Smart Spending has an interesting question:
Do you tip for takeout food?
My response: you're joking, right?
After all, isn't a tip for SERVICE? What service are they giving me -- allowing me to buy food from them? If anything, why don't I get a discount for going up to the counter and ordering for myself? Oh wait, I do get a discount for that -- it's called "I don't have to tip."
Ok, the tip police can now chime in about how cheap I am...
What about you? Do you tip for takeout food?
I tip for places like Chile's our Outback but not pizza. That's not an easy job getting all the take out containers/bags ready and mistake free.
Posted by: Tim | November 13, 2008 at 01:23 PM
No, I don't tip for take out. I also don't tip at those places where there is a tip jar by the cash register.
Posted by: rwh | November 13, 2008 at 01:26 PM
I'm with you - no tip. However, I'm even cheaper than you. :) I don't tip anyone, except for waiters & cab drivers because I know they don't earn minimum wage.
Posted by: Methuselah | November 13, 2008 at 01:33 PM
I have heard in the past that you tip 10% for takeout because the server does take the time to put all of your food in boxes, make sure you have all of the sauces, napkins, utensils, etc, and bag it all up for you. I have heard the same for buffets, that you tip roughly $1 per person since they are continually clearing away your old plates and (at some places) refilling your drinks.
Posted by: Kasia | November 13, 2008 at 01:42 PM
The question is: Who would get the tip? The person taking the order? The cooks? The person that carried your food from the kitchen to you? I don't think the cooks get tipped normally so what is different here?
And if you think about what the wait staff does to earn the tip, those things aren't happening when you order takeout. The only reason I can think that people are tipping is the guilt factor, especially if there is a tip jar or a tip line on the check that they don't want to be seen neglecting.
It reminds me of the story of the college professor who wanted to conduct an experiment on tipping. He set a tip jar on his desk and students started leaving him tips! Simple ingrained social behavior.
Posted by: Paul | November 13, 2008 at 01:45 PM
Ditto, what a stupid idea.
I hate the idea of tipping in general. After all, why aren't those that are tipped paid for their service by the company?
Posted by: JimmyDaGeek | November 13, 2008 at 01:48 PM
I don't tip for takeout, but do tip at least 15% for service (20%+ for good/great service.)
Posted by: Rod Ferguson | November 13, 2008 at 01:49 PM
I only tip at one restaurant when we do takeout and that's because it's a small family owned sushi place where the chefs see you and they always do their best to make us happy. Plus, it helps us get the best food. Other than that, I refuse to tip for takeout since everyplace else you're buying from the counter and not being served by an underpaid service worker.
Posted by: Geoff | November 13, 2008 at 01:49 PM
No, but apparently somebody does, because the counter tip jars are everywhere here in Houston. I wish the businees owners would get rid of the tip jar. Tip for taking my money and handing me a bag? no way.
Posted by: | November 13, 2008 at 01:52 PM
This may sound weird, but I do usually just tip up to the next dollar when I pick up take-out food.
###
Posted by: Shannon | November 13, 2008 at 01:59 PM
For takeout? Where I go up to the counter, or call in my order and then I go into the establishment, pay them, take the bag and leave? No way!
If we have "takeout" type food delivered (i.e., pizza or Chinese), then we tip - just a dollar or two. We found that if we tip we get put on the top of the delivery list and our food arrives quicker and is hot.
But no, not if I'm doing all the "work" myself.
Posted by: SUSAN | November 13, 2008 at 02:01 PM
Tipping has gone crazy.
Why are people not paid for doing their job?
Tipping should not be necessary for any job ever. We have to tip for cabs and waiters because its expected and built into the model but it's rediculous. Studies show there is no relationship between service and tip size. Ask any server, they can give great service and get a horrible tip and they can be swamped and give horrible service and get a very healthy tip.
Why don't I tip my mechanic, maybe he doesn't do quite as good a job if I don't tip him.
And I must say, I read here that the host tips his mail man for Christmas? Excuse me, but what the heck!!! It's his job. I have never even considered tipping a mail man. What is he going to do, deliver your mail late, lose some of it(more of it than normal). I really can't think of any place tipping has to end. It's all too much and I would like it to all go away.
When I travel, I chain my bags to my body. I can't stand the lines of monkeys who fight over each other to grab your bag move it 2 feet and hold their hand out. This is not providing me service. Its making me uncomfortable and making me feel like I am getting fleeced.
Tipping is like unions. It's time has come and gone and is no longer useful. It should be done away with entirely. It provides zero value from the standpoint of getting service or promoting those who do a better job. Poor servers can easily be seen by management and fired for not doing their job. Besides that, the fact is the tipping mentality of people doesn't remove poor servers anyway, because they still get mostly just as good of tips.
