 20$ and said "keep the change?" yeah, all of a sudden you went from decent tip to a 1.xx waste of time.

3. Car maitenence. Oil changes, gas prices, tire rotations and replacements? Who do you think pays for that? not the company, thats for sure. They give the driver a certain amount of money per run for milage. I used to get 20 cents a mile, then they figured that it was too much and switched to 85cents per run. At the time my average run was about 6 to 8 miles round trip and about 20 runs per night.

I was basically losing money on driving

all that figured in?

well yeah, it's a crappy picture, so I can yell "TIP THE DRIVER" until i'm blue in the face, but I have a better idea. Keep stiffing them until they get a better job, because seriously, it's what I did, and I wouldn't ever support that business model again. Not as an employee, or a customer. I'll drive my ass to the pizza place if I want any. End of story.

heh minimum wage? we got ORAL contracts (a way to bypass several laws aparently) and $3.10 per delivery and averaged 1.5 deliveries an hour. should have bought a hummer with my savings....

fyi minimum wage at the time was about $11

Nicely said Shauk, I suppose I never got that into the weeds about the whole process.

Just for the record, I order my pizzas online and the place I order from has a place to put your tip in when you order. And this is on top of the delivery charge. I think that's a pretty righteous attempt to make sure their drivers get tipped. And this is a big, national chain, not a mom and pop place.

not all of them, I don't care if they have to pay for their own gas, vehicle etc. that's the job they choose to work in. I don't pay extra to anyone if they haven't done a really good job. Tipping someone for their normal job is stupid. If they don't like it, get a new job.

Tips are stupid.

I look at it as a convenience charge. Hey, guy I-don't-know...I'll give you $5 to bring me hot food! It's worth $5 for me to get my pizza quick and hot and not have to waste my time.

You are the guy who gets extra sausage.

Vote for a higher minimum wage if you don't want to subsidize the behavior of the restaurant business any more. Can't really have it both ways.

I use to have my ex come to the door naked. That seemed to work for everyone.

Ever found any special sauce in your pizzas?

I tip if the food gets to my place quick enough, if it takes forever then forget it. I think delivery guys expect tips, and they should realize get the food there fast and you get a little extra. If the food is cold then no tip so sorry.

I always tip my delivery guy. Generally i'm too lazy to go pick it up, so I figure I can tip him. That and I'd tip the server if I sat down in the restaurant and this guy had to find my house and knock on my door.

But also I'll be damned if I don't get a pizza in 20-30 minutes whenever I order. 45 minute wait? hour wait? Regardless of what they tell me its never been over a half hour. Makes me wonder if my tipping has anything to do with it.

For real? If so thats pretty awesome.

Blasphemy: I hope you realize that you HAVE eaten someone's saliva, snot, pubic hair and/or 'special sauce.' I may not like the idea of tipping either, and I'll admit to not being a particularly generous tipper, but I DO tip within the range of mormal. If for no other reason than to avoid the wrath of the untipped server/delivery person.

I think I'm going to put a tip jar out on my workstation tomorrow and see if I get anything...

So, regarding special toppings/extra sauce, it happens.

Don't think that it doesn't. that extra sausage is a booger, the mouth of your soda bottle taking the whole trip in the armpit of a driver making minimum wage in 100 degree heat happens. This usually only happens if you're notoriously aggravating.

now I'm going to address a few things. Food service = trust in someone else to handle your food. Chances are, you're indirectly asking someone else to serve you against their will, Maybe you should treat this person like you would a friend? They're getting paid by their employer to show up and be on the clock and do all sorts of errands at the store, they really care less what you're doing out on the road....

so from a driver perspective, maybe there are closer, well known good tippers that they know are better runs, We run in to all sorts of people far from the store who like to waste our time and "chat" yet don't pay us for it, You can be the nicest person in the world, you can be my best friend, but if i'm at YOUR door, while on the clock, when OTHER customers runs are going to OTHER drivers who arent me, and YOU'RE stiffing me, I WILL HATE YOU FOREVER...
Driving is a very part-time job, with a very finite window in which to take advantage of making money.

lets say you're notorious for writing a check for the exact amount, never having your fucking drivers licence number on the check even though you've been told 14 times that it's the fucking policy and making us wait, yet again, as you go out to your car and get it because you can't keep it in your wallet/purse like a normal person, I have to suffer the smell of cat piss whenever you open your door while your kids are crying, OR maybe you're that jackass who thinks XYZ pizza is a substitute for a babysitter, thanks for leaving exact change with your 8 year old kid, you're lucky I don't call CPS on your stupid ass. Or maybe you're that fucking stoner who can't count and keeps shortchanging the driver at the door so I have to waste even more time for you to look through your wet/damp nasty assed pockets for some quarters or something.
or maybe your idea of "keep the change" is when you give me 17.05 for a 17.01 order.

