Tipping Pizza Deliverymen

The BBQ Pit
61

In my opinion, a tip is the best way to pay people who service you in some way because you can be sure that it’s money going directly into their pocket, not into the pocket of some slimy restaurant tycoon.

Having worked as a waiter for several years, I know what a PITA it can be & I almost always tip at least 20%, as long as the waiter seemed to be doing her best.

I never did delivery but I consider running food over a distance of 10-20 blocks to be more work than delivering food from the kitchen to the dining room, maybe 10-20 feet. Call me crazy.

Because of that I always tip delivery people 20% because the hard work is implicit in the delivery. There can be no question whether or not the delivery person is busting his ass to serve you - he drove 20 blocks & ran three stop signs to get your food to your grubby little fingertips in under 30 minutes. So unless you don’t mind getting the special sauce surprize topping on your pizza next time, show your appreciation this time, maggot.

62

For carry out, no.
[ul]
[li]At my store, the inside help (pizza makers, managers-in-training, order-takers [for rush periods]) get at least minimum wage.[/li][li]So many people can be a part of the process, yet it’s the guy who handles your cash that gets the tip. Unlikely that he’s going to look up who took your order, who made your pizza, who cut your pizza and split it with them.[/li][li]Often times, it’s the manager himself who handles carry-out payments. He’s already making at least $70,000.[/li][/ul]

63

Technically yes. That pie has mass, which causes his vehicle to use more fuel to get to your house. Not to mention the extra sucrose his body needs to burn to carry it to your door. :D:D

Realistically, not really. It’s only when it gets to large mixed orders (pizza, wings [w/ blue cheese], breadsticks, sodas) that are difficult to carry that extra in your usual tip is appriciated.

Going back to my original joke: I can actually tell when I’m carrying an Extravaganza vs. a single-topping pie. And if it’s a half-Extravaganza/half-cheese-only pie, it’s actually hard to balance well. :slight_smile:

Our prices are the same whether you pick it up or we deliver. (Caveat: we do have some carry-out only specials, but you need a coupon for them.) If I knew for sure, I might tip less. However, I haven’t seen a food delivery charge in a long time. I think they must’ve been bad karma, because with a little calling you can find a store that doesn’t have a delivery charge. (They’re probably just adding it in to their normal prices.)

64

Yeah, actually, there is a very good reason why delivering two pies “costs” the driver money- you aren’t the only person he’s delivering to. When a driver leaves the store, he tries to take as many pizzas with him as he can- in the cars I drove back when I delivered, my maximum was generally five pizzas or so (those heat bags are pretty bulky). Now, that can be five single pizza orders, or one order of five pizzas- which do you think is most efficient, and therefore profitable, for the driver?

Taking a single order at a time is a losing proposition for a delivery driver- he’ll spend more gas money and get smaller tips, and fewer commissions (if the store offers 'em) than if he tries to fill his car with orders.

I always try to tip extremely well- I depended on pizza delivery for a living for way too much of my adult life.

One order I had was on New Year’s Eve- yep, I was working it, rather than spending the time with Mrs. Lightnin’. Anyway, a local church was throwing a New Year’s party for the area teenagers- a “lock-in”. The church finagled free pizza from the company I worked for, sort of a goodwill sort of thing.

I delivered 40 pizzas to that damn place- it took me several trips to deliver it all. And guess how much the bastards gave their hard working delivery guy as a tip?

Not a dime.

Luckily my boss took pity on me- he slipped me a ten for my trouble. Out of his own pocket, I’ve always suspected.

65

The $10-12 per hour that they used to advertise is based on the fact that most customers tip. $4.50/hr base, $4/hr tips, and $1.50/hr “commision” = $10/hr.

66

Wish I had your boss.

The other night, I had a $102.75 order to a hotel. The food was for a large party with a lot of kids. There was much cheering as I entered with 8 pizzas and 60 wings.

The woman in charge pulled out a wad of $20’s. Oh, boy! I think, a $17 tip is coming! Wrong! After 5 20’s, there are 3 $1 bills. She hands them to me and smiles. That’s it, a $0.25 tip.

When I get back to the store, I tell the insiders of the “generous” tip. They then point out that the woman called for more pizza. Fortunately, I’m assigned to deliver a different order.

The guy who did deliver the follow-up order got $48.25 for a $48.24 total. So I came up on the plus side.

