We've been relying on take-out food a lot recently -- you know, having kids and all -- but I need your collective advice. Last night my father and stepmother were over visiting Zach and Ben, and we ordered from Lemongrass. The bill was $52.15. I followed my standard cab-fare and delivery tip rule: round up to the nearest dollar, add a dollar, or two if rounding up is less than $0.25. Of course there are exceptions (for cabs, airport and Brooklyn dropoffs, since they likely won't get a return fare; for deliveries, inclement weather, walkups, etc.) but generally that's what I do. So I handed the guy $54.00. (I happened to have only four singles.) He looked at it like I'd just given him 54 cents. "Only a dollar tip?!" I didn't point out that it was $1.85. These are the times when I know that, deep down, I'll always be a New York Transplant: I gave him an extra buck. (This required him to give me $5 and me to give him $60, which confused him.) The question is, was I extorted, or am I cheap? Since this has happened once before (a person delivering Indian expressing outrage over a small tip, citing a supposedly "discounted" meal price) I'm not entirely sure.
The way I see it, delivery is different from the 15% rule applied to waitstaff. They're providing a continuous service throughout the meal. A higher tab means I've spent longer there, or the place has more swankitude. In either case, I'd expect more / better service, and hence a tip that's commensurate with price.
But a delivery is a flat fee-for-service. The guy's gonna bike the 6 blocks regardless of whether I spend $10 or $50. It wasn't raining, and he didn't even have to walk up stairs, since we've got no buzzer in our building. So: am I cheap or something?
| Tipping |
Sorry, but I have to agree with the crowd. I tend towards the 10-15% range for delivery. They work just as hard as waitstaff (and waitstaff don't dodge traffic) andare equally dependent on your tips for their income. But mostly, I call in the order and then go and pick up my food, because I am cheap.
Comment #1 :: link :: January 1, 2000 09:00 AMCNN thinks you are dead-on with your tip.
So does (and I'm not making this up) www.tipping.org.
Personally, I tip a full 25% of the bill. Then again, in lieu of money, I give "JimpyBucks," which are only redeemable at my company store. This causes some displeasure with the staff (particularly my valet), but in this economy, JimpyBucks are better than no bucks at all!
Are you kidding me? You gave a dollar tip in the city? Where are you from? Kansas?
You're supposed to DOUBLE the tax. Your total bill should have been around $60. I'm surprised no waiter or waitress has killed you yet.
Of course I double the tax -- for a waiter. Not, however, for a delivery person. Didn't I say that?
Comment #4 :: link :: June 25, 2003 09:00 AM15 percent and more for waiters. At least 10 percent for cabs and deliveries. Might take note that your system gives the same tip for a 12.15 bill as for a 52.15 bill. But a delivery guy's back is likely to suffer more from schlepping a 52.15 meal than a 12.15 meal.
Comment #5 :: link :: June 25, 2003 09:00 AMAbout 12 years ago, I earned extra cash delivering pizza for Dominoes Pizza up in and around Burlington, Vermont. You could make about $15-20/hr doing so, which was money back then, up there, and I was in the process of getting divorced, and needed all I could get.
The deliveries were usually one or two pies, sometimes with soda, in the $8-20 range. Under $10 we would often get between $.50 and $2.00. For a twenty dollar order, we could expect $1-3, and if we delivered a bunch of pies to a party, at around $40-50, we could expect a $3-6 tip. Some were cheap, and some were generous. Some stiffed us completely, but we were warned NEVER to do what the delivery guy did to you. Always smile, say "thank you," and be on your way, whether you were stiffed or you were handed a twenty dollar bill.
So I give delivery people about 15%, in part because I was one once.
David
Speaking of Dominoes Pizza, did Mike ever tell you that he was a professional pizza taster/mystery shopper? Great high school job!
Comment #7 :: link :: June 29, 2003 09:00 AM
