You’re waiting on a delicious pizza, and you’re standing there holding your phone in one hand and your wallet in the other, thinking how much to tip for pizza delivery. The thing is, no one has any sort of definitive answer. Some people think they can tip two dollars and call it a day, and others think tipping less than 25% is an absolute crime against humanity (if you’ve ever read Reddit threads about tipping etiquette, you know how overzealous some people can get).
But let’s take a step back and approach it like a rational human being. There really is no single number that applies in every situation. There are just a few small criteria that when added together, should help you get to a number that feels…adequate. For you and for your beloved pizza delivery driver.
First: how far did the driver come from?
This one is a bit underrated. No one factors distance into their tipping sizes, but it is important. If you live three blocks from the pizzeria and the driver basically drove downhill for a long time, you could probably tip based on the baseline – anywhere from 10% to 15% of the bill or around somewhere between a flat 3-5 dollars if you’re not calculating percentages. If you lived within easy reach of takeout, then I believe this is an easy situation because, think—you ordered, it arrived, you ate. Not a big deal. But if you are living in the suburbs, or on the side of some rural road that winds through town 20 minutes, that delivery wasn’t a “normal” delivery. More gas, more time, more wrong turns or sketchy weather conditions. At this time, putting a little extra tip is just… “proper” tipping etiquette. Think of it as “taking up the extra inconvenience”.
Okay, but was the service really good?
Yes, and I know that the “just tip 20% no matter what” group may not like this, but come on! The experience matters! Seriously. If your pizza showed up hot & fresh, and maybe actually early, and the driver was polite (or at a minimum, wasn’t weirdly hostile), then hell yeah—go high! Tip 18%, 20%, add in a couple of bucks. They earned it!!
But if the pizza shows up COLD, CRUSHED, 45 MINUTES LATE, and the driver acts like they are mad you ordered dinner in the first place? That’s tough. It’s still their job, and typically not one person’s fault if just anything goes wrong with deliveries—kitchens get busy, GPS fails, traffic happens. But if the experience as a whole completely sucked, you can tip low. Just… maybe don’t stiff them completely unless you really had a horrible interaction. Like, maybe they threw the pizza on your porch, and peeled out… THAT could be classified as a “no tip” situation. Picture this: you’re doing that job in the middle of a snowstorm.
Seriously.
If you’ve ever driven in a deluge of rain or snow, or in one of those frigid January nights that prevented you from opening your car door, you can appreciate what we are saying: delivering pizza in that mess is no joke. Yes, they choose to do it, but it is still a nice thing to recognize the fact that someone is braving disgusting weather just so you don’t have to cook.
If it is coming down hard out there, and someone makes it to your door with your pizza not too much looking like it went over the handlebars of a bike, throw in a little extra.
It does not have to be extravagant—a few dollars over the price you typically put down should suffice. But, it’s worth something.
What did you order, anyway?
See more on the next page
Advertisement
See more on the next page
Advertisement
