Tipping: On The Take-Out
Photo by The Punch Pizza
I have done a lot of talking lately about the concept of tipping, but I thought I had gotten it completely out of my system. But then J. Money over at Budgets are Sexy brought the topic back up again, and I was reminded of an experience from this past summer.
A Surprise Tip
One evening over the summer, I placed a take-out order at one of those nationwide dinner restaurants that offers reasonably priced food for me and a couple of of my friends. The bill probably came to around $50, and I had no complaints with the process — everything was ready when I got there, I quickly paid with my credit card and headed out, and then enjoyed the delicious food with friends.
Several days later, however, I got a surprise when I checked my American Express statement — the restaurant had taken it upon itself to add a 15% tip to my bill! I was stunned, as I most certainly did not authorize that. I quickly had a chat with the general manager of the restaurant who could not have been more apologetic. It looks like I had left the tip line blank on the receipt, and the waiter or waitress had added her own tip. I was completely satisfied with how the manager handled the situation.
One lesson from this, of course, is to always put something on the tip line, even if it is a zero. But that is not what I want to focus on — instead, I want to focus on the issue of tipping for take-out.
Tipping for Take-Out? Really?
I guess part of the reason why I ignored the tip line on the bill was that it never occurred to me that take-out might warrant a tip.
Much to my surprise, it seems that “tipping experts” often side with tipping for take-out. Real Simple suggests that the average take-out tip should be around 10 percent, possibly more depending on the size of the order, to reward timeliness and accuracy.
It also seems, however, that wherever this topic comes up, from the Baltimore Sun Dining Blog to the San Francisco Chronicle’s Between Meals Blog, it generates a lot of passionate comments, mainly with people coming down against tipping for take-out.
I Don’t Know.
I don’t really know how to feel about this.
On the one hand, if you are taking out from a restaurant that is primarily sit-down, I can understand the argument for rewarding the cashier or server who takes care of your take-out order. Someone has to put the food together, place it in take-out material, bag it with utensils and napkins — all while ensuring accuracy timeliness. Plus the food has to stay warm. That seems like an awful lot of effort for someone on your behalf.
But at the same time, I can’t help but ask myself — what is tipping supposed to accomplish in the first place? I think that my gut intention when tipping is to reward a server who has taken care of me and made my stay at a restaurant pleasant. Has a take-out server done that? Perhaps the restaurant pools tips with the cooking staff — does that change things? How do I know if the tips get pooled or not? At some point, shouldn’t some of this just be part of the expectations included in the base cost?
Ever since that incident this summer, I’ve been inclined to leave some sort of tip, but then I question how much is appropriate — is it offensive to leave anything under 10%? Do I really need to tip the same amount as when dining in?
I am very curious to hear what everyone thinks — especially those of you who have been waiters or waitresses in the past. Do you tip for take-out?
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haha you got started on it again! i love it. you know, i’ve found myself tipping 20% on anything and everything that involves tipping now – sucky service, delivery, whatever. it’s not that i think they deserve it or anything, but it’s more for my peace of mind. it accomplishes the following:
- 20% is a more than average amount (in my opinion), so i always come out looking like a winner.
- it’s easy to do the math – the whole $2 for every $10 spent.
- I don’t have to ever think about how much to tip again.
it may not be the most effective way, but it sure does make me feel better
damn…i think i’m gonna have to re-post about this again later! i like this creative energy going on here.
Tipping for good service is the idea behing tipping. The key word being here “for service”. If you are tipping for takeway (which I do not do) then tip the kitchen staff because the waiters didn’t to anything.
I was just wondering about something similar yesterday when my co-workers and I went out to lunch yesterday. We went to a buffet and there were workers who came around and refilled our drinks and took away finished plates but we didn’t have a server per se. Should I tip (I did) and how much?
You should always draw a line or put a $0 on the tip line of your CC slip to avoide what happened to you. Unfortunatly not everybody is honest, and I hope that manager disciplined the person. It’s technically credit card fraud (they altered a signed slip), so you might also want to file a complaint with your state’s attorney general.
As far as the tips on take out and delivery. I generaly use 5% for take out, 7.5 to 10% for delivery and buffet type meals where the server just does the drinks/cleanup and 15 to 20% for sit down (higher for better service, of course).
