It's been a long day and you've just gotten home from work/school. You know those days... the ones where you don't want to do anything but sit on the couch/lay in bed and browse Facebook or Twitter. You don't have the energy to cook and there are none of those two-minute microwaveable meals left in the freezer. Then, you scroll past an ad for a pizza place and you think "Wow, I should order pizza." So, you order your pizza. In the time it takes from the moment you order to when your pizza is delivered, a lot of questions may run through your mind. "How much should I tip the driver?" "Should I tip the driver? I mean, there's a delivery fee.. so why should they get more money?"
Well, friends, I am here to answer your questions. And give a little insight into the world of delivering pizzas.
To be perfectly honest, you should always tip your driver. We get paid very little on the road; the tips are there to make up for it. Where I work, we get paid a little more than a waiter/waitress, and yeah that's great and all, but every time we get in the car, we risk getting into a car accident or having a break-down. On top of that, we pay for gas out of our own pockets and sadly, it costs money to get your car fixed if something goes wrong. So, if I only make $25 in one shift, that money goes directly to refilling my tank. I won't get paid until my bi-weekly paycheck is direct deposited. And even then, when we leave at the end of every shift, we "claim" cash tips. And the amount we claim is taxed. So at the end of two weeks, our paycheck can be pretty small. That's where you guys come in.
No, you don't have to give your driver a $10 tip. That's not always practical. But, you should consider at least $2 to $5. Most days, I get an average of about $4 per delivery I take. There are people who give seven, eight, even ten dollar tips. There are people who ask for exact change or mark through the tip line on the credit card receipt. It happens, and I've accepted it. In fact, the very first delivery I took, the guy didn't even have enough money to pay for his order. You don't have to tip us, but it's common courtesy to do so.
Now, delivery fees are a whole different topic. Don't ask me what exactly they are for because I don't think it was ever explained during training, but I have some ideas. Drivers get mileage compensation, and I'm pretty sure part of the delivery fee goes towards that. But even so, mileage compensation isn't much. Maybe 90 cents per mile driven. At the end of a shift, it can be a few bucks or much, much more, depending on the number of deliveries taken and the distance to the houses. But delivery fees and mileage compensation don't make up for the times we get stiffed.
So, in the end, it comes down to this: drivers make money primarily from tips. Some of us, myself included, are paying our way through school. Others need the cash at the end of the day to pay other bills or go grocery shopping. Therefore, we truly appreciate even the smallest of tips. The few dollars you give go a long way. I wouldn't be able to continue my education without the few dollars I receive in tips every delivery. From your neighborhood delivery driver, thank you for buying pizza, and thank you for the tip.
