Is It OK To Tip Less To Make Up For A Delivery Fee Hike?

13 Comments

  • CRK - 14 years ago

    I am a regular Pizza Hut consumer and know my drivers well. I asked several of them on different occassions if they received any piece of the "delivery fee" and they all told me they received $0.50. This is in the LA area. I haven't really changed my tipping method much. But it is highly frustrating that since I moved they deliver less than a block to my house. Needless to say, I've been picking up my pizza more and more.

  • carmen - 14 years ago

    The fee does not go to the driver, the tip goes to the driver. If you don't want to pay a tip, pick up your own pizza! When I was trying to order a $10 pizza once, the fee and tip nearly doubled the cost. It wasn't worth it to me, so I ordered it for pick up.

  • S - 14 years ago

    To me, the tip IS the delivery fee.

    If a company expects me to pay a delivery fee AND tip the driver, I take my business elsewhere.

  • Tizzle - 14 years ago

    Get Digornio if you don't want to tip.

    If the weather is inclement, or if gas recently hiked up, add $.50.

    Drivers are paying for gas, insurance and wear and tear on their car so you don't have to.

  • Jay - 14 years ago

    @HSR: If you don't like paying a proper tip because you think the delivery fee is unjust, then drive your happy ass up to the store and pick up your own pizza. Don't take it out on the driver making it possible for you to have food brought to you with the only physical effort expended being that of dialing the phone, and opening your wallet.

  • Aristophanes - 14 years ago

    From my point of view, if the delivery fee is affecting your tipping, that might be a good sign that you should order from somewhere else. I think it would be best to tip without penalizing the driver, but let them know that the increased delivery fee is likely to drive your business elsewhere. Perhaps if enough drivers hear that message, management would reconsider. That's also how you demonstrate to the decision makers (not the powerless teenager delivering the pizza) that you're not happy with the policy.

  • Alex - 14 years ago

    $40 an hour? Where do you live so I can start delivering there?

    I work for a small local pizza chain that charges $2 per delivery. The delivery fees are used to help the company cover the travel costs per mile that some drivers add up at the end of the year (all should, but not many do). We get the entire delivery fee, but there are a few drivers who will tell customers we don't so they up the tip.

    My friend, though, works at Pizza Hut, and the delivery fee he receives is different based on how many he takes at once (and NOT the entire fee). There's a pay scale that depends on the number of deliveries he takes at once: for one, he gets $1; for two, about $1.50; for three, about $2.30; and so forth. Since he normally takes at least two at a time (sometimes up to four), he doesn't get as much as the company does.

    Long story short: tip your drivers, especially if you live far away! I was stiffed by a guy who lived 10 miles away down a car-damaging gravel road, and all of a sudden he was no longer in our delivery area. Just saying. (We always remember the no tippers AND tippers alike. Your future service will oftentimes reflect it.)

  • HSR - 14 years ago

    We used to tip 25% before delivery fees got popular. These days, we aren't so generous. Nothing else on the planet requires a 40% surcharge to be dropped off at my door. Why should pizza? Delivery drivers: If you don't like having your tips squeezed, take it up with your boss, not your customer.

  • Jay - 14 years ago

    If you don't want to tip, then drive your happy ass up to the store, and pick up your own damn pizza. Stop making excuses for being a cheap ass.

  • Grant - 14 years ago

    The drivers will be making a lot less if enough people choose to not order from Pizza Hut any longer, which is what is going to happen if we're required to pay an increased delivery fee and tips. Sooooo, yep. Less tip. Deal.

  • Jay - 14 years ago

    Umm, no they don't end up making $20-$40/hour with tips. Not even remotely close. $10-$12/hour at best (maybe $15/hour now with minimum wage around $7/hour), usually only a 4 hour shift, and if they're lucky 30 hours a week.

    Stop making excuses for being a cheap ass.

  • Christopher - 14 years ago

    The problem is the US has become a Tip whore society, why is it my problem they chose to not pay or pay very poorly drivers? They end up making $20-40/hour delivering pizza in the end with tips, so it is hardly like they are not making anything but ultimately that is not my problem. It makes me sick everyone is asking me to pay their employees because they rather charge what they need to charge then have me cover their expenses.

  • Jay - 14 years ago

    A) Tips do NOT go to the company, they go to the driver.
    B) The big chains do NOT give any of the delivery fee to the driver.

    You don't have to add the delivery fee to your total to figure the tip, but don't stiff the driver that amount either. If it's a local/small chain charging a delivery fee, try to find out if that fee goes to the driver or not. Some places do that so the driver will at least get something for a tip, if a customer decides to stiff them. If that's the case, they yeah you can feel ok about taking the $1-$2 off your normal tip amount, knowing it's already going to the driver. But most places, the delivery fee does not go to the driver.

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