Do You Tip If You Order Food for Pickup (Not Delivery)?

Do you tip a bag boy/girl at the grocery store? Seems like the same concept to me. And I wouldn't tip them.

If I pick up food at a place that's normally eat-in and waited by people, I usually tip a dollar, regardless of how much the thing actually costs

For you, it's the same. But restaurant servers workers get paid way less than minimum wage, so they rely on tips to live. It's a shitty system, but it's not their fault it's like that

Nah. You tip the delivery person and the wait staff because they bring you your food. If you have to go get it yourself, there's no one to tip. You don't tip the cook or the person who took the order, if you did you'd be tipping at fast food places. I mean...unless you do actually tip at fast food places. I don't.

In the last I dunno 4 or 5 years I've seen the option to tip at places where I've never tipped before though, like ice cream parlors. I think that's weird. I want less tipping and eventually no tipping, not more tipping.

Down with tipping. Pay your staff properly, businesses.

Where are people not making minimum wage? Around here that's not possible. If the wage and tips aren't minimum wage the employer pays until it is.

And no, I'm not tipping for that. I'm already paying for my food.

So I should help pay their wages for placing items into a bag. Which took like 30 seconds of their time?

Also not all restaurant workers get terrible wages. That is a myth. As someone who worked in restaurants for over a decade of my life, I never once made less than minimum. And I always made more than enough to support myself without tips. But that is probably more down to the state worked/lived in than anything else. Not every state allows you to pay your wait staff under minimum wage. And generally a good reliable cook gets paid more than the other workers. At least that was always my experience.

Yeah, that bag boy prepared and cooked your food on demand just like the restaurant employee...

No wonder service industry people have such a hard time making a living.

Just because a waiter wasn't waiting on you doesn't mean you shouldn't tip. Most of these service jobs pay them less than minimum wage and make up for that difference with tips. If you're too lazy to make your own food, then don't be too lazy to tip someone a few bucks for making it for you.

Used to work at a sandwich shop for just barely above minimum wage. We'd be slammed for lunch (line out the door) but barely anyone tipped. By the time my shift ended we were only allowed one employee discount (a whopping 10%) for one food item which usually ate up all of my tips, all $5.

Mind you this lunch rush was usually packed with regulars. These were people who were in at least once a week, often times ordering for themselves and other employees, and rarely tipped.

So if I notice an employee working hard, providing good service, and generally doing a good job I tip.

I guess I can't argue with that flawless logic.

My friend does this (tip w/pickup) when I get food with her and I find it infuriating. I used to be a waiter and if someone wanted to tip me for them picking up their food I'd think they had a few screws loose.

Not as much as I would normally, but yeah.

@substance_d said:

They're paying for the food though, right? To some organization that supposedly pays the waiter? If there's systematic abuse of wait staff by the service industry that sounds like it ought to be solved with new legislation, not mandatory tipping.

So you're expecting the US government to help out poor people?

Absolutely not. I tip somebody for bringing food to me and keeping my drink full. What the hell would I be tipping for if I pick up the food myself and take it home?

No, but I am not in America so it isn't a done thing.

@finaldasa: How much is minimum wage? Surely for making sandwiches you wouldn't expect anything more? Why tip on top of that?

I expect people who are outraged about the poor treatment of wait staff to do something about it other than trying to shame people who don't tip or share pro tipping memes on facebook, because that's a really shitty non-solution to something that sounds like a serious problem. There surely must be someone in all of the US running on a platform of raising minimum wage to a level where a person could reasonably live off it? At least on the local level? Are there no unions these poor wretches can join to put pressure on their employers?

Because having to rely on strangers willingly paying a service surcharge for them putting some shitty fast food in a paper bag for fucking pickup sounds like a TERRIBLE strategy for making a living.

Honestly, it depends on the place. There's this Vietnamese spot by my place that makes everything to order and just about everything from scratch, and it's superb. They always give us a ton of food and have given us plenty of free/extra egg rolls or Vietnamese wings in the past. If I have the money, I'm more than happy to put in the 15-20% even if I'm picking it up.

To me, it all depends on the circumstances. If I am driving there, going in, and picking up my food, no, I will not tip. However, if I am taking advantage of the carside-to-go option that has become popular by many chain restaurants, I will generally tip a little for the convenience of them bringing it to my car. Not the same as I would for full service, but usually at least a few bucks.

