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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

to think tipping the delivery driver is a good thing to do

118 replies

Ohbehave1 · 12/03/2016 22:28

I have just had a debate with a friend over whether or not take away delivery drivers should be tipped or not.

She says they are paid to do a job so why should we pay them extra. She never does. I think it's worth tipping if the service has been good.

OP posts:
JustDanceAddict · 15/03/2016 12:00

No, cos I pay by card online first.

OohMavis · 15/03/2016 12:41

My friend's husband earns shitloads delivering takeaway Grin £50 a night in tips alone is usual, and he does it on top of his day job!

But yes I always tip. Actually I just say 'keep the change', but same thing right?

LookAtAllThesePhucksIGive · 15/03/2016 12:48

I signed up to Amazon local. I had s £10 code off a £30 spend so I thought I'd give it a whirl. It's not the cheapest but if you're stuck for bread and milk etc etc and they drop off in an hour it's ideal when you can't leave the house. When the payment screen popped up the first thing to tick was how much you wanted to tip your delivery person?! Nice try Amazon. Nice try.

MammaBean1988 · 15/03/2016 13:10

Alisvolatpropiis - Minimum wage and living wage are not the same. it's very hard to survive (especially with kids!) on minimum wage even working 40 hrs a week.

I used to work as a pizza delivery driver back when i was childless. Most folk round up, i tended to get better tips in worse off areas and if the weather was bad (i was on one of those awful moped with a pizza box on the back). I will go out of my way to scrape a tip together when i order a takeaway unless there's already a delivery charge in which case it's about what i've got in my pockets.

Once i delivered to a large office block about 9.30pm, winter, Glasgow. I had to wait 10 minutes to get into the building and another 15mins waiting for the guy who'd ordered the pizza to actually come down (he hadn't given any details of which floor/company he was with). The pizza was 18.99 and he paid me a £20 note and said something like "that's fine" which i (foolishly) took to mean 'keep the change' - this being an occurrence on about 80% of deliveries I'd been on.

After a moment of staring at me he asked where his change was and glared at me as i fumbled numb-fingered through the float to give him his £1.01 change after he'd cost me 25minutes (the company i was delivering for have a 30 minute target for all drops - you expect to make that your average quite easily). He made some comment to the security guard that implied i was trying to rip him off.

After the suited and booted pizza ordering guy disappeared back into the lift with his pizza the security guard actually apologised to me for it, and ranted a wee bit about how rude he'd been, which was nice.

I don't begrudge him the £1.01 but it really struck me at the time how rude and selfish his actions seemed, especially given how much of my time he'd wasted.

MammaBean1988 · 15/03/2016 13:12

edit: i don't tend to tip courier delivery drivers - the postie, paper & milk delivery kids and the window cleaner get a card with cash tip around christmas time though

Idontneedanotherhero · 15/03/2016 13:23

Dominos drivers get paid £1 per delivery and no fuel contribution. At least that's what they pay at my local dominos, I know this as I enquired when looking at ways to make an extra few quid. Having said that, I still don't tip them. Restaurants and taxis only, and only then if the service has been exceptional. I'm a SAHM, my money is precious!

BarbaraofSeville · 15/03/2016 13:25

Lots of people earn minimum wage in similar jobs and are almost never tipped, like retail, or cleaning. Also jobs with masses more responsibility like care work.

I tip waiters mainly out of obligation, but I fail to see how being polite and friendly, carrying plates around and upselling wherever possible is in anyway more deserving of tips than the jobs above - that's the basic requirement of the job, for which waiting staff are already paid. I almost never have takeaway delivered so not an issue.

HellonHeels · 15/03/2016 13:28

I usually tip. They are doing a job I really don't want to do - delivering groceries is my normal delivery. In my last place the ocado man lugged several heavy boxes / bags up two flights for me. I am really grateful for the service and they always did it very willingly.

I'm currently on a free Ocado delivery offer so all the more reason to.

TrueBlueYorkshire · 15/03/2016 13:44

I always give good tips, I like that the money is going directly to someone who lives in my village, who is usually young. I would have just stuck it in a bank account anyway so why not give to to someone else and help them out? They are our future after all.

Its along the same lines as spending money on your high street at independent retails means you have a thriving village centre which people want to visit.

I see the opposite of this all the time, town full of tightarses, and people wonder why where they live is a bit rubbish...

MsMims · 15/03/2016 13:58

I used to do delivery driving for dominos, I'm guessing each franchise has a different policy as there's mixed replies here. I was paid £5 per hour (under 25) and got £1 per delivery made. You'd still get paid if you made multiple drops but that rarely happened. Most of the time I would deliver a single order, at the most two orders at once. Just after I left, they dropped the per delivery payment to 50p which would have been costing drivers money to deliver.

