Question Re: Tipping Delivery Driver

[rainbowsandroses]

5 hours ago, Kwothe28 said:

I am not against tipping and often round up the restaurant bill, for example, if the service was nice. But what you are doing is just pure insanity.

Appreciate your opinion however I don't typically give an extra cash tip on top of what I already tip and after reading responses I won't, it's not necessary.

Yeah I do realize 20% is probably too much (even though it's only a few dollars which isn't gonna break my bank but will probably make a difference to the driver who is paid very little), but it's how I was raised.

22 hours ago, rainbowsandroses said:

I take after my dad that way, he was always extremely generous with those in lesser positions than himself.  He also encouraged us to help the underprivileged in any way we could (volunteering etc).

Not that delivery drivers are underprivileged but it's very low pay, same with restaurant workers.

I find it interesting I am being criticized for being generous towards others less fortunate or who work menial jobs with low pay.  It's quite an odd thing to be negatively judged and criticized for but again appreciate your opinion.

[Batya33]

1 minute ago, rainbowsandroses said:

Appreciate your opinion however I don't typically give an extra cash tip on top of what I already tip and after reading responses I won't, it's not necessary.

Yeah I do realize 20% is probably too much (even though it's only a few dollars which isn't gonna break my bank but will probably make a difference to the driver who is paid very little), but it's how I was raised.

I find it interesting I am being criticized for being generous; it's quite an odd thing to be negatively criticized for but again appreciate your opinion.

I read it as input on it's a waste of $ given the amount so - maybe give to charity or the like? I mean I don't see it as something to judge - you do you -it's fine and you have really thoughtful intentions! - but you asked if it was overkill and some believe it is so.

I think pure insanity is more like when a person goes to a coffee place and agrees to pay double the price from a week ago for the same plain coffee because it's a required tip (then I'd walk out but that's just me).

I said no today to donating to a charity at the grocery store.  basically an add on.  Why? Because I donated to that specific charity last week at the grocery store so to me it's enough and I like to spread the love.  But if I'd felt I should donate again -I would have - you're sort of doing this in a charitable way, yes? 

[rainbowsandroses]

2 minutes ago, Batya33 said:

maybe give to charity or the like?

I also give money to charity and @Kwothe28called what I do "pure insanity," that's a judgment.

Anyway, nuff said, thanks again for all your input.

[Batya33]

Just now, rainbowsandroses said:

I also give money to charity and @Kwothe28called what I do "insane," that's a judgment.

Anyway, nuff said, thanks again for all your input.

Yes I don't think it's insane. I think certain food related prices these days are a bit insane. I think asking for tips in certain situations like a few people wrote gets pretty nutty too.

[NighttimeNightmare]

On 1/17/2024 at 5:42 PM, rainbowsandroses said:

When you order out from a restaurant and your food is delivered, even though you leave the driver a tip on your credit card when ordering (20% typically)

USA perspective: I’ve never heard that applied to to-the-home food delivery services. The 20% is when eating in at restaurants. When food is delivered I’ve always heard that drivers appreciate $1/mile one way. Counting from the restaurant to your home.  So if your home is 7 miles from the restaurant, tip $7. if it’s 20 miles away, tip $20

 

In any event the tipping culture is out of hand, and I’m tired of paying wages for someone else’s employees because their employers don’t want to do it 

 

 

[catfeeder]

5 hours ago, mylolita said:

We are talking about basically the flu here though catfeeder, not the Bubonic Plague? 🤣

Yeah, no. Not sure where you live, but we were completely shut down here with nothing open to the public except for pickups or deliveries. Call the reason whatever you like. And so the people who needed to hustle for their money instead of working from home have earned my respect, and they still have it today.

Shopping and delivery services have remained in place given that we’ve all learned new ways to use them. No need to find a breaking point in my work to run out. I can fit an order in between meetings and have it left on my porch bench followed by a text when it’s there.

Someone who’s willing to run around in freezing temps to close that gap for me deserves good pay, and I’m grateful to them, so I’m happy to contribute.

Big thank you, @rainbowsandroses for the point towards Prime. I’m a member and will look into that. Meanwhile, I’ve been lucky enough to have found a fabulous pizza place that serves all kinds of other foods, and the delivery fee is 2 bucks!

