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Serious ethical question?!?!?!?

B Major

B Major

Guest
Nov 20, 2013
108
58
Boston, Ma.
#1
Please let me preface this by saying this has nada to with bass....or any other musical topic, actually...... So I'm home last night w/ my wife and in-laws and we order Chinese food. The bill came to about $60 which we paid over the phone w/ a card. Now, for the question.... How much do you tip a delivery driver?? We all got into a philosophical discussion about delivery-guy tip amounts. Do they get 20% like a waiter/waitress?? Or do you go w/ a standard $3-$5, depending on distance/weather/amount of food carried to the door/etc??? Me personally, I'm a standard $3-$5 kinda guy. Don't get me wrong, I'm a good (%20) tipper at restaurants, I just think delivery guys are in a different bracket. My wife, father-in-law and I all agreed. My mother-in-law is a 20%'er..... Obviously I'm a little bored @ work today.... What say you TB'ers?????
 
#2
I don't often order delivery food... when I do though, I generally tip based on service (time, if it arrives hot etc), and consider in that they're using their personal vehicle, fuel and so on. It usually ends up nearer the 20% mark than not.
 
#4
I don't order delivery food, so I don't know what's customary. However, when I drove a taxi, tips were a significant portion of my income. As a result, unless the person who is providing service screws it up, I generally tip 20% if tips are the usual thing to do for that kind of service. My son now works in a restaurant, so that just reinforces my habit of tipping 20% unless there's a reason not to.
 
#5
I have food delivered to my business quite often when I am working late or to busy to go out for lunch.
I tip according to the amount of the order, the delivery time,the traffic and weather conditions.
I've tipped the driver $20 for a $15 pizza delivered in a snow storm or poring rain.
On your $60 order I would have handed the driver $80
 
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#7
20% I have been a delivery driver. It may not be serving per say but driving through traffic, inclimate weather, parking, I know some delivery guys who sometimes have to pay gas out of pocket then get reimbursed. Reimbursment can take a long time (I refused to pay out of pocket for that reason).The pay sucks and tips are your well being just like serving.
 
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#8
I'm going to complete evade the original question and just mention something that comes up in my family when we order delivery:

I love sites like Seamless that allow me to order food for delivery, pay for it on line, press a few buttons on my keyboard and voila! 45 minutes later I'm eating. So I always include the tip in the total bill that's going on my credit card. (And usually that does come to 20%...more out of force of habit than having thought any of this through. Not sure it ever occurred to me that drivers/delivery drones worked any less hard than waitstaff. Well, I guess I didn't totally evade the question...)

My wife however refuses to include the tip in the online payment; she insists on paying the delivery dude cash. Her reasoning: That's the only way she can feel confident that the tip is actually going to the person who earned [sic] it.
 
#10
Related story (I am a $3-$5 guy).
I was the project manager on a system to be used for a food delivery system. The concept was to have one phone center to serve all the stores in an area. We had an ex Pizza Hut person who had been in charge of their call centers as a subject matter expert. The subject of blocking specific addresses from delivery. I asked the question, "what reasons would you have to not deliver to an address?" She offered a few, but two stories I remember. One was a woman who always came to the door nude. Nothing funny, she just didn't wear clothes at home. They asked her to put on a robe when she answered the door, but she would not.
The other was the delivery guy showed up and the door was answered by a drunk guy with a shotgun who forced the delivery guy to drive him to a convenience store. He got out of the car and went in an bought beer. Why the driver didn't run then, I don't know. He came back to the car and the driver took him home. He paid for the pizza and added a really nice tip.
 
#15
I don't get delivery a lot--they tend to get stuff mixed up and it's a pain to sort it out--that's not the delivery guy's fault--but a pain in any case.
But if I do tip delivery it would depend on the price and normally I'll round up if that makes it easier--I try to have the cost plus tip in one amount so there's no fumbling for change--they seem to appreciate that as well.
 
#16
If you lived 1 mile from the restaurant, straight road, 3 sets of lights, no snow, no rain, ordered $200 of lobster, would y'all still tip $40?

Would the driver be bummed out that he didn't get a $40 tip if you only tipped $20 like it could have been a pizza and you felt generous?
 
#17
In a restaurant, 20%+ every time unless I'm drink dry and problems aren't resolved. I pick one good server every December and give them $100, doesn't matter if it's a $20 or $100 dinner. Happened last week in Dallas, amazing server. Delivery, 20%, no way, a few bucks, sure. Things are getting a little too "tip heavy" in my mind. I'm not tipping when I pick up food from the restaurant for putting a box in a bag. I don't tip the cashier at the grocery store for bagging 20+ things, you aren't getting one for adding napkins and soy sauce.
 

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