wow, seriously, I'm so glad I don't drive anymore, I'd probably kick the next person to open the door right in the nuts if I knew they were a stiffer.


those people who are like "boo hoo, my pizza took 45 minutes" don't realize that a pizza oven is only so big, it holds, lets say, 6 pizzas on a conveyer, i've worked on bi and tri level ovens, but the third level of the ovens rarely are used as they require someone who isn't a complete idiot to work the ovens or else they stand around going "gee which box does THIS go in?" (because some people have a hard time recognizing toppings and letter codes on the boxes) which results in pizzas basically mushing in to eachother and having to delay all the rest of the orders since they'll have to remake them because mr guy with a spatula putting shit into boxes SUCKS AT HIS LIFE (no, this doesn't happen to me, I was good at what I do, because I'm good at everything I do /gloat)

the average order is 2-3 pizzas, but, all it takes is ONE order in the middle of it all to screw up the queue for the rest of the night, and the drivers can't do anything about it. That school that is having a pizza night? 50 pizzas, your order? yeah, good luck with that.

anyways, drivers get blamed for everything, but everyone has a cell phone these days if they're driving, if they can't find it they'd call you. Plain and simple. Otherwise, most of the 45minute-1hr+ runs I'd take only really had me in the picture for all of 10-15 minutes. Think about how close you are to your store and figure it out, if you're 2 miles away, they didn't get lost, they're just backed up with a lot of orders.

I just went to a better job instead, because clearly, you can see, I hated this job.

Ever lived in a place where tipping isn't expected, and is somewhat rare.

I just find the whole thing that they expect extra payment pretty stupid. If they barely make a profit from their work. Get a better job OR talk to the manage about better conditions.

Damn right. It's not like we should be teaching these kids that hard work pays. There's nothing like the gripping realization that no matter how hard you work, you are still fucked.

Plus, the pay is absolutely justified given the drunken assholes that they have to deal with every night.

In the States I tipped. The states has a far better delivery system in place than in Germany. No joke- you are lucky if you get to keep the box the pizza came in, and the pizza is not even cut.

do you?

I live in Japan and God forbid you tip - people will go ballistic. Major no-no.

But I sure as hell tip when I'm in the States.

What magical world do you live in that pizza guys make more than minimum wage?
Tips are a big part of the salary and an incentive to do the job well. You can go on raging against the machine and saying it's not your fault that the pizza places don't pay well enough, but everyone is going to think you're an asshole and you're not going to change anything.

Long time ago, I used to be a pizza driver. Not the best job in town but it paid the bills. Dealing with irate customers who think I am late, foul weather, getting lost when you can't see the house numbers, drunk customers who have no money left after boozing it up and paying for my own gas and lying to my insurance company that I do not use my car for deliveries. And yes, we (the drivers) always commented and marked the map of places that didn't tip.

It actually feels kind of terrible when I didn't get a tip. Driving as quick as I could in a snowstorm and not even receive a buck or two, when I see the cute blond waitress make a buck or two for every drink in the local bar.

So, now I am a great tipper to the delivery people. It's just the nice thing to do.

Yes, for half my life. Now I live in a place where tipping is expected.

I don't see why people make such a big deal out of it. It is basically an extra cost of getting service, just like a waiter. The low price is subsidized by cheap labor which the consumer is expected to make up for based upon the level of service.

Cheapskates who don't tip are unfairly manipulating the system.

No, but if you do, this whole thread doesn't really apply to you. If you live in the US, then you don't live in a place where tipping isn't expected... NOWHERE in the US is non-tipping typical.

Frankly, you aren't paying the tip for them doing their job, you're paying the tip for you to be a lazy bum. *shrug*

There are countries where tipping it not the norm, as brought up by Daniel_. Singapore is also like this. The difference there is as follows. In the US, waitstaff make subminimum wage (was $2.52 an hour when I worked as a waiter, even at an upscale restaurant I made $4/hr or so... still less than minimum) because it is a tipped job. The federal government actually expects you to earn tips. Wow, must be abnormal... *boggle* In Singapore, everyone makes at least a certain wage based on the career they work in. They don't NEED tips because they actually get paid.

So, yes, waitstaff and delivery folks do choose that job... because there is an ABSOLUTE expectation of tipping as part of your wage. Sure, if the job is done poorly, than adjust accordingly. Even having been in a tipped position, if a waitress is REALLY bad I won't leave her anything.

if I recall correctly in singapore, it's ++ for everything

gratuity is included in your bill along with the tax.

so a sale for $1 beer is listed as $1++ because it's really $1+tax+gratuity.

