I’ve seen a number of topics on here about restaurant tipping and read opinions on it from all sides. I also find I agree with what seems to be the majority (15 to 20 percent).
But what about other areas where tips are usually given?
First case: I get pizza delivered a lot. At least once a week. And usually I make sure to give the driver more than the price is…but one thing I’ve always wondered is: Is there a set, unspoken amount I should be giving her/him too?
My neighbor, who also is a regular order of pizza, says with the “Delivery Charge” added, it’s not necessary to tip as much as you would a restaurant, but I still feel bad if I don’t give them anything over a dollar fifty. Usually I’ll give them as much as three dollars extra, though.
And one thing that always reminds me of the SDMB is getting my hair cut. Afterwards, when I’m paying, I always try to remind myself, later, to make a topic asking how much people normally tip their barber/hairstylist. This one I go much higher on, usually tipping 3-5 dollars, even though I don’t have any “set” or “regular” hairstylist and the cut I get is always the usual one (which is 14 dollars).
But again, it always occurs to me, as I’m paying, that tipping barbers is one of the subjects that doesn’t come up as often as the restaurant tipping does.
What do you all tip your pizza delivery people and haircutters?
No more delivery for me–moved out of delivery range. Before the move, my usual pizza order came to about $17 & change. Driver got to keep the change from a $20, seemed happy.
With a delivery charge, I think that between two and three dollars is plenty generous.
With free delivery, I would be tempted to bump it up to between three and four bucks.
I shagged pizza for 6 months when I was a teen, and I can promise that anything is better than nothing, because believe it or not there is a significant amount of people (probably around 15-20 percent) who would not tip at all…
It was the only time in my life I worked in the service industry, but it certainly gave me a lifetime of empathy for all those who are so employed.
Since men’s haircuts can usually be an odd, unrounded number, like $17, usually rounding up to the next bill works.
Women’s haircuts take much longer and are much more complicated, so I don’t know about tipping that.
A friend of mine recently became a stylist, so I went to her salon for a haircut that turned out to cost $20, and I didn’t have any $1s, so I had to tip $5 (25%). I hope she doesn’t get used to that.
As for pizza, I usually do $3 or $4, but I try not to get delivery. I’ve got certain food rules to help avoid becoming a fat wreck. One of them is that something not worth getting out of a car for (drive-through) is not worth eating. Same applies to something not worth leaving the house for (delivery).
I’d never even heard of “delivery charge” for pizza until a few months ago. It’s possible that places have charged it, and I just didn’t notice. I’ve never adjusted the tip based on that.
I could be wrong, but pizza drivers have to make a decent wage without tips (unlike waiters), so the tip is mostly something to keep them happy and hopefully remember you next time.
Hairdressers, however, are often paid on commission, so maybe they deserve a reasonable tip.
Tipping makes me uncomfortable in general. I’d like to live in one of the countries where it’s considered rude. Man, that would be living… the act of giving someone money being rude. I’d be the least rude person ever.
I will add that when I want a pizza, 99% of the time I will actually go to the pizza place and pick it up-----Its certainly not to save the 3 or 4 bux that I would throw in as a tip, but instead I can see if its indeed the pizza I actually ordered (I dont eat meat so if I get a ham and pineapple by mistake I am screwed) and I can also be there as they pull it out of the oven, so it dosent sit around getting cold waiting for the next driver to get ready for the run.
I know sometimes you are not in a position to want to drive to pick up your pie, (and thats what delivery service is for) but for me, having been on both sides of the coin, picking up my meal (if at all possible) is the way to go…
Pizza drivers generally make minimum wage, which might cover their automotive expenses. If they don’t get tipped, they’re not making anything.
A lot of places started charging a delivery fee and passing it on to the drivers when gas was over $4.00 a gallon and it might or might not have held on now that gas is down to a slightly more reasonable price.
I made good money as a delivery driver 15 years ago, when gas was around $1.00 a gallon and oil was under $1.00 a quart (I used to drive around 1000 miles a week and change my oil every month). Back then, a $1.00 tip was okay. Anything more and I was really happy. A $5.00 tip made the customer and the driver legendary.
Tipping a pizza guy is a bit difficult to know how to do it because most of the businesses pay their drivers differently. Depending on how far the guy has to drive you’re probably going to want to toss 3-4 bucks his way. Right now I’m on a college campus so they only need to drive like three blocks and will be delivering to 5 places on one route. Less money for them.
