Tipping for Pizza Delivery

[gulfporter]

Our local pizzeria (still) delivers for free.

 

We get a pie twice a month.  90% of the time we order one large one-topping pizza; it comes to about $17 with tax.  I give the delivery person a $5 tip.  

 

Once in awhile we'll be add an order of chicken wings, bringing the total up to just over $25.  If we have company and I order 2 pizzas, the tab will be $35.  I still give the delivery person a $5 tip because I feel I am tipping them for their service, paying for their gas, offsetting their car expense.  

 

My partner thinks we should tip 20% on the price of the delivered food.  When we eat out we almost always tip between 20-25%.  But delivery strikes me as different.   I am not using any of the other services, time or expense associated with a restaurant meal  such as dish washing/napkins/wear and tear on chairs/tables/dinnerware, glassware or any other overhead costs.  

 

It is my sense (and I could be wrong) that the pizzeria owner treats these delivery people as independent contractors.  They use their own cars and they only work a few hours in the evening (the pizzeria doesn't deliver pizza during the day).  

 

How do you tip pizza and other food delivery people?

[rotuts]

I agree with you.  Im in the 'fix-rate' for pizza.

 

$ 5 is very nice.

[Steve R.]

I agree as well.  We also tip 20-25% at restaurants, but $4-5 seems to me to be a good delivery tip.  In Brooklyn, where we live, several places that deliver to us are within 3-4 blocks and get here by bicycle within 5 min. from leaving their site, so I think that the $4 is sufficient.  For places further away, $5.  When we're renting in your neck of the woods, we've gotten pizza deliveries & tipped $5.  I haven't really thought it out as you have, but 20% on an over $35 order just seems too much.

[blue_dolphin]

I'm with you, too.  Pizza is the only thing I usually have delivered. Usually a single large pie but even if I order 2 or 3, I usually tip the same $5.  

 

I've occasionally ordered tri-tip/ribs/sides for a party and they send 2 peeps to set everything up and double check all details.  In such cases, I tip 15-20% but that's a little different from just handing off a box at the door. 

 

When I pick up take-out barbecue (order placed on-line) from that same place, they have a dedicated take-out counter and do a good job of checking the order and asking if extra sauce or fixings are needed but I don't tip them unless the order is very complicated or I need some last minute change.

[JeanneCake]

I'm curious.... do the delivery people get an hourly wage? Or are they solely dependent on tips?

[Jaymes]

Sign me up with the "per trip" crowd.  I do order delivery quite a bit (although rarely, okay never) pizza.  Most often, it's Chinese, or Middle-Eastern.  I tip $5, unless I've got friends over, and we've ordered several sack's-worth.  Then, might go up to $6 or 7.  Occasionally, for a really big order, up to $10.

 

But $5 it usually is.

 

As far as the salary/wage of the delivery drivers, you never know.  When my son was in high school, he worked as a delivery driver at Little Caesar's.  He made the same wage as the folks that worked in the store, plus tips.  He did have to use his own car and pay for his gas, etc., though, so it all worked out.

 

At many of the small "ethnic" eateries I patronize, it's a relative.  Most of these restaurants are family-run businesses and it's a son, brother, uncle, cousin.  One Chinese place in particular, I know it's the husband/grandfather.  His wife and daughters run the place.  When you dine in, you see him sitting over in the corner reading a Chinese-language newspaper.  I think the wife and daughters make him do the delivery just to keep him busy and out of their hair.

 

So as far as compensation for family members goes, I suspect they probably just 'divvy up' the profits at the end of the week according to some formula worked out amongst themselves.

Edited October 11, 2015 by Jaymes (log)

[AlaMoi]

I'm curious.... do the delivery people get an hourly wage? Or are they solely dependent on tips?

`

you'll have to call your local pizza joint and ask.  you'll likely not get a straight answer.

 

it can be structured as an independent contractor or an employee.

I have never heard of a delivery driver getting the "minimum tip wage" ($2.13/hr) plus tips, and obviously plus mileage, etc - however as some have pointed out, not every employer has proper, or any, regard for "the employment" laws.

[gdenby]

We order pizza for delivery maybe every 3 weeks. Both of the places we buy from add a delivery charge of about $3. Both are about 3 miles away. I asked my SIL, who did pizza delivery for awhile, and he said he never saw a penny of the delivery fee. And, he had to use his own car, which didn't get the best mileage. So I always add 20% to the total cost, w. includes taxes and delivery fee, and round up to the nearest dollar.

[Urag]

$5 tip is goo enough.  Just because you order one more thing thats small shouldnt warrent more money.

[rustwood]

`

you'll have to call your local pizza joint and ask.  you'll likely not get a straight answer.

 

it can be structured as an independent contractor or an employee.

I have never heard of a delivery driver getting the "minimum tip wage" ($2.13/hr) plus tips, and obviously plus mileage, etc - however as some have pointed out, not every employer has proper, or any, regard for "the employment" laws.

 

FWIW, ~30 years ago I delivered pizza for a couple of different places, as did my brother (at another place).  Drivers got to keep the delivery charge ($0.75 or $1 as I recall) and their tips.  On a Friday or Saturday night you could make a ridiculous amount of money in our dense neighborhoods, but on a Monday or Tuesday you made next to nothing (but at least were weren't out spending money).  Virtually no one tipped a percentage.  Back then it was generally $1 plus whatever the change was (so maybe $2 - $2.50 total including the delivery charge).   Good tips were like $2 and someone really far away/with a big order/special case might give you more.  It's hard to judge, but I suspect $5 would still be a very good tip for almost any normal pizza delivery today.

 

In general, just look at it from the delivery person's point of view - the longer it takes him (or her) to leave the shop and get back to pick up the next order, the more you should tip - particularly if there is something about your location/order/behavior that makes it take longer (like it being at the very edge of the delivery area, needing 3 trips back to the car to carry a huge order, a super long walk up to the house/door, and/or taking a long time to answer the door/pay).  I could carry 2 pizzas just as easily as one so that never mattered to me at all.

 

BTW - everyone hated dealing with delivering drinks (soda/whatever) because it was always easy to forget to grab them or to just grab the wrong thing - both at the shop and when at the delivery location.  Probably at least half of the times a driver had to go back to a house a second time was to drop off a drink.  Don't even think about adding fountain sodas to your order (if anyone even delivers them any more).

 

In case anyone is wondering, drivers were well aware of all of the above factors and the past tipping history of regular customers (as well as the general history of a particular area/neighborhood) and it had a very real impact on how quickly things were delivered.  If I was the only person in the shop and saw a good tipper had a pie in the oven, I would wait for it to come out before leaving and generally deliver to them ASAP.  When it was busy, drivers would jockey to get those orders.

 

I am sure it has been discussed elsewhere, but I am confused about tipping on a pickup order - particularly when ordering takeout at the bar.  While I take care of the bartender for whatever I have while waiting, I don't see giving 20% on the food they have picked up from the takeout area for me.  On the other hand, they did take the order as well so there is some time/effort involved.  I suspect my tipping is way too random in these situations.

[daveb]

I think of it as tipping for a fixed service and not based on meal cost.  Driver brings me food.  I give driver money.  Everybody wins.  $5.00 is normal for me and is well received.  If I go outside the scope of "normal" with a party sized order I'll go up another $5.00.  Keeps the math simple.