I have been delivering pizzas for about 4 months now- it’s fun and I enjoy it. But I am blown away by the number of people in our fair city who DON”T tip for their delivery. What the hell! You can drop 20, 30, even 40 bucks on one meal, but you’re too broke to give your driver even a quarter or 2? I’m looking at you, university residences. Look, food drivers rely on their tips: we usually only get minimum wage (sometimes less), and with that we need to buy gas and pay for the upkeep of our vehicles, plus pay all those other wonderful bills that go along with modern life. We appreciate that sometimes you might be low on funds- most people know what that’s like. But seriously though: it’s really not meant to be a choice. Unless your food is late, or cold (it’s not), or I’m somehow rude to you (I am never), tipping for food delivery is pretty much expected. If you’re that low on funds, throw us 25 or 50 cents: it’s better than nothing, and it all adds up, and won’t make us feel like making you wait longer next time. And to the people that do tip, i.e. most people that understand how this is supposed to work: thank you! Food delivery drivers bust their humps to get people all over this city their food hot and fast, and we truly do appreciate every penny. —Jay Lar
This article appears in Jan 8-14, 2015.
Obviously, if someone can drop 40 bucks on a meal they are not too broke to tip. They are opting not to.
Here we go again;
In Brief; Tipping is optional; Its not the consumers responsibility to supplement your income.
Aaaaaddd go!
It’s a social expectation. Tipping is “optional” but you’re still an asshole if you choose not to tip without a valid reason — poor service being about the only one.
Personally, I think the tipping thing has gotten out of hand. It’s an outdated practice and should be abolished. It’s impossible to know when and when not to tip and how much in every situation. Employers should just pay their staff adequate wages and charge more for their product if they have to. In the case of delivery drivers they should get at least minimum wage plus car expenses.
Forcing employees to rely on the generosity of customers is bad for the employee and causes tipping anxiety for the customer. It also ends up with sad public pleas for generosity like this one. Not good for anyone! Time to stop the tipping farce and replace it with fair wages and fair prices.
Let’s assume that the prevailing wage for workers is fair (an above market wage may be more or less fair depending whether higher wages fully compensate for higher unemployment) and workers supplement their wages with tips. Workers who excel – all else equal – receive higher tips. Now, suppose this tipping scheme is replaced by a wage supplement where the supplement is equal to a standard gratuity of 15 per cent. Do you see the problem with this? We would be eradicating any incentive on the part of workers to provide adequate or excellent service. The quality of service would diminish.
Either way, I do struggle with this. I too think that a gratuity should be included in the cost of delivery. After there is considerable homogeneity in the quality of delivery services — other than small variation in wait times. On top of this the company can always fire the complaint-inducing drivers.
I don’t think I care of someone I don’t and will probably never know thinks I’m an asshole or not. And if my not tipping (assuming I don’t tip, you have no way of knowing) results in poor/slow service I just won’t order from the place again.
And no one cares what you think others think of you, especially if you’re an asshole.
I’m not saying you are an asshole. I know nothing about you. But being a shameless asshole doesn’t make one less of an asshole, I guess.
Maybe a haircut and a bit of a bulge?
I DO judge people who simply refuse to tip. mean spiritedness spills over into all other areas.
If it’s going towards the gas spent, should the tip be reliant on current oil prices?
In most cases Pizza shops already add on a delivery fee which in my opinion is the tip!
I draw a distinction between being/acting like an asshole and someone assuming you are an asshole based on receiving tips.
As soon as places started adding delivery charges, your tips went boom.
How would you know if mean spiritedness is behind the lack of a tip? Some people just aren’t hip enough to know any different (My parents for example) or maybe they have discalculia and the thought of tipping scares the bejeesus out of them?
I keep a big bowl of “Je Suis Charlie” buttons for food delivery guys in lieu of tips. Very popular with students working their way through dental school, I’ve noticed.
I don’t think anyone I order pizza form has a delivery charge. I pick up mostly though.
Just remember what houses aren’t tippers and make sure they’re pizza is cold next time.
Here’s what I don’t understand about the frozen tundra around here: one person is behind the wheel of a 2000 pound vehicle, warm and cozy. Has it made except he’s an impatient twit. Meanwhile, an unfortunate (and freezing) pedestrian is trying to make it to a bloody bus stop with no available sidewalk. You’d really think that driver would be the bigger person and allow some leeway, wouldn’t you? Not in this town, I fear to say.
Wrong Bitch, Amigo.
i get pizza pie and other stuffs with no delivery charge, i tip well and get good service
Well, I’ll be a monkey’s third cousin once removed. Thankz, Crank.
