Uh, I didn't? I was justifying why a business would add the $1 delivery charge (in reply to the original conversation about this, not the tipping derail). I made no comment whatsoever about tipping the runner.

Maybe Greebo doesn't realize you and Rapini aren't the same person?


Also, anyone can tell me I'm off-base with my comments to Rapini if I'm wrong.

No, I completely disagree with Rapini's opinion too. Just be sure to argue/attack the opinion/idea, not the person.

The problem with all this in my opinion is I'm being double-charged for the delivery if I tip. I prefer to be charged only once, so I'd do one of two things: (1) I won't tip on top of the delivery charge or (2) I'll reduce my tip by the amount of the delivery charge. (And like I said this rarely comes up for me irl because when I see that a place charges for delivery, I move on to a place that has free delivery.)

In Europe, some restaurants have a service charge included in the final bill. In that circumstance, it's not expected that you tip because doing so would be double-charging yourself for the service. I see that situation as analogous to the food delivery guy.

WTF?

Haha I hope that's what it was.

Nothing's off-base about your comments. LCP's main forum would be pretty boring if everyone agreed all the time.

What you are forgetting on the business side is that there increased costs with offering delivery. The biggest one is the increase in insurance costs. Yes if the driver uses his own car and pays for the car insurance there, but the business has to pay a much higher insurance rate, because if there was ever an accident out there, who do you think the other party is going to sue first? But also dont let those businesses fool you, a lot of times at least a portion of that delivery charge is going to the driver in one form or another.

If I order something as the poker table, and I am either told that there is a $1 delivery charge or see it on the receipt, I am not tipping. I assume that $1 is going to the waitress staff (either by pooling or keep their own). I liken this to auto-gratuity at restaurants.

If it isn't, then this is just a crappy way of raising prices of their food, and it should be taken off.

I hate the delivery charge on pizza deliveries. I order less pizza now.

I stay at my hotel a lot when I have enough free points built up. I order room service a lot after stumbling back from long sessions, and I always tipped like 8 to 10 bucks.

Then one day when I ended my session early and was reading the menu, I saw in fine print on the bottom "18% gratuity is added to each bill"

So that night when the same guy delivered my food, I asked him if tips were included. All of a sudden he barely spoke any english but he never got an extra dollar from me ever again.

I should take that job they must make a killing from all the tourists who don't read the fine print.

Different because the service charge goes to the waiters, and in any case waiters in Europe do not rely on tips for a living.

Analogy denied.

Yep sorry got my wires crossed. Green names threw me.

The service charge at many places in Europe goes to the entire staff or to the restaurant itself. Waiters in many places in Europe make more from tips than they do from salary.

Denial denied.

What kind of restaurant do you run? How much did your insurance increase when you added delivery?

I don't think that the casino is paying more insurance premiums as a result of having the increased risk exposure of food runners crossing the casino floor, so the delivery charge at the casino wouldn't be going toward that.

If it goes to the restaurant then that's shady practice and iirc illegal in some places.

been watching some old episodes of HSP on twitch and it's just as surprising to watch today as it was when it first aired these guys tipping red birds on 100k pots.


The only guy I ever noticed giving more was Todd Brunson who sent over a $100 and asked for 99 back. He was being funnies. And this might have been on Poker After Dark, now that I think about it...

I think you're the only one talking about food runners in a casino. Everyone else is talking about driving food to people's homes? Has this been the disconnect?

Mulitple pizzerias. I am out of the business now. But we added insurance we had to be safe in case of a delivery accident cost us around $950 a year. Keep in mind we only charged $1 or $2 for delivery, but we gave the whole thing to the drivers. We just considered the insurance cost the price of doing business and didnt pass the cost on to the delivery customer

Thanks for the info re the increased costs. So it does sound like there's some business justification for a delivery fee.

In support of my argument that there's no need to tip on top of a delivery charge because you're already paying for the service of the deliveryperson via the delivery charge, I asked what I'm being charged for if not the service of delivery.

AJD804 told me that there's an increased insurance fee when a business makes deliveries, so that could be at least some of the reasoning behind a delivery fee that would not be directed toward the service of the deliveryperson.

I mentioned the casino because that's what started this whole discussion--in a casino, there's no extra insurance associated with the delivery, so the fee must be going toward the deliveryperson's service.

Rapini, why don't you explain the difference between the extra money that a restaurant charges on food in a restaurant (i.e. the costs they charge in order to make a profit, the difference between their sales price and their costs) and a delivery charge?

And after you are done doing that, explain to me why you tip on a meal in a restaurant, but wouldn't for a delivery driver who delivers from somewhere that tacks on a delivery fee?

And further, what if the restaurant raised all prices by 1% and offered a small discount to all dine in customers? How would that affect your tipping decision in and out of the restaurant? Would you tip more in the restaurant, less, the same? Why does the fact that they charge a flat fee on top of their costs for a segment of their business affect your decision to tip but the decision to charge more on every single item that they sell does not affect your decisions? And why does any pf the restaurant decisions affect the money that you give to a person for the service that they are performing for you?

Furthermore, if a delivery driver gets no piece of the tip, why should it affect what you give him? Are you saying that you only tip him because your meal is $X and not $X+1?

Again, if the restaurant removed their delivery charge and increased their prices across the board by 1% next month, would order there? Would you ever dine in the restaurant?

Lastly, how do you know that all the restaurants that don't charge a delivery fee aren't already doing this? How do you tell which ones are charging the "right" price, and which ones are actually charging just slightly too much and are making everyone bear the burden of the cost of delivery?

Now I only had a small pizzeria, Im guessing the bigger restaurants would have much higher insurance costs. But there are other costs too. You could easily spend a couple hundred dollars a year just in insulated delivery bags just for pizza. Plus more for sandwich and appetizer insulated bags. Bigger places might have portable Cambros to keep bigger orders warm/cold. That could run close to a thosand dollars. And then as stated before you have the salary of the driver himself.

With all of that said, I still think there are some places that take advantage and just use it as a gouging method

Don't restaurants also save on some expenses when the deliver food though? They don't have to have busboys and dishwashers for those orders at least.

So, Monday a waitress at the casino gets you food from a restaurant. No delivery charge. Quick, friendly, efficient service.

Do you tip her?

On Thursday, same waitress, same order, same service, but now the restaurant adds a $1 delivery charge. The waitress's salary has not been increased. She does not get a cut of the $1. Not a penny.

Do you tip her? If yes, the same amount as on Monday?

I would add the scenario that when you go back on Thursday, there is no delivery charge, but the prices have all gone up by $1.

Is it more difficult to deal cards when the pots are for $100k than it is when the pot is $500? I get that waiters working at higher end restaurants get higher tips just because the whole system is based on percentages, but it'd be ludicrous if players playing nosebleeds were expected to toss the dealer $1000+ when they won a pot.

No because they dont pay those employees by the dish. They get their hourly regardless of how many deliveries there are. Now if delivery became so popular at a particular restaurant that dine in business fell off dramatically then they might lay off a busser or dishwasher, but realistically there is no change with those employees

I get it in the short run no savings, but in the long run there is. It could even be a restaurant is so popular that during busy times their dining room is full but they still have extra kitchen capacity. Then having delivery could become way more profitable than their dine in business, basically saving them staffing and even extra rent or building expansion costs.