It's really just a way to fool you into thinking your food or service costs less than it does.
So after all that am I tipping for take out? Hmmm, what do you think?
Posted by: Apex | November 13, 2008 at 02:04 PM
My answer to this is YES!! My daughter is a beginning chef at a gourmet restaurant in town and and she makes minimum wage. This restaurant gives the chefs all the tips for takeout and boy do they deserve EVERY penny!! Just make sure that the tips you leave go to the chefs. I think whenever you tip part of it should go to the kitchen help too--they come home with waay less pay than the servers! Sorry for going on but this is a pet peeve.
Posted by: Darla | November 13, 2008 at 02:11 PM
I don't tip takeout, I put my foot down there. The only way I tip someone at the coffee shop, takeout, or other similarly ridiculous place is when I ask them to go out of their way to provide a special request. I've tipped kids doing carriages at the supermarket because they saw I didn't have a carriage available and ran out in the rain to grab one specifically for me without being asked, or if they help put bags in the car when they didn't have to.
In my area (Cape Cod area) it was traditional in our neighborhood to tip the mailman at xmas by giving him a token gift, such as candy or other small thing. It was being nice and appreciating someone that you dealt with on a day to day basis (makes it feel very small town-like which is nice).
What really bothers me is that you get the surly people who even if you do put money in the tip jar, they don't even acknowledge you...as if you just paid a toll or something.
Posted by: John | November 13, 2008 at 02:13 PM
http://www.tipthepizzaguy.com
We always tip for Sushi, because that is indeed providing service even when we pick it up.
Posted by: Justin | November 13, 2008 at 02:14 PM
Paul, I haven't waited tables or bartended for a while but in many places I've worked the chefs do indeed get tipped out (ie, of that 20% you leave the waiter, she will give the bartender, busboy, expediter and line cooks each a cut).
We tip for takeout sometimes, depending how much of a pain in the arse our order is, or if the person we're dealing with goes over and above. And we absolutely tip at buffets. Not for coffee though.
Posted by: guinness416 | November 13, 2008 at 02:18 PM
I never even thought about tipping until a friend of mine started hostessing at a restaurant. In most places, it is the hostess that is in charge of gathering up your to-go order and putting it together with all the utensils and condiments.
That being said, if its a small order, i'll usually tip a dollar or two, but if its a large order (picking up food for an office event or meeting) I'll tip more, maybe $10. that's a lot of work!
Posted by: Walden | November 13, 2008 at 02:21 PM
I do not tip for takeout.
Apex, I agree that our mentality about tipping is out of control. Tipping as a system of compensation isn't broken outright, its just that everyone tips automatically and isn't critical enough about tips. If people truly denied tips based on poor service or if tips were more closely related to service quality as they should be then it would work better. Tipping is setup to be a pure meritocracy where good work is directly and instantly rewarded and poor work is instantly punished. If people tipped more critically then it would easily weed out people who are not good at their job (no tips = no pay) and reward and incentive people who are good at their jobs. But we all need to drop the mentality of minimum tips and be more critical about when we give tips for it to actually be effective.
If you remove tipping and just pay people hourly wages then either you'll end up with all service at the level of fast food joints where people make minimum wage and don't care at all or you'll just end up paying more for the goods/services to pay for higher wages and lose any direct control you have now by voicing your approval/disapproval via tips.
Jim
Posted by: Jim | November 13, 2008 at 02:25 PM
I tip, usually $1 or change.
I usually don't do sit down dinners at restaurants, just take out.
Posted by: chica | November 13, 2008 at 02:41 PM
I've never tipped for take out, didn't know some people did. Most places I go the person who bags up your order isn't a wait person it's the manager or someone else who normally wouldn't get tipped.
Posted by: Miss M | November 13, 2008 at 02:51 PM
I only tip at restaurants where the waiter/waitress comes to my table to take my order, delivers my food and beverage, and checks in on me periodically.
I don't tip for take-out. I don't tip if I have to order at a counter and/or pick up at a counter and/or bus my own table.
I do tip delivery drivers.
The ubiquitous tip jar at every cash register in every type of business nowadays is a real pet peeve of mine. I see no reason to tip anyone for exerting no more effort than standing at a counter taking my order.
Posted by: Dar | November 13, 2008 at 02:59 PM
No.
Posted by: Foobarista | November 13, 2008 at 03:01 PM
I'm with you...no tipping on takeout here.
Posted by: Kevin @ The Money Hawk | November 13, 2008 at 03:11 PM
I do not normally tip for takeout, and yes many places DO discount the food when it's takeout, especially Chinese food. I do however tip a thank you amount when it's curbside service (some takeout and my groceries).
