How much do you tip your Pizza delivery guy?

[aprilgail2]

I tip 20% of the total, even if that includes the delivery fee. Big deal if it's a $3.50 fee, I'm tipping an extra $0.75. That's not going to cripple me financially.

I've seen the people that deliver and the cars they drive. I've never had a delivery person pull up in a Mercedes or BMW.

I'm amazed at the rationale people will use to justify being cheapskates.

 

[BBandDisney]

The Budget Board is truly filled with scrooges, tightwads, and pikers.

 

[shortbun]

Big tipper here. My pizzas always come early, hot and exactly what I've ordered. My local Donatos is managed by a friend of my sons. He says the drivers fight over delivering for us because we're marked as good tippers. And to the guy who said the drivers get minimum wage so he doesn't tip, a challenge. Try living on minimum wage for 30 days.

 

[LSchrow]

I don't care what you tip, but I don't believe for a minute that anyone makes as much as a part time pizza delivery person as they do in a professional engineering job. I call nonsense on this one.

ditto - also known as trying to make an excuse into a valid reason
DH delivered pizza for a few months (our regular place really needed someone, and he decided the extra income couldn't hurt).
the job was tip-based, and he received about $1 from each delivery fee.
the most he made for 4-5 hours work was about $30-40 (and there were ppl who requested him - he is very sociable). the delivery ppl often would have to sit around, not making any money, just waiting for a delivery call during the week. what little money that came in was spent on gas (not counting "wear & tear" on car). a very few ppl tipped well (interestingly enough, lower income areas tended to tip better - high income were most likely to tip nothing....maybe being cheap is how they stay wealthy).
that "job" cost us money.
so yes, if we get a pizza delivery (rarely), minimum tip is $5+. we may love bargains, but not at the expense of someone who is opting to work at anything, rather than sitting around, depending on unemployment.

 

[cluvsdisney]

We usually tip $5 for any food delivery to the house. *I* treat it like a delivery fee and it's not based on the amount of the check. It averages out to 20% but sometimes it could be 40% and others closer to 15%. It's what we are willing to pay for someone to save us the time & trouble of going out and getting our lunch or dinner, especially when we are super tired or in crappy weather.

 

[funhouse8]

Wow, My son was a Chinese Food delivery person and it seems you guys tip more for pizza. When he worked there he got $7.00 a hour,he used his own vehicle, paid for his own maintenance and gas, and received tips. I don't know if it is because he delivered chinese food not pizza but his tips half the time didn't cover his gas. Most people would just round it out to the nearest dollar and tell him to keep the change.

 

[mafibisha]

Big tipper here. My pizzas always come early, hot and exactly what I've ordered. My local Donatos is managed by a friend of my sons. He says the drivers fight over delivering for us because we're marked as good tippers. And to the guy who said the drivers get minimum wage so he doesn't tip, a challenge. Try living on minimum wage for 30 days.

We tip well too and now that I know people are 'marked' one way or the other, I'm glad we do! wouldn't want anything yucky done to our za!

ditto - also known as trying to make an excuse into a valid reason
DH delivered pizza for a few months (our regular place really needed someone, and he decided the extra income couldn't hurt).
the job was tip-based, and he received about $1 from each delivery fee.
the most he made for 4-5 hours work was about $30-40 (and there were ppl who requested him - he is very sociable). the delivery ppl often would have to sit around, not making any money, just waiting for a delivery call during the week. what little money that came in was spent on gas (not counting "wear & tear" on car). a very few ppl tipped well (interestingly enough, lower income areas tended to tip better - high income were most likely to tip nothing....maybe being cheap is how they stay wealthy).
that "job" cost us money.
so yes, if we get a pizza delivery (rarely), minimum tip is $5+. we may love bargains, but not at the expense of someone who is opting to work at anything, rather than sitting around, depending on unemployment.

YES YES YES, ITA and think we all need to give that statement some thought...

 

[ceemys]

I tip 20% on the price before any coupons/discounts/taxes are added. That is my base.

 

[MinnieLovesMickey12]

I have to agree with a PP. I do not believe for one second that there is a Pizza delivery job anywhere in this country where the delivery guy makes more money than an engineer. That is the most preposterous thing I have ever heard.

That sounds to me like one of those contrived excuses for why a person doesn't tip. It is one of the more original ones I have heard but not the most ridiculous by any means.

 

[girli565]

I usually pick up the pizza myself, because places like Papa Johns charge a delivery fee that's crazy expensive. My $12 pizza becomes $17-18 when I get it delivered. It's close to my house so I just pick it up.

If we get it delivered I will tip $4-5.

 

[DisneyEater]

Wow, I don't know where you live, but around my area minimum wage is only $7 something, not $10.25. My son delivers for a national chain and when he delivers, his wage drops to $2 something just like the waitstaff. Tips are appreciated!

And he uses his own vehicle, paying for his own maintenance and gas.

My brother delivered pizza and this was the same deal for him.

