Tipping for carryout

[jhog3411]

Most of the time it's a pizza or Chinese place where the takeout person is not a waiter or waitress.  They're getting paid a wage just like a fast food place so I don't tip.  To tip in this situation would be the same as tipping the retail salesclerk that takes your clothes off the hangers, folds them and puts them in a bag.

[yocaseycasey]

We had such good service at a Steak n' Shake last weekend that I left $14 on an $11 bill.

[billya]

Rarely. I'm a good tipper when I sit down (sometimes TOO good), but I don't generally tip for carry out. I used to work as a cook and I'd cook the entire meal, put it in to-go containers and then a waiter/waitress would take it out and put it in a bag and sometimes get tipped (for to go orders, not regular sit down ones). I am pretty sure you can guess how much money I saw from that ordeal.

[dreamover]

i've never worked at a restaurant, but my roommate does. he says that waiters aren't usually the ones packing to-go orders because they're so busy. i'd be curious to see how often the person making my to-go order isn't getting paid a normal wage. obviously at some smaller places, it's unavoidable.

 

i don't like how american owners only have to pay their staff $3/hour when every other business owner has to pay a normal wage.

 

if i know a person making my order didn't make at least minimum wage, i'd feel obligated to leave something. though it's impossible to know that. half the reason i decide to do carry-out sometimes is because i don't want to have to pay for the service i get when i sit down and have someone waiting on me.

[hipsterasfolk]

Never. 

 

They are normally paid normal wage anyway.

[rtw88]

I never tip for carryout but that is on the assumption that the people preparing it are getting paid at least minimum wage. Is that not usually the case?

[hipsterasfolk]

At all the places my family has or my GF has worked....the carryout person is normally min wage or above slightly.

[uniquemel0dy]

Any restaurant I have served at pays $3 + tips hourly. If the tips and $3 don't add up to minimum wage then the restaurant will make up the remainder.

 

On topic, typically I wouldn't tip. Just like why I don't tip at Starbucks, $5 for a cup of coffee and you want more?

[janer05]

My friends think I overtip because I leave 20% for standard service. If I get really bad service, I still leave 15% (luckily I've only had that happen a few times). If I get good service and they box up my leftovers (I hate boxing up my own food) I'll leave 25%. I don't get takeout often, but when I do I tip 10% because I figure they're providing me a service.

I've never worked in food service, but customers can be real pains so I always try to tip well because they have to put up with so much bs (yes, I know it's their job or whatever, but tipping a little extra is still important to me to make up for the a-holes that spend the money on a meal but don't have the money or give enough of a shit to leave a tip).

[Shitty Rambo]

I'll tip $2 for carryout. My father in law owns a restaurant and he doesn't expect anyone to tip on carryout orders, so a couple bucks is very generous.

[Snaggle Von Swift]

I tip well when I eat a restaurant, for carryout... I'd say maybe 25-30% of the time I will tip when getting carryout.

 

Once in a while - not always. I also tip on occasion for people who pump my gas (NJ) - I do this when it's really damn cold out or if they are working on a holiday.

 

October 29th (Sandy) most gas stations by me were closed/out of gas. Finally found a Citgo that was still open, it was pouring out and I felt bad so gave the attendant $5 to get coffee or whatever. Dude was amazed.

[turnstiles]

I never tip on carry out. 20% or higher when I sit down.

[chefchino]

Never thought of this, always figured it was etiquette not to. Will reconsider now.

[elgato48]

Never for carry out. 9 times out if 10 the person working the carry out has nothing to do with your food at all. They are there simply to get your payment.

Always do for if you are waited on or had your meal delivered. I usually do 10 to 20 percent depending on how many people are being waited on

[Guest]

I do it. Why not?

[adamlikesmusic]

Never for carry out. Unless they're delivering, or I'm actually being waited on, I don't see much reason to tip. Putting my shit in a bag isn't reason enough for me.