When I was a pizza guy, in the late '90s, 3 dollars was the over/under for a good/bad tip. We didn’t charge a delivery charge (and I’ve heard that those don’t necessarily go to the driver at places that do charge them :dubious:) but we did get $0.75 per delivery “gas money” (not passed on to the customer.) Let me tell you, it’s A LOT of wear and tear on your car. Besides making it stink to high heaven (pretty much permanently after a few months), it’s a lot of tires and brakes and gas and oil and belts . . . etc, etc. And, in my case, at least, the guy who delivers your pizza is very likely the guy who took your order, cooked your food, and is going to clean the place and mop the floors at the end of the night, so that tip isn’t just for sitting on your ass behind the wheel of a car.
But here’s how I feel about pizza delivery-- and I say this as a guy who enjoyed doing it and made decent (for a teenager; not great) money at it-- unless you’re drunk or something you’re better off just running out to get it. With delivery you end up paying more and waiting longer for a cold[er] pizza.
I understand you’re the exception since you live downtown and don’t drive, Idle Thoughts. What I’m saying applies more to the suburbs.
For pizza I tip according to how many things there are. One pizza=$2-3, two pizzas=$4-5, and if there’s soda or other extras or more pizzas, it goes up a bit.
Same with my hairdresser- just a regular cut and I tip her about $5, but if she squeezed me in, did a eyebrow wax without it being scheduled, etc., then I’ll give her more, up to $20 extra. She’s good to me, I’m good to her.
I used to be a driver/cook/etc, and I’ve never understood why people feel its appropriate to tip a driver less than a waitress/waiter. Heck, at a lot of the inexpensive restaurants, it seems like all the waitstaff does is take food orders and collect the check, every thing else seems to be handled by other staff.
Also when I was driving, good tippers would get unspoken preferential treatment when deciding which orders to deliver first.
For a pizza, I usually tip about $3. My order is usually right around $17, so I guess that makes it close to 20%. The pizza place I use also charges $2.50 for a delivery fee, and I am assuming that at least part of that makes it to the driver, otherwise I might tip more.
As far as haircuts, I tip 20%. The same lady has been cutting my hair for nearly 15 years, and she has never once done something I wasn’t happy with. Throwing $15 her way every few months isn’t going to kill me, and it keeps me from worrying about my hair!
For pizza with cash I just round it up to the nearest $5, making sure they get at least $3 or so. I’ve never seen a driver look disappointed or unhappy with a $3 tip and usually it works out to be a bit more then that. If I’m using my card (so there are no worries about physical change to count out) I usually give $5.
For hair… I don’t even know, I haven’t gotten a haircut from a barber in over a decade I think. Did you know you can buy some cheap (but perfectly functional) hair clippers that will work for over a decade for about the cost of a single haircut?
That’s about what I do too. Seems fair and it certainly doesn’t break me. I usually give 20% to wait staff because it is easy to calculate but I tend to over-tip in other situations. I worked in the service industry long ago and those that did are notorious for being good tippers.
For a haircut I give a flat 2 bucks. I’m a guy, and there is a local place that cuts my hair for only $12 so more than that would seem excessive to me. I live in a heavily Latino neighborhood and I am led to understand it isn’t much of a tipping culture so they probably aren’t used to getting many tips at all, and they seem grateful for it.
For pizza, 10% of the order if it’s a lot, but usually a minimum of $3.
When I delivered pizza in college 10 years ago, $2 tended to be standard. I remembered the addresses of those who would tip $3+. These days I would probably put that at $4, and would be more inclined to tip well if I was a regular repeat customer, and not getting an order from a driver who would likely never be back.
I really enjoyed delivering pizza, it was nice to have a job that got me out and about. Also I learned the delivery area very well. Someone was telling me about how they had just bought a house, and when they told me the address, I surprised him by saying “It’s on the south side of the street about 4 in from the corner, right? Is it yellow?”
I’ve always gone by the idea that the pizza dude is your friend. Tip well, and they remember. It’s always worked well for me. Usually 20% is minimum for me. More if I ask them to deliver in bad weather. I’ve gone closer to 40% before in snowy weather.
As for hairdressers, I go to the same shop all the time, and I’m known to be “demanding” but tip well. I’ve pretty much pissed off every stylist there at least once, but made up for it with a good tip. Haircut costs me 23 dollars, and I usually give the person $35 ot 40 and have them keep the change. Yea it’s a lot. Close to 50%, but I tend to hade odd demands when I get my hair cut.
If there’s a “delivery charge” you have to ask (and try three time- the location, the national 1-800 number, and the delivery dude) if the $$ goes to the driver. If it does, then a buck.