Pizza driver vs. waiter Most people don't think twice when they tip a waiter or waitress 15% or 20%. When they see a pizza delivery driver, though, the tendency is to hold back a little. There is a widespread idea that delivery drivers don't work as hard or are less needy. Unfortunately, that's a mistaken view. This page will compare both jobs point-by-point. Upon comparison, it should be obvious that drivers ought to receive no less in the amount of tip. To make this comparison as fair as possible, I will use a waitress and a delivery driver from the same pizza restaurant. There are three tables. The first compares the regular duties of both jobs. The second compares the dynamics of each job. And the third compares the rate of pay. General duties Waitress Delivery driver Seats the customer, if there's no host or hostess. Finds the customer's house, finds a place to park, and knocks on the door. The customer is usually not ready, so you must knock again and wait a few minutes in any kind of weather. Takes the customer's order and describes current specials. Takes the customer's order over the phone and describes current specials. Serves the order. Serves the order at the customer's door. Gives customers their drinks. Gives customers their drinks, although fewer delivery customers order drinks. Asks if things are okay and refills the customer's drinks. Asks the customer at the door if things are okay with the order. Delivery customers order greater quantities, so refills are not necessary. Gives the customer the bill. Gives the customer the bill. Gives change back from the bill. Gives change back from the bill. Cleans the table (if there's no buss-person) and resets it. Doubles as dishwasher for the store. Operates the dishwasher all night. The buss-person is usually a driver. Other drivers prepare the store's dough for the next day. Vacuums the carpet at the end of the day. Sweeps and mops the floors at the end of the day and periodically through the day. Tears down the salad bar at the end of the day. Washes all the salad bar containers. Sets up the salad bar at the beginning of the day, replenishing it every so often. Does not run the buffet bar. Managers, cut table staff, and drivers do that. Removes pans from the buffet bar on a regular basis. Washes all buffet bar pans. Helps put new pizzas on the buffet bar. Dynamics Waitress Delivery driver Walks forty feet to the customer. Drives an average of 2.5 miles to the customer's house, a 5-mile round-trip. Walks in a carpeted room. Walks outside. It can be wet, slippery, filled with obstacles, snow, puddles, or mud. On average, makes four trips to the customer's table or a total of 320 feet. On average, walks 100 feet from parked car to the customer's house. At times you must walk door-to-door to find the right house. Walks 200 total feet at the customer's house and 100 more in the parking lot. Works indoors in a climate controlled room. Works outdoors in bad weather and at night. This includes both driving and walking in bad weather. Exposed to hot and cold temperatures. Stays inside. Fights traffic on the city streets. Risks accident. Risks robbery and assault. Drives 75 to 100 miles a night. Keeps their pens and shoes in working order. Uses personally owned car. Keeps it in working condition. Pays own gas, refilling every 3 days. Puts wear and tear on the car. Buys quarts of oil, oil changes, anti-freeze, new brakes and new tires on an accelerated regular basis. Pays for additional major repairs after long-term use. Meets customers in a restaurant setting. Meets customers on their turf. Serves several customers at the same time. Serves one customer at a time, but can serve several on a multiple-delivery run. 45-minute average length of customer visit. 15-minute average time to complete a single delivery and return to the store. Despite a longer customer visit, can serve maximum of 6 to 8 tables an hour because more than one table is covered at once (a section of 6 tables or more.) Maximum of 6 to 8 deliveries an hour, taking several at a time depending on the geographical proximity and timing of customers. Averages 4 tables an hour in a normal shift. Averages 4 deliveries an hour in a normal shift. Serves parties simultaneously. Does not serve simultaneously. Interacts more with the customer. Watches them. Some interaction with the customer at the customer's house and on the phone. Always in a hurry. Must move on to the next customer or task. Always in a hurry. Must move on to the next customer or task. Constantly blamed for the kitchen's mistakes or if the cook was running behind. Often punished for it with lesser tip or no tip. Constantly blamed for the kitchen's mistakes or if the cook was running behind. Often punished for it with lesser tip or no tip. Stays on feet the whole time. Sits down while driving, but driving is not relaxing. Stays on feet the whole time in the store, washing dishes, preparing dough, answering phones. Customers must drive to the store, find a parking spot, wait for a table, and return home. Customers stay home. They call the store and answer the door later. If there's a problem with the order, walk across the room and work it out. Problems are identified and corrected quickly. Corrected pizzas are served the moment they come out of the oven. Server does not lose a customer to another server. If there's a problem with the order, make extra trip to the customer's house. Problems are identified and corrected slowly. Customers must call back to complain. Corrected order is usually re-delivered by the same driver. More elapsed time means more work and a less pleasant customer. A re-delivery usually makes the driver lose a normal customer to another driver, which is a cut in pay. A large order can be carried 40 feet to the customer one pizza at a time. No problem. A large order is bundled together. The heavy load is carried to the car in the parking lot. Then, it is carried again between the car and the customer's house in any type of weather and terrain. Rate of pay Waitress Delivery driver Minimum wage if there were no tips at all. By federal law, the employer must compensate. Sub-minimum wage of $2.15/hr plus tips. The difference between this and a driver's hourly pay is less than one customer tip. Minimum wage if there were no tips at all. Sub-minimum wage of $4.25/hr plus tips while driving. $7.25/hr when not driving. 85-cent mileage reimbursement for each delivery, but the driver never sees this. It goes straight into gas and car maintenance and it's not enough, but that's the reason for the mileage. (According to AAA, it costs 56 cents per mile to operate a car. Most deliveries are 5 miles round-trip.) 15% gratuity added for parties of 8 or more. No automatic gratuity for large orders. What would you expect? Delivery driver on a busy night: $35 in tips. Normal nights: $20. Waitress, same hours, same number of parties, on a busy night: $120 in tips. Normal nights: $60-$80. When the pizza buffet bar is open, everyone orders buffet. The waitress only seats and serves drinks. They don't run the buffet bar. A waitress said she received $55 in tips during the two hours it was open. What's wrong with this picture! From the charts above, one can deduce that delivery drivers and waitresses have very similar jobs. The driver does the same work as a waitress step-by-step with the customer. It's just that drivers do it somewhat differently. Most of the driver's work takes place behind the scenes, as opposed to a waitress who works mostly in plain sight. The job's dynamics are worse on the driver. They work outdoors and drive to the customer's house. Drivers have a much greater safety risk. There's no company car, so they use their personal vehicle and pay for the overhead of running it. It seems that drivers have more duties. They do more than just drive, such as wash dishes and prepare dough all night between deliveries. Waitresses don't double as dishwasher, for example, which is a minimum wage job in itself. There's only one area that appears more difficult for a waitress. They interact more with customers. A customer can communicate spontaneously and a waitress must watch to see if they need anything. It should be noted that delivery customers don't need this level of attention because they enjoy the convenience of not leaving their house. Thus, extra attention for dine-in is compensated by convenience from the driver's work. At any rate, waitresses have it harder in this one area. We must remember that this is only one aspect of the job among many. Unfortunately, most people look here and no further. The main problem is that people forget the service that was done by the delivery driver. It's a service they often don't see because most of it was performed out of sight. When one considers the totality of the job, both jobs work hard and earn the tip. You ought to tip the driver the same amount as a waitress. They also deserve 15%. They deserve nothing less. Since you tip the waitress, please tip the pizza driver. Note: This page was not intended to insult waitresses. Our comparison depends on the fact that people customarily tip them. We mean no disrespect to waiters or waitresses. Last updated: January 21, 2011 return to top