Tipping for Takeout and Delivery

[Stone]

Just an excuse to make yourself feel good and not look stingy. The extent of tipping in this country is going overboard!!!

60 Mins II: Are You Tipped Out?

A large coffee in NY is $2.06. Sometimes, when I'm feeling particularly hornery, I put down $2 and reach into the tip jar for $.06.

(I figure it's o.k., cuz I usually tip $.18 cents each time I ask one of the making a bit more than minimum wage "Register Associates" to stop talking to his/her friends, turn around, walk one step, pick up a cup, press down firmly on a lever for 15 seconds, turn back, walk a step, and place it on the counter in front of me, at which point I have to ask, every fucking time, for one of those hot-ringy-things. And somehow that entire transaction seems to take about as much time as watching the Lord of the Rings Trilogy.)

[Stone]

Some more thoughts on tipping.

[phaelon56]

i could have done it alone and been changed and out the door already, and used that 10 bucks to buy beer.

I carry in my own damn bag, politely refuse their assistance and end up at the bar way ahead of you Tommy. Hell, I could even buy you the first beer because I drinl soda and $10 buys plenty of it The trick is to get out of the cab about 100 - 150 feet away from the hotel. If you exit the cab in the drop-off zone it's next to impossible to stop the tipping sequence from starting. I don't feel compeleld to buy into the whole doorman, bellman and valet scenario but housekeeping always gets a healthy tip from me.

I always tip 5% to 10% (or at $1 to $2 on really small orders like a side) if it's a sit-down restaurant where I'm getting the meal from a bartender or wait-staff. Any place that is well established as a take-out place... e.g. a pizza joints or Chinese take-out.... I rarely if ever tip unless it's to leave my spare change n the tip cup.

[Hest88]

I've been thinking about this over the last few days. I don't tip for take-out, but it's really because it never occurred to me that one was supposed to. I guess now I will. Part of me does resent the fact that tipping used to be something added at the descretion of the consumer for personal services rendered above the norm. Sometime ago, tipping became the expected thing, so businesses thought, "a-ha! we no longer have to pay these people anything" and built the expection that we would tip a certain amount into their business plans. Now I'm the bad guy if I don't tip a certain amount because I'm depriving someone of a living wage. Maybe if they posted the wages of all their workers on the front of the menu, I can calculate how much of a tip I'm supposed to be giving.

[Stone]

Part of me does resent the fact that tipping used to be something added at the descretion of the consumer for personal services rendered above the norm.

I don't remember any time that tipping was discretionary -- at least at restaurants. If you don't tip at a restaurant, you're a jerk. Unless your service was affirmatively bad. Almost everywhere else, it still is discretionary.

[beans]

Maybe if they posted the wages of all their workers on the front of the menu, I can calculate how much of a tip I'm supposed to be giving.

U.S. minimum wage is $5.15/hour. Minimum wage for tipped employees is $2.13.

http://www.dol.gov/dol/topic/wages/wagestips.htm

[Laksa]

In France where there is a service charge built into your restaurant bill, if you leave extra for excellent service you are engaging in a true expression of gratuity. In America, if you leave a 25% tip you are really leaving a 10% gratuity and paying an implied 15% service charge.

Why can't the implied 15% service charge be made mandatory in the United States? Or does that sound too radical?

I can imagine that if the service charge is added to the bill as a separate line item, or be included in the price of the food, life would be simpler for everyone. The restaurant can then pass the money on to the the staff in the form of a "variable pay" by tallying the service charges collected, or in the form of higher wages. If service has been extraordinary, diners have the option to leave more on top of that.

By making tipping an implied requirement, but really still an option, it just complicates the dining experience unnecessarily.

[Fat Guy]

$2.13 per hour x 40 hours per week x 50 weeks per year = $4,260 per year, although in some states the minimum wage for tipped employees is higher. It's not nothing -- it just about covers FICA -- but it's not the basis of a living wage. In the New York City market, for example, servers in good restaurants might earn less than 10% of their wages from wages and the rest from tips. In other words their wages are like a tip.

The "replace tipping with a service charge" topic is a good one, but probably diverges too far from this thread -- we've got other open topics on the larger issue.

[Hest88]

Maybe if they posted the wages of all their workers on the front of the menu, I can calculate how much of a tip I'm supposed to be giving.

U.S. minimum wage is $5.15/hour. Minimum wage for tipped employees is $2.13.

http://www.dol.gov/dol/topic/wages/wagestips.htm

Thanks, but I was being sarcastic.

[beans]

I know. I was being factual.

[Hest88]

I know. I was being factual.

Okay, now I've got to go back and be productive.

[mb7o]

I'm in the no camp, though of course there are exceptions (e.g. extra service). In the no camp for things like valets and bellhops too, not because they don't deserve it, but because I resent paying for something I don't want and didn't ask for.

Restaurants generally have no discount for the fact that I'm not renting the table space or requiring cleanup or washing dishes (how does that compare cost-wise to take-out containers?). On the other hand, I don't really know if restaurants pass on their savings to their employees.

