AIBU for not tipping my grocery delivery driver?

[Honeybooboo123]

I'm never sure if I am supposed to. What's the general rule?

I don’t tip for grocery delivery. I’ve already paid for delivery so wtf. Plus I CAN’T AFFORD TO. I really can’t. I plan my grocery delivery down to my last few pence.

And I do have a quandary when it comes to takeaway delivery and feel I really SHOULD tip, but the bottom line is, I bloody can’t afford another extra quid or two on top of the takeaway cost, particularly if they charge a delivery fee.

In an ideal world I’d be flinging money at everyone who did me a service because I’d like to. In reality? I cannot afford it. It’s that simple.

I don't tip delivery drivers. They also leave the crates on the doorstep. I then take the crates into the kitchen, empty them out and bring the crates back. I've always done it that way and it's never been a problem.

I don't tip the Tesco delivery drivers but I certainly do tip takeaway delivery people. Tesco delivery is a relatively decent job with set hours and vans provided etc.

Takeaway delivery people are using their own cars/ bikes and their pay depends on how many takeaways are ordered that night. It's a completely different thing imo.

Takeaway delivery people are using their own cars/ bikes and their pay depends on how many takeaways are ordered that night. It's a completely different thing imo

Once in a few weeks I order two pizzas from a big chain for about £18.00. The pizza is very overpriced but is loved by my children.
They earn about as much as a supermarket assistant. Has anyone tipped a shop assistant as they do a wonderful job and it's much busier than a delivery driver's? Or maybe a teaching assistant who earns about the same a year? By tipping, we are not helping to resolve an issue of the low wages. We create an alternative.

I am very emphatic to the employees who earn low wages but no-one should expect tipping or gifting. The schools regularly drain money from parents, the prices for food have increased in the last two years, birthdays, dentists, hairdressers, house repairs to name but a few. I don't want the UK to become one of those countries where they tip and gift everywhere.

givemesteel we have two crews, one for rubbish and another for recycling so we usually give the 2 rubbish collectors £20 each and if the recycling collectors are the same drivers then nothing but if they're different then we give them some cash too. They drive down a long track just to get to our house and never complain so it's worth it to keep them happy!

I tipped when we lived in North America as it's more prevalent.
In some states, tipped workers have a lower minimum wage than workers who don't get tips.

Never tipped but I do offer a cuppa. Normally they're in too much of a rush but some stop for a brew

Delivery drivers for ‘the big pizza chain’ get minimum wage and a £1 per delivery excess to cover petrol and wear and tear on their cars. If they work somewhere with a large area to cover/awful pot-holed roads they barely make anything. And now that everyone pays by card when they order, hardly anyone tips.

Oh, and as others have said, delivery drivers use their own vehicles and are expected to drive them in all kinds of weather and as fast as is legal to meet targets.

Hairdressers certainly do get tips. At my salon there’s a running tally on a scrap of paper keeping track of the tips for each of the stylists and hair washers and when you pay and add a couple of quid on for them the guy taking the money notes it down. Not everyone tips but there’s always some on the go for each staff member:

At the hair salon I used to go to they began to put a money box with the stylist's name on firmly in front of you and then eyeball you until you put money in the tin. This was before the total bill was mentioned. I (being stroppy and I would have tipped had it not been made out to be mandatory) said "cut and blow dry £35? There you go" dumped the exact cash on the desk and walked out. They lost a regular customer that way.

It's never occurred to me to tip them tbh, they're doing their job after all, well paid or not. My drivers are genuinely lovely and helpful and will always take my shopping through my porch and into my kitchen. I am always very smiley and grateful though.
I work in a relatively low paid job, and never get tips (sometimes beer at Christmas I suppose) and someone saying thank you and meaning it really means a lot.

It’s never occurred to me to tip the asda man
I actually don’t tip anyone except the hairdresser and only so she’ll like me and not fuck my hair up

Its never occurred to me not to tip, it is the done thing amongst everyone I know. I’m fine with it as my fortnightly shopping is free anyway as I spend over a certain amount, if I was paying a delivery fee then It would probably be different. I grudge tipping the take away person as I’m paying for that to be delivered but I still tip anyway, I hate it but I’d feel too guilty not doing it, seems to be something that’s ingrained in me.

Never tipped , but never had a driver offer to carry it to the kitchen either. They always just dump the crates outside the front door and walk off to get the next lot!

I honestly had no idea people tipped gricery delivery drivers. I’m really surprised and it would never have occurred to me to do it.

So basically, the argument for tipping takeaway delivery drivers is that people feel sorry for them? Not that they are doing an amazing job that’s deserving of it (at least no more deserving that any of the myriad of people we don’t tip).

I get that, and it’s kind, though I don’t really think it’s a solution, and could perpetuate the problem as there’s less motivation to ensure they’re recompensed properly for operating their vehicles for minimal payment. There should be legal protections to ensure you are fairly recompensed if you use your own vehicle.

And hairdressers...
no good argument for the way in which our culture expects them to be tipped.

I have heard that in Switzerland they charge you a lot more say in McDonald's than in the UK to pay their employees normal wages. This is what's need to be done here.

No I don't and definitely wouldn't as that is what they are paid to do, we are not the USA and think it is inappropriate.

But hairdressers charge extortionate amounts! Where is the argument for tipping them? The shampoo girl, yes, but the stylists?

When we used to live in town and got food deliveries we didn’t tip but offered the use of the loo and a refill of cold water/hot coffee. We’d do that for our postman and delivery drivers too.

Now we’re out in the sticks we just have the postie and delivery drivers but we still do the same for them.

My delivery driver leaves the food at the bottom of our steps so I’m usually running back and forth keeping the two year old at bay whilst he stares into space and talks about the weather. The kitchen is at the other end of the house, but he never seems to want to bring the shopping to the kitchen door

My Tesco delivery driver I never tip, but did give him an easter egg yesterday. I always tip my hairdresser.

DH is a courier and he is occasionally tipped but by customers he delivers to daily. The tip, if he gets one, is one a year at Christmas and has been £10 in a card or a case of beer both of which he’s been thrilled to receive.

Tips from one off deliveries are a no and he wouldn’t take them.