Comment by jaco6 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by jaco6 | Hacker News Reader

I work at a Dominos and we of course accept and expect tips on delivery, because without tips the drivers would make <$5 an hour after paying for gas and their vehicle’s depreciation.

But at checkout for carryout orders the card terminal also now opens a tip menu. I would never tip on this screen because the employees are already paid a true hourly wage, albeit a low one, not a server rate that is below minimum wage.

Furthermore there is no way for the customer to know if the employee they are tipping is even one of the bottom paid line cooks or a manager or driver who are already making $20/hour at my restaurant—what most servers make after tips. I am a driver and sometimes accept payment for carryout orders and end up receiving credit card tips that should really go to the line cooks. When we aren’t busy I make an effort to reach over and click “no tip” for the customer, as checkout employees at other restaurants sometimes do for me, but sometimes it’s busy and I get tips anyway.

As others have said I think doing away with tips altogether would be best but it seems unlikely that will ever happen. A compromise would be to somehow ban “customer facing” tipping for things other than delivery—no tips at cash registers, only for “pay at the table” establishments.

> I work at a Dominos and we of course accept and expect tips on delivery, because without tips the drivers would make <$5 an hour after paying for gas and their vehicle’s depreciation.

The business should own the cars and pay for the fuel. Or they need to be at least compensating drivers by the mile at the current IRS rate. Especially considering Dominos charges a delivery fee. Where is that going to if not to the drivers?

As another commenter crudely pointed out with their "not my problem", your boss is supposed to make up the difference between your <$5/hr and whatever the minimum wage is in your area[1]. Therefore any tips _up to_ your minimum wage are directly subsidizing your boss, even if you end up making a higher hourly wage overall.

FWIW, I always tip 20% because that's the society I grew up in, but it always leave a bad taste in my mouth when I'm not exactly sure what I'm tipping for, my wage has been stagnant for several years and all of my own costs are going up. Ultimately it just leads to me going out less, which I think is a net negative for my local service economy. It's hard to justify $20+ for a single meal when I easily can turn that into 4-5 meals at home.

[1] https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fact-sheets/15-tipped-emplo...

Delivery drivers incur expenses (gas, depreciation, oil changes, etc) that can result in their “net wages” being below minimum wage.

I don’t think claiming the mileage fully recoups those costs.

Good point - it's much more complicated than I made it seem. I think we should just pay everyone a living wage and make it much simpler :)

I only know because a friend was a delivery driver and complained - it’s so easy to overlook. Completely agree, no one should have to worry about whether working full time is enough to exist on.

>the drivers would make <$5 an hour

Not my problem

I feel the same way and if EVERYONE felt the same way things would change rather quickly. if everyone stopped tipping every pizza delivery driver most would quit shortly thereafter and dominos/papa johns… would have no choice but to pay adequate wage.

however, since most people are tipping the ones that don’t are as the assholes :)

I don’t care if you, an idiosyncratic individual, don’t tip. 95% of my customers tip, so weirdos like you have no effect on my average income.

all that is wrong with US culture summed up in one sentence. instead of realizing you are slave employee being paid less than people in 3rd world countries and relying on handouts from customers you call ones that do not want to give you an undeserved handout a weirdo…

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