Just a side note, even if you're paying with debit/credit card, try to tip cash if you can, some friends who deliver food said tips made with the card machine get automatically claimed as taxable income, but if you tip cash there's no record of it.

I don't know if people have already said this, I've just noticed some things in these comments. I used to work at a pizza franchise and did any job you could think of while there.

From my experience, driver's don't usually get the delivery fee, that is merely the store's driver safety insurance charge. The store gets that money, so they have a way of reimbursing driver's if they ever get mugged or something. Delivering can be dangerous if you're near a shady area.

Other delivery services/stores may vary, but my driver's made below minimum wage. 2 maybe even 3 dollars is the least you should give no matter what the cost of your order. Gas is costly, and you should pay them for delivering food to your doorstep.

If you order delivery due to inclement weather, give them extra ( 150% - 200% what you would normally give, i.e. normally $5, give $8 or something )

Some courteous things to do when you order delivery:
Turn on porch light if it's nighttime
Don't make them wait in shitty weather ( be on the look out for them )
Have your money ready
Don't pay in coins

I'm going to America in a few weeks, is it true that you have to tip everyone.

You tip wait staff, food delivery, other service stuff, you don't have to tip for really simple stuff like a cup of coffee unless you're feeling nice or something. Also, food and stuff is cheaper at a place where you tip.

most smart places will just include the tip in the "total owed" for the driver at the end of the night and allow them to take credit card tips out of the cash they received for orders paid in cash

when i was delivering pizzas for like ~6 months there was a regular couple that every friday would order $40+ in food and then pay entirely in change. that order got ignored by all the drivers for a longgggggggggggggg time every week.

I don't know about most places but I don't think that's what he's talking about, when I close my shift I do get the credit tips out of the cash i got from cash orders (or the reggie if I didn't take any cash orders), but I do still need to report those tips or I don't get them at all. That's what he's talking about; any and all credit tips will be reported and taxed/retracted from your check even though you get them in cash at the end of the day, but if you give them a tip in cash in the first place they're expected to report them but it's honor system and no one ever does, even my managers know it and most of them don't even ask if I got any and the ones who do know I did but don't care.

This is true. Jimmy John's has a 1.40-ish delivery charge on every order that averages your order to the nearest quarter (also partially for convenience). I don't get any of it except in extenuating circumstances. Some places do (one of my managers used to drive for Domino's, and they get 1.25 per delivery; if a JJs, and I suppose other places too, does a lot of catering orders, they reimburse for mileage as well, mine doesn't get that many catering orders) but their wages are often adjusted for it.

PLEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASE do these things, especially the porch light thing. I don't care if you'll just turn it off as soon as I leave, but it 1) gives me an immediate idea that you're probably the house I'm going to, especially in a neighborhood where everyone has their lights off 2) Makes it easier for me to check the house number and make sure I'm right and 3) Makes it a lot easier for me to navigate your porch without running into anything you've left out there (you'd be surprised).

I've literally never had a pizza delivered or any other kind of food. Cooking is fun.

But when I do go to restaurants I tend to leave very large tips because people tend to remember you and treat you better. There's a particular Chinese place in town here for example - nothing special. The majority of people leave about 2$ as the tip - it's a buffet with a grill on Friday nights, 2$ seems reasonable since your service comes down to picking up plates and drink refills, but I've always made it a point to pay 7-10$ in tips for myself and my son. As a result, when we go to this place (it's my boy's favorite) we get basically whatever we want. They even gave us a REALLY nice set of chopsticks in a polished wooden case, and around Christmas (the owner knows my politics) gave me a lighter with Mao's face on it (I like memorabilia like that despite my distaste of Mao).

I also get free drinks at this one Mexican restaurant whenever I've brought a date lol. I don't know the owner, it's simply gratitude for paying them well over the last several years (I go about once every 2 months) - such is small town living. Plus I think it always makes a good impression (on a date) when the wait staff know your name and treat you like a friend. It makes the whole "I'm going somewhere alone with this guy" a lot easier.

Yea fuck that guy. I worked at my place for 5 years, so I got to know our customers pretty well even if I didn't deliver too often. I managed the last few years so anyone who tipped the drivers well/was a nice person got better pizza and faster.

What kind of Marixst doesn't like Mao?

$0

The average wage for a tipped server in the USA was $11.82/hour as of May, 2012. We've officially gone from, "Tip well because these people have been dealt a bad hand in life and their hourly wages are $3" to "tip well but make sure it's cash because these people have been dealt a bad hand in life and their hourly wages are $3 but handouts aren't enough to get them by so let's all contribute to their constant tax evasion because god knows they shouldn't have to pay income taxes on more than $3/hour when they're most likely making upwards of $12/hour."

Nice.

Smakers I understood and respected your position during your first post but now you just sound like an asshole

it appears you got that line from wikipedia and forgot the beginning part to that section. allow me!

"The American federal government requires a wage of at least $2.13 per hour be paid to employees that receive at least $30 per month in tips.[4] If wages and tips do not equal the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour during any pay period, the employer is required to increase cash wages to compensate. As of May 2012, the average hourly wage – including tips – for a restaurant employee in the United States that received tip income was $11.82."

I didn't forget anything from the beginning. There is nothing pertinent before the line I posted. Your addition tells that a tipped employee has a base salary of at least $2.13 but must make a minimum of $7.25/hr or the employer is responsible for getting the employee to that rate. It goes on to say the average hourly wage was $11.82. Yes, that means many servers are making less than that, but obviously many are making more as well.

...what did I forget? What misinformation did I spread?

Twitlord, I'm sorry you feel like I'm being an asshole. I would argue that the servers committing tax fraud daily and the people suggesting that we should go out of our way to assist said servers are the ones who are assholes. I pay taxes on my gross income. Why should I assist them in dodging that very same tax? Because they don't make a lot of money? What about the dish washer who gets paid an hourly salary of $7.25 but doesn't get tips so he ends up making less money than the server? What about the cashier who's in the same boat as the dish washer?

how ofter do people fuck with / spit in peoples food? and how little does it take to make someone do so? anyone have exp. with these situations?

I don't think I've ever tipped anyone in my life. Here in England it really isn't that custom unless you get absolutely amazing service somewhere and quite frankly that never happens. Not only that but I don't really think those people actually deserve any more of my money and I can't afford it.

I'd like to think it's just fear mongering and never actually happens unless you're legitimately disrespectful.

If it ever happens, it will be in a very small restaurant. I worked in a restaurant for 4 years and nothing close even happened. No one could ever get away with that when 5+ other people are in the kitchen.

Worst I saw is when some guy complained his suicide wings weren't hot enough (idk which hot he even meant), sent them back multiple times. The kitchen staff decided to put the wings in the microwave for like 4 minutes. I guess he was fine with them after they did that.

5$ and a firm handshake with a date over cheap wine

Smaka is correct that tips are to be reported as taxable income, and comedically enough, if you do choose to skimp on reporting your tips in taxes, your employer still withholds a "rough guess" at how much you made in tips - it's some generalized number that's probably specific from state to state for persons who receive tips, so you may be screwing yourself into paying taxes on income you didn't earn - for most people roughly in the appropriate age group for this forum that's not particularly important because they wouldn't be paying taxes anyway - if you're making under 20k per year you'd just get (all that was withheld) it all refunded anyhow. You're also doubly screwing yourself should you become disabled or require social security at some point whilst still being a server because your benefit payouts will be lower.

I don't want to get mired in argument, I don't agree or disagree with this, but most of the time, as a server, you report enough tips to take you just over minimum wage, and about the same amount that the other servers at the establishment in question report, no one actually reports 100% of their tips.