I should’ve known better than to leave the tipping up to Mr. avabeth for the pizza last night (although we shouldn’t be ordering pizza anyway, since we’re saving for a house).
We ordered a regular pizza special, which came out to around $23. After it had been delivered, I asked mr. avabeth how much he had tipped. He told me $2. Less than 10%. Now, he ALWAYS tips 15-20% at a restaurant depending on the service (if it’s REALLY bad, we tip 10%, but that’s a rarity). The pizza came quickly, the guy was nice, etc.
Now, I always tip 15% on a pizza, again, provided for the service. I was under the impression that tipping for pizza was the same as tipping in a restaurant.
I told him we’d go with the consensus on the Dope for the pizza-tipping final word. So help me out here, people - what’s the right tip for a pizza guy?
I don’t tip percentages in pizza delivery. I always tip handsomely, usually a dollar a pizza. The difference between a waiter in a restaurant and a pizza delivery guys is that the waiter makes considerably less than minimum wage, where I live $2.11 an hour, whereas pizza delivery people make at least minimum wage and get reimbursed for milage. Also, a good waiter contributes to the experience of eating by catering to the customer’s needs throughout the ordering and meal. The pizza guy or gal comes to your door for a total of two minutes to drop off some pies, after which you serve yourself. I don’t think it’s the same and I don’t think the same system applies.
We always order the pizza and salad dinner special which comes to about $12 (a little less, $11.92 with the tax or some such) and we hand the drive $15 and tell him to keep the change.
Depends on if I know whether they get money from delivery charges. I usually like the whole thing to end up at the greater of $3 or $1 per item.
I do not agree with percentage tipping in any place. A greasy spoon waiter works just as hard, if she is good, as a waiter in an expensive establishment, if he is good.
Crap! Okay. I see your point. I won’t say anything to him until the thread gets some more replies, but I have a feeling he’s right and I’m wrong in this one. We did have two pizzas, plus a batch of cinna sticks and cheese sticks - so I’d figure 2 dollars for the pizzas, and one for the sticks - so he should’ve given another dollar. But he did tell me the 1 dollar per pizza rule.
Once upon a time I was the pizza guy. Face it, I was mercenary, after all, this was for beer money. After a while, you learn the addresses of the good tippers. We would come in and normally we would get the next couple of pies off of the warmer, in order, oldest first, the addresses were on the end of the box. I would always scan the addresses for the good tippers. If one had just come out of the oven, it went next. I did not care if there were a dozen pies in front of it in line. Shit, I was poor and needed beer. By the way, beer was an acceptable tip also. (I am now a member of AA, 17 years sober)
Former pizza guy here also. For orders under $30, tip at least $2 then round the change up to the nearest dollar, round up another dollar if it’s a bill amount i.e. if it’s $21.80 just give him $25. Always assume the coin part of the change is his/hers.
Like hlanelee said, good tippers are remembered. If you order with any degree of frequency, a $4 tip average will get you noticably personalized service. Orders of $30 or more are subject to the buck a pie rule, and should be rounded up to the next $5 increment. If you think you’re undertipping on a large order you probably are.
That said, if the guy’s obviously trying hard to please you, an extra buck goes a long way. If the guy is surly, knocks like a police raid, or mishandles your food, adjust accordingly.
It’s also appropriate to tip extra if the driver had to go to additional inconvenience to deliver the pizzas- if it’s pouring rain, or there’s a blizzard, or you live at the top of a steep, narrow, curving driveway and have mean dogs roaming your front yard.
Okay, I think we’re both wrong. So we should tip per pizza, then round up, and always tip a certain amount for certain prices. I’m always fairly generous with my tips anyway - be it a pizza guy or a server. And I didn’t feel like we gave him enough last night.
I do know that while I was in college, we used to tip pretty handsomely on pizza and it was still molten when it got to us. The cheese was practically a liquid.
We also knew a girl who worked at another restaurant that we ordered from somewhat regularly and she openly stated to me that people who tipped well were remembered and were always the first stop on a set of deliveries. Conversely, if you never tipped well, you could rest assured that it would take forever for the driver to get around to you.
I usually go with 10%. I’ll tip more when I can afford it, but for me the norm is 10%. The thing of it is, I think you’re asking on the SDMB is asking the high end of the pizza customer bell curve.
I do know that one time I was short (about a buck) for a pizza order, my usual delivery person told me no problem and she’d cover it for me. Somehow I suspect I may be more generous than most.
If geography permits, the first ones taken are usually the known good tippers followed by the unknows. The pizza for the guy that not only asks for his penny back, but is also an asshole, is still sitting on the heat rack in the store. The new guy who doesn’t know about that guy will take it, and probably get lost.
It’s not an exact science, but trends become very noticable. We had a woman who used to tip $20 plus the change for one pizza, the drivers would practically get into fist fights over that order. The new guys were never told about that lady, we knew better than that. You only announce to the rest of the drivers when some bastard doesn’t tip and is mean about it. Some drivers had logbooks reserved for the non-tippers.
No pooling of tips at any place I’ve ever heard of.
