Spiff

This is correct. Unless the baggage delivery service performs some extraordinary service above and beyond "timely delivery", the onus of a gratuity is on Delta.

mattsteg

You forgot wiping mud on the window first. Tipping for unwanted services, unless someone goes above and beyond, is well on the sketchy side.

Often1

Perhaps I misread. I thought that OP wanted his bag delivered. Certainly if OP had planned on driving out to the airport to pick up his bag and hadn't asked for the bag to be delivered, he has no reason to tip someone presumptious enough to perform the service.

But, if the complaint is that somebody else screwed up so some poor underpaid slob driving bags around in the middle of the night deserves to get screwed, that is ludicrous.

javabytes

I also asked Amazon to deliver my book to me, instead of driving 600 miles round trip to their warehouse in Kentucky. Should I have tipped the UPS guy who got it there by 10:30 AM the next morning?

BusTrav8yrs

There are two types of people in the world. Cheap tightwads and everyone else. Both have been well represented in this thread.

Andy Big Bear

Tipping is providing a customary gratuity for personal service provided by an individual. Just like a porter, the custom is to tip if they take your bag from the point of delivery to your room. That means if they show up in the lobby, no tip should be expected. If you meet them in the lobby and they offer to take the bag to your room and you accept, a tip would be customary. If they just show up at your door with your bag fishing for tips, that's not acceptable. In all cases, it's considered taboo to request a tip, even when one would be customary. It's just tacky and cheap, I would complain, personally.

The customs in the U.S. has changed with all the income inequality that has run rampant in the last five years. Now people expect tips even for fast food and self-service amenities because managers are cutting back on pay with the expectation that customers will subsidize customer service. As much as I believe in tipping, that's an economic system one should always resist paying into, as it pretty much insures dismal customer service and living in a "pay as you go" society. Companies that make customers subsidize customer service directly should pretty much be put out of business, but that means suffering through a lot of bad experiences until the pendulum swings back the other way.

HongKonger

There are two types of people in the world. Those who believe there are two types of people in the world, and those who don't.

steex

I'd say this is hardly a black or white situation.

Here's a hypothetical situation - someone goes to a restaurant and places an order, but the ticket falls off the rack and isn't filled. After an hour, he asks where his food is only to find the order can't even be located. They re-take his order, and after a solid 90 minutes (everyone else has been in and out in an hour), he finally receives his food; however, the cook hasn't cooked the steak properly, it's served well done instead of the ordered medium. The choice is then to either send it back and wait even longer for another steak, or eat what has been brought - both undesirable options.

The server isn't directly responsible for any of those things, but many people are not going to tip for that experience. If the server doesn't like it, he/she can take it up with management (or the cook, I suppose).

If a delivery driver is involved with service recovery, he/she has got to be aware that they are dealing with customers who have already not received the advertised service. Considering we don't tip anyone for getting our bags to us on-time at the airport, most people are not going to go above that standard for someone who brings his/her bags many hours (or days) later instead. Just like the server, if the person making the delivery is that poorly paid and doesn't like it, he/she can take it up with management (or Delta).

Often1

I don't think that most people in the USA tip UPS drivers. Same thing as cab drivers vs. airline pilots. Some people who provide kinda the same service are tipped and others aren't.

Go to Europe and tipping is different. Go to Asia and it's different.

TheRoadie

Delta screwed up. Delta should use contractors who pay their staff the market rate. If the contractors offer a job, and somebody takes it, they can't be said to be "underpaid." If the delivery driver needs more income, they can steal stuff from the bags they deliver like the TSA screeners do.

mikepa

+!

Maybe the tipaholics should tip the captain for a smooth flight and landing!

P.S. When I tip, I tip well - usually 20% at least for good service in a restaurant from a friendly waitress. 30+% at Hooters!

andymo99

When my bag is delayed, I have it delivered to my (very large) office. I doubt the mailroom is tipping the delivery guy.

User Name

Anonymous man on internet insults people who hold views that differ from his own. What a shocker.

ILovetheReds

^ Agree totally. If the OP stayed on his originally scheduled flight and the delay was Delta's fault, Delta should be giving a graduity to the drivers, not the PAX. I am sure the OP would have rather his bag come off on the belt, as opposed to waiting for the last bag to unload and then wait in line at baggage services to fill out the paper work and then wait for his bag to be delivered.

Now if he was checking bags and Delta allowed hiim to fly on an earlier flight and the bags ended up on the PAX scheduled flight, I think the PAX should tip the driver instead of Delta.

It's like when someone brings something up to my hotel room. If housekeeping forget to leave towels or shampoo or any other item that they should have left when cleaning it in the morning and I have to have the items delivered, I don't tip. If I want something like extra towels or an items that is being requested by me that isn't normally left by housekeeping I do tip the person delivering it.

A few nights ago we had pizza delivered. The driver got tipped the first time but he left us the wrong pizza and soda's (we found out the wrong tags went on the wrong boxes and we received someone elses order and they received ours). They did redeliver with a coupon for a free pizza, but I didn't tip the second driver, I feel the store messed up and they should have compensated the second driver and I shouldn't have to tip for experiencing the inconvience of their screw up. I think the same scenario applies in the OP's case.

will2288

My thoughts exactly. I once delivered flowers during peak times and never received, nor expected, a tip. The person getting flowers didn't order the service (like the OP didn't order his bags to be delivered to his house), so there is no reason to tip the deliverer. I delivered the flowers, smiled and said thanks, and got paid for it (by the company). Sure a tip would have been nice, but in no way expected.


I have only had a bag delayed once, and never thought of giving him a tip. Frankly, what the guy should have said is, 'sorry for the inconvenience of us delaying your bag' (even though it is in no way his fault).

Getting the bag to your door is his job and thus I don't see a need for a tip. If he in some way goes above and beyond, then a tip is reasonable (say, taking your bag upstairs, etc.)

Yes, his job is a low wage one that involves occasional heavy lifting. But if he gets a dollar of two for each bag, it becomes a relatively high wage job for what it is. Why should the guy driving the van make substantially more than the guy who loaded it, or the rampers who lift hundreds of bags all day long? My issue with tipping is that it tends to overly reward the one person you deal with directly and indirectly screws all the guys behind the scenes who might be working harder.


If someone asked for a tip, I would certainly not give one.