Tipping on Delivery

[elicious]

Before I start, please let me know if there is another thread on point so I am not reiterating a topic already discussed.

Tonight, I ordered takeout from a well-known Chinese restaurant 15 blocks from my apartment. When the delivery man arrived, I gave him what amounted to an 11% tip (I tip more in restaurants). He said "Why? The restaurant is a long way from your apartment" or something along those lines. Because I was home alone and didn't want to get into a confrontation, I gave him enough to amount to about 18%.

I order takeout semi-regularly but almost always have my BF go to the door b/c I am very uncomfortable with these transactions - this feeling was always unfounded but confirmed today! I am unsure how to tip and always worry it is too much or too little.

I guess I am wondering two things: What do you think is the standard delivery tip? And, what do you think about a delivery person arguing about the tip?

[Pan]

I think it sucks for a delivery person to demand an amount of money.

When I was poorer, I used to tip $1 most of the time for delivery of $5.95 noodle soups at the defunct 13th St. and 1st Av. location of Mee, which I believe is why I ended up getting rusty nails in my soup twice. (I refused to deal with the restaurant after the second time and told them why.) The deliverymen had bitterly complained about their tips.

Nowadays, I usually tip at least $3 per delivery (close to that even for delivery from Teresa's just around the corner), and for delivery from Congee Village (over 10 blocks away) or in bad weather, I tend to tip $4. Needless to say, I now do takeout more often. However, the delivery people like me and the food normally comes promptly and piping hot. (Sometimes, delivery from Congee Village take a while, because they are just so slammed!)

[Champagne Sadie]

Jesus - this bloody stinks!

I tip a couple of dollars for a delivery amounting to about $10.00.

Rusty nails huh? Nice.

I'm never ordering a delivery dinner in NYC again.

[alanamoana]

i think there is another thread on this topic somewhere...might not be in the ny forum though.

anyway, if the restaurant offers delivery for free and the food is cheap, you can imagine that the illegals that are running the deliveries don't get paid much...otherwise how would the restaurant make money? if it is chinese, you can bet the delivery guys are all family members too. so that is probably their sole income, fair or not.

i figure, the convenience of having the food show up hot and fast makes it worth a decent tip. so i usually tip about 20%. still cheaper than eating out and often much cheaper than sourcing the ingredients and cooking at home.

i sometimes have a bit of an inner struggle with all the paper and plastic products used in delivery though. especially chinese and/or japanese takeout that has all kinds of extras in those ziploc bags...fried noodles, sauces, fortune cookies, forks, napkins, etc.

[alanamoana]

I'm never ordering a delivery dinner in NYC again.

←

right...and I'm the pope

[Andrew Fenton]

Tipping for takeout thread (covers delivery, too).

Tipping for delivery (NYC)

I always try to tip at least 20% for delivery. The people bicycling to my house in cold or hot weather are making less than minimum wage and deserve a good tip; not tipping them is cheating them.

Plus, throwing a couple of extra bucks their way makes them happier and insures good service in the future. Even if it weren't the right thing to do, it'd be the smart thing to do.

Edited August 18, 2006 by Andrew Fenton (log)