How much to tip the pizza delivery guy?

[Ranger REG]

so don't alway tip cash if you can.

Got it.

 

[Pielorinho]

Got it.

Indeed. If I'm gonna scold folks for not following etiquette regarding tipping, I can hardly encourage folks to help the tippees violate the law regarding taxing. Those who order food should tip appropriate according to the social expectation, or should tell their servers/deliverers IN ADVANCE that they won't receive a tip. Likewise, those who receive tips should pay taxes according to the legal expection, or should tell the IRS that they won't receive the required taxes. That's the honest way to handle it.

Daniel

 

[Hypersmurf]

Those who order food should tip appropriate according to the social expectation, or should tell their servers/deliverers IN ADVANCE that they won't receive a tip. Likewise, those who receive tips should pay taxes according to the legal expection, or should tell the IRS that they won't receive the required taxes. That's the honest way to handle it.

Of course, one will get you glares and poor service, while the other will get you thrown in jail...

-Hyp.

 

[Pielorinho]

Of course, one will get you glares and poor service, while the other will get you thrown in jail...

-Hyp.

I could be wrong, but I'm guessing that the number of folks in the US who have gone to jail for not reporting their tips is vanishingly small.

Daniel

 

[Hypersmurf]

I could be wrong, but I'm guessing that the number of folks in the US who have gone to jail for not reporting their tips is vanishingly small.

What's the point of having a law if you aren't going to enforce it?

-Hyp.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

$10 US for a pizza? Dude you are getting ripped off!!! Or at least those of you in the US are.

Admittedly it’s expensive here but back home in NZ (tip free as Hype has mentioned) Dominoe’s and Pizza Hut are in FIERCE FIERCE competition.

When I’m home I refuse to pay more that abour 7-8 NZ dollars for a pizza.

On a good day that can go as low at $4!!!

Hype – they still doing that?

If not that’s sad and will make baby jesus cry…

$10 US does sound a little on the pricey side. Here in Australia I can get a pizza from a place near my Mum and Dad's house for $9.90 AU (about $7.50 US). I would say their pizza is definitely on the good side of the quality scale. I don't know if they deliver (it's a italian cafe chain that also makes takeaway pizzas) and the pizza only enough for 1 person but it's a very nice pizza. A pizza big enough for 2 or 3 people is only a couple of dollars more.

I can get a similar pizza from Dominos, Pizza Hut or a similar chain store for as little as $4.95 (about $3.75 US) but it's a little like, "Hello, topping, are you there?".

We make our own pizzas at home occasionally but I don't think we have perfected the art yet. We have a couple of pizza stones and the pizzas are quite nice, but I think we can do better. I think the order in which you put the toppings down is more important than you think. We normally put the cheese on last to hold everything together but I think it stops the other toppings from crisping up a little.

Olaf the Stout

 

[kenobi65]

$10 US does sound a little on the pricey side.

Depending on where you are, who you're ordering from, and what you're ordering, it's not out of line.

Some of the big chains (Domino's, Pizza Hut, etc.) will run specials on medium-sized, single-topping pizzas for $5 each or so, but that's probably the exception. And, as you note, quality may be a bit lacking.

When we order pizzas for our Friday night D&D group, we're usually ordering 3 large pizzas, each with 2-3 toppings on it. They'll usually run around $10-13 each, depending on exactly whom we're ording from (one of several local places), and whether or not we've got a coupon. (They know us, they know we regularly order from them, they know I tip fairly well, and so the "it'll be there in an hour" is almost always more like a half-hour.)

(Admittedly, we're in the Chicago area, with no shortage of pizza places, but also with higher cost-of-living than many other areas.)

 

[atom crash]

Just felt a need to chime in on this one. I agree profusely with:

Originally Posted by Pielorinho
There are two honorable things to do in such a circumstance. The first is to engage in the transaction as expected, to tip at least 15%. The second is to let the wait-staff know, PRIOR TO BEING SEATED, that you plan to tip them according to some other standard, e.g., by rounding up to the nearest five amount. Do you do either of these things?

and

Originally Posted by takyris
Anyone who doesn't tip should really try a year or two in a profession in which tips are an expected part of your income. I know what it feels like to be on your feet all day, smiling despite whatever the hell is going on in your own life because you're in the service industry. I also know when somebody is trying and when somebody is phoning it in. I will quite happily drop 20% or more on somebody who's nice and helpful (20% is my default tip for good service), and I will also give the $0.25 tip to the person who jerks me around.

I always tip about 15-20% for servers and delivery people. For my bartender I tip about a buck per drink, depending on the price of the drink. If I pay for my $3.50 beer with a $5 bill, I'll leave the dollar and pocket the two quarters. After all, I don't want to wait too long when I need another drink, so I keep the bartender treating me like a top priority.

I once dated a girl who had a wallet card that showed 15% of every amount between $5 and $30 and would tip exactly 15%, no matter what. She'd pull out her change purse and count pennies to leave the correct amount. I thought this was extremely cheesy and told her so. See, she never worked in food service, so thought she was getting ripped off by tipping. I worked in enough restaurants to know that tips are how servers pay the rent.

I acknowledge that I'm more generous than many people, but if I receive extremely poor service I will show my displeasure by tipping only 10-12%. Great service means a bigger tip, of course.

Since my wife and I usually only order out when we're too lazy to fix dinner, or the weather is rotten, or we've forgotten to take something out to thaw, I tend to round up rather than down when tipping. Heck, the delivery people are doing me a favor by bringing my food to me. If we order pizza for the game and I don't feel like the tip is enough, I'm genuinely embarrassed and will throw in an extra dollar or two.

And in the cosmic irony department: My wife just called. Since she forgot to pull the chicken out of the freezer this morning to thaw for dinner, she asked if I'd like to order out some pizza or Chinese delivery for dinner.

 

[Simplicity]

To those who don't tip ever...

It's one thing to stand by one's principles. It's another to stand by poorly supported principles where your stance just happens to benefit yourself while harming others.
Yes, waitstaff and delivery people expect a tip. Especially those who did their job well.
It's a major source of their income and when you're paid little every little bit helps.

It's not protection money to kick a couple of bucks to the extremely poorly paid guy who just rushed to bring you your food. It is, however, reprehensible to not provide that poorly paid guy money for a job done well.

May your next pizza be dumped on your doorstep.

 

[Christoph the Magus]

The pizza guy/gal gets 10-15% normally, 20% if the weather is crappy. I've never worked for tips, but I have worked on commission, and I understand that tips/commission tend to make up the bulk of your check.

To those of you that don't tip: Get your lazy butts off of the couch and go pick up the damn thing yourself.