 

[NYCDiane]

I admit it-usually nothing. The delivery drivers make minimum wage (10.25/hr) and they do not use their own cars to make the deliveries... The cars are owned, and gassed up by the shop. We are charged $3.50 for delivery, because of this. So no tip, unless the weather is really bad.

What pizzeria do you use that has its own delivery cars and gasses them up? Every single pizza place I know has the delivery people using their own cars and their own gas and the delivery charge goes to the pizzeria NOT the delivery guy.

I'm not concerned with what their salary is and don't base my tip on anyone's salary.

My typical pizza comes to $14.54. If I'm having it delivered (rarely), I'll just give the driver a $20 and thank him.

 

[vitacura]

Our local favorite pizza place charges a $2.50 delivery fee. We ignore that and we always tip about 20% with a $5 minimum.

 

[allison443]

I am concerned based on my having done the job and having known my fellow drivers were, in fact, making that much.
Obviously it varies by store and by where you are. At the time I was 20 and I worked along side a 45 year old man who quit his job as an engineer for a part-time pizza delivery job. He made more part time than he had made full time as an engineer. Plus he didn't claim his full income so he didn't pay tax on a huge portion. So yes, I think of that but also consider the location, the time of day, how busy the place is, etc. When you order from a place with a 10 mile radius sending one delivery per ca, vs. a place with a 2 mile radius that sends out 5 deliveries per car, that driver is in a totally different income range.

Even if you believe that (or you believed it when you were 20) surely you don't think that's universally true of pizza delivery people everywhere, do you?
So why would that influence the way you tip other pizza delivery people now?

I'm curious - since you worked with this guy, did you also make more than an engineer?

 

[averysmom]

What pizzeria do you use that has its own delivery cars and gasses them up? Every single pizza place I know has the delivery people using their own cars and their own gas and the delivery charge goes to the pizzeria NOT the delivery guy.

I'm not concerned with what their salary is and don't base my tip on anyone's salary.

My typical pizza comes to $14.54. If I'm having it delivered (rarely), I'll just give the driver a $20 and thank him.

Diana's Gourmet Pizza... The guys have to work in the restaurant too if need be, so they are not paid a tipped rate ( delivery fee)-here, if you are expected to do more than just deliver pizzas you have to pay minimum wage. The store owns and operates vehicles, so they don't get the delivery charge.

 

[averysmom]

Wow, I don't know where you live, but around my area minimum wage is only $7 something, not $10.25. My son delivers for a national chain and when he delivers, his wage drops to $2 something just like the waitstaff. Tips are appreciated!

Manitoba canada- minimum wage is $10.25-and it is that wage for tipped or non-tipped positions. Delivery drivers typically make a " per delivery" wage, but our pizza place pays them min. Wage so they don't just have to do deliveries. And they own the cars, pay for the gas and insurance-the guys just drive.

 

[Tamar]

I tip $4 if the weather is good, $5 if it's not-so-good. Our pizza is usually under $20, so I'm tipping at least 20%. Hope that doesn't put me on the cheap list....

 

[Planogirl]

My minimum tip is $5.

Around here minimum wage is paid as far as I know and is just a bit over $7 an hour. People use their own gas and cars too.

It's interesting to find out that I wasted my time getting an engineering degree and could have just delivered pizzas part-time. Hmmmm....

 

[smidgy]

I admit it-usually nothing. The delivery drivers make minimum wage (10.25/hr) and they do not use their own cars to make the deliveries... The cars are owned, and gassed up by the shop. We are charged $3.50 for delivery, because of this. So no tip, unless the weather is really bad.

this is SO totally false information. my son delivered for quite a few dif. places in Illinois. they always use their own car, their own gas. and no, they do NOT make minimum wage at all. (which in Illinois, is less than $10.25)

and not all of the delivery charge goes to the driver.

you don't tip, you better believe your pizza will be the last delivered.

 

[wgqual]

I am a delivery driver for one of the big places. This is my 2nd job that i took when my wife lost her job 1.5 years ago. There are some false info being posted in these threads:

First- No driver is making more than an engineer. How do i know? I'm a IT engineer in my "real" job. Most of my coworkers are like me (2nd job)

Second- We get the "delivery" fee. WRONG! We get .90 per delivery to help with gas and wear and tear.

Third - We are lucky to get 5 delivery's an hour at our busiest time. Now YMMV as far the size of the delivery area. I lived in highly populated suburbs and have a small area but still can only manage to get 5 or so an hour.

Fourth- We get less than min wage here in TX. I make 5.15 with expected tips of 2.10 an hour to meet minimum wage

I dont say this for any sympathy but just putting facts out there. I knew what i was getting into when i took the job. I'm happy to report my wife just started a new job with more pay than she was getting before so i'm done with the pizza game.

BTW I nor any of my coworkers would do anything to your food for non tippers BUT we do remember who doesn't tip and they rarely get "fast" delivery