Pizza Delivery Tip

Paul invited friends over to his home and they are all planning to watch a very important game on his new plasma LCD TV. He calls over to get pizza delivered to his home. The pizza truck guy comes over to his house with hot, tasty pizzas right on time. Paul pays the guy for the pizza, but does not give him a proper delivery tip. Now that's bad business etiquette. It is very important to give a proper tip amount to the driver. This is a guide that will help many people like Paul to become aware of the proper etiquette to follow when giving tips.

Why is a Tip Important?

Before I go into the details of how much to tip for pizza delivery, let me answer the one question running through your mind. You must be wondering why the tip so important? Aren't these guys get paid for delivering pizzas? And what about delivery charges added to your bill amount? The owner must be paying them extra from the delivery charges. Well, your thought process is absolutely relevant, but on the wrong path.

You see, the driver needs to battle the horrific traffic you wanted to avoid. Most of the time, these drivers use their own vehicles as not many pizza joints can afford providing them company vehicles. So the onus of maintenance lies with the driver. The delivery charges that you pay are not always passed on to the driver. Most of the time, restaurant owner keeps a heavy share for himself and passes on a small percentage to the driver.

Just image, if you had to travel 75 to 100 miles daily, that means about 4 to 5 hours in heavy traffic. That's what the truck driver does, travels up and down the town, trying to be on time to deliver your hot pizza. And on top of that, search for your house or office. The driver needs to locate your area, then your building, then find the right floor you live in and knock at the correct door. And, do not expect a cheerful friendly person to greet them at the door. A few people take their own sweet time to open the door. Maybe they are thinking, 'He made me wait for my pizza, now I'll make him wait for me!'. Nice payback for a guy who braved all odds to get to your door. Have a look at the tipping etiquette for more information.

The delivery driver offers you his services on a sunny day, rainy day and even if there is a snow blizzard out there. He will walk up to your door, in any weather condition and make sure your pizza is hot. And after taking all the trouble, the pizza that reaches you is cold and soggy, you do not mind giving him an earful. Even if you are not happy with the services offered, make sure you give a proper tip. The guy will surely be grateful and maybe next time works harder to give you better services. Any complaints, call the store manager and speak to him about the bad service. He will know how to deal with the situation and may be send you a complimentary pizza, to make up for the bad service!

How Much to Tip

People are often confused about how to tip a pizza delivery boy. The average tip is about 12 to 15% of the total order. This means for a small order that is less than $20, the average tip is about $3. You can pay 20% or more if you find the service to be exceptionally good. If the service is poor, pay the delivery truck driver about 10% of the bill. A really bad service does not deserve any tip.

The average tip for short distances is about $2 to $3. A long distance trip, that is, anything more than 3 miles away from the store needs to be paid an extra $1. If the distance is over 5 miles, then you need to add a dollar more. A large order or something more than $50, needs to be paid a minimum of $5 tip. In case of bad weather like rains, hot summers, snow or really cold weather, you can pay about $1 more as a thoughtful gesture.

It is important that you should give a proper tip as a substantial amount of the earnings for the drivers comes from the tips. You would tip a waiter in the restaurant, so why not tip a driver who comes all the way to your home to serve you food.