Always Tip the Pizza Delivery Driver, Please!

Not everyone may be aware of proper tipping etiquette. Pizza delivery drivers should be tipped. Pizza delivery drivers perform a service by bringing hot food to your door. Drivers rely on tips to help maintain their cars. It is also a potentially hazardous job.

A typical pizza chain may pay about one dollar per delivery to defray some of the gas used, but the wear and tear on the cars is up to the driver to pay for. If a chain charges a delivery fee, the driver is not getting all of it; they are lucky to get a small fraction of it for gas. The delivery fee is mostly a way for the chain to increase revenue. Don't be fooled, the delivery fee is not a tip.

Most drivers typically get paid minimum wage, some a few cents more. Some smaller pizza shops may qualify to pay less than minimum wage due to loopholes in state minimum wage laws. In Ohio, for example, if a business has sales under a certain amount, the federal minimum wage can be paid, and it is less than the Ohio minimum wage.

If drivers did not get tipped, you would eventually not have anyone willing to do the job with all the wear and tear on the vehicles. Why would anyone work minimum wage and wear out their car without more compensation than one dollar per delivery?

If you are a regular tipper, thank you! Drivers remember you and will give you good service. If you are not, please consider that if a driver has two deliveries in his or her car, he or she will always deliver the pizza to the known tipper before the known stiffer. This is a fact, even when the stiffer ordered first. Please also note that some drivers will go so far as to "ghost cut" the pizza and even drop the soda bottle on the sidewalk a few times for customers who routinely fail to tip. It has been said that a few drivers go even further. Let's just say they have total control of your food for 10 to 15 minutes, use your imagination.

So, how much is appropriate? Well, the change to the nearest dollar, we will take it, but that can be as little as one cent. One dollar is a little better, but was more appropriate in the 1970's. One dollar in 1972 is the same as $5.00 in 2009 according to the CPI. One web site suggests a $3.00 minimum, and more for larger orders. In my experience that seems appropriate, of course in bigger cities you should also tip more. A pizza driver I know who used to deliver in Baltimore averaged $5.00 in tips for all her deliveries.

In conclusion, if you want good service, you should always tip the pizza driver!