At the time minimum wage was around $7.25 an hour. We were purposefully left at short shifts, no more than 3-5 hours, and we split tips. So while I was working hard another employee could slack off and get an equal cut.

I didn't expect every costumer to tip. But for the repeat customers, or those who put in very large orders, I expected my repeated work to be rewarded in some way.

Also minimum wage is below the poverty line in the US. So it really isn't a lot of money by any stretch.

@substance_d: The waiter didn't make the food though. The waiter serves people, and if I wasn't served why should I tip? By your logic people should be going around to restaurants they aren't eating at and giving them money because they need it. I am all for tipping for when a service is provided to me but if I am doing the work of going and getting it then they aren't providing a service.

@finaldasa: See, to me, that sounds like the sort of thing there should be violent protests in the street over. Having a large part of the population having to rely on what is basically handouts is a really bad solution for that problem, especially since there are a lot of minimum wage jobs the public feel fine about not tipping.

@maginnovision: A lot of bus boys in restaurants get paid less than minimum wage. They're not official employees of the restaurant ("off the books" is the terminology I've always heard) so they're under no obligation to get paid minimum wage. When I was a bus boy in high school, I got paid a flat rate of 20 bucks for about an 8 hour shift and then the rest would be from tips. When it was really busy, this could turn out to be a pretty decent amount but on slow nights, I definitely walked away with less than minimum wage.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2015/12/24/15-minimum-wage/77889534/

This has been something going on for a while, at least the $15/hour minimum wage was a major ordeal in the Seattle area. While I can certainly see your logic, there are many people who fear the loss of their job due to any protests they may take part in.

@amafi: This was one store run by a less-than-stellar owner. Not the company as a whole. And it's part of the reason I eventually left.

And there is a movement for a much higher, nearly double, minimum wage.

@amafi: The reality is that what you propose is a slow, slow solution to a problem that has existed for a very long time. People have been fighting a livable minimum wage with all of their might out of what I can only assume is jealousy. "Why should that TGIF employee make as much as me when I went to college!" That said, there are politicians proposing that sort of thing, but it's a long uphill battle before the general population will actually see anything for it. If an employee makes $30 or more per month in tips, a restaurant can pay that person a wage of almost half of the minimum wage (check here to see how fucked up it is in your state). Consider an employee who is taking night classes or has kids and can only work weekday shifts where most of the orders are takeout. There's a lot of situations where people take what jobs they can get because of the bullshit 'pull yourself up by your bootstraps' mentality in this country. The phrase is literally an analogy of something impossible. Why the hell would we be proud to live in a place that makes it miserable for the less fortunate? "You're homeless? Why don't you go get a job!" So the demand for these sort of jobs is always going to be higher than the supply. Employers have absolutely no incentive to make that wage better because $2.13 (the federal required tipped wage) is better than nothing. I don't think it's a lot to ask to throw an extra buck or two next time you're splurging on fucking hot wings.

@milkman: that's $2.5 base pr hour. Could you not make more than that picking recycleables up off the streets? Jesus. That's less than I demanded pr hour mowing lawns when I was like 12, in 91.

@hatking:But that is surely only making the problem worse? That's like putting new bandaids on a gaping fucking flesh wound. Won't work in the long run. And what about all the minimum wage workers in fields where for some reason people haven't decided it's ok to pay an extra 15-20% tax on the service because the US is some sort of 3rd world hellscape with no workers rights?

Maybe there should be some twitter slacktivist campaign to get people donating to those people too instead?

@amafi: Politicans have been pushing to raise the minimum wage, especially for fast food workers who don't get tips, for years now. I know buzzwords are fun but it's not "Twitter slacktivism."

http://www.npr.org/2015/11/10/455501103/push-for-15-minimum-wage-becoming-part-of-presidential-politics

Oh, I don't mean that that's what everyone's doing. I just imagine that if everyone I see on all the various forums I frequent actually involved themselves beyond going "people who don't tip are shitty" it'd be solved within a year, because I must have seen at least 40000 people post something like that over the last 20 years.

Absolutely not.

If they say something like the food will be ready in 20 minutes and it is, I tip. If I have to wait for it then no.

Mom & Pop restaurant with takeout, I tip at 15%. Pizza place or deli with counter or takeout, tip 10%. Coffee shop tip 5% for coffee or food at most. Hot Dog cart...loose change. Fast food chain....nothing....although, the likely are the MOST in need of a tip.

I tip 2 bucks usually. anything to add to the tip pool for the workers. I wouldn't fret if some people don't.