(And what really sux: my new store doesn’t pay percentage commision, but $0.50 per delivery. So we certainly didn’t get anything more for delivering these huge orders.)

67

A former friend of mine is a pizza delivery guy for Pizza Hut. If I recall correctly, he gets about $5 per delivery + tips, which usually comes out to $10 an hour. I have to admit, before I went delivering with him, I thought that delivery guys got an hourly wage, so they didn’t expect to get tipped (especially since tipping really isn’t as prevalent in Australia). So if the order came to $15 or $18 or $19.95, we’d just give the guy a $20. But after delivering with him, and seeing how happy a $2 or $3 tip made him, we routinely tip about $5 now.

He told me that some houses have a reputation for shithouse tips, so nobody ever wants to deliver there. And when they do, it’s always the last house the driver goes to.

68

I feel so shitty now…
I always tip, but only a buck or two, usually a dollar and change, because I remember the days of the delivery fee and I honestly didn’t know that had changed. If they don’t charge a delivery fee anymore why does a pizza cost twenty fuckin’ dollars? How can the restaurant justify considering you tipped workers if they haven’t dropped the price of their product?
Fuckers.

69

Definitely an eye opener. I remember people way-back-when getting pretty good wages for delivery and not expecting more than a buck or two. So how’re people (who haven’t read this thread) to know there was a change? Is it the same for all food deliveries? I’ve generally given 10-15% or a dollar plus change, whichever is more. I don’t order delivery much and I hate trying to do “table” math on the fly. But honestly, how’re customers to know things have changed?

PC

70

Normally, no, but I have. When my husband and I used to work at Pizza Hut, he occasionally cashed out a wealthy woman who often tipped the counter service person a buck or two. It always made the person’s day. I’ve only done it myself a time or two, but the surprise on the person’s face is worth it.

71

Former Papa John’s management checking in here - 40% on food costs is still pretty unreasonable for that business. Our target “food, labour, mileage” percentage of total income was meant to be 52%; if that was 40% food costs, and the mileage we paid to our drivers was usually 4.2% of our income, that’d leave all of, uh, 7.8% labour costs! Hey, you know, I was really good at handling Monday night Armageddon rushes (I’m sure you fellow pizza employees know the ones - “oh my god it’s raining! The world’s going to end! And before I die I have to have one last Papa John’s pizza!!!”) on a skeleton crew, but I don’t think anyone could run a pizza store on 7.8% labour :slight_smile:

Currently I work at Uno Chicago Bar & Grill (formerly known as Pizzeria Uno) and considering there the pizzas are quite gourmet - over 5 cups of cheese on some of their 10" pizzas, and let me tell you, mozzarella cheese runs insanely pricey, and we use feta and muenster and such, which are even more expensive - I wouldn’t be surprised if they spend 40% on their food costs. 'Course the pizzas are more expensive, and they don’t deliver … but … er, I forgot my point. :slight_smile:

I’ve never delivered so I don’t have any really good “I was on this delivery once” stories, but I did have a driver whose car was stolen - twice! - on delivery (and our store was located in one of the nicest parts of our city), and then there was the one customer who called to complain that there was “mould” on his pizza crust, and if we didn’t make him another “goddamned pizza” so he could pick the “fucking bitch” up, he was going to come down to the store with his shotgun and be our “worst fucking nightmare” … that was fun. I asked him to please tone down his language a bit because I was trying to help him, and he replied, “Well the Constitution to the United States says I have the right to say whatever the fuck I want.”

My answer: “More importantly, sir, my store policy states that I can deny service to anyone, at any time, for any reason I so desire; and right now your abusive language sounds like a pretty good reason. I’m trying to help you, sir, and it will be a lot easier for me to help you if I don’t have to feel like I’m being physically threatened.”

He finally calmed down enough to order a new pizza (strangely different toppings from the one he ordered before, the supposed “mouldy” one) and I spent a good 20 minutes ensuring this pizza was perfect - perfectly round crust, perfectly even thickness throughout, a perfect saucing job, the exact perfect amount of cheese, no bubbles, no visible sauce ring around the edge of the toppings - and he never came back in to pick it up.

shrug Hey, it was dinner for us.

Pizza customers are sometimes the most irrational people on the planet, it seems… :slight_smile:

72

I usually tip about $3-5 for pizza, if I pay by cheque I’ll write the amount of the tip in the memo line to make sure they get it… if for some reason I couldn’t tip (which I don’t know how that would happen, but still) I would apologize to the driver about it instead of just acting like it wasn’t a big deal or I did that all the time.

