Tip the Pizza Guy

[sidney]

When you order pizza, how much do you tip the delivery person?

[amyk]

Dec 4, 2021 8:29:07 GMT -5 sidney said:

When you order pizza, how much do you tip the delivery person?

I never order pizza for delivery anymore, but if I did, I would probably tip 20% or close to that.

[sidney]

REALLY?!?!?!
When did that happen? When did tips for the pizza guy start to equal tips for wait staff in a restaurant?
I was lucky to get $1 when I used to deliver pizzas. That would be on a $20 - $25 order.
It's just always been a keep the change situation.

Now pizza is between $30 and $50. Sometimes even more. So you'd tip $6 - $10. WOW!

I really resent tipping. I also really resent the argument that it allows serving staff to make a living. Don't get me wrong, when I eat at a restaurant, I make sure to tip well because I know the dilemma. But isn't it terrible that they can be underpaid and then the customer is guilted into paying the rest of their salary?

[Bert]

I don't get delivery. I get Delissio.

















LAUGH, DAMMIT!

[HoudiniDerek]

We don't live anywhere that delivers pizza, so we have to drive to get it. But when we used to get it that way, a decade plus ago, it was usually a few dollars, depending on the amount. Like wait staff, delivery drivers are rarely taken care of by their employer, so it sucks for them too, especially when they are putting extra mileage and wear and tear on their cars.

It's a sad statement on society in general that anyone can do a job, especially full-time, and not be able to live. I don't blame workers for not going back to those types of jobs.

[amyk]

I have mixed feelings about what HD wrote. I kind of feel like delivering pizza should not really be expected to meet financial needs for a long-term situation and that it is more like one of those jobs just for extra cash or for someone who has other means of support. But it would be nice if someone could start off delivering pizza and then maybe advance to higher level jobs in a pizza company. I don't know if that is ever any kind of reality, though.

[sidney]

I worked at that pizza place for five years, and I delivered pizzas, but mostly I worked in the kitchen. It was a part time job for me.
The drivers were sometimes other students.
But most of the time they were struggling fathers trying to support their families. Some of them couldn't find other work. They not only needed to live off of that job, but needed to support families.

[amyk]

So what do you think are the solutions? Laws to require employers to pay higher minimum wages and/or benefits? What about like in LABOR PAINS in TAT - could workers in such types of settings form unions and fight for higher wages and/or increased benefits?

[amyk]

Within five minutes of me typing the above comment, I saw this article: www.cnn.com/2021/12/09/business/starbucks-union-vote/index.html

Starbucks workers at a Buffalo, NY store voted to unionize!

[zania]

Being someone who orders food with Grubhub regularly, I generally go for the 20% tip. The drivers out there are all independent contractors and hustling to get orders delivered so the can get the next order, wash, rinse, repeat. It does create a lot of wear and tear on the vehicle, and even though they are being compensated for their time, mileage, etc the tip is an extra incentive that should go to the driver and make it worth their while to perform the delivery.

Grubhub makes sure that drivers get 100% of the tips. I'd never order off of DoorDash as they pocket most of the driver's tip and pays them only a very small portion of what the customer tipped them.

[amyk]

I don't use any of those delivery services, but I did not know that about the tips with DoorDash. That seems strange that they would do that. I assume people generally believe they are tipping the driver. Can you just hand a cash tip to the driver and if so, do you think they are allowed to keep it?

[sidney]

I wonder if my Pizza delivery people hate me.
I hope they don't spit in my food.
I can't bring myself to tip 15=20% for delivering a pizza.

[amyk]

Even if you tip some, that may be more than a lot of people do, so I don't think you need to be too concerned that they are spitting in your food.

[HoudiniDerek]

I agree with Amy, Sidney. Usually it's when people are rude and don't tip anything that they get upset more than if you tip something.

[sidney]

This one time, and maybe I've told this story before, I held one of my kids' birthday parties at a bowling alley. I paid for the games, the rental of the back room, the drinks, the pizza. When it was cashing out time, the debit machine asked me how much I'd like to tip. I pushed 'zero'. The guy read the receipt and he said: What, you didn't like the service?

I stopped for a moment and thought about it. He handed out shoes at the beginning. I couldn't think of anything else he did. The moms and I even swept the floor after the party. The pizza was delivered. He had nothing to do with that. He literally did a couple of minutes work at the start. I laughed nervously and just got out of there.

How much should I have tipped him?