Why should you tip a pizza delivery person the same as a server in a restaurant?

Question

Servers in restaurants take orders, fill drinks, bring food, bring dessert, take care of your needs (if they want 20%) for the course of your meal. A pizza delivery person just brings it to you. Yet, people are saying a 20% tip is "normal". I'd like to know why.

Answer 1

Well, I have been both a waiter and a pizza delivery person, and I can tell you that a lot of people don't tip, period.

Here were my expectations: as a waiter, I would be happy with a 15% tip, as a delivery guy, I would be happy with $2.

Truthfully, I never did the math. As a waiter I never had time...you know, "Let's see, they ordered $45 worth of food, so 15% of that would be....." I was too busy working to count the money they should leave me. As a deliverer, I was usually too busy trying to find the place to think about ("ok, this is $50 worth of pizza, so I should get a $7.50 tip."

Answer 2

Usually I don't use any particular percentage when it comes to pizza or sandwich deliveries... Most of the time, if I'm ordering a couple of pizzas, and it comes to something like $14.50, I'll round up to $17 or so. At the same time, though...if I'm ordering just a couple sandwiches from Jimmy John's (for those of you who know what I'm talking about, and it comes to $9, I'll still usually tip about the same amount, rounding up to $11 or $12. I suppose it also does depend on how fast they are and how accurate they are to their estimate over the phone. Once I was told 25 minutes for some pizzas. The delivery didn't arrive for nearly 1 1/2 hours. I was told that my order was going to be $27, I offered $8 or I wouldn't take the order nor buy from them anymore...the deal was taken.

Answer 3

I usually tip the delivery person same as the servers because they rendered service to me. It does not matter how many tasks are those. The delivery person drives all the way to deliver your pizza. I think that they deserve even more tips.

Answer 4

I think 20% is ridiculous. You have to take in to account that he or she probably gets paid a delivery run fee and or gas allowance if they use their own vehicle by their employer. However also take in to account the amount of food that is being delivered. But 20%.no way. The whole tipping thing is out of control. Remember also that the money they collect is tax free.

Answer 5

You tip someone because they have supplied a level of service that is satisfactory to your needs. The amount of the tip should be dependant upon only 2 criteria. 1. The degree of satisfaction that you have with the service. 2.What you can afford.
What is "expected" (by any person or place) for a tip has no basis for what a tip really is.

Answer 6

I always tip the pizza delivery guy generously. They are independent contractors and they have to pay for their own gas, commercial insurance premiums and the wear and tear on their vehicle. Tips left to waitstaff are pure profit - the delivery guy needs them to survive.

Answer 7

I agree with you. I don't tip a delivery driver more than $2 -- but I think it may be your area. If you live in a city, in a building where they have to walk up stairs, or it is poor weather -- then by all means tip more. But the delivery drivers get paid a standard wage (not a "waitery minimum which is lower than standard minimum wage) and don't generally take your order or have to provide service to you.

Answer 8

I don't agree with the whole tipping thing myself. I tip when I get service that's better than usual. I do tip delivery people usually because they have to go through traffic, bad weather and such to get items to my door.

Answer 9

Too all of you non-tippers and bad tippers - Take a job for 2 weeks as a pizza delivery driver and you will have a much better understanding. I thought like many of you bad tippers, until I became a driver.
Basically, NEVER stiff your driver! 99.9% of the time your lack of satisfaction is due to variables beyond the driver's control! Instead of being rude and not tipping the driver - call the manager and get your next order for free. And remember - getting a free order doesn't mean you are free of tipping the driver that brings that free order to you. If you tip less than 15%, you are rude, period. If you can't afford to give 15-20% and never less than $2 then stop getting pizza delivered - get in YOUR car and pick it up.
As far as delivery fees go - Some places charge a delivery fee. This fee is not "just for more money." Most of the money goes to help pay for insurance that drivers apply for to keep premiums low, and some of it goes towards their hourly wage. None of the 1.00 or so goes towards profit.
If you have stiffed a driver or you are a constant non-tipper, we DO NOT forget about you! I remember all non-tippers and when their addresses would come up for a delivery order the unlucky driver that would get that run was WAY less likely to bust his/her butt to get it there. I had one consistent non-tipper that I took several luke-warm orders to, when I could have had them there hot. Sorry for those of you that do not like to hear that, but what do you expect when you disrepsect? Respect back? Few drivers will enjoy getting stiffed.
Think about these things:
A pizza delivery "driver" is often more than a driver! Oftentimes "in-stores" need assistance and we sometimes answer phones and take orders, take care of carry-out customers, fold pizza boxes, clean, make pizzas/food, box/stage orders as well as operate the drive-thru! As you can see, we don't just go back to the store and stand around waiting for the next order.
The time you're given after completing your order until it is delivered is an estimate based on how busy a store is - the actual time can be sooner OR later depending on, many, many variables. They can include unexpected traffic jams and untimely accidents forcing a detour. They are the number one cause of delays when getting your food to you as soon as we can!
When we get to your residence - Be ready for your delivery to arrive sooner AND later than expected! Do not bury yourself in your basement and force us to have to wait forever or to call your house because you did not hear your doorbell or knocking because we were able to get your order to you faster than your order-taker told you.
Weather plays a huge role as well. Rainy weather takes longer, and it sucks walking up to your house when it is pouring. The cold really sucks. Unless we leave our vehicles running when we return to the store for more orders, they often get cold and take long to warm back up....being in and out them doesn't help either. And when it snows it takes forever. After it snows - clear your driveways or make a path to your door!
Do NOT be upset that we got your order to you later than stated. (unless you're a non-tipper, then we don't care how mad you are) We may have been stuck in a rush hour traffic jam, or jam from an accident. We might have been at someone's door knocking for a half hour. We might not have been able to find the last guy's house or YOUR house because you didn't have a house number on your mailbox or house, or you didn't have a light on so we could see the number at night!!
And please, have your payment ready! Don't stand there counting pennies or quarters, or ones...or write out a check (you should already know "who" to make the check out to)
We work hard to get your food to you regardless of what you think or believe! We respect all of our customers and the worse you will get for being a non-tipper is cold pizza. Anything else is not only grounds for getting fired, it is illegal and can be prosecuted. But still, you don't want cold or even luke-warm pizza do you? Tip!
How much? No less than 2 bucks, or 15-20% of the total. And just because the bill reaches 3 figures doesn't mean there is a ceiling on the tip. If we deliver you $300 worth of pizza don't give 10-15 and think we are happy.....yeah, we're happy, but it still makes you look cheap. 300 bucks = about 45-60 bucks. Keep in mind, we had to put all those pies into the pizza bags, carry them to our vehicle ourselves, carry them where you want them ourselves....most pizza bags hold 5 larges, and each large can weigh as much as 4 or 5lbs....do the math, back and forth with ten to fifteen 20-25lb pizza bags!
Again, always remember....99.9% of the time it is NOT the driver's fault!

Answer 10

you should tip them more than servers we have to drive to your house in all kinds of weather and in traffic pay for repairs and if something happens to your car you don't work and you don't make any money and we have more problems with crime and servers just walk from the kitchen to the table