Min wage is the standard for restaurants and fast foods. Carhops depend on tips… I know a girl that works at Sonic and she does very well on tips. I was surprised about how much she made.
I enjoy tipping good for good service… also will leave nothing for poor service. 
I agree, crappy service deserves a tiny tip (in this situation).
If you go to a particular Sonic more than twice a month, they probably recognize you, after all you provide a good part of their income. Tip very well ($3 or $4 for a couple value meals) and you will be fought over when you show up. Most tipped employees are actually insulted by “an extra quarter”, it seems like a little old lady giving you a shiny nickel that was worth $20 in her day.
Tipping by percentage for such small amounts would be rather miserly. Think of it this way, you send your buddy in to the restaurant, while you sit in your car. He comes back, repeats the menu to you, you give him your order, he goes in and brings it back asking “would you like anything else?”. If your order comes to $3.75 and you don’t just give him a 5 and say “keep it”, you have no place in the real world. Perhaps you should accompany Mr. Pink to the grocery store to buy ramen noodles and mac n’ cheese.
Sorry, I get touchy about tipping. Been there, done that.
Here in Austin there’s an indoor Sonic. No drive-up service. Odd. Why didn’t they build it up North somewhere instead of here where you can sit outside pretty much year-round?
Carhops here make the regular minimum wage. I’ve seen the ads in the classifieds. Hell, I didn’t even know you were supposed to tip them! It’s not like they’re visiting your car every five minutes and asking if you want a refill on your drink. They make one short trip from the building to your car.
Plus, it’s kind of an insult to anyone working at that Sonic who’s probably making the same lousy minimum wage and not getting tipped (e.g. the cooks).
I second this question. Why bother paying for ad time in, say, Buffalo, when it’s not like any Buffalonian is going to make Sonic a habit? It’s not like we get ads for other quasi-national chains without a Buffalo presence.
They do that to let you cold Northerners see how nice it is to live down in Gods country. 
Not to Hijack my own thread, but…
Regardless of what the servers do for you, if they make the minimum wage of $3 an hour, it is, to me, implied that it’s the customer’s responsibility to tip the waitress such that she earns a living wage, if he or she does the job. You just have to factor that into the prices of the food. One of the reasons that sonic is able to keep food prices down is that (at least where they pay carhops the low minimum wage) they are able to pay their servers a pittance.
I live in northern Indiana, in the “snow belt” and we have a Sonic. It was a conversion, though, from a Dog 'n Suds. They have a few booths inside, a drive up window, and the standard car-hop section.
Only one of our hops is roller-skated. Perhaps they can’t discriminate against the “roller challenged”??
I agree with most of the other posters in that for fast food, they’re pretty good. I
They definately need to build a Sonic out here. Hell, I’ll volunteer to brandish a sledgehammer and tear down some of this run down, hokey, feel-good “America’s last hometown” junk development they have downtown in favor of Sonic. I mean, how many sentimental “local businesses” do we need?
Oh well, I’ll be moving to San Angelo Texas soon. Surely there’s a sonic somewhere nearby.
Maybe also a Waffle House, Steak 'n Shake, Rally’s, What-a-Burger, etc.
And yes, this city really does pretentiously claim that above title.
Read carefully. I said they make the regular minimum wage, $5.15 (or is it $5.25?) an hour.
I love Sonics. There pretty common around these parts and growing in frequency. Matter of fact there’s a new one not even a mile from my home. I don’t go all that often (not a fast food junkie) but it’s fun to go and sit in the car, eat some gnarly food, listen to the radio and people watch. Just about the only place you can do the old drive-in thing anymore.
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Buffalo is usually last or close to last on the list for national restaurant franchise site selection. Consider that the area just got Taco Bell about five or six years ago, and there are few outlets of national pizza chains. Why? A working class population that is entrenched in tradition, and the dominance of independent bar-in-the-front-some-tables-in-the-back type joints
Buffalo will never get most of the national upscale restaurant chains like P.F. Chang’s, California Pizza Kitchen, or Cheesecake Factory. (Red Lobster and the like aren’t considered “upscale.”) The market is there, population-wise, but that market skews strongly to those who prefer places with bowling trophies in the windows and Keno displays on the walls. That’s the word from those in the industry.
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Have you tried Sonic’s breakfast sandwich? Crispy bacon, egg and melty cheese between two buttered & toasted slices of Texas Toast available 24 hours per day! They are delish!
I loved the commercial with the couple shopping for an engagement ring, the woman is talking about how she really likes it, and the guy is like “I don’t know…” So the snooty jewelry salesman says “How about if I put some chili on it?” and slops a ladle full of chili on the jewelry display. Cracked me up every friggin’ time I saw it.
I disagree about their burgers though. Mine are usually cold and mostly bun. 
I’m with epraz on this one. We moved to NH, and we miss Sonic also. Additional reasons to like sonic:
Our new local Sonic brings the food out in a bag - no tray on the car window like I’m used to from Sonics I’ve visited elsewhere. I’ve always left the tip on the tray, so how do I tip if there’s no tray to leave the money on?
… and don’t suggest that I give it to the carhop when they come out to deliver the bag. I’m not going to pony up a nice tip only to find out that my drink has spilled in the bag, there’s no ketchup for the onion rings and the burger’s got mayo instead of mustard on it.
Oh … is anyone familiar with the Cajun Balls they serve at Sonics in Louisiana? Despite the somewhat off-putting name, they are a little piece of Heaven on Earth - wish they offered them here in FLA!
Hey, I’m from Boston too, and adore Sonic as well…if you can find one anywhere in like an 8 hour radius, I’m up for a road trip 