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The Consolididated "Tipping for Take Out or Delivery?" thread

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Old Sep 14, 2013 | 7:33 pm
  #121  
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Originally Posted by It'sHip2B^2
It's late and we are hungry. There is an "Italian" restaurant down the street that delivers. We've never had their food. We started an online order and got to the total where it listed a $2 delivery fee. Delivery fees have always rubbed me the wrong way since they typically go to the restaurant and not the driver (who generally owns the car that brings the food). Plus we live within walking distance of this place. I could literally see it if we had a window that faced that direction.

So we changed the order to take-out. When we got the check-out there was a tip line. I really don't think that one should tip on a take-out order. After all, I'm the one doing all the leg work. But there is the line like it expects to be filled. So do they expect a tip from my take-out order? Maybe or maybe not. Will they do something to my food, if I leave the tip line empty? Maybe or maybe not. Is the tip line an artifact of their antiquated online ordering system that doesn't distinguish between delivery and take-out orders? Maybe or maybe not.

My husband is now making spaghetti. We saved $30. And they lost $30. All because of a delivery fee and a tip line. But somehow I think that they won't have learned anything during the experience.
Our local pizza place has online ordering, where you can select delivery, carry out, or pick-up window. It always asks about a tip. I'm assuming it's automatic, due to the delivery option and just ignore it.
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Old Sep 14, 2013 | 8:24 pm
  #122  
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Is leaving the line blank really that hard? And is showing it to you really that offensive? It would be way, way down on my list. If I refused to order from everywhere that has an inappropriate tip line on an invoice or a tip jar, room service would be impossible and I'd be short quite a few neighborhood food joints.
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Old Sep 14, 2013 | 9:06 pm
  #123  
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YES!

Originally Posted by CPRich
Is leaving the line blank really that hard? And is showing it to you really that offensive? It would be way, way down on my list. If I refused to order from everywhere that has an inappropriate tip line on an invoice or a tip jar, room service would be impossible and I'd be short quite a few neighborhood food joints.
Plus if someone comes to bring my food I think the restaurant deserves a couple of dollars. Especially with neighborhood restos where the delivery person is the 2nd server or whatnot.

And I put a couple of bucks in the tip jar if I go pick up food. (Which admittedly isn't often)

I find that people who never worked a service job for a living have the nastiest attitudes towards those who do.
I seriously don't see how you live with yourself with the things that aggravate you.
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Old Sep 14, 2013 | 9:34 pm
  #124  
 
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Originally Posted by squeakr
Plus if someone comes to bring my food I think the restaurant deserves a couple of dollars. Especially with neighborhood restos where the delivery person is the 2nd server or whatnot.

And I put a couple of bucks in the tip jar if I go pick up food. (Which admittedly isn't often)

I find that people who never worked a service job for a living have the nastiest attitudes towards those who do.
I seriously don't see how you live with yourself with the things that aggravate you.
I don't have a problem tipping a delivery person or wait person (beyond not liking the tipping culture, in general). I do it because it should be done. But I wouldn't tip at McDonalds when I pick up food. So why at a restaurant when I pick up take-out? Obviously it doesn't bother you. That's fine.

We all have our little annoyances. It's a part of living within a society. Just because other people's annoyances are different than mine doesn't mean they suffer more or less than the I do. The funny thing about annoyances is that if everyone within society is annoyed by the same thing, then that thing sometimes ceases to exist.
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Old Sep 15, 2013 | 2:04 am
  #125  
 
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This is certainly nowhere near as annoying as those hotel corporations whose properties charge 18% mandatory service charges on room service and have a tip line.
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Old Sep 15, 2013 | 8:01 am
  #126  
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Originally Posted by squeakr
I find that people who never worked a service job for a living have the nastiest attitudes towards those who do.
I seriously don't see how you live with yourself with the things that aggravate you.
you dont think tipping is totally different from when it started?

tipping is HUGE in the US and UK. any nasty attitudes are the minority overall.

my problem is with society and employers not employee.
Originally Posted by mbstone
This is certainly nowhere near as annoying as those hotel corporations whose properties charge 18% mandatory service charges on room service and have a tip line.
dont forget when they have BOTH service and delivery THEN tip line
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Old Sep 15, 2013 | 8:48 am
  #127  
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Originally Posted by It'sHip2B^2
So we changed the order to take-out. When we got the check-out there was a tip line.
...
My husband is now making spaghetti. We saved $30. And they lost $30. All because of a delivery fee and a tip line. But somehow I think that they won't have learned anything during the experience.
Was this online "check out" or were you actually in the restaurant and canceled the order in person?
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Old Sep 15, 2013 | 8:58 am
  #128  
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I tip pizza drivers. I also tip on take-out orders that require assembling the order/taking the waiter/waitress away from serving tables where they'd get a real tip. I don't tip the standard 15%, but they do get a tip. Since the McD/Wendy/BK folks jobs are simply taking/delivering orders & not waiting on tables I don't tip them.

