# Do I tip deliverymen? How much? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 19, 2002, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-tip-deliverymen-how-much/119830 "2002-07-19T16:35:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2002, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-tip-deliverymen-how-much/119830/1 "2002-07-19T16:35:03Z")
I am having a small sofa and chair delivered to my 2nd-floor apartment tomorrow—and paying a $75 delivery fee. Am I expected to tip the two deliverymen in addition to this? How much is usual? ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2002, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-tip-deliverymen-how-much/119830/2 "2002-07-19T16:42:01Z")
IMHO (hint, hint) I would give them 10 bucks for a standard delivery. Heavy appliances, I go to 20 bucks. Stairs, etc, go to 20 bucks. can’t do the % thing because a sofa/love seat can be anywhere from 500 to 5,000. Light labor = 10 flat for two guys, heavy = 20 flat, and take it from there. ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2002, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-tip-deliverymen-how-much/119830/3 "2002-07-19T16:55:24Z")
This is one thing that confuses me. When the store charges the delivery fee, does **any** of that fee go to the delivery people? Most places charge extra if they have to go up a flight of stairs, and they charge also based on how far away you are from their store, etc. I guess one can’t count on the store paying their delivery people based on how difficult a delivery is - stairs, distance, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2002, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-tip-deliverymen-how-much/119830/4 "2002-07-19T16:55:45Z")
_Damn_. Second floor, but two pretty lightweight pieces of furniture. It’s bad enough I gotta pay for the furniture itself _and_ delivery charges, but delivery charges plus tip? I’m not gonna be able to afford groceries this week . . . Guess I’ll have to cough up the $40 . . . Off to the ATM . . . ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2002, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-tip-deliverymen-how-much/119830/5 "2002-07-19T16:59:01Z")
I might add, Dan, that the store asked me what floor I lived on and figured how heavy the furniture is before totalling up the delivery charges, so I have to assume that _some_ of that goes to Alf and Ralph? But I am a notably generous tipper, so I’ll probably come across anyway . . . It’s just that this is really starting to run into _money_. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2002, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-tip-deliverymen-how-much/119830/6 "2002-07-19T17:07:06Z")
Check to see if the store has a policy against tipping for deliveries. Circuit City \ has such a policy. Although it’s probably not posted anywhere for consumers to see, it’s in the employee handbook **in bold print**. Offer them some lemonade & a slice of bundt cake instead? ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2002, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-tip-deliverymen-how-much/119830/7 "2002-07-19T17:33:43Z")
Hooray for Circuit City! (Tipping an employee who is getting paid anyway should never be considered an obligation. If the service is unusually good, that’s one thing, but to standardize it? Fageddaboutit!) ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2002, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-tip-deliverymen-how-much/119830/8 "2002-07-19T17:51:47Z")
If you’re already paying a delivery charge, I’d say no tip. Same as with a restaurant, if there’s an automatic service charge, no tip. Offer them a cool drink. ---
**Author:** ![FordPrefect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e99b99/32.png) [@FordPrefect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordPrefect)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2002, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-tip-deliverymen-how-much/119830/9 "2002-07-19T18:02:41Z")
call me cheap, but don’t they get paid to deliver products? Isn’t that their job? ---
**Author:** ![black\_rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f19dbf/32.png) [@black\_rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/black_rabbit)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2002, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-tip-deliverymen-how-much/119830/10 "2002-07-19T18:19:29Z")
I had a hugeass heavy wardrobe delivered a couple of weeks ago. Delivery was $50, but the two linebacker types who showed up with it had to haul it up a very tall, very tight, very steep flight of stairs on a day when the temp was topping 95 degrees. I gave them the stinking 20 bucks. Hell, I even offered them a beer. They certainly deserved it. ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2002, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-tip-deliverymen-how-much/119830/11 "2002-07-19T18:22:04Z")
That’s kind of what I was thinking, **Ford**. I really don’t want to rant against delivery people - after all, it’s tough, physical labor, and the conditions are often not very good (flights of stairs, furniture in the way, and so on). But I think the stores have you in a bad spot. They know that if you were able to take the thing home yourself, you would. Since you can’t, they have no problems charging a sometimes-exorbitant amount for delivery. I recently bought a nice pine bookcase/headboard for my bed (queen size). No way that was fitting in my Saturn. Cost of the furniture was $189. Great price, I figured. Delivery was another $99.90. Yep, a 52% markup from the original price. Now, I don’t mind paying a delivery fee at all, but I think it should be relative to what you’re buying. If I bought a huge couch for, say, $1400, then $99.90 would have been cheap. So there was no way I felt comfortable giving the delivery dudes cash on top of the $289 I just paid for the furniture. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2002, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-tip-deliverymen-how-much/119830/12 "2002-07-19T19:05:34Z")
Panucci’s Pizza “DO NOT TIP DELIVERY BOY!” Sorry, but it’s the first thing I could think of.