I do for the Japanese restaurant, and the Peruvian takeout. Pretty sure they share with kitchen .
I worry about the crew at Taco Bell too but I assume the drive thru person cannot take money . Might be good to know. The bagel/coffee drive thru next door has a tip jar. Never contributed. Aldi folks deserve a raise- just saying.
I tip Instacart so that I think they get $25 hour for the work they do for me.
Let’s Unionize and raise the minimum wage.
That’s a good question. I tip 20% for pickup, but nothing for fast food. I was under the impression that employees at places like McDonalds were not allowed to accept tips (but maybe I’m wrong).
I think at a restaurant, the people who provide the take out are the same people who would serve me if I ate there. They depend on tips to supplement their income, and I want them to have it whether I’m eating there or taking it home. The owners get paid either way, why not the servers?
Fast food workers start at $16/hr around here, and are not tip-based workers. However, if it started happening, I’d probably join in. I’m not opposed to the idea.
At fast food or takeout-only places that have a tip jar or a way to easily add on a tip when paying by credit card, I don’t feel obligated to tip, but I sometimes do anyway, if I’m feeling generous and/or the service is good. The last time I ate someplace like McDonald’s, there wasn’t a convenient way to leave a tip.
The other issue is that, as I understand it, fast food workers are paid at least minimum wage, but servers who traditionally earn tips may be paid less than that before tips are added in. If the balance of dine-in vs. to-go customers tips (no pun intended) too far in the to-go direction, that can hurt them financially if the to-go customers don’t tip.
Yeah, if the person who hands me the food is or may be an employee whose compensation is derived partly from tips, I don’t see why they should have to lose even a small amount of that compensation in order to serve me.
If I know that they’re the owner, on the other hand, I probably won’t tip. Service employees get tips, owners get profits.
Nope, I don’t. Never have, and likely never will.
Nope. Those workers are paid at least minimum wage. Additionally, I only stop at McDonalds type fast food places on a rare emergency, maybe once every other year.
I occasionally left tips at a Chinese take-out joint near work where I was a “regular”. Other places, no.
It’s exactly this. If you don’t understand why tipping is common at some places and not others, then read it again.
I do not like the US version of tipping. A bonus for great service is one thing, but that’s not what tipping is in the US. Here tipping is a means of offloading some of the responsibility for the employees’ wages from the employer directly onto the customers.
If the employees were just paid a fair wage in the first place, then US style tipping would not be necessary. Menu prices would go up, but the final bill total shouldn’t change much. That’s exactly what I would prefer.
Dining in most non-fast food US restaurants, using valets, getting your haircut, etc. all mean participating in the messed up US tipping culture. Refusing to tip is just being cheap and only hurts the lowest person in the whole messed up system.
I almost never get carry out, but when I do, I tip about 15%. Like others have said, the staff at those establishments depend on tips.
During Covid, I started tipping take-out the same 20% I would normally tip for dining-in service, because restaurants would lose all their workers otherwise, and it was through no fault of their own that done-in wasn’t an option. They still needed to feed their families. It was to my benefit to keep the workers employed, and it was the right thing to do nonetheless.
Nowadays, I still tip for takeout, but it’s more like 10%. The only drive-throughs I go to have no option for tipping.
Depends on the place. If it’s not fast food (which usually doesn’t have tip jars anyway), and it costs at least $10 or so, I’ll put a dollar bill into the jar. I might do it for a $5 doughnut order; it depends on what mood I’m in that day.
I never do delivery, so no problem there. Fast food maybe two or three times a year, no tipping.
If I do a pickup, it will usually be at a neighborhood place that I know the owner and staff. I’ll tip staff and hand the owner some $ and say to buy everyone a beer on me. These are places I’ve gone for 15 or twenty years for sit down and take out. I often know three generations of family in a shop.
I’ve been lucky in the money department so I find joy in spreading it around. I will literally not miss a dime of it, and hey-bonus if it makes someone else’s day easier. There is a reason I picked this neighborhood to live in, sharing the wealth a bit is a small price tag to help out a great neighborhood.
I always tip whether dining in, picking up, or having food delivered. However, I’ve noticed that a few places have started charging a “service charge” even when I pick up the food myself. In those cases, I deduct the service charge from my tip.
