How much to tip deliveries?

[Leo]

I always tip 20% whenever we go to a restaurant before the pandemic even if we had a bad service or not. I know that servers and waitress does not earn minimum wage and they rely more on tips. And of course, I tip in bars, hotels, barbershop, spa, etc. depending on what service I got.

Now my question is how much to tip food and grocery deliveries.

We just started to use Instacart and in addition to delivery fee of $3.99 and service fee of 5-10%, the default tip is 5% and you can change it to a dollar amount or higher percentage.

So for example, for a grocery total of $50, you would need to pay add $3.99 + $5.00 to Instacart and then if you choose 5% tip, that is $2.50 to the driver. That is total of $61.49 for $50 groceries. Now my question is, should I tip more than 5%?

We also use Grubhub and Doordash for food delivery maybe once every week or two. They both have different breakdowns but of course, expect to pay additional $10 to your order. For example, my total is $30 and I end up paying $40 which makes sense.

Grubhub delivery fee is like $1.50 and service fee is $1.50 and on top of that, there is a mandatory driver benefits of $1.50 and then couple bucks for tips. If that is the case, should I tip more than 2 dollars?

I understand that tipping is always appreciated and we should always tip more especially if you consider those drivers a frontline worker, but I think there is a difference between a traditonal waitressing job vs delivery driver job. A traditional waitress will serve you when you are eating and it's like a 30mins and 1hour job and they are relying on tips. A delivery driver does not earn money per hour but they can see the list of potential orders in the app and they can choose which one to select and they know how much they will earn upfront (Instacart/Grubhub pays them per order) and they also see how much is the tip per order.

So I guess my question is, how much should we tip per Instacart order? How about per Grubhub order?

[Jluke]

$5 tip

[bjl584]

Quick and dirty hack:

Take the first number and double it.
A $20 bill would get a $4 tip.

That will get you pretty close to an acceptable tip if you don't want to sit and figure out the math

[disneysteve]

Quick and dirty hack:

Take the first number and double it.
A $20 bill would get a $4 tip.

That will get you pretty close to an acceptable tip if you don't want to sit and figure out the math

So you give a delivery guy a 20% tip? That's very generous.

[bjl584]

So you give a delivery guy a 20% tip? That's very generous.

Take care of your delivery driver.
They will remember you, and you'll get your food faster next time. Maybe even with a few freebie items

[ua_guy]

Because of Covidiots in grocery stores and the winter spike in cases/deaths, we've been using Instacart since just before the holidays. The idea is...we've been good and played by the rules this long, a few extra bucks to ensure we see ourselves safely through to receiving a vaccine while people become increasingly careless is worth it.

I actually do not like the service and will return to self-shopping once I've got shots in my arm. Grocery shopping is something I can do on my own. I know a lot of people are taking side gigs to make ends meet right now, and I appreciate the relative safety it provides me, so I tip generously - usually 15-20% total tip on top of the delivery fee.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

I always tip 20% whenever we go to a restaurant before the pandemic even if we had a bad service or not. I know that servers and waitress does not earn minimum wage and they rely more on tips. And of course, I tip in bars, hotels, barbershop, spa, etc. depending on what service I got.

Now my question is how much to tip food and grocery deliveries.

We just started to use Instacart and in addition to delivery fee of $3.99 and service fee of 5-10%, the default tip is 5% and you can change it to a dollar amount or higher percentage.

So for example, for a grocery total of $50, you would need to pay add $3.99 + $5.00 to Instacart and then if you choose 5% tip, that is $2.50 to the driver. That is total of $61.49 for $50 groceries. Now my question is, should I tip more than 5%?

We also use Grubhub and Doordash for food delivery maybe once every week or two. They both have different breakdowns but of course, expect to pay additional $10 to your order. For example, my total is $30 and I end up paying $40 which makes sense.

Grubhub delivery fee is like $1.50 and service fee is $1.50 and on top of that, there is a mandatory driver benefits of $1.50 and then couple bucks for tips. If that is the case, should I tip more than 2 dollars?

I understand that tipping is always appreciated and we should always tip more especially if you consider those drivers a frontline worker, but I think there is a difference between a traditonal waitressing job vs delivery driver job. A traditional waitress will serve you when you are eating and it's like a 30mins and 1hour job and they are relying on tips. A delivery driver does not earn money per hour but they can see the list of potential orders in the app and they can choose which one to select and they know how much they will earn upfront (Instacart/Grubhub pays them per order) and they also see how much is the tip per order.

So I guess my question is, how much should we tip per Instacart order? How about per Grubhub order?

If possible try to order from restaurants directly. I don't use uber eats, grub hub, or postmates. They rip off the restaurants. Instead i call directly now and I order and tip them. They need it to stay alive. You might be killing the restaurant because they are paying like 50% to these delivery services and it eats into their margains.

[HundredK]

I tip 20% across the board for pretty much anything. Though sometimes I do notice that grocery delivery services like amazon only default to a 10% tip and sometimes I forget to change it and increase it. I don't count the delivery fees and whatnot as part of the tip for things like doordash because I know the driver's not getting that.

[kork13]

I said it in the other tipping thread, but I hate tips. I actively avoid getting delivery anything, in part because I hate having to tip somebody. I'll happily drive out to the Domino's or whatever myself than be forced to offer a tip and question if it's reasonable.

To the extent that it's unavoidable... I generally will tip 10-15% for delivery stuff. In person, normally between 15-20%. Sometimes I'll go higher than those averages, occasionally lower.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

I said it in the other tipping thread, but I hate tips. I actively avoid getting delivery anything, in part because I hate having to tip somebody. I'll happily drive out to the Domino's or whatever myself than be forced to offer a tip and question if it's reasonable.

To the extent that it's unavoidable... I generally will tip 10-15% for delivery stuff. In person, normally between 15-20%. Sometimes I'll go higher than those averages, occasionally lower.

I can't stand tipping either. I just agree to pay a living wage. Or a surchage I don't mind if they are upfront. I honestly will pay less on 18% than me doing 20%+.

[myrdale]

In the last 15 years, I think I have had a pizza delivered on one occasion.

I'm about an 8 minute drive outside of town. 20 minutes round trip. I'd say $5 to $10 is reasonable.

At work I've ordered pizza on a couple of occasions. I think it was a $200 order, and I tipped about $25, but that was on the company's card.