[boltnrun]

1 minute ago, catfeeder said:

I’ve been lucky enough to have found a fabulous pizza place that serves all kinds of other foods, and the delivery fee is 2 bucks!

Yes! The pizza place I order from has pasta, wings and sandwiches. Even burgers! And their delivery fee is only $3 and I add in a decent tip. And I still keep it around $20-ish which isn't insane for a pizza that will feed me for three days. There's also a gourmet grocery that has sandwiches. It's only around $12 plus tip and I can walk there and do a quick pickup. And both of those places have an app. Super easy. 

[catfeeder]

10 minutes ago, NighttimeNightmare said:

…In any event the tipping culture is out of hand, and I’m tired of paying wages for someone else’s employees because their employers don’t want to do it 

I hear, NN. While I think there’s a difference between corporate chains versus small businesses who are still scraping by to make up for losses, I tend to focus on the people who are working very hard trying to support themselves.

 I never knew until I took some lower wage jobs when I returned to college, there’s often a direct correlation between the difficulty of work relative to the absence of pay.

Maybe desperation equals abuse? I dunno. But low wage jobs have lots of side work we don’t see, difficult hours plus expectations that one covers the shifts of others on notice, and I just hope you’ll reconsider using resentment toward a business owner against the honest and struggling folks who work for them.

[catfeeder]

11 minutes ago, boltnrun said:

Yes! The pizza place I order from has pasta, wings and sandwiches. Even burgers! And their delivery fee is only $3 and I add in a decent tip. And I still keep it around $20-ish which isn't insane for a pizza that will feed me for three days. There's also a gourmet grocery that has sandwiches. It's only around $12 plus tip and I can walk there and do a quick pickup. And both of those places have an app. Super easy. 

Yay! I’m so glad you found great alternatives to the mieelion dolla burrito! Hah! I had a similar fail from Panera, when I mistook the delivery fee as being for the order rather than per sandwich. That cost me a bundle! But I’m still glad I tipped the driver!

[ShySoul]

4 hours ago, NighttimeNightmare said:

In any event the tipping culture is out of hand, and I’m tired of paying wages for someone else’s employees because their employers don’t want to do it 

Yes. Think this carries over into more then food services as well. The insane earnings of CEO's compared to the earnings of the workers actually doing the day to day work. Income inequality is a huge and sad problem.

Unfortunately, that's not a problem I can personally solve. So I'll do what I can to help the people on the low end of the spectrum. If I can afford a few dollars, I'll gladly give it. Serving food all day is not an easy task, they deserve more then they generally get.

4 hours ago, catfeeder said:

 I never knew until I took some lower wage jobs when I returned to college, there’s often a direct correlation between the difficulty of work relative to the absence of pay.

Or the importance of work. I think teachers are criminally underpaid considering the importance of education and learning to think critically. Not to mention the off the clock hours of lesson planning, grading papers, etc., or spending there own money on supplies.

[Kwothe28]

7 hours ago, rainbowsandroses said:

I also give money to charity and @Kwothe28called what I do "pure insanity," that's a judgment.

 

When? You do know the thread of the topic is mandatory tipping culture Americans like you have and support? You do know there is a difference between that and charity work or giving funds to charity? Delivery work is not charity. In fact, during Corona it was one of the works that thrived because of the whole situation. 

I called mandatory tipping culture insanity. Which it is according to many even here as it seems. Again, go protest and demand owners to pay proper wages. And if the delivery does good job, then put in some tip. Mandatory 15-20% for just doing its job is insanity.

[mylolita]

7 hours ago, catfeeder said:

Yeah, no. Not sure where you live, but we were completely shut down here with nothing open to the public except for pickups or deliveries. Call the reason whatever you like. And so the people who needed to hustle for their money instead of working from home have earned my respect, and they still have it today.

Shopping and delivery services have remained in place given that we’ve all learned new ways to use them. No need to find a breaking point in my work to run out. I can fit an order in between meetings and have it left on my porch bench followed by a text when it’s there.

Someone who’s willing to run around in freezing temps to close that gap for me deserves good pay, and I’m grateful to them, so I’m happy to contribute.

