Just the Tip!

A serious debate has been brewing among our friends lately. How much do you tip food delivery drivers?  On one penny-pinching hand some friends believe that one long trip from the restaurant to their dining room table gets the dishwasher, who had a few extra minutes to drop off some food, a couple of bucks and a “see you later”.  On the other more generous hand, delivery guys are seen as waiters who happened to get the table 1/2 mile outside of their assigned dining room section.  And they should have their shot at providing 20% service like everyone else back at the restaurant.

Larry Fox shakes with his generous hand and feels adamantly that delivery drivers should get larger tips .  He started the blog 15Percent to call out bad tippers in his Greenpoint neighborhood.  According to his web site, “15 Percent is a blog documenting people, and companies who have never seemed to work in the service industry, or don’t think to tip at least 15% on deliveries, and instead opt for 2 dollars on everything.”  If you live in that area you might want to check out his site to see if your tip made the list, because bad tippers are called out by company and address for all to see.

So in trying to decide what to tip a delivery person, I asked myself what a waiter in the restaurant does to get their 20% from me.  I want them to know the menu and specials, and be able to answer questions about how the food is prepared.  They should be personable, attentive and keep an eye on whether we need something at the table. Oh, and they should know how to serve wine correctly.  I’m not really looking for much more.

But as patrons we also have a civic responsibility in this fiscal exchange.  If we leave the table looking like a post-apocolyptic scene from the Titanic dining room it’s our job to compensate the people who will have to clean it up.  And just a friendly reminder that the Cheerio explosion left by your precious little one below the high chair won’t be cleaning itself.  And finally, if we chat about the world’s problems for three hours over one order of cheese fries and a diet coke, have the sense to know that you are paying the person who brought you 15 free refills more than a dollar.

Personally for a delivery driver I usually shoot for 15-20%.  We order from the same places quite frequently, so good service from him is paid with a good tip from me.  If he’s done his job well–kept the cheese from sticking to the top of the box when I open it; and made sure the food is there and hot in a relatively short amount of time, there’s no reason he shouldn’t expect to be compensated for his time.  And if the conditions are crappy–bad weather or it’s 10 minutes before closing, I have no problem slipping him a little extra.  Because the next time you order food you will be so amazed at how quickly it magically appears at your front door.