How to Tip for Delivery
In the U.S., it is customary to tip when eating out at restaurants, as well as when you have food delivered to your home or office. Tip the Pizza Guy, a website about delivery tipping etiquette, advocates tipping anywhere from 10 percent to 20 percent of a total bill, before tax and delivery charges. Ten percent is reserved for poor service. Andrew Knowlton of "Bon Appetit" suggests that 15 percent to 20 percent is standard. While you may not have waitstaff attending to your every whim, as in a restaurant, the delivery person drove the food to your house.
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Instructions
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Ask for the total of your bill, before tax, while you are on the phone with the restaurant. Calculate 15 to 20 percent of this amount to add on as your tip. Feel free to round to the nearest whole dollar to make things less complicated.
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Prepare a cash tip for your delivery person, if that is how you prefer to pay. Remember, you can give a tip in cash even if you are paying for your delivery with a credit card or a check.
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Look at the credit card receipt before you sign it, if you are paying via credit card. Below the food total, there will be a blank line with the word "tip" written next to it. Write your intended tip amount on this line, then add that number together with the food total to get the total amount you want charged to your credit card. Sign the receipt.
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Add the amount you are tipping onto the food delivery total before you write your check, if paying by check. Write your check to the restaurant using the full amount of the total cost of your food plus the tip.
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Tips & Warnings
When you include your tip on a credit card receipt or add it onto the amount of a check, the restaurant will process that payment and give cash to the delivery driver. Always make sure a restaurant accepts checks as a valid form of payment before attempting to write one. If you are in doubt, ask the delivery driver. Some restaurants, like other businesses, do not accept checks.
If you are a regular customer, tip a little more to show the delivery people that you care. If you take care of them, they will usually take care of you. Sometimes restaurants give "thank you" gifts to loyal customers, and will be more likely to remember you if you treat the staff favorably.
Consider tipping more during inclement weather, such as fierce rain or snowstorms, as well as during emergency events. Also consider tipping more if the order is particularly large or complicated. Just a couple of dollars extra can make a delivery person's day much brighter; remember, she does not get paid very much.
Do not assume that the delivery fee charged by some restaurants goes to the delivery driver. In some cases, that may be true, but in many others, the delivery driver does not see that money.
Only consider tipping 10 percent or less if your service was really and truly bad. Always factor in the tip when you are contemplating whether you have enough money to spend on a delivery.
