Comments on: How to Tip Properly

on 12/29/2009 Actually, Pizza Delivery drivers do NOT get paid minimum wage in some states. Working for a major chain in Texas, I make $4/hour (the chain recently cut all delivery drivers from 5/hr to 4/hr). If I don't get tips, I don't eat. Tipping is VERY important, and where I live in the city (high cost of living), $3 is a minimum. $2 is acceptable in some places, but not less.

on 11/19/2009 wow! This artical is really low balling it aye? It is funny i happened to read this. I am a manager of an upper-tier restaurant and i just asked the owners if we could give our servers a raise. WHY you may ask, because they make $3 an hour, and people are not tipping like they use to. Keep in mind that tip is not just for your server, they have to tip out a mandtory percent of their sales (NOT TIPS) to the bartender, host, busser, food runner. If you leave 20% tip that server only gets 13% if you leave less they get less, if you stiff them that server has to take money out of their own pocket to tip the noted above. I am sick of reading articals saying 15% my 90 year old grandfather doesn't even leave a meer 15%. Come on folks, this is AMERICA. I guess with more articals such as this i will have to give our servers a raise, i mean they have to pay thier bills too.

on 5/7/2009 when figuring out how much to tip, should the amount used be subtotal before taxes or total including taxes?

on 4/23/2008 I wonder how much to tip at a restaurant when you go there just to order and take out food. I never used to tip but now a lot of restaurants send you to the bar to place your order and I know that is telling you to tip them since a bartenders means tipping. I never go back to those places. I don't mind a small tip to an employee for takeout service.

on 11/26/2007 I work as a server and happen to be very good. I am highly offended when someone gives me 15%. However, like many I too may have bad days and may no deserve it. In today's society with everyone thinking they are entitled and all the bad service I would like to think that you could recognize a good server and tip accordingly, 20% and up depending on how much you have me running. Also, a good attitude in the service world is hard to come by. So seeing that many say 15% is what you should tip is offending and I hope that everyone would recoginize a good attitude and hard working server!

on 11/14/2007 I manage a pizza restaurant. We just had a focus group dealing with delivery drivers, and I take issue with a few comments made above:
" but no less than $6 to $7 less the delivery charge if one is charged (providing the employer pays the full amount of such charge to the driver - many don't)."
We charge a $2.00 delivery charge. The driver receives $1.00. The business itself has expenses to pay to employ a driver. Number one is insurance. Our business charges a portion of what it costs to deliver food to the customers who use the service. Others build it into their menu prices, so in-house and to go customers pay for it too.
"Most drivers are not paid an hourly rate nor reimbursed for fuel and maintenance costs." No- most drivers do make an hourly rate. It may be only minimum wage, but they are paid.
Also, most places send their drivers out with multiple orders on one run.

on 7/27/2007 Are you supposed to tip a hair stylist who fixes a bad haircut given to you by another stylist even if you come back during the "7 day guarantee" period?

on 7/27/2007 Do you tip a stylist at a cheap hair salon if they fix a haircut that was messed up by another stylist and you returned within the 7 day guarantee period?

on 8/9/2006 -Always tip at least 15 percent.

-Do not "punish" your waiter by stiffing him; rather, speak to the manager about the service. Waiters live on tips. I don't know how much I can stress this. My sister, a waitress, makes $2 an hour, and all of that goes to pay her taxes. She regularly brings home paychecks for less than $10 a week.

-If you sit in the restaurant a long time, tip more than 15 percent (20 percent or more). You are either A) taking up space where another table could sit and give the waiter revenue, or B) keeping the waiter waiting for you to leave so that she can go home. If you're going to do that, be prepared to tip accordingly.

-If your children are messy or loud, tip more than 15 percent.

on 8/8/2006 If a latte is made (or 5 lattes because you took orders from all your work buddies), $1 is appropriate at least. More should be given for multiple orders.

If you order a coffee and it comes out to $1.75, just throw your quarter in the tip jar. It adds up for the workers and builds rapport if you plan on coming back.

As a former barrista who is now in the "real business world" myself, I advise tipping your barrista. They make minimum wage and many of them are trying to make ends meet with rent and gas prices rising. A little generosity goes a long way while building a strong rapport. Believe me, if you are a regular and you tip regularly, you will get special treatment.

on 6/25/2007 When traveling with a group and a tip is not included, $1-$2 dollars per person is fair. Remember, luggage is handled twice by the driver.

on 6/30/2006 I work at a golf resort, taking golfers' carts and cleaning them up when the golfers are done with them. I get minimum wage for this strenuous job, walking about three miles a day, but my employer told me that the tips would make up for it. Problem is, the golfers never do! They must either forget or don't think they need to. I know others with the same kind of job that have the same problem. So, you golfers out there, when a golf cart maintenance person helps you with your bags and takes your cart for you at the end of the day, make sure you show them that you appreciate their help!

on 3/28/2006 If I'm paying over $3 for a cup of coffee, I am not leaving a $1 tip. I really hate those tip jars that are springing up everywhere.

on 3/15/2006 Delivering pizza got me through college and I made about $16/hour gross. This was 10 years ago.

The drivers with ambition, and who aren't stoned, actually do very well. It is win-win. If I get the pizza there quickly, everyone is happy -- the customer, the shop and me, because I would get back first and be ready for the next delivery.

It really depends on where the shop is. If it's a small town, then the drivers probably don't make much. I worked in a university city of 200,000 (with a student population of 43,000). Our prices, however, were on the higher end, knocking out the cheap students and the poor.

As a customer, I always hoped on a minimum of $1 + change for any order under $18 and $2 tip for any order of $18 or more. I made my money, not by speeding and driving recklessly (that brings about traffic tickets), but by being a cartography major, so reading maps was a natural interest! I knew every back road in that city.

The dirty little secret of pizza driving: especially in this era of technology, drivers know if you are a tipper or not. I knew every stiff who was a regular. Because of that, the stiff was always the last stop on my route -- the $2 and up tipper was always the first stop. It wasn't a matter of keeping the food hot, as we all had portable Sterno warmers in our backseats, but it was a matter of timeliness.

Often, during busy football Sundays, I took take five separate deliveries out and return within 30-35 minutes. Unless we had major staffing or weather problems, 98% of my deliveries arrived within 45 minutes of the order (our promise time was 30-45 minutes or 45-60 minutes for a deep-dish pizza).

Being 6'5", 220 pounds, I never feared for my safety as a pizza driver but I was also in a fairly safe city. We also gerrymandered out the six bad blocks of the area because a precedent has been set with pizza drivers before in that area (robberies).

on 11/22/2005 Most people leave 10% but the expected is 15%, so I always leave 20% just to make up for those less educated that may be next. :)