Granted it's been a few years since I was there, but I recall the restaurant bills having a reasonable total. I don't know if gratuity was built in but it certainly never seemed that way. Of course it all went on the Corporate AMEX, so I guess I didn't really care either way...

This is a bizarre thread. I don't understand how the answer could be anything other than an unequivocal yes, assuming we're talking about the US, which I'm pretty sure we are. I haven't been in delivery, but I have been both a busser and a bartender, and it doesn't take very long to figure out that if people don't tip for whatever reason, you're not making any money and whatever money you are making isn't worth the horseshit that people are putting you through.

If you have "moral qualms" with tipping, that's fine. But remember that every time you take that stand, the ONLY PERSON you're hurting is the guy making a good faith effort to provide you with a service and who counts on those tips to pay his rent and feed himself. You're not hurting the system, you're not making a political statement, you're just making someone's day worse because you're a cheap asshole.

If you don't like tips, don't use services in which the servers rely on tips to make their money. Seriously. Either tip the pizza guy or pick up your own fucking food. It's pretty simple.

If you're too cheap to tip and too lazy to pick it up yourself, you're probably too stupid to realize that you should get tested for hepatitis.

As one of my favorite bartenders has told me many times, the guy that's a shitty tipper is going to be the last one served and may or may not get what he ordered. I'm sure that the same goes for waiters, delivery guys, etc. When my brother delivered pizza, he had people that never tipped. Those were the people that always got their delivery last and stacked at the bottom of the pile. There were notes in their computer systems about customers so everyone knew in advance.

I delivered subs for a year in high school and very rarely was NOT tipped. The only compensation I got from the store was $0.25/sub delivered, which barely covered gas, so the tips were very welcomed and appreciated.

And we all knew the people that regularly didn't tip. They got their subs last.

Tip your damn delivery driver.

If you aren't going to tip your driver, I think you should tell them when you order.

"Um, yeah, I'll have a large pineapple and ham, garlic bread, and be sure to tell the driver I'm not going to tip him!"

Accepting delivery puts you in an implied social contract to pay the driver for his delivery services.

ok, the thread title is "Do you tip the pizza delivery guy?"

It doesn't say in the US.

But yeah here we go, another tipping thread.

In Portugal I don't tip the delivery guy. It's just not the done thing, generally.

I tip in restaurants, cabs, the hairdresser, etc. Pizzas...never even crossed my mind. But then I don't order them much...eh.

I still don't think tip should be expected.

Hear hear. After reading this thread I almost feel like a cheapskate (I typically tip 3-4 dollars), but my pizza is always hot and gets to me faster than the "estimated" time that is given to me. I don't view it as a tip, but more of the price to be paid so I don't have to go pick it up myself.

From places where it isn't part of the wage, that's fine, but in the US, delivery and service people are paid below minimum wage with the expectation that they will make up the rest in tips, and they are taxed on a percentage of their checks, and by not tipping them, you are forcing them to pay taxes for the privilege of serving you.

I think you should check that. Minimum wage is something to toy with, it's a federally mandated limit. I don't believe tip is necessary unless they're preparing me puffer fish, which takes extreme skill. I don't see why I should pay extra for a career they choose, for food and service that they give everyone else.

I understand it's one of the things that is done in America, I see why it would be done. I just don't agree with it now becoming that people EXPECT a tip everytime they do something.

Sure, getting a tip every now and then for good service is nice. But when it's a thing you have to do...it's stupid IMO.


I know alot of you disagree (well, pretty much everyone) but I still think it's silly.

If I misinterpreted your query, I apologize in advance. Are you saying that it should be checked as to whether or not minimum wage applies to tipped employees? If so, there is the following:

Under federal Fair Labor Standards Act, tipped minimum wage is $2.13/hr whereas standard minimum wage is $5.85/hr. An employee can be considered under the "tipped" minimum if there is an expectation of $30/month in tips. $2.13/hr + $30/mo does not equal $5.85/hr unless you are working a very small number of hours.

At any rate, the expectation is there. As noted above, if you are too cheap to tip and too lazy to pick up food yourself, then... well... you suck.

And yes, there is a minimum percentage of "sales" that tipped employees must claim a certain percentage against for tax purposes. Claiming less than that in any given month means a nice pink slip from the IRS requesting a reason for such a small tax amount. I've seen it at nice restaurants and I've seen it at Big Boy. *shrug* It's how things are.

You know, I think there are some genuine circumstances that cause confusion.

Some people may not tip because they think it's already included. I have done this before. I am a fairly consistent generous tipper but there was one time that I saw delivery charge included on my bill so naturally I thought it went to the driver. In fact, I was thinking, it's about time they compensated the driver especially since I used to deliver pizzas as well (worst job ever by the way, especially in a college town). So sadly, I saw the delivery charge and then just added a dollar and thought I was awesome.