Uni kids are wankers where tipping is concerned. If they don’t tip, turn the pizza upside down before you hand it to them.
Pizza delivery people are vulnerable to prank calls, robbery, dangerous areas, unlighted terrain and an often surly, rude clientele. These delivery people do it for minimum wage. It is a wart of a job. The least you can do is push a few bob their way.
S/O to Jar Lar for doing what most people can’t.
One of the good things about living in the outter boonies, you don’t have to tip the delivery drivers. There are none that deliver way out here ~ 😉
So you need to be able to make it yourself …. Or pick one up on the way home.
I never thought of living out here without delivery as having an up side. From all the delivery driver bitches about tipping, looks like there is that advantage.
“HERE YOU ARE MY GOOD MAN”
It’s not so much a question of whether or not to tip the pizza deliverer but rather one of whether you should have stayed in school to avoid such a demeaning job of work. Do you tug your forelock when the customer pats you on the shoulder and patronizingly says, “Here you are my good man.”
My advice would be to return to school and study philosophy.
A pleasure as always,
Cheerio!
If tax was lower in this province I would gladly tip more.. Seeing as I have to pay Nova Scotia 1.50 when I go buy a 10.00 meal.. RIP OFF if you ask me.
I generally tip when the buisness offers a ‘no tax’ deal. I have no problem giving the driver the money I am forced to pay the gov’t.
Hi, Jay Lar here. Just wanted to quickly point out that most pizza places in town DON”T charge a delivery fee (none that I’m aware of, and I’ve worked for 4 of them). Would you dare not to tip your waitress, bartender or barrista? I sure wouldn’t, not if I expected any level of service in the future. It’s the same thing. You know how hard it is to work for minimum wage? In this city, it’s brutal. Now imagine that you have to cover your gas and car maintenance expenses out of that same paltry amount of money. If it wasn’t for tips, we simply couldn’t afford to do this. And like I say, even 25 or 50 cents is appreciated. Dropping 30 bucks on a meal and not even throwing the driver a dime is petty, incredibly cheap and I would even say mean. There’s really no defense for it. If your food was late or the driver was rude, by all means withhold that tip if you feel it’s justified. But just remember: we’re not getting rich off of this. I would love to go back to school and get a better “career”, but it’s not really in the cards for me at the moment. So have a little compassion and remember the driver next time.
So If I don’t tip; next time I can expect my order to show up cold and late ? or worse?
I expect a certain level of professional service regardless of what one does
I’m tipping for good service ABOVE the basic; not so you won’t drag your ass next time or do anything else unprofessional; Get me my pizza here in a timely fashion, still hotish and right side up. Thats the basic service. AKA “the job” you signed up for. Do it with a friendly attitude at the door, and you’ll get a decent tip from me.
Coming on here with “self entitlement” and whining because you cant afford to do your job; and saying its the customers fault? not gonna fly.
Self enwhatlement? Everyone gets the same level of service, regardless of whether or not they are known non-tippers. You seem to be jumping to conclusions about my job. Real drivers who do this for a living would never play games like that with people’s food- it’s like shooting yourself in the foot. Tip or not, they are still helping me to stay gainfully employed by buying food from the restaurant where I work. I did say it “makes me want to bring your food late,” so I can understand how you might draw the conclusion that it’s an actual practice. Let me clarify that it is definitely not, and I don’t know a driver out there that would do that.
For the record, I do OK at this job, it’s kept me alive for the last 4 or 5 months, so I’m certainly not “blaming” anyone for anything. It’s a hell of a lot better than my last gig.
Is a waitress who busts her hump to bring you your food and drinks “entitled” for expecting a gratuity for her service? How about a bartender who serves your drinks, or a coffee server? Not in my opinion- because it’s generally an expected thing in our culture. Don’t want to tip? Go to England, where you don’t have to (servers are paid a fair wage, not minimum). Over here, you’re expected to tip for eating out, for drinks at a bar, and, yes, for food delivery. These are all low wage, highly physical jobs. You can still choose not to tip, and you’ll still get your food hot and on time, because my boss likes it when I do my job well and is less inclined to replace me with many willing candidates should I do something as blatantly stupid as delivering someone’s food late on purpose.
In the end I respect your choice not to tip me, and I will go out of my way to be even nicer to those folks who choose not to, in the hopes of pulling them over to “the dark side.” Sorry if I came off like an entitled whiner, but I made this post on behalf of all the delivery people out there who get stiffed time and time again, not just for myself.
Food delivery, nobody is going to pay me enough to do it. Fuck, I’d rather guard an empty parking lot.
Try a Temp agency JL, they can and do turn into full-time positions.