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To me, any take-out is already a splurge (especially when I know full well that I spent 3 figures at the grocery just 3 days ago and I have a fridge full of food, and it's not even that I'm too tired or too busy to cook, it's just that I compulsively indulge my take-out cravings, because the flesh is weak. So, I assuage my take-out guilt by picking it up myself so at least I can say I saved $5.
I tip a minimum of 15% of the total check (and never less than $3), on top of the delivery fee (like the OP, I wasn't sure where that went, so I didn't assume it went to the driver). If I make you drive my food to me through a storm, or snow, or on a holiday, I'll tip a minimum of $5 or 20% of the total check on top of the delivery fee.
HOWEVER, I don't tip when I go to pick up a take-out order at the local pizza, Chinese/Thai/Sushi place or diner. I'm curious to know all your opinions on this.
I understand that there are 2 very divided camps on this issue. I am of the camp that believes you don't have to tip in this situation. You are not getting waited on by a waiter, and nobody has expended the effort to drive all the way to your house. The other camp says that it can be even more difficult to package all your food into take-out containers and pack it up in bags, etc. etc., than to have a waiter bring it out to you at your table, therefore, you should tip, same as if you dined in or had it delivered. I don't like this logic. Are we expected to tip the people at McDonalds or ShopRite for packing our orders as well, then?
To me, any take-out is already a splurge (especially when I know full well that I spent 3 figures at the grocery just 3 days ago and I have a fridge full of food, and it's not even that I'm too tired or too busy to cook, it's just that I compulsively indulge my take-out cravings, because the flesh is weak. So, I assuage my take-out guilt by picking it up myself so at least I can say I saved $5.
I tip a minimum of 15% of the total check (and never less than $3), on top of the delivery fee (like the OP, I wasn't sure where that went, so I didn't assume it went to the driver). If I make you drive my food to me through a storm, or snow, or on a holiday, I'll tip a minimum of $5 or 20% of the total check on top of the delivery fee.
HOWEVER, I don't tip when I go to pick up a take-out order at the local pizza, Chinese/Thai/Sushi place or diner. I'm curious to know all your opinions on this.
I understand that there are 2 very divided camps on this issue. I am of the camp that believes you don't have to tip in this situation. You are not getting waited on by a waiter, and nobody has expended the effort to drive all the way to your house. The other camp says that it can be even more difficult to package all your food into take-out containers and pack it up in bags, etc. etc., than to have a waiter bring it out to you at your table, therefore, you should tip, same as if you dined in or had it delivered. I don't like this logic. Are we expected to tip the people at McDonalds or ShopRite for packing our orders as well, then?
What say you?
Agree. I don't put money in that "tip cup" at Dunkin Donuts either. I hate that cup.
To me, any take-out is already a splurge (especially when I know full well that I spent 3 figures at the grocery just 3 days ago and I have a fridge full of food, and it's not even that I'm too tired or too busy to cook, it's just that I compulsively indulge my take-out cravings, because the flesh is weak. So, I assuage my take-out guilt by picking it up myself so at least I can say I saved $5.
I tip a minimum of 15% of the total check (and never less than $3), on top of the delivery fee (like the OP, I wasn't sure where that went, so I didn't assume it went to the driver). If I make you drive my food to me through a storm, or snow, or on a holiday, I'll tip a minimum of $5 or 20% of the total check on top of the delivery fee.
HOWEVER, I don't tip when I go to pick up a take-out order at the local pizza, Chinese/Thai/Sushi place or diner. I'm curious to know all your opinions on this.
I understand that there are 2 very divided camps on this issue. I am of the camp that believes you don't have to tip in this situation. You are not getting waited on by a waiter, and nobody has expended the effort to drive all the way to your house. The other camp says that it can be even more difficult to package all your food into take-out containers and pack it up in bags, etc. etc., than to have a waiter bring it out to you at your table, therefore, you should tip, same as if you dined in or had it delivered. I don't like this logic. Are we expected to tip the people at McDonalds or ShopRite for packing our orders as well, then?
Agree. I don't put money in that "tip cup" at Dunkin Donuts either. I hate that cup.
I feel that way, too. Down here everyone has the cups up, even some retail stores (like my seafood market). Sometimes they put signs up on them to make you feel guilty ("Starving Students' Fund"). I do tip if I get takeout in a diner or restaurant, because she had to pack it up, etc, but I"m not tipping someone who only reached forward to hand me a soft pretzel. The cups make me feel awkward, though.
So now getting take out makes you lazy. I can only imagine what you think about people with a dishwasher or a snow blower.
Nice attempt at baiting me, manderly!
So--yes--I do consider sitting on one's butt while waiting interminably for someone to deliver take-out food to be just one more form of laziness.
Allow me to give you another example of what I consider to be laziness that is counter-productive:
Because I am not lazy, I also always used to pack my own lunch to take to work, unlike almost all of my colleagues who got take-out food delivered daily for their lunches. Because I was willing to invest all of...maybe 5 minutes of my time each morning...I was able to spend about $50 less each week for my lunches than the others did.
I often listened to colleagues whining about how they were never able to save money, while they ate their unnecessarily-expensive daily lunch. I also watched their waistlines grow, in all-too-many cases. (These were the same young folks who waited for the incredibly-slow elevator in our two-story office building, while I took the stairs. ) I even tried gently making the case that spending a few minutes of time each morning would pay nice financial rewards for them, but in almost every case, the answer was something along the lines of...I just don't have 5 extra minutes in the morning.
Whatever rationalizations float one's boat, I guess.
How do I know the cost differential? Because I witnessed how much the folks at adjacent desks shelled out each day, for the privilege of saving a few minutes each morning. And, besides saving ~$50 each week, I was able to control the sodium content, the fat content, and the cleanliness of my lunches.
That type of reduction in expenses gave me ~$2,500 more per year to invest/save than my colleagues. If you don't think that is a significant increase in one's annual investments/saving, then I don't know what to say.
And--no--I don't think that someone using a dishwasher or a snow blower is lazy. When you wash a full dishwasher load of dishes & utensils, you are actually using less hot water than if you washed them by hand, so it is actually more cost-efficient in the long run, in addition to being a better use of one's time, to allow a dishwasher to do that task.
I also have a snowblower, simply because I don't want to risk a heart attack by shoveling large amounts of snow from my driveway. If it is a light snowfall, I will use a shovel, but for snowfalls of more than...4 inches or so...I use the snowblower.
One of the nice things about living in a democracy is that we get to make our own decisions about things like whether we will do basic tasks ourselves, or whether we wish to pay others to do them for us. I opt to do many/most of them myself. If you choose to pay others for these tasks, that is your choice. Nobody is right, and nobody is wrong. I am entitled to my opinion on the issue, and you are entitled to yours. However, attempting to bait me on this issue is...just not appropriate.
Last edited by Retriever; 07-17-2012 at 07:16 AM..
Personally I'm getting my pizza delivered. But in the context of being "frugal" it is an entirely different discussion. If someone is even going to bring up small dollar amounts then everything is fair game.
When a pizzeria adds on a delivery charge does that go to the driver (part of the "tip") or is that a separate fee? Recently ordered one with a $2 delivery fee then I tipped another $2 so did he get $4 or $2?
The driver does not necessarily get this. It would be best to ask.
If the pizzeria owns the vehicle, they likely don't get any of it. If it's the drivers car, they still likely get only part of it, but possibly get all of it.
I worked for a place and drove their car, and I got paid like a waiter. It was like $2.15/hour + tips. If I didn't get minimum wage through tips, they paid me min. wage.
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Should cost you less than a dollar.