Posted by: PK | November 13, 2008 at 03:21 PM
I don't tip for takeout either. I did try to once because I really like this pizza place near my home - real Italians, always friendly. But when I checked my bank account (I had used my debit card), they didn't take the tip! Oh well :)
Posted by: Paul Williams @ Crackerjack Greenback | November 13, 2008 at 03:25 PM
Funny post!
Tipping doesn't exist in my country. During my holiday in the US, one night we went to a takeaway and I remember wondering whether I was supposed to tip ^_^ I checked whether the 2 or so customers in front of me were tipping - it seemed they weren't.
Posted by: F | November 13, 2008 at 03:31 PM
No, I don't tip for takeout, and generally feel mildly insulted if I see a "tip" jar prominently displayed in places like the register at a petrol station or something.
Took me AGES to get used to tipping (I'm originally English). In fact, it's only been in the past couple of years that I've remembered to tip the hairdressers.
Posted by: Keeley | November 13, 2008 at 03:51 PM
Drive-throughs at places like McDonalds and Burger King are take-out. And if you place an order inside those restaurants, that's either take-out or sit down at a table to eat it. Should we give them tips also?
For that matter, everything you buy at a grocery store is take-out. Should we give the the deli worker, cashier, and the bagger some tips, before I tote my own groceries to the car and load them into the trunk?
After all, most of them are under-paid, and provide some kind of service.
Posted by: mvd | November 13, 2008 at 04:14 PM
tip jars, please! only for college kids at the beach snack bar, and then spare change
delivery yes, especially in the cold, rain or snow
take out? fuggedaboudit
Posted by: TrueBlue63 | November 13, 2008 at 06:07 PM
I don't. Tips are for SERVICE not just ringing up my order.
Posted by: karla | November 13, 2008 at 06:53 PM
Foreigners are stunned by the 15% tips we pay for dinner. Not to mention we have 10% tax on top of that.
Posted by: aa | November 13, 2008 at 07:24 PM
Be advised, the dollar amount of the take-out order likely went on the bartender's sales for that night (since it's usually the bartender who handles to-go orders). The restaurant is required to record a % of that sales number as tips, i.e. taxable income. So, if you order a take-out order and don't tip, the bartender is actually losing money on you as a customer.
Posted by: Bad_Brad | November 13, 2008 at 07:42 PM
I always, always tip for takeout. The payoff is in a shorter wait time for my food the next time I order. Businesses remember which customers tip for takeout, and we do get better treatment.
Posted by: DBJ | November 13, 2008 at 08:42 PM
A similar question: Should one tip at a buffet?
I went to a buffet the other night with a few friends, and when we were done they all start dropping dollar bills onto the table and I followed their lead, then thought "wait this is a buffet. who are we really tipping here?" So I pick up my tip, only to have one of the other guys say "hey, you make more than all of us, just leave a tip." But it wasn't the money I was concerned with as much as the fact that I saw no reason at all to leave a tip when I had been the one getting up to retreive my food the whole night.
Posted by: Chris Hammon | November 13, 2008 at 08:58 PM
Dar said:
The ubiquitous tip jar at every cash register in every type of business nowadays is a real pet peeve of mine. I see no reason to tip anyone for exerting no more effort than standing at a counter taking my order.
Dave Ramsey addressed this on television. He says he feels a negligible obligation to feed tip jars, but does so occasionally when traveling so as to avoid carrying a growing pocketful of change until he returns home. He also said he thinks this might be one reason tip jars are so common, that some people will feed the jar just to dump the coins.
Posted by: poor boomer | November 13, 2008 at 09:38 PM
Methuselah said:
I'm with you - no tip. However, I'm even cheaper than you. :) I don't tip anyone, except for waiters & cab drivers because I know they don't earn minimum wage.
So if someone drives five miles in a blizzard at night to deliver a pizza to your door, you don't tip the driver? Pizza drivers usually earn minimum wage, plus some allowance for using their own car (used to be 6-7 percent of delivered dollar volume, or N cents per order delivered).
Posted by: poor boomer | November 13, 2008 at 09:46 PM
Do you tip at McDonald's?....I didn't think so!!!! So why tip anywhere else for take out, unless there is an additional personal service provided than just ordering and picking up the food.
Posted by: Jay m. | November 13, 2008 at 09:53 PM
SUSAN said:
If we have "takeout" type food delivered (i.e., pizza or Chinese), then we tip - just a dollar or two. We found that if we tip we get put on the top of the delivery list and our food arrives quicker and is hot.
