I’ll give you a very small tip.
I have a fine understanding of tipping at restaurants. The wait staff puts up with a lot of shit from asshole customers so I’m happy to give 20+% in most circumstances. As long as they are nice and do a fine job, I like to throw a few extra dollars their way. Now I get a bit more confused for delivery drivers.
If I get a $20 dollar meal delivered, am I supposed to tip 20%? Seems reasonable. What if it ‘s a $40 dollar meal? 8 bucks to drive down the road, I don’t think so. Is delivery a fixed fee for most people? 5 bucks on all deliveries? It seems ridiculous that if you order a different portion of food, and the driver will go through the same exact sequence (aside from carrying a few extra portions), that they deserve extra tip? What do you do?
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Many factors – including how long the delivery takes to arrive, and the attitude of the driver. For instance, Laur and I used to get chinese food from a place – but the delivery guy refused to stop smoking as he handled the transaction on numerous occasions. Result: insult tip amount.
If you are personable and seemed to make a good-faith effort to provide timely delivery, a few extra dollars is expected. Given that the pay structure is usually different for delivery drivers (vs. waitstaff), and often there is a delivery charge already passed on – no less that $3 and no more than $6 seems fair.
We had a delivery driver at my old restaurant that would literally just honk outside the address until the person came out and retrieved the food from the car. She was also known to complain about the tip quantity she received. Had to fire her.
The best way to approach it is the old “Just give me X back…”. By the time they do the math back in the car they realize you are a bad tipper too late.