We covered a large area and also had to extend into another franchises delivery area if their customers wanted a non-halal order. I don't think the £1 delivery payment was much when you take into account you're providing the business with a delivery vehicle, all the associated costs of that and fuel etc. Let alone when they dropped it to 50p.

Flashbangandgone · 15/03/2016 17:30

Lots of people earn minimum wage in similar jobs and are almost never tipped, like retail, or cleaning. Also jobs with masses more responsibility like care work.

^
Totally agree... It seems the argument for giving tips to delivery drivers is mostly based on pity for the plight as opposed to anything special about their service... Yet when did anyone (outside the States perhaps!) tip a shop assistant or postman for delivering a parcel?

theycallmemellojello · 15/03/2016 17:39

I tip takeaway guys but not amazon/dhl etc. Even though they probably earn the same. I want to tip the latter but feel too embarrassed.

Ohbehave1 · 15/03/2016 17:50

Oohmavis. Either your friends husband is a liar or you live in a very affluent area! 16 drops all tipping £3 each. Something doesn't sound right at all

OP posts:
Chattymummyhere · 15/03/2016 17:50

Nope I hate tipping it's just another way for companies not to pay enough. You don't tip the shelf stacker at tesco on minimum wage.

Chattymummyhere · 15/03/2016 17:51

Ohbehave my full would easily tip more than £3 even if the food was cold and late.

In a restaurant lately he still tipped over £20 for what was a completely shoddy meal/service.

Ohbehave1 · 15/03/2016 17:54

Canyouhearmenow - I doubt the Tesco checkout staff have to go out in all weathers, have to find your house because you don't have a number or it isn't lit up, and then are held up whilst you lock your dog away/hunt for your money/or can't hear the door over your blaring TV - even though you know they are coming.

OP posts:
Ohbehave1 · 15/03/2016 18:12

I don't think it is to do with minimum wage. I think it is about tipping someone doing a shitty job. As I have already said, all weathers, difficulty finding houses because people don't put numbers on the doors, having to traipse through what looks like the Somme to get to people's front doors are just some of the issues.

It's a crap job and not one you could make a living at. And you are doing it because people are too lazy to go and get their food themselves. It always seems to be the same people that tip - and it isn't based on the tippers income.

And I don't hold to the "we don't want to be like America" view. Why not show your appreciation- although half the people delivered to would probably have trouble even saying thank you.

OP posts:
chilipepper20 · 15/03/2016 20:09

It's a crap job

there are lots of poorly paid crap jobs that don't get tipped as people have mentioned.

MrsClueless · 15/03/2016 20:21

We have an I Indian takeaway even few weeks that is around £32 per order. The delivery guy looks put out when we waitfor change from £40.00 (I fully expect to give a few £ as a tip).

Ohbehave1 · 15/03/2016 20:31

There are Chillipepper. And the one we are talking about is providing a luxury - do you need a takeaway? Not really. Do you really need it delivered? I don't think so.

Tipping someone for a service you don't really need and can't be arsed to do yourself - is that really so bad. For some I guess so.

OP posts:
ThunderR0ad78 · 15/03/2016 20:45

Yep, we tip! A few quid usually.

Salene · 15/03/2016 20:46

No way you could make a living from take away driver, when I was one for a extra cash doing it PT we would just keep the delivery charge. Often I would just break even , sometimes being out of pocket due to fuel costs around the city.

It's a crap job, I was a young female going into multi-storey buildings in the dark , it was scary at times, and miserable in the winter.

That said the poorer the area the more likely to get a tip so drivers would prefer those deliveries to the big million pound houses as those buggers wouldn't give you a dime extra, even if the change was 5p they would stand waiting for it.

chilipepper20 · 15/03/2016 20:53

we don't want to be like America

that is indeed a silly reason.

but other good one's have been mentioned. in most american states, it's legal to pay waitstaff below minimum wage.

chocolateee · 16/03/2016 08:08

So would that mean you'd have to tip the postman ?!
Tipping has gone bonkers .

whois · 16/03/2016 08:22

I don't think it is to do with minimum wage. I think it is about tipping someone doing a shitty job. As I have already said, all weathers, difficulty finding houses

Well our flat is dead easy to find so that justifies my no tipping stance ;-)

No seriously - why tip a takeaway delivery over a tesco driver who is doing much harder work? Or the posture? Of DHL? Or my dental hygienist? Or my cleaner?