Usually a driver will leave with 2-4 orders. Theoretically, there is a system for determining the order in which the orders should be delivered: usually the oldest order gets delivered first, and the newest order last. Location and travel time are also considerations - if you have three orders to deliver and two are close together and near the store, while the third is far away, the two close orders might be delivered first even if they are the oldest.
But once they're out the door and on the road, many drivers will move known good tippers to the top of the queue. And yes, a dollar or two is generally considered a good tip - when I delivered pizzas, most customers didn't tip at all.
Posted by: poor boomer | November 13, 2008 at 10:00 PM
Keeley said:
Took me AGES to get used to tipping (I'm originally English). In fact, it's only been in the past couple of years that I've remembered to tip the hairdressers.
I think FMF addressed this previously, but accepted practice in the US is to tip hairdressers unless they own their shop, in which case tipping is not suggested.
Hairdressers who do not own their shop rent their station from the owner, so they get less than whatever you pay them.
Posted by: | November 13, 2008 at 10:07 PM
I think businesses should be paying their employees a fair wage so they don't have to depend on tips. I grew up in Germany and think it is ridiculous that You are expected to leave a 20% tip after a nice meal, which adds at least another 20 Dollars or so to Your tab. In Germany You only round up to the next Euro and the waiters are happy about that.Tips are included in the price.
Posted by: Charlotte | November 13, 2008 at 10:08 PM
JimmyDaGeek said:
I hate the idea of tipping in general. After all, why aren't those that are tipped paid for their service by the company?
The restaurant business is EXTREMELY competitive, and profits are usually tight unless you rise to the top. So the pressure to keep wages low is greater for restaurants than for, say, retailers.
Posted by: | November 13, 2008 at 10:12 PM
I used to work as a server in a high end restaurant and I know that a fair amount of work always goes into getting a to-go order ready, so I tip 10% at sit down restaurants that I get to go orders from. I only tip at counter service places when they go out of the way or I'm feeling generous. I don't think that it's CRAZY to tip a server at a restaurant who has taken times from their tables to get your order ready. That being said, it's not required - tipping never is, but I think that if I can spend $30.00 on take out food, I should be able to afford $2-3 for the person making sure that everything gets packed properly and in the bag, along with utensils, etc.
Posted by: Ggrrl | November 13, 2008 at 10:13 PM
I tip if I order takeout from Applebee's or some such, because having been a server there, I know that half the time, the order is taken care of by a regular server who is still just making $2.13/hr. Even when I was designated takeout, I didn't make minimum wage.
Pizza and Chinese usually get $5 from me.
Places like starbucks and such? no. Only when they go above and beyond, like the very nice barista who saw that my little sister had just been crying, so she put sprinkles on her drink just to make her smile.
Posted by: Kaitlyn | November 13, 2008 at 11:56 PM
I take the tip the I would have given a waitress, server, etc. and give it to the homeless guy outside. I spread the wealth around a little bit. Why should someone who worked hard for their money keep it when there are people starving outside? That's for you Obama supporters..chew on that.
Posted by: Jindal | November 14, 2008 at 12:06 AM
Tipping has gone completely out of control in my opinion. At some bartenders wont serve you unless you provide a tip upfront. Coat check people want a tip, the bathroom guy wants a tip, the bouncer inside wants a tip, the doorman wants a tip. Where does it end?
Posted by: Studenomist | November 14, 2008 at 02:35 AM
hahaha... now way, on buffets neither...
Posted by: mark | November 14, 2008 at 10:32 AM
My son worked at Outback in their take out area for $2.13 an hour. I agree with all the posters that they should be paid better - but they aren't. He would take your order, get it to the kitchen, make sure everything is correct with your order and then deliver it to you car - all you had to do was make the call (or order online) and then drive to the restaurant and wait for him to come to you - yes, he deserves a tip! However, since so many choose to not tip take out, he has now gotten a job in another field where he can actually make a decent wage for good, honest work. I guess this may be one reason the food service industry has such a huge turnover. I agree that you shouldn't feel inclined to tip at fast food restaurants or other quick pick up establishments, but if you have received a service, a tip is a great way to show your appreciation for the convenience that was extended to you.
Posted by: Sissy | November 14, 2008 at 10:51 AM
This is very interesting...I thought EVERYONE tipped for things like this. I'm actually really shocked that people don't tip for pizza delivery. So, yes, I do tip for pizza delivery, as well as when we order takeout from a place like Applebee's where they bring it to your car. I only tip a dollar or two, so it's nothing big.
Posted by: Courtney | November 14, 2008 at 11:34 AM
No way, that is one of the reasons I prefer to just pick the food up myself. Why would I tip them if I go out of my way to get my food.
Craig
Posted by: Craig | November 14, 2008 at 11:52 AM
No way!
Posted by: David | November 14, 2008 at 12:59 PM