Do you tip at a drive thru?

One of my nieces works at Dunkin Donuts now and when she works the drivethu she makes a TON in tips. I've never tipped at one of those drive thrus, nor did I think it was customary. :dk: I've thrown money in the cup before when I've ordered at the counter inside though.


Do you normally tip at a drive-thru?

It never would have occurred to me to tip at a drive-through.

Nope.
 

I understand that if you're a regular, tipping makes you more.. .memorable, I guess, and you get super service. So if you show up every morning with a 20-drink order for your office, it's probably a good idea to give the employees a little something.

Other than that, no, it wouldn't occur to me to tip at a drive-through or fast food place.

We don't tip at all here, but I wouldn't at a drive thru

Here, most people tip at drive thru. Mostly at coffee places though.

That's wild! I've never tipped or considered tipping at a fast food restaurant at all, let alone at the drive-through.

Most fast food places I've been to don't accept tips anyway.

I don't tip anywhere unless I get good service.  But I never thought one should tip at a drive through or fast food restaurant.
 

Interesting question.  I *do* tip at a couple of drive thru windows but they are privately owned restaurants which are usually sit down but have a drive thru.  Usually it is a waitress waiting on you and she has to report and pay taxes on the sale so I tip.  Not as much as I would dining in though.  For fast food restaurants and such, no, I do not tip.  I will put a tip in a tip jar at a coffee house type place and I do frequent a couple of them so I usually throw a dollar in. 
 

LuvMyParker said:

Here, most people tip at drive thru. Mostly at coffee places though.

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Now that's a good point. A coffee place isn't quite the same as a fast food place. I don't think Burger King would even accept a tip, but coffee shops are different. I've never used a drive-through at a coffee shop, though! I do drop my change in the tip jar if I go inside.

I never thought about tipping at a drive-thru. We do tip inside the Dunkin Donuts, though.

In fact, we were at Dunkin Donuts yesterday to use a coupon for 1/2 dozen doughnuts. There were five college girls there, waiting for their orders. Do you know that not ONE of those girls even bothered to say "Thank You"? Not one of them. They were handed their bags and coffee and they pretty much acted like they owned the place. Not even a thank you, let alone a tip.

Sorry for going off-topic. Carry on!

When I used to work at Tim Horton's I averaged anywhere from 20-30 a night in tips. A vast majority is from drive-thru. The morning shift is almost doubled. And that was my share working with 7 others

Winchester said:

I never thought about tipping at a drive-thru. We do tip inside the Dunkin Donuts, though.

In fact, we were at Dunkin Donuts yesterday to use a coupon for 1/2 dozen doughnuts. There were five college girls there, waiting for their orders. Do you know that not ONE of those girls even bothered to say "Thank You"? Not one of them. They were handed their bags and coffee and they pretty much acted like they owned the place. Not even a thank you, let alone a tip.

Sorry for going off-topic. Carry on!

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We used to get alot of customers like that at Tim Horton's. However they were the grade school students. 

As far as drive-thrus go, I only tip at coffee places.  Most of the workers there are super friendly high school students that I figure would appreciate the tip.  Plus, they tend to earn the tip.  I have been to several drive-thrus for one particular chain in Southern Oregon that the person working there will have my "usual" learned after my second visit.  When I drive up, my coffee is ready and presented with a smile.  Heck yeah I tip for that!

No. Although, I never go through drive thru's! I think the only drive thru that has a tip jar outside on the ledge is Starbuck's! :lol3:

I never really thought about tipping at drive thru, to be honest. But we don't have Starbucks here or any other coffee shop that has a drive through. Usually, if I get a coffee on the run, it's at a Sheetz or 7-11 and you serve yourself, or at McDonalds because it's convenient. I drink coffee. Black. No cream, no sugar, nothing fancy. It takes 3 seconds to pour that into a cup and put a lid on it. That doesn't deserve tipping.

I DO tip the waitress/waiter in a restaurant when I eat in. The amount is based on how attentive the server is. Do they offer refills before I have to ask for it? Do they check to make sure everything is ok? Do they clear the table when I'm done? Do they bring the check so I don't have to sit and wait? I worked as a waitress for 9 years so my standards are pretty high. But I do take into account the number of people being served and the number of servers running around. I've handled a full restaurant by myself many times and it isn't easy. If that's the case, I tip extra.

On a side note, I hate Starbucks and shops like it. When I ask for a coffee black, I get a blank look. "well, what flavor?" "Ummmm....coffee flavor?" I mean, really? 

I absolutely do not tip at the drive thru or at the counter. Fast food places do not get any extra money from me, because their employee pay scale is set up to properly compensate employees for the work they do. Also, it would be kind of hard to accurately tip fast food workers. One person takes your order, another pours the coffee/makes the food, and sometimes it's a completely different, thind person that hands you your food. Did any of those people do anything that deserves tipping? How do you tip someone for pouring a coffee, or making a burger especially good? It's also hard to be especially attentive or nice while performing tasks like that, which is where the majority of a waiter's tip comes from. The last time I was in McDonalds, there were maybe 10-15 words said to me. "Can I take your order?" "Is That All?" and maybe "Is that for here or to go?" Then whoever is bringing me my food will yell out what I ordered, and I pick it up and leave. Nowhere in that exchange was there any action worthy of a tip. Drive thrus are even worse since many places employ speech recognition software to record your order, so the person you're talking to only has to check that the order was recorded properly. That's even less work than a normal fast food employee has. As for tipping at Starbucks drive thrus, I believe that paying $8 for a dang cup of coffee provides them with more than enough excess money to divvy up into tips.

Food delivery drivers, waiters, and taxi drivers all get tips, nobody else. I am against the convention of tipping,  mostly because you are expected to tip no matter what, when I think tips should revolve around how good the service has been. So my waiter treated me like scum, but I'm still expected to give at least a 15% tip lest I be the one who looks like the jerk? No way. If you give me good service and you are in an industry that relies heavily on tipping, then I am more than happy to tip, and tip well. I will tip 20-30% for good service, but I don't feel like I need to tip even $0.01 for bad service.

I only tip at restaurants if the service warrants it, not at a drive through. At Starbucks I will generally put my change (If I pay with cash) into the jar. Other than that, um no. I have high standards for waiters and waitresses. As far as society expectations to tip no matter what, I don't agree with that. Something else I highly disagree with is that no matter what each server makes in tips, some restaurants make them split all tips equally- not cool.........

I always wonder whether or not to tip at a buffet style place (Like Golden Corral)...you get your own food- but not drinks. Hmmm

I've heard that at buffets, you tip a dollar per person, maybe more if you're messy or have a toddler :lol3:.

At the buffets I tip 2$ regardless of how many people are there.