A recent segment on Fox News has started quite a discussion.
During a recent segment on “Outnumbered,” the panel was discussing a viral video of a food service working getting salty because he was “only” tipped 25 percent by a family where he delivered food.
Virtually the entire panel agreed that tipping for delivery service has “gotten out of control.”
Cheap or Not
I have to be honest, I am glad they discussed this because it is something that has irked me for some time.
Tipping people that would normally not get tipped, such as counter workers, is something that started a few years back but went crazy during the pandemic.
Since servers could not make their money at the tables, they were hitting people up for tips when they came to the restaurant to pick up their food.
When this worker went ballistic over the tip, co-host Gerri Willis stated, “It’s unbelievable.
“Everybody wants a tip for everything that they do. They ring up an order. They bring, you know, service. They still want a tip. I think people are taken aback by this,” MediaITE.
Co-host Cheryl Casone piled on, adding, “We’re seeing now a lot of pushback about that tip jar because it’s everywhere that you do business. And tipping is a way to say thank you. And 20%, that’s a good standard, I think, for everybody.
“But look, if you want to give more, give more. But you should do it for service because that person does a great job and a lot of them are very hard working.”
I came up in the food service industry and did my fair share of waiting tables, and I have to tell you, they are right.
I have no problem throwing a good waiter a tip of 20 percent or more for “wow” service. I am not, however, going to tip 20 percent to someone for ringing up an order. Heck, they are not doing anything different than I did as a kid working at McDonald’s, and I cannot remember getting a single tip all the years I worked there through high school and college.
My general rule of thumb for delivery people is between five and 10 percent depending on the situation.
For instance, if the order is going up three flights of steps, I have no problem throwing them $5 on a $20 order, or $10 for a grocery order of $100. But I am not going to give someone at the coffee shop a 20 percent tip for ringing in my order and handing me a coffee.
I remember the days of the pizza guy being happy with a $2 tip regardless of the size of the order. Granted, that was about 40 years ago, but just saying.
Take the weather and location into account, as well as the size of the order, regardless of cost, and tip accordingly, but I can tell you flat out that if I gave a delivery person a $5 tip on a $20 check and they wigged out and put me on social media, that business would never get my business again.