If you want to know the minimum for your state, here's the full list,

http://www.dol.gov/esa/programs/whd/state/tipped.htm

[Busboy]

I'm in the no camp, though of course there are exceptions (e.g. extra service). In the no camp for things like valets and bellhops too, not because they don't deserve it, but because I resent paying for something I don't want and didn't ask for.

Ahem -- if you don't want a bellman don't give him your bags. If you don't want to use the valet, don't give him your keys. Having them work for you, and then stiffing them, is wrong, regardless of the reasons behind your actions.

[mb7o]

Busboy-

You're right. I don't let the bellman take my bags, though sometimes they'll follow anyway. I sometimes tip valet parking agents, but avoid them when possible and am not generous when forced to use them (esp. since the parking charge itself is elevated for the service. sorry, why am i paying twice again?). Often they don''t even have reasonable service (i've waited half an hour at a hotel where they just put the car in a public garage across the street, and that was after calling 10 minutes in advance as requested. could have gone and done it myself in far less time, and will next time if I go back.)

Edited July 17, 2004 by mb7o (log)

[beans]

I'm in the no camp, though of course there are exceptions (e.g. extra service). In the no camp for things like valets and bellhops too, not because they don't deserve it, but because I resent paying for something I don't want and didn't ask for.

Restaurants generally have no discount for the fact that I'm not renting the table space or requiring cleanup or washing dishes (how does that compare cost-wise to take-out containers?). On the other hand, I don't really know if restaurants pass on their savings to their employees.

Dude, having literally scraped out the last few pieces of change to muster up enough for togos for the familial restaurant venture -- trust me to go packaging is expensive.

It matters not whether you are taking up space at an actual table, it requires just about as much time to key in your order as it would if you were at a table and more of the server's attention to wrap up your order than they would generally spend at a table (unless they are a chatty sort) and have to keep their eye out for you to collect the bill while trying to focus all of their attentions on their already hectic section of assigned full and busy tables. Washing that one entree plate isn't even a consideration or justification. It is only one of many that get racked up and processed in batch through dish. Rarely is it one person taking one plate at a time and washing it by hand like many do at home.

Not tipping is just wrong. I don't love tipping, but it is a part of dining out. If you can't afford to tip, then stay at home!

edit to add:

If you want to know the minimum for your state, here's the full list,

http://www.dol.gov/esa/programs/whd/state/tipped.htm

Interesting list, however I'm happy to point out that the $7.00 something an hour in Alaska bought about as much as $2.13 an hour does in oHIo. I know. I bartended and lived there.

Edited July 17, 2004 by beans (log)

[Pan]

Beans, do you pay more for delivery or takeout???

[beans]

What delivery here in Cleveland? Pizza?

And in all honesty, the take out I ever ordered from a full service restaurant was about six years ago when I tended bar at a strip club and I hated that kitchen's food completely refusing to eat anything made from where I worked. I ordered from a next door restaurant where many of my other friends in the biz worked. Of course I tipped.

I don't think anyone would believe what I find as customary to tip others when I'm out and about for dining or drinks.

[Pan]

You could always humor us, anyway.

[NulloModo]

OK, just to throw a new angle into this convo:

What about the places that put on a 'take-out charge'?

A couple local places add anywhere from $1.00 to $2.00 as a surcharge onto take-out orders that you wouldn't have for dine-in.

This is something I've just accepted for delivery places whose main business isn't delivery, but it has always kind of annoyed me for take-out. Should this charge just be viewed as covering the services of whoever fills out the take-out order, and if so, be in lieu of the tip, or in addition to?

[tryska]

i tip 10% on takeout.

i've also always tipped 10% for delivery. but it seems lately that the delivery people in my area seem to expect 20%. what's that all aobut?

[viva]

I always give at least a buck or two for take out and a little more for delivery. It's only a couple of bucks to me, and given to someone that probably needs it more than I do. I'd rather err on the side of being generous. I waitressed in a plethora of cheap restaurants to make my way through high school and college, and the experience probably made a more generous tipper for good, friendly service. Then again, it probably makes me more cranky about bad service!

[hshiau]

I usually tip 15-20% on deliveries and have only gotten take out once or twice ever. I didn't tip those times mainly because I never thought it necessary. I will do so in the future.

[NulloModo]

Hmm, interesting, I've never thought of delivery tips as being percentage based. Unless it is a huge order that results in lots and lots of trips, I usually tip two or three bucks on delivery, which I guess ends up working out to around 15 or 20% anyway, but I've always considered it more of a flat rate thing, I mean, the delivery guy is going to be doing the same amount of work to bring you a pizza as he is to bring you a surf and turf.

OF course, I always tip higher for delivery when it is very fast...

[hshiau]

I suppose I never order delivery from really expensive places so 15-20% always sounded right anyway. Bottom line is it usually comes out to $2-5. I do have a minimum of $2 tip and I tip extra if they come in the rain.

[Pan]

Tryska, I don't know about Atlanta, but here in New York, delivery people are often illegal aliens getting paid less than minimum wage. At one time, I used to deal with a Chinese restaurant whose deliverymen complained about a ~$2 tip for delivery of one container of $5 roast chicken noodle soup. I thought that stank. But anyway, now I'm more generous (and, not incidentally, less poor). I generally tip higher on delivery than on eating in.