 

$2.65 an hour is how much a waiter gets paid. That's why you tip.

 

Varies - here it's $4 and change.

[steventangent]

As a general rule, tipping for carry out service isn't "expected" from an etiquette standpoint. Tipping a barista or whatever is something nice to do if, say, they always remember you and have your order started before you even ask, or go above and beyond some other way. If I've called in an order, that's pretty much the lowest-maintenance customer I could possibly be. Bare minimum service required.

I don't do the math in sit down restaurants, but I always leave an amount that I estimate to be just over 20%. Unless they are extra awesome, then I just leave whatever feels right.

I will tip for carry out service, baristas, etc...under special circumstances. Holidays, seems like they're having a terrible day and I just saw them get treated unfairly, that kind of thing.

[konk]

I can't draw a line through the tip line, so I'll usually leave a dollar or two, if they have that. I prefer when they don't.

[aviolentworld]

thought this was funny

 

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/applebees-waitress-fired-pastor-receipt-193820748.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=feed

[steventangent]

I always thought people who leave the "tip" of a tract advising how to have LIFE EVERLASTING IN PARADISE WITH JESUS are the fucking worst of the fucking worst worst. Somehow, that broad managed to do them one better.

[BBech]

Here is why I wouldn't tip the person at the checkout counter having worked at a restaurant with one.

 

As a waiter my hourly wage was something like $2.13 and you really made your money on tips.  On the other hand the people working those counters are making well over minimum wage for a non tip job.  So in essence those tips they aren't reliant on to make ends meet like a waiter where to make money to make ends meet they need the tips.

[controlthebleeding]

i usually tip 25%-40% across the board (delivery/pick-up/sit-down). If service is bad 20%. If its flat out horrible 2-5%

[companyinkrecs]

$2-$3 bucks always. 

 

Can I pose this same question for haircuts? 

[steventangent]

I throw in a few bucks for haircuts. Especially if they make me look fucking awesome.

[harryq]

if I get carryout, who am I tipping and why?  seems like the cook does all the work while the person at the register gets the credit... "ooh, I love the way you slide my credit card!  here's $2 for your trouble and ten seconds of your time."

 

that said, I've said here many a time that I hate the concept of tipping.  I still do it, of course, but it seems silly.  %-based tipping doesn't make sense (am I supposed to tip $1 for each $5 drink and nothing for my free water?), so maybe I should start estimating how much time my server spends helping me and then tip them based on an hourly rate?  here's an idea...

 

tip = max[ (rate they deserve) - (rate they're paid), 0 ] * (time spent helping me)

 

for example, if I think someone deserves $12/hour (+/- depending on the quality of the restaurant), but they really only get paid $4/hour, and if I estimate that they spend 10 minutes waiting on me, that deserves an $8/6 = $1.33 tip, irrespective of how much my bill is (though my bill would certainly be correlated with the rate I think the waiter/waitress deserves).  I suppose that's basically the same as a 13% tip on a $10 bill (which is about average for me since I don't go anywhere too fancy and only drink water), so I guess I can live with that.

 

applying that to a carryout order (assuming this is at a place like applebee's or olive garden that has carryout but specializes as a sit-down restaurant), I should probably tip the person who took my order and rings me up ~$0.66 for 5 minutes of work.  hmm... would the person ringing me up be more offended by receiving a $0.66 tip or by receiving no tip?  a small tip means that I actually *thought* about the tip and decided on a small one, while no tip probably suggests that it never occurred to me that I *should* tip, hence shouldn't be considered offensive...

 

damn, you know what?  if I wanted to practice my math and critical thinking skills while eating, I'd just eat at home while doing work.  why can't restaurants be nice, pay people what they deserve, charge me whatever they should charge me, and let me relax during and after my meal?

 

sorry for ranting and rambling, but at least I came to the conclusion that I should leave a small tip for carryouts, but only after asking my server how much they get paid.  that's not awkward, right?