How would you tip in this situation

Today we all learned @TheCookie is a unicorn. :slight_smile:

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Yes, you still do. Just not directly.

If you meant to say “they receive a per mile rate for which they need to recoup all costs of doing business including but not limited to gas, insurance, wear & tear”, then I agree.

What about a call during rush hour. Traveling 5 miles which is not far at all . Including the return trip .

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A timely column here:

I forgot to say this upthread, but I/we always tip in cash, whether at the restaurant or with delivery (and with Lyft rides, too - and anywhere else tips are the norm): when we have a paper receipt, we write “cash” on the tip line.

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Love cash.

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To quote Jean Shepherd (and my father, who espoused the same):

In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash.

Edited to add:

Were I more fully caffeinated, I would have tossed in Shepherd’s “You’ll shoot your eye out” advice, too. But I’m not so I didn’t.

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Again… You really are a funny girl.

Okay, so now I’m confused. I am over-tipping delivery services @18% and 10-15% is sufficient?

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I’d not tip delivery by percent: set a base amount and then bump up based on weather, traffic, parking around your home, how much the delivery person had to lug to your door … .

And err toward generosity, because their previous delivery and the next two won’t tip at all.

A couple extra bucks and a genuine “Hey, thanks!” with a real smile make a difference.

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I read the article. Good to know.

I like to tip in cash as much as possible and I write “cash” on receipts too. :wink: I didn’t even know you could tip Lyft, Postmates, etc. in cash. But frankly the beauty of these services for me is the lack of an exchange. I like not pulling out my wallet, calculating, counting money, checking & signing the receipt, while making small talk. :relaxed: I can go on about my business, tip & rate later. I’m friendly for sure, but when I wrote “Hi” and “Bye” I meant the Postmate too. They’re so not trying to engage. They hand you your food and keep it moving.

I will start considering the amount of effort that was put into a particular order (weather, rush hour, heavy items) and tip accordingly. But I can do that with percentages too. I work with percentages, it’s just ingrained. :slight_smile: Besides, that’s my problem, what should the base number be?

I did think of one place where I use the “no more than $5.00” rule, Yummy Market. They have “shoppers” on-site, it’s never crowded, it’s close and there’s no traffic. They arrive before you can get your shoes on, practically. I go there a lot but only use delivery in a pinch - you have to spend a certain amount to get your next delivery of a certain amount for free (that kind of b.s.). And they started adding a “wellness” fee. I don’t mind that, but between the delivery fee, “wellness” fee and tip it’s ridiculous. But when you’re in a pinch they’re a home cooks dream. It’s like Sprouts mated with 7-Eleven and added liquor. Oh and peeps - guys in particular - love their deli. The whole store smells like sizzling bacon. :blush:

Thanks for all this food (hardy har) for thought, y’all!

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One more thing. I think this all depends on what type of service you use. Postmates (our go to) doesn’t ask you to tip upfront like GrubHub, or at the time of delivery, no paper receipt, nothing and the drivers can’t wait to get away. As a reminder they put a red “1” on the app and don’t remove it until you tip & rate your driver. I never thought to tip cash, but if there’s no receipt to write “cash” how do they know you tipped? I don’t want to end up low on the delivery totem pole as @Ns1 suggested.

Okay, I promise to stop after this. I pulled a work all-nighter and am totally goofing off today. Anyway, I just checked my Postmates history and our average tips are $5-$8.00 (semi-free delivery). :grimacing: Is that bad?

you are not a whale but someone who provides consistently decent tips…so middle/top of the pecking order.

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Yep, when I say 18% tip for delivery it seems like a lot, because most of us tip on the tax now, but restaurant’s calculate pre-tax.

Tip on the tax… tip on the tax… tip on the tax with a baseball bat. Oh yeah, oh yeah, uh-oh…

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