When I delivered pizza in 2012, if you gave a 5 I’d always be happy. The thing with delivery is that the service is the delivery, not making the food. So it doesn’t really make sense to be percentage based. Whether you ordered 2 large pizzas and a coke or just some cheese bread, my labor was the same. Of course, if you order 30 pizzas then yeah, tip more. Or if you lived far from the store. If you were literally two blocks over, a dollar is fine.

Think about how much time you’re taking up. If you’re 15 minutes away, it’s also 15 minutes back. Assuming it’s not Friday night, you may be the only delivery on that route. Which means, I could only make 2 deliveries an hour. Papa John’s only paid me 2.50/hr while driving and 7.25 while in the store. So with those assumptions, I’d only make 12.50 that hour. And that’s not accounting for gas, which I paid for myself.

It really varies a lot. But if you tip 5 bucks, I’d be at least making more than minimum wage. Less than 5 and it’s not even worth leaving the store and wasting my gas.