I used to work as a bartender at a sit-down Italian restaurant and as such, was primarly responsible for take-out orders. From my perspective, it was *a lot* more work to do a take-out order than for me to serve food to someone at the bar. I’d say that, on average, 20% of take-out orders tip. I’d never expect 20% but throwing in a couple dollars for my time was always appreciated.
That said, here my rule for when to tip on take-out orders:
* No need to tip ’salaried’ individuals (managers, kitchen staff, hostess) because they make a flat rate regardless
* Tip $1-$5 (generally 10%) on to-go orders if a server or bartender takes your order. Your order is taking away from their ability to make money.
time to play catch up…
@budgets — Ha! I like your system, although I worry that you may find yourself tipping yourself into oblivion one day. As an aside, 20% is my standard amount for the same reason — its just so easy to calculate (and I was once really good at math!)
@Andy — I tend to agree, but its hard to make the distinction between kitchen staff and counter-waiter
@Anna — I agree that seems like a tipping situation, but I am at as big of a loss as you as to how much. It doesn’t seem “appropriate” to go under the 15% range these days, but you’re right that they didn’t really do much. I probably just would have left a few dollars…
@Karla — Oh don’t worry, I learned my lesson. I’m much better about the -0- now.
@Christine — Fascinating — more work from your point of view? I’ll have to keep that in mind. Appreciate your perspective!
I don’t know if this post is too old now for this comment to be read, but….
@ Andy…
When I serve you, while you’re sitting down at a table: I greet you, take your order, ring your order into the computer system, check on your order, take it from the cooks, bring it to you, and eventually take payment from you.
When you call and place an order to be picked up: I greet you on the phone, take your order, ring your order into the computer system, check on your order, take it from the cooks, package it to go, bring it to you, and take payment from you.
There are times when our to-go only people are paid minimum wage, and there are times when a server, also in charge of his or her tables is being paid ~$3/hour and rely just as much on take out tips as they do on the tips from his or her customers.
Tip on take out. Tip on delivery. And 15% leaves us cursing at you under our breath as you walk out. A real tip is 20%+ and good servers get it consistently.
@andrew — you make a good point — its easy to forget all the work that goes on behind the scenes. Do you think the same tip is appropriate for sitdown servers as takeout servers?
Thanks for dropping by!
Tips should only be offered for personal service. Tipping on a take out order is crazy. Of course I have offended all of the servers who have had to get orders ready for take out customers, but in truth the restaurant is taking advantage of you by making you work for less than minimum wage.
A tip should only be given for good or superior personal service period. The restaurant business uses the tipping procedure because it ensures good service from the waiters. There is no way the management can watch every waiter to see that the plates are picked up etc. They leave it to the customer to decide. There is nothing wrong with leaving a zero tip for poor service and a 20% tip for great service. I have done both and will continue to do so. Tipping for less than service with a complete meal such at a buffet is most ridiculous, perhaps a very small tip but nowhere near a percentage of the bill. The line that waiters have used on me in the past is asking “Do you want your change?” I hate that, they are asking if the rest is the tip. How crude can they be. I have returned to restaurants that have trained they staff to ask that question and have paid the bill with almost exact change. Then when they ask I just say no you can keep it. They end getting a tip of less than a dollar!
Question: Should I leave a penny tip when the service is poor or just no tip at all?
@Tom — I think you highlighted part of my problem with the whole system … tipping is supposed to be a way to keep accountability, but its been turned in to a system that isn’t really fair to servers. Plus, with all of the variability involved with tipping, it just doesn’t really seem like a good system to me.
And as to your follow-up question, I’d probably take a third option: I’d ask to speak with the manager. They usually go out of their way to try to make things right, and its likely a far more effective way of correcting poor performance than a low tip. What would you do?
Richard:
I agree, tipping is supposed to provide accountability and often times does, especially in he better restaurants. It still bothers me when the restaurant says for parties of 8 or more a tip of 18% is added to the bill. Why? Do they think we won’t tip? All that does is allows the water to provide bad service. You mentioned speak to the manager, ABSOLUTELY for good or bad service. The manager should be walking around the dinning room checking anyway.
I work at a restaurant that offers take-out. The girls that work the take-out station are earning at least the federal minimum wage. They are not relying on tips as their main source of income. I, and my fellow waiters and waitresses earn less than three dollars an hour (which, after taxes, often leads to a paycheck of zero dollars) and rely solely on my tips for my income. I’m not saying my take-out girls don’t work hard, or that they are undeserving of tips, but once they’re on the clock, they’re getting paid, with or without tips.