Big thank you, @rainbowsandroses for the point towards Prime. I’m a member and will look into that. Meanwhile, I’ve been lucky enough to have found a fabulous pizza place that serves all kinds of other foods, and the delivery fee is 2 bucks!

They had my respect before all this! 
 

And I’m in the UK catfeeder! 
 

My husband, because of lockdown, basically wasn’t allowed to work. It was made illegal to go out to antique fairs and auction houses shut down, so small businesses like him pretty much all folded. He just about managed to keep it together after being in business over 25 years and also kept on two staff. We have children and a mortgage to pay. So at least they had a job, some people, we were all basically put under house arrest and told you can’t feed your family anymore and check into benefits. NO!

 

I pinch myself it even happened.

 

It was okay for health workers who were definitely assured of their jobs, government workers and people who could happily sit at home on furlough but the small self employed people? 
 

They always had my respect anyway. I’ve worked plenty of “menial” jobs and it’s the construction workers who fix the sewers, throw up all our buildings, the lorry drivers who deliver our essentials, yes the retail staff and farmers, the men who empty our bins - these people keep our world turning. Always had my respect before any of this nonsense and outrage! 
 

Sorry, my spines *** up this is so offensive to me. They had no choice but to come into work anyway, most people actually need their wages, whilst everyone else could sit in their pjama’s doing some overpaid, under needed job.

 

x
 

 

[mylolita]

3 hours ago, ShySoul said:

Yes. Think this carries over into more then food services as well. The insane earnings of CEO's compared to the earnings of the workers actually doing the day to day work. Income inequality is a huge and sad problem.

Unfortunately, that's not a problem I can personally solve. So I'll do what I can to help the people on the low end of the spectrum. If I can afford a few dollars, I'll gladly give it. Serving food all day is not an easy task, they deserve more then they generally get.

Or the importance of work. I think teachers are criminally underpaid considering the importance of education and learning to think critically. Not to mention the off the clock hours of lesson planning, grading papers, etc., or spending there own money on supplies.

What my son personally learns at school these days Shy, I could write on a post stamp. 
 

Everything and anything of any substance, he has picked up or actively been taught here at home. He’s just gone 6 years old.

 

x

[rainbowsandroses]

1 hour ago, Kwothe28 said:

Again, go protest and demand owners to pay proper wages.

To quote @ShySoul

4 hours ago, ShySoul said:

Unfortunately, that's not a problem I can personally solve. So I'll do what I can to help the people on the low end of the spectrum. 

Once again appreciate your opinion @Kwothe28. 😀

[rainbowsandroses]

2 hours ago, Kwothe28 said:

You do know there is a difference between that and charity work or giving funds to charity.

Lol, yes of course I know the difference, I only mentioned it in response to what @Batya33suggested. 

9 hours ago, Batya33 said:

maybe give to charity or the like?

When reading and responding to posts @Kwothe28 context matters. 

Thanks again. 

[Batya33]

5 hours ago, ShySoul said:

Not to mention the off the clock hours of lesson planning, grading papers, etc., or spending there own money on supplies.

When I was a public school classroom teacher I was NOT off the clock when not in the classroom just like professors are not.  It's far more of a job and profession than being in the classroom.  You don't do it for the money and for many "summers off" mean a second job (at least).  I did spend a lot of my own money on supplies.  That was -awful -I was in my early 20s.  I did feel underpaid. I think public school teachers k-12 are underpaid still.  It's one reason I left after 3 years. Loved teaching children so much. (One of my former students is now 30 something mom of twins and lives abroad and I am stil in touch with her and was friendly with her mom for about 20 years until she passed away a few years ago).

We -fellow  teachers -worked so hard and I volunteerd with kids for 7 years later on. I believe we taught them a great deal.  Not just academics. Just like I learned from my teachers and professors.  Very thankful for so many of them. And yes we gave them gifts and gift cards just like I've done all these years with my son's teachers.

