Tipping on to-go orders: What's the consensus?

There is good Chinese food around here, I just haven’t found it yet. Plus, I’m very picky. I won’t eat Chinese food that has been deep fried and over-breaded. It’s got to be pan-fried.

A lot of these Chinese places seem like they just take KFC chicken and dump some sauce on it. P.F. Chang’s pan-fries the stuff and doesn’t overdo it on the sauce, which I really like.
OK not my experience with them...never had worse meals...but as usual YMMV
 
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I had a local pizza place tell me uber eats and the like add 30% to the bill. All I can say is when my daughter was confined with Covid, she ordered a Dunkin donuts iced coffee with door dash (normally $3.47) the bill was over $11.50???

It’s really only effective when you get two meals or more. The charge is mostly constant despite the size of the bill. My $12 meal comes out to about $20 delivered. I once had a $220 Uber eats order for a lot of food that came out to $235-$240 after all the Uber charges.
 
Seems that most of you are fortunate people. I have kids who worked as waitress back in their college lives and so I tip 20% to 30% take out or not.
The pandemic lost a lot of business and most are barely able to meet both ends.

Edit: I'd rather spend money on the waitress who works hard than give it to the panhandlers, or handouts to the street bums.
 
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I don’t even order drinks when ordering to go. I literally got three entrees and hot and sour soup. I mean I guess someone put those entrees in to-go containers and put them in a bag for me with utensils. So okay, maybe a 5-10% tip?

It irritated me that in the P.F. Chang’s app they automatically have the tip included and you have to actually go edit it if you want to remove it.
PF changs hack... gift cards are at Costco...$100 only costs $80. Makss
What irked me is we
 
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I don’t even order drinks when ordering to go. I literally got three entrees and hot and sour soup. I mean I guess someone put those entrees in to-go containers and put them in a bag for me with utensils. So okay, maybe a 5-10% tip?

It irritated me that in the P.F. Chang’s app they automatically have the tip included and you have to actually go edit it if you want to remove it.
I don't do "Apps" at all - but ANYBODY who automatically adds a "tip" to a bill will, at the very least, get nothing, and may very well lose my business permanently. That goes for everybody, including sit down restaurants - DO NOT ASSUME I'm going to tip, that's MY choice NOT yours.

I don't tip at a drive up window, I don't tip at a walk up counter. I do tip the pizza guy and the Chinese lady when they deliver. Sit down restaurants, of course. Unless your service is *really* shitty...
 
I don't do "Apps" at all - but ANYBODY who automatically adds a "tip" to a bill will, at the very least, get nothing, and may very well lose my business permanently.
I don't tip at a drive up window, I don't tip at a walk up counter. I do tip the pizza guy and the Chinese lady when they deliver.
I really hate the entire tipping scenario. Pay them a good wage and adjust the menu prices accordingly. This is why I cook at home most of the time (of course my wife hates this)
 
Lately we've been getting a lot of to-go from restaurants. I've noticed a lot of these restaurants have apps that automatically include a tip when you're checking out, unless you go in and set the top amount to zero.

Now my question is this: Why the hell would I tip for a to-go order? I'm going in and picking up my food, no one is waiting on me, and it's just a cook making my food and someone putting in a bag.

However, I feel that often times I get the cold shoulder, almost as if when I pick it up, they are disgruntled that I didn't leave them a tip.

Do you tip on to-go orders? I just can't wrap my head around this one for the life of me.

Why does everyone feel like they deserve a tip these days. I feel like George Costanza :rolleyes:

You feel like george cuz you're being george.
 
As far as dine-in, I’ve been leaving 30% tips sometimes. I feel bad for a lot of the service workers who had their jobs disrupted by COVID nonsense. That and a lot of these places I frequent I want them to stick around.

I saw Fuddruckers is permanently closing because of this, which sucks because I always loved that place.
 
I stopped for lunch one day a few years ago...can't remember the name of the place. Having a bad day. Waitress was pleasant, and the food was great. As I was paying her, I asked her to tell me one thing that was positive about the day. She said that the sun rose that morning, and she was still around to see it. I left her a $50 tip.

Another time, the wife and I ordered Reubens for dinner, but the waitress said they were only served during the lunch hours. She then said she would ask the cook if he'd be willing to whip a couple up for us, anyway. He did, and they were delicious. The waitress was an absolute peach. At the end of the meal, the wife and I just looked at each other, and she said "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Yup. We left her a $100 tip. We could hear the waitress scream with excitement as we left the restaurant. :LOL:

Remember, you only get out of Life what you put into it. ;)
 
As far as dine-in, I’ve been leaving 30% tips sometimes. I feel bad for a lot of the service workers who had their jobs disrupted by COVID nonsense. That and a lot of these places I frequent I want them to stick around.
Exactly. I've always believed in being a good tipper but during this COVID shit I've started tipping even better. That mom or dad or maybe dipshit on the other side of the transaction needs it right now.
 
Lately we've been getting a lot of to-go from restaurants. I've noticed a lot of these restaurants have apps that automatically include a tip when you're checking out, unless you go in and set the top amount to zero.

Now my question is this: Why the hell would I tip for a to-go order? I'm going in and picking up my food, no one is waiting on me, and it's just a cook making my food and someone putting in a bag.

However, I feel that often times I get the cold shoulder, almost as if when I pick it up, they are disgruntled that I didn't leave them a tip.

Do you tip on to-go orders? I just can't wrap my head around this one for the life of me.

Why does everyone feel like they deserve a tip these days. I feel like George Costanza :rolleyes:
With today's bullshit that is forcing more folks to stay away from sit down restaurants, my metric would be to compensate the staff for loss of tips that would normally go towards their income. But, only if it was a place that I would normally sit down, eat in, and then leave a tip.

Even then, I've always left a tip for to go orders anyway since they pack them to go and that's worth something if it isn't a fast food joint that gets paid to pile your shit in a sack in the worst way possible.