The true cost of free delivery
Here's a tidbit that might make you reconsider how much you tip the pizza guy.
Maryann of Baltamour fame passed on this tip about NYC takeout delivery workers whose employers showed blatant misregard to minimum wage laws and other rules.
Dan Thanh points out that workers here in Baltimore have been similarly mistreated, recalling the owners of Mount Vernon's Kawasaki restaurant who were charged last year with housing illegal immigrants in filthy conditions, paying them nothing and even stealing their tips.
I'm wondering, as the columnist does ...
... how much would we be willing to spend for workers to be treated fairly?
Sure, the price of a nice evening out is going up along with the cost of our grocery bills and everything else. But plenty of people pay a premium for organic, fair trade foodstuffs because of questions of how food is grown ... shouldn't the way food is cooked meet a similar standard? Should we only patronize businesses we know pay workers adequately, and how can we ever know?
Anyway, some food for thought: do you tip knowing that some workers make all their money from tips?
(photo: David Hobby/Baltimore Sun)
Comments
It gets a little more confusing when most pizza places start charging you 2-3 dollars extra for door delivery; I have no idea whether this money goes directly to the driver (I doubt it) or if they're just nickel and diming me.
Oh, Evan, I get so burned when I tip the driver and later realize that the place already put a delivery charge on my bill ... but you're right --- there's no way to know who benefits from that extra bill. Unless, of course, you ask. And if you're given the truth in response. --- lfk.
Posted by: Evan | October 31, 2008 11:23 AM
I spent years working as a waiter. Years later, I learned that it was a law that, if you didn't make more than minimum wage over your shift with tips and the $2 salary they pay you, then work would need to pay you to make up the difference. That is definitely a law that they keep hidden.
personally, I only tip when it is merited.
Cheese, I'm intrigued, because I find myself overtipping because I'm assuming folks don't get paid. What's your standard for determining when a tip is merited? -- lfk.
Posted by: Cheese | October 31, 2008 3:22 PM
On a similar front, the students at St. Mary's College of Maryland were so incensed at the low wages paid the lowest paid staff at their school, they passed a resolution requiring a working wage be paid and that the money come from a surcharge on tuition. My son voted against the measure without asking for advice. I wonder if one student voting for the increase consulted the people paying their bills . . .
DD: Bruce, You make a good point. Not to sound like I'm 80, but I get the feeling that many of today's generation of kids are so used to their parents footing the bill that they don't realize how expensive it already is. Coming from a big family, we kids knew that if we didn't find a way to pay for school ourselves, we weren't going because our parents couldn't afford it. I can understand being angry about low wages paid to staff, but there's got to be a different way to handle it besides adding on to tuition.
Posted by: Bruce Robinson | November 1, 2008 11:46 AM
I always tip for service, however it is a sliding scale based on effort and quality.
Posted by: Andy | November 25, 2008 12:41 PM