A Note To My Delivery Guys

From time to time we all will order something to be delivered for dinner, whether it be a piping hot pizza or some Chinese food, or some other cuisine. I have made a habit out of tipping my delivery people very generously, 20%. I look at it this way. I am able to stay at home, stay in my creature comforts, and you are saving me time and energy not having to trek out or have to cook at home.

I appreciate that, and am willing to pay for that.

But something I do not advocate is a delivery charge. This is a decision that you, as a business has made to expand the reach to potential customers. There is a benefit to your business by providing delivery, because at the end of the day I see it this way.

Had you not offered delivery, you probably would not get a sale from me.

So your business is benefiting from my business directly because I have chosen you as my source to have something delivered to my door as opposed to having to go out and get it.

I should not have to pay you for my business.

And that is exactly what a delivery charge is. It is a request from your business for me to pay you for my business. This delivery charge will be deducted from my generosity.

I get that there are a lot of people out there that will still think that tipping their delivery driver a buck for their time and effort is appropriate, and it is probably what started the whole delivery charge trend, as well as, of course, gas prices.

I would rather you incorporate your cost of doing business with me into your price. Plain and simple. And that is the way you should be conducting business.

As a rule, if there is a delivery charge added to my total I deduct the delivery charge and calculate my 20% tip based on the total minus the delivery charge. My thinking is that the delivery charge is not put directly into the driver's pocket, but the owner's pocket. So the argument that gas is expensive is moot. The driver is paid an hourly wage plus tips. Not an hourly wage plus tips plus delivery charges.

This is gouging the customer and screwing the delivery guy.

I will grant you that very few people probably provide for a 20% tip to delivery drivers. But that being said, I want you to tell me what your product costs and let me decide how much I think that is worth. If you find that the cost of providing delivery is not correlating with the revenue generated from it, simply raise your prices, but leave the delivery charge off the table.