I will tip strategically for takeout, like if it is a local place I go to often, and sometimes have delivered. At a small family business, they know who is a good tipper, and I like to underscore this message in person when I am in the restaurant.
Tossing a buck in the counter tip jar gets noticed and that’s a well-spent buck, imo. They remember you the next time and you will get good service. Maybe I have a soft spot for people who for tips… the smile that you get back is worth double… in gold.
I don’t know if it was unusual or not, but when I delivery drove for Jimmy John’s in the mid-90s, all the drivers got paid minimum wage. BUT, we paid for our own gas, our own vehicles, did not get compensated for mileage, etc. Are delivery drivers normally paid under minimum wage? Because that would really suck.
We get paid minimum wage when we are in the store. As soon as we get dispatched on a run our wage drops to $4.25 until we get back and get cashed out.
We do get mileage reimbursement. It used to be a flat rate, but apparently there was a class-action lawsuit. Now we get something like $.34 per mile, based on how their mapquest-esqe software calculates how it thinks that we should go (which often isn’t the best way to go.) And we are driving our own cars.
I’m not that big on tipping (I think 20% is ridiculous), but I always tip the delivery person. Or, I would, if any restaurant delivered this far out of town. (Apparently five minutes is too far.)
I don’t generally tip for actual takeout, though, which is what I thought the OP was about. If I have extra money, it goes into the charity jar before it goes in a tip jar. Unless they go above and beyond, which I always tip for.
Anyone ever had a delivery person ask for an additional tip amount? I once tipped a delivery person, pizza I believe, somewhere close to but above 15%. He looked at me and flatly told me that it wasn’t enough. Not enough?! Get the hell off of my stoop!