But now it turns out that the delivery charge is actually fraudulent. I think THIS is the most heinous of all. That the pizza places would use this "delivery" charge to add profits in a deceptive way. The real crime in my opinion is the "delivery charge" they tack on for no reason since none of it goes to the driver.

To answer Jorgelito, the place I worked at used the delivery charge instead of raising prices for their customers across the board to cover the costs associated with delivery (not including driver/their pay).

For each car on the road, you need a light for the driver signaling your business, you need pizza bags to keep the food warm, and good ones are easily $100 a pop. Figure just on 10 pizza bags, not unreasonable for a busy night, and theres $1,000. Also, uniforms for delivery folks - tshirts, hats, and jackets with company logo for the colder nights so the customer knows who's at their door.

They chose to keep their prices the same for the customers who chose to pick up or eat in, rather than burden them with the costs that are incurred by the place to get your pizza from oven to your door.

I think it all comes down to where in the world you are. In the US a tip is the norm and as several have pointed out employees are taxed as if they were tipped whether they actual receive one or not. So when you don't tip or tip jack shit you're screwing the person bringing you your food.

But that's what the US is like. I remember being in Japan back in the mid 80's and trying to tip. It was returned, turns out it was considered an insult. Least that's what we were told. We were also told not to count our change in front of the waiter.

I think the bottom line is when traveling do a little research and find out how things are done locally. This applies to tipping as well as many other things.

On the pizza guy (or girl) -- Yes, tip them... the fact is, they are bringing food to YOU. At YOUR HOUSE. If that's not worth a few extra bucks, go get it yourself.

On tipping in general... servers get taxed 10% of sales. That means if you leave your waiter a 10% tip, they didn't make any money on your table. Less than that means they just paid for the privilege of waiting on you.

Not tipping someone doesn't do anything to "fight the system." It just screws the person you didn't tip.

And let's be honest...serving and delivering SUCK. If those jobs paid minimum wage, with no tips... no one would do it.

You have clearly never worked in food service.

Having, as I mentioned, worked in delivery and food service before, I can tell you that it's not a career. It's a job. And the only reason I chose it-- or, as far as I can tell, anyone I ever worked with chose it-- was because it was do that, or be homeless. Most of the people I worked with were college grads, who would have been happy to work at a better-paying job, were one readily available, or were trained artists, who were only trying to get by until they could make a living with the art they were trained in. Tipping was how we paid rent and bought groceries. And many nights, after getting stiffed by cheapskate customers, to say nothing of getting disdain and verbal abuse, let me tell you, it barely seemed worth it.

And if you don't think most restaurants either ignore minimum wage laws outright, or find clever loopholes to get around them with at least some of their staff, you're kidding yourself. If all restaurants paid a living wage, were 100% scrupulous about sanitary regulations, and only hired legal labor, the food service industry in the United States would collapse instantly.

Not tipping, except in cases of gross incompetence or staff rudeness, is the exact same thing as saying to your deliverer or waiter: "You're nothing but a slave, and you should be grateful for the mere opportunity to serve me."

In many other countries, gratuities are included, or living wages are paid. If you would like to see the end of tipping in America, you should press for all restaurants to include a standard gratuity, and pay their staff living wages. But until such a day comes...tip.

yeah a small amount will suffice. usually 10% but that depends on whether i am feeling generous or not.

the last good pizza i had was in NYC with cyth!..hmmmmmmm

Is that really the case? It does not seem likely that they would be taxed on the actual sale.

Anyway, here in Iceland, there's not tipping (and tax is included in the price, so you pay what's listed on the menu. Of course it's still odiously expensive). In the US I used to tip in the 10-15% range for a pizza delivery, though I assumed that the delivery charge went (at least mostly) to the driver. Good to know that it actually doesn't, I'll have to adjust for that.

I do think that the US food industry should not be allowed to pay employees below the minimum wage, but I don't make the rules... I'm also perfectly fine with delivered food costing extra, but I can see why they want to make it more attractive to the customer by charging the same price for take out and delivery.

According to my brother, yes. He has to withhold taxes based on total sales. He owns a freaking lunch deli, no one tips there. They have a "tip jar" which apparently collects dust. I used to think "BS" when I saw a tip jar at a drive through coffee place. I remember when I first noticed them and thought "Ok, there's this end? Going to be asked to tip the checker at Wal-Mart?" Now, with the whole tax thing, I'm not so sure.

Personally I think it's nuts they're taxing people on money they might make. Who thought up that system? I honestly wish it work every where like it does in Japan. Employees get paid a reasonable wage and tipping isn't expected or even wanted. But that simply isn't the US system.

you still haven´t answered my question, blasphemy

because he owns it, is why. Not because he's an employee.

I'm curious also.