Also in my area it is increasingly common for tips to be pooled so back of the restaurant staff are getting a cut as well, including the people who cooked my food.
I’ve evolved over the decades. From zero in my twenties when I was poorer and pretty firmly advised that one wasn’t supposed to, to an extra buck or two, to ~10% for quite a long time, to full tips (20-25%) during the intense pandemic years, to 15%+ these days. At this point I feel pretty comfortable in my pricey area with 15% for takeout, 20-25% for sit down. I can afford it without pain and people are still going through the trouble of preparing and packing the food for me. But it certainly can vary - tip jars for example might very well get less because I don’t have the right amount of loose cash on hand.
I’ll agree the U.S. tipping system is not exactly the best and the Mr. Pinks in our society have some fair points. All things being equal it would be better if the custom were abolished and replaced with better wages across the board and higher up front prices. But that’s pie-in-the-sky fairyland at this point. Our fucked up inconsistent system is the fucked up inconsistent system we have and I don’t see it changing soon. So I just roll with what seems fairish to my personal circumstance.
If there’s a tip jar and I’m paying cash, I’ll give my loose change and a dollar or two. Otherwise, no.
Once, when I ordered Chinese food online and went to pick it up, my order wasn’t there. I’d been there before, so I knew the girl at the table was new. This was just after the lockdown opened up, so it was takeout only and the table blocked the entrance.
She profusely apologized while I re-placed my order and stood around while waiting. The girl kept nervously looking towards the kitchen while continuing to apologize. I was the only customer.
I just laughed and said it was okay. When my order came, I grabbed the girl by the hand and palmed her $5, telling her it really was okay and not to worry! She didn’t look at her palm until I walked away.
If it was a guy, I definitely wouldn’t have given him a cent! .
Nope, not for pickup. The only exception is for a Starbucks on a major holiday as I’m sure most of the employees don’t want to be there and they’re probably dealing with a couple of people calling in sick for the holiday.
Back when I had just turned 21, when I was visiting home with my parents, I’d occasionally get take out from one of the big chains (Fridays, Chili’s) and I’d have a beer at the bar while waiting. The bartender was in charge of takeouts so they’d get tipped for the beer plus more for the takeout.
I absolutely refuse to participate in this expansion of tipping to pretty much every goddamn thing, so generally no; if it’s not something my parents would’ve tipped for when I was 6 years old, I won’t either. I would love it if we all collectively decided to refuse to tip and thus ended tipping altogether, but I won’t be the asshole that does it entirely on my own - however I also refuse to be pressured into tipping for more and more things.
I will tip: wait staff, the people who help you move luggage at hotels and airports (if I ever use their services, which usually no), delivery drivers, taxi drivers (including Uber, etc), hotel maid service…probably a couple others I’m not thinking of offhand. I definitely will not tip for things like McDonald’s, picking up takeout food, or just stores in general.
I also won’t ever use a tip jar even in places where I’m going to tip. I’ve seen and read too many stories of management just stealing that shit, so if I’m gonna tip, I’m putting it in the hands of the person I want to tip (at least as much as is possible; I can’t usually do that with a lot of options due to lack of accessible cash or other options for transferring money over).
I used to work for tips as a young person. I usually tip 15% at non-fast food places for pick up because they have to take the time to pack my family’s order, which can get complicated. If the fast food place has a way to tip, I tip them as well. I just accept it as part of the cost of picking up food made for me.
For take out, usually.
I feel exactly the same. It feels like tipping is expected for more services than when I was younger.
I tip generously for dining in, bars, airport assistance, hotel staff if they carry my luggage, haircuts, food delivery, taxis/Uber, occasionally a tour guide depending on the location and length of the tour and possibly a few other services that I might be forgetting.
I generally do not order takeout except for the occasional pizza or sandwich from a local shop. My orders are for a single person and are not complex. I do not tip for this. Nor do I put money in a tip jar.
I have to use the wheelchair service at airports which I consider above and beyond. There were a couple foreign airport locations where the staff were not allowed to be tipped but I can’t recall where.
I usually tip more at the end of a trip especially if I need to get rid of foreign currency LOL!