I love ordering food for delivery.
You know how you just don't want to go outside; you just want to be sitting at home either hanging out with friends or doing work? Whatever the reason, it's wonderful to have food just arrive at your door without leaving home.
I particularly appreciate delivered food on the weekends at times when everybody is drunk and nobody wants to walk or drive for food. I have always been thankful to the delivery people because without them, I wouldn't have the luxury of such late-night dining.
Most people probably feel the same way and choose to express gratitude through a generous tip. But there are those who do not.
Delivery people are comparable to waiters or waitresses in this respect. Customers rely on them to deliver food as quickly as possible. Some delivery people could drive faster to get the food to its destination, but quick delivery depends on the number of orders and how quickly the eatery processes the orders.
Not giving a huge tip when you get bad service is understandable. But a delivery person differs from a waiter. There is not much service involved in delivering food. Delivery people have to use their own cars, and though many places charge delivery cost (this cost often doesn't go to the people delivering the food), most delivery people receive minimum wage on top of tips. Some even receive compensation for gas; however, after deducting the cost of car depreciation, insurance and gas, a delivery person definitely makes less than minimum wage without good tips.
College students are tight with money, but I do not know of a single person who doesn't have a few dollars to spare. Someone who has enough money to order food should have enough money for a tip. It's like being able to pay for the extra cost of tax when you buy something. Not giving a tip at all is inconsiderate.
One could argue that people who work such jobs choose to do so, knowing there are no guarantees that they will make more money with tips. With jobs like delivery and waiting tables, you just invest your time and energy into working without ever knowing how much money you will make. You risk not making any money, but you open yourself to the possibility of making more money than working a minimum wage job.
So what is the right tip for delivery people? Looking at blogs, the tip amount seems unsettled. My former roommate who used to be a delivery person for Jimmy John's said one dollar is the expected minimum amount. It is really up to the orderer, but I would think that the tip should correspond with the amount of food that a delivery person carries and the distance he or she has to drive.
And it is always better to tip with cash, according to a March 2005 New York Times article. The article also says ' aside from always tipping ' to have your money ready, to be dressed (at least in nice-looking underwear) and to not let your pet attack the delivery person.
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Rainy Phrompechrut
Late-night luxury of food means dishing out dough