I don't tip for pick up most the time. However if I have cash on me I try and put something in the tip jar if they have one.

It depends on the place and how much the food costs. Because I still do a lot of my spending with cash, it's more convenient for me to just round up and give a tip than get exact change.

I think we expect minimum wage to be enforced.

No, and for the love of God I wish the tipping structure in America could be bulldozed to the ground and adopt the European model. Basically, pay everyone a fair wage and not rely on tips as a way to supplement their pay. It used to be only servers and certain other service jobs like valets, bellhops, etc. Now everyone has their tip jar out and it's irritating as all hell.

Sometimes, I have before as I was feeling randomly generous.

You know, this thread is making me realise that tipping is really weird. Don't get me wrong, I'm a generous tipper, but when and why did we decide some people get tips, others not? If it has to do with wage, shouldn't I tip everyone with minimum wage? If some jobs' minimum wage is lower because or gratuities, isn't that an effect rather than a cause, i.e. we decided to tip them, so they get lower wage vs they have lower wages, so we tip them to compensate? If it has to do with service, what defines service exactly?

Only for small businesses where I know the person I'm tipping had a bigger hand in the process than just handing me food. Just a little "I support this service you provide and would like to see it continue" premium.

(Kidding, but my god it's like you copied that post directly from the Reservior Dogs screenplay.)

Waitstaff and delivery people get paid jack shit outside of tips, so their wages depend on it. Ordering food and picking it up myself involves neither of them outside of a phone call to take my order, so i'll leave the loose change in the transaction but that's about it.

It depends on the takeout, I guess. I don't really do this, but if I'm getting a few orders for people from a restaurant, I'll tip. If it's just a typical takeout place for myself, probably not.

@kevin_cogneto: I was about to roll my eyes when I saw that embed! Haha.

NO

I rarely tip for take out. If I showed up to where the food is prepared paid and take it elsewhere to eat isn't that a fair transaction? I work nights alone in a hotel, so I put out fires and move heaven and earth for people every day, and I have only ever once gotten a tip when it could be said to be socially acceptable but not required. I never pressure anyone into feeling like they need to tip me.

There isn't a social obligation to tip for take out. The entire shame side of tipping is so repugnant. Tipping without obligation is wonderful and appreciated but don't let anyone shame you for not following their unwritten etiquette. You certainly aren't lazy for not tipping.

@kevin_cogneto: Haha! I haven't seen the movie in a while, so I wasn't sure if I was making the same point as he was.

To be fair! Unlike him, I'm fine with tipping. I just realise the "etiquette" around it is somewhat strange.

Edit: and I don't know how to play violin, big or small.

I'll tip if it's a small local place. But if I'm getting takeout at a chain place? Nope.

To answer the OP's question: no I don't tip if I simply called the order in and am picking it up to go.

Getting into the discussion on tipping in general, there was a story recently about a SF restaurant that tried to eliminate tipping and ended up bringing it back: http://money.cnn.com/2016/01/19/pf/no-tipping-reversed-bar-agricole-trou-normand/

If you don't want to read it the gist is that food prices were raised 20% but the waitstaff still ended up taking a pay cut because they were making more in tips than the 20% increase covered. Granted this is a higher end restaurant than your national chains or mom and pops but it does bring up an interesting situation. Anecdotally I have also known servers at busy local restaurants who have made 1.5-2x more than minimum wage thanks to tips. Raising everyone's wages and eliminating tipping seems like a no-brainer at first glance but it doesn't actually mean that servers across the board will be better off.

Ok cool. These results are making me feel much better about my decision to not tip in these scenarios. I guess for me a lot of my doubts on this matter come from feeling like I'm "expected" to tip when I go out for food, even if I'm being served. Though I guess I'm sort of assuming that the tip would go to the person who prepared my food in an ideal world, but that's probably not the case...

So most people that I've known where I live who work in the food service industry have mandatory "tip out". The servers make minimum wage however they usually tip out 5%-10% of the bill. So bussers, host/hostesses, etc. get tipped as well. The problem I hear arrises when no tip is received, the server has to pay the percentage into the pool ($20 bill, $2 has to be in the pool) so no tip means the server literally pays your tip.

I don't know how take out is done though, I hope it's not counted into the pool.

If you ask people, "Hey, do you do this thing that's technically optional but something people are expected to do because we live in a civil society?" and get a lot of responses reinforcing your belief, that doesn't necessarily mean you're doing the right thing.

"Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect." - Mark Twain