How much to tip for grocery delivery?

[Anonymous]

WITHOUT the pandemic?

We’ve been way over tipping the whole pandemic, across the board, as our incomes have been unaffected and we’ve been able to work from home. However, due to some large new financial commitments, we need to revamp our whole budget in the next six months or so and spend significantly less money - and at this point we’ve completely lots our sense of what a “normal” good tip is.

We generally get a once a week delivery that’s ALL our food and cyclicals. Generally comes to $200-$300 total. 20% feels a bit ridiculous for this. $40-$60 per week is a LOT of money. I want these drivers to get a living wage, but some quick googling tells me they make around $14 an hour in base wages (so it’s not like a restaurant worker making the $2 per hour tipped minimum wage) and a “typical day” is 9 hours making 17 deliveries, and includes $2500 of groceries delivered. If everyone tipped 20% that would be $70 per hour!!

But what is fair?

Feels like maybe $5 for a small order ($100 or less) and $10 for a large order (which would obviously include us). But I want to see what other people thing or do.

[Anonymous]

At least 10%. Otherwise, go pick up your own groceries.

[Anonymous]

You think tipping 3-5% is reasonable?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You think tipping 3-5% is reasonable?

NP. On grocery delivery?

[Anonymous]

I think about 10% is perfectly fair.

[Anonymous]

^Sorry- $10, for a large order only.

[Anonymous]

Instacart usually has a 14% mark up from store prices. If you really want to save just get your own groceries.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Instacart usually has a 14% mark up from store prices. If you really want to save just get your own groceries.

OP here - not instacart, Giant Delivers (formerly known as Peapod). I have not noticed any markup, and between the ease of meal planning based on sales, more store brand options, and being able to easily stay under budget (whereas at the store, you never really know your total until you get through checkout!) I find it’s actually easier to stay on a budget with delivery. Although not if I’m tipping $50!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At least 10%. Otherwise, go pick up your own groceries.

OP here. If everyone tipped 10%, these drivers would be making approximately $42 per hour by my calculations. You don’t think that seems a bit high?

[Anonymous]

10% minimum. If you don’t want to tip good, don’t use the service.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:WITHOUT the pandemic?

We’ve been way over tipping the whole pandemic, across the board, as our incomes have been unaffected and we’ve been able to work from home. However, due to some large new financial commitments, we need to revamp our whole budget in the next six months or so and spend significantly less money - and at this point we’ve completely lots our sense of what a “normal” good tip is.

We generally get a once a week delivery that’s ALL our food and cyclicals. Generally comes to $200-$300 total. 20% feels a bit ridiculous for this. $40-$60 per week is a LOT of money. I want these drivers to get a living wage, but some quick googling tells me they make around $14 an hour in base wages (so it’s not like a restaurant worker making the $2 per hour tipped minimum wage) and a “typical day” is 9 hours making 17 deliveries, and includes $2500 of groceries delivered. If everyone tipped 20% that would be $70 per hour!!

But what is fair?

Feels like maybe $5 for a small order ($100 or less) and $10 for a large order (which would obviously include us). But I want to see what other people thing or do.

No, a $5 tip is not reasonable. If you don't want to tip at least 15-20%, go to the store yourself.

[Anonymous]

20% is reasonable. We have been tipping more during the pandemic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At least 10%. Otherwise, go pick up your own groceries.

OP here. If everyone tipped 10%, these drivers would be making approximately $42 per hour by my calculations. You don’t think that seems a bit high?

Whatever it comes to is what it comes to. Tipping 3-5% for a service that is one generally accepted as one that is tipped, is cheap. I say this as a cheap person. Don’t use the service if you’re don’t want to tip appropriately. Alternatively, pay a high schooler to shop for you for $15/hour.

[Anonymous]

I honestly think these responses are by people who work as grocery shoppers!

We do a flat 5 dollars per delivery. Usually we order Amazon Fresh, so our delivery person is not doing the shopping (they pick it up at a warehouse).

I also however prefer Fresh Direct, which emphasizes that tipping is optional and employees are paid well with benefits, for precisely this reason.

[Anonymous]

If it’s under $100, I would tip based on a percentage, between 10-20%. For really big orders, a percentage based tip makes less sense because a $40-50 tip seems pretty high—is it any harder to deliver a bag of salmon and steak? So maybe shift to a flat $20 max. Or adjust if your order is full of cases of water/soda, or other heavy/bulky items, which truly are more work.