I tip when I go out to eat 20%, or $5.00, whichever is greater. The way I see it, it’s not the waiter’s fault if I come in and order a bowl of soup, salad and glass of water. I don’t eat much, but I’m still taking up a table.

I tip for carry-out if it’s one of the places where the bartender or one of the waiters puts together the order. Not as much as if I was eating there, but I usually write in a dollar or two for the trouble. If they have a dedicated cashier (like the restaurant where I worked at), then I don’t tip at all.

73

Former pizza delivery driver chiming in: Thanks to those of you who tip. I personally believe that you can tell a lot about a person by how they treat waitresses, drivers, bartenders, and such. (Not just tipping, but attitude also. I had one guy who tipped me by throwing a handful of half-dollars at me. It was an OK tip, but I had to pick them all off his porch!)

It’s funny that the people who are the poorest tip the best, and the richest the worst. I visited one guy who was old and sick, and didn’t have anyone to take care of him. He lived in a really miserable trailer park and was on government assistance. He couldn’t cook for himself very well and so he’d order food and eat it for several meals. The guy was poorer than dirt, but he still gave me a tip. I even asked him several times if he didn’t want his change because I felt bad taking it.

The stiffers were almost always the $400k homes or the rich college kids (the kind who don’t work and drive fancy cars). Not only wouldn’t a lot of these people tip, they’d also be condescending and nasty.

I always try to tip well, except when drivers are rude or give bad service. If they’re late, well, OK, maybe not their fault, but if I have to call several times and they show up with a cold pizza, with no apology or even a response to why they’re late, they’re getting a smaller tip. If I can’t afford to tip, I don’t order. I never was angry when people pulled out a handful of small change or apologized because they forgot to have the money for it. It happens! But the folks who glare at you when you show up well under the quoted delivery time, despite the fact that they live on the far side of town, that it’s raining, and that it takes more than 5 minutes to make and cook a pizza, and say “Where have you been?”, demand their 13 cents change, and slam the door in your face – well, those people can sod off. :wink: (If you’re not going to tip, at least do it honestly. Don’t pretend that I’m late when I get there in an amazing 20-25 minutes when we quoted you 45, and that’s why you’re declining to tip. We know you’re a cheap bastard.)

74

Perhaps the poorer people tip because they have been, or can imagine being, in the driver’s (or server’s) shoes? I’ve never been a driver or a waitress, but I’ve worked fastfood (in high school), retail (in college) and in customer service over the phone, and I’ve had to put up with a lot of the same problems that they do, and I always make sure to give a tip, at least the change plus $2.00 and usually more.

75

Interesting… I always add about 15% and then round to the nearest dollar, and while I guess I knew that there were still plenty of twits out there who don’t tip at all, I’m a little surprised at the number of people who tip in the $1 -$2 range. Somehow, in my naive little world, I had it figured as people being in one of three categories:

  1. No tip at all
  2. Tip just the change
  3. Tip a standard 15-20%

Geez, now I feel stupid.

-g8rguy, who just ordered out tonight and gave a fairly standard ~$4 tip

76

My own take on the subject. And since this is the pit, I can bitch.

I used to deliver for a local pizza/sandwich place. Great job, loved the people I worked with. We were a “high end” kind of restaurant. Expensive, but very worth it. Best pizza I’ve ever had, and I worked for the folks. I think that says something.

But then we’d get the lunch orders from the hospitals. One sandwich. One sandwich. One 8" pizza. One sandwich. Eight to twelve orders on one delivery.

You’d think, that many orders, you’re going to get a decent tip. WRONG.

Eight to twelve orders, no sweat. All of you expecting exact change, and paying separately, that’s a problem. I’ve got $20 in change in my bag. And finally, having to deliver, count out exact change, and put up with all your crap, there’s NO TIP? Damn it, I know I make minimum wage, but that’s no reason to piss on me.

Simple solution. If each person were to round up to the nearest dollar, I’d get a decent tip and be happy. And I’d worry less about my poor math skills. I know that being a LPN at the local hospital doesn’t pay very well, but it pays better than delivering you a sandwich for no tip. If you have a problem with that, eat the hospital food. You get a discount anyway.

77

IMO, if you don’t have enough to tip, you don’t have enough to order.