Given today's gas prices, I'd rather pay the delivery charge than waste the gas (and my time) to go pick up food. Unfortunately not all the places I order from offer delivery.

I've never been as bent out of shape on a tip or delivery line item to cancel an order like It'sHip did. Life's too short. BTW - my guess is more people are ok w/ the charges than not, so I don't think It'sHip's not finishing the online order "taught them"

Cheers.
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Old Sep 15, 2013 | 9:03 am
  #129  
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this.

Originally Posted by SkiAdcock
I tip pizza drivers. I also tip on take-out orders that require assembling the order/taking the waiter/waitress away from serving tables where they'd get a real tip. I don't tip the standard 15%, but they do get a tip. Since the McD/Wendy/BK folks jobs are simply taking/delivering orders & not waiting on tables I don't tip them.

Given today's gas prices, I'd rather pay the delivery charge than waste the gas (and my time) to go pick up food. Unfortunately not all the places I order from offer delivery.

I've never been as bent out of shape on a tip or delivery line item to cancel an order like It'sHip did. Life's too short. BTW - my guess is more people are ok w/ the charges than not, so I don't think It'sHip's not finishing the online order "taught them"

Cheers.
thanks for saying very astutely what I would have said with a clearer head.
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Old Sep 15, 2013 | 9:11 am
  #130  
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Originally Posted by mbstone
This is certainly nowhere near as annoying as those hotel corporations whose properties charge 18% mandatory service charges on room service and have a tip line.
The service charge is not a tip. The service charge goes to the property and the delivery person/server sees none of it. The tip is for the delivery person/server.

The problem here is cultural. In the US/UK, the service people depend tips for a large part of their income, while in others, they see the income in their wages.

I am neither offended nor think it inappropriate to include a tip line. If a tip is appropriate (delivery person), I include it. If a tip isn't appropriate (take out counter) I don't. But, at my neighborhood places which I frequent, I certainly do take care of the counter person.
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Old Sep 15, 2013 | 9:55 am
  #131  
 
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Originally Posted by chgoeditor
Originally Posted by It'sHip2B^2
So we changed the order to take-out. When we got the check-out there was a tip line.
...
My husband is now making spaghetti. We saved $30. And they lost $30. All because of a delivery fee and a tip line. But somehow I think that they won't have learned anything during the experience.
Was this online "check out" or were you actually in the restaurant and canceled the order in person?
On-line check out. If it had been in store my food already would have been made. Putting nothing on the tip line would not have endangered my food. If I felt like the service was truly outstanding, then I also could have given a tip. I once gave a 50% tip at Chili's curbside pick up because it was -5 F windchill and the guy made a second trip to bring me extra utensils and napkins. But handing me an order over a counter just isn't to worthy IMO.
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Old Sep 15, 2013 | 9:57 am
  #132  
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The charge slip includes a tip line you see as inappropriate? Fill it in with a zero, problem solved.

A long and passionate thread about tipping in the Dining Buzz forum was recently shut down, shortly before this interesting article appeared in the NY Times.

Tip, or don't tip. But why inconvenience yourself because of a computer program? I don't order through services that charge an automatic delivery charge--around here I can still phone and order directly from the restaurant, leaving me a choice. And I'll tip the driver/delivery person in cash rather than add to the charge amount.
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Old Sep 15, 2013 | 10:33 am
  #133  
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Originally Posted by SkiAdcock
I tip pizza drivers.
Pizza drivers always get a $5 tip from us regardless of the size order. And our orders are usually less than $20.
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Old Sep 15, 2013 | 10:55 am
  #134  
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Delivery charge, and where it goes? That is between the restaurant and the driver - none of your business. (Or, even perhaps an online order processing intermediary gets a cut.) It is just a matter of whether you want to pay the fee. Perhaps the merchant provides a fuel allowance to the driver, perhaps not. Perhaps the merchant wants to avoid losses on some orders, i.e., those who place a $5 order and the employee time ends up costing 20 to 30 minutes. Perhaps not.

Very simple. Is it worth $X not to get off of your poto, put on more suitable clothing, shoes, crank up the jalopy, and drive down the street? Or is it not.

As for the tip line, as appropriate, I put a slash through the tip line, and write in the (same) total in the total line. As appropriate, I may put some cash in the tip jar. It is very simple. I am not offended. For the love of [insert your favo(u)rite deity, or lack thereof, here] I don't know what the big deal is.
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Old Sep 15, 2013 | 12:14 pm
  #135  
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No. But then there isn't a place nearby that charges for delivery.

Tipping is simple:
Collection - no tip.
Delivery - 10%.
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