I know many managers and CEOS who work extremely hard even if they are not doing the sandwich making or the similar tasks certain employees do.  I know people who are very bad at customer service and customers suffer, I know managers who do not work hard.  My grandfather washed windows for a living -one man show I think washing store windows.  When I was management level and made $$ I worked my behind off and there was no clock.  I was always on the clock.  I also did a lot of secretarial tasks as needed -got my hands dirty so to speak like my grandpa -like so many managers do -good managers do that IMO.  Not a fan of the broad "rich CEOS make too much/are lazy/treat workers badly" It depends. 

Having said that I tip generously.  As a rule. I'm not a fan of having that tip thing in my face when all I'm doing is paying for a premade sandwich I selected from a case.  That's just me.  But again context depends.

[catfeeder]

9 hours ago, mylolita said:

...Sorry, my spines *** up this is so offensive to me. 

Not clear why you're directing this at me. I'm a fan of tipping. I have nothing to do with anything else.

[rainbowsandroses]

Okay guys I may need to rethink this.  I just ordered again today and below is the entire tab.

Items subtotal - $38.90  

Sales tax - $3.52

Delivery fee -   $7.49$0.00

Driver tip - $5.00

Driver Benefits Fee - $3.50

---------------------------

Driver Benefit Fee?  Does anyone who gets delivery know what this is for?   I never noticed this before but if they're getting salary (albeit minimal), tip and driver benefits fee of $3.50 for every drive, perhaps they're not doing as badly as I originally thought?

[rainbowsandroses]

OMG, I also decided to do some research on salary of delivery drivers and this is what I found.

>>The average salary for a food delivery driver in California is $22,500 per year. Food delivery driver salaries in California can vary between $16,000 to $58,500 and depend on various factors, including skills, experience, employer, bonuses, tips, and more.,,

Best Paying Delivery Jobs

• Postmates driver.
• DoorDash driver.
• Uber Eats driver.
• Instacart driver.
• GrubHub driver.

Yeah I DEFINITELY need to rethink my tipping policy, wow.

Perhaps 10%-15% instead of 20%?  Today I left around 15%.

[boltnrun]

5 minutes ago, rainbowsandroses said:

Okay guys I may need to rethink this.  I just ordered again today and below is the entire tab.

Items subtotal - $38.90  

Sales tax - $3.52

Delivery fee -   $7.49$0.00

Driver tip - $5.00

Driver Benefits Fee - $3.50

---------------------------

Driver Benefit Fee?  Does anyone who gets delivery know what this is for?   I never noticed this before but if they're getting salary (albeit minimal), tip and driver benefits fee of $3.50 for every drive, perhaps they're not doing as badly as I originally thought?

I don't think the driver received this. It probably goes to the app operators. Or if it's through Amazon it goes to them.

Trust me, Amazon does NOTHING for free. 

[boltnrun]

That $58k is for drivers who are on multiple platforms and who hustle. Like, they're working every day, all day. Your average driver doesn't make anything near that. 

[rainbowsandroses]

2 minutes ago, boltnrun said:

That $58k is for drivers who are on multiple platforms and who hustle. Like, they're working every day, all day. Your average driver doesn't make anything near that. 

Thanks!  That's a decent salary even here in SoCal.

[boltnrun]

Just now, rainbowsandroses said:

Thanks!  That's a decent salary even here in SoCal.

It is, but it also requires the person to not really have any time off. 

I briefly considered doing some app driving on the weekends, but I lived in a big time party city and I didn't want drunk tourists barfing in my car 🤢

[dias]

15 minutes ago, rainbowsandroses said:

Thanks!  That's a decent salary even here in SoCal.

Can you live with 58K in California? You can barely live in Atlanta with 58K which is way cheaper. I hear from software engineers in San Francisco that with 200K you are just getting by. True or not I don't know. Although everyone has a different definition of decent.  

[boltnrun]

3 minutes ago, dias said:

Can you live with 58K in California? You can barely live in Atlanta with 58K which is way cheaper. I hear from software engineers in San Francisco that with 200K you are just getting by. True or not I don't know. Although everyone has a different definition of decent.  

Depends on where. The Bay Area is exceedingly expensive. Some parts of Los Angeles county are also very expensive. Where I live you can't even buy a two bedroom condo for under $600k, but if you rent it's affordable. Other parts of Southern California are less expensive, such as the Inland Empire. And rural Northern California is also less expensive.