At the chain I currently work at, every little delivery increase usually sees a short wave on complaints or mild irritation from the customers, but it dies down. But then again, the place I work at nickels and dimes to death (Little tiny increases all the time).
What worries me, as a driver, is when the delivery charge starts going past $2 or even $3
Many customers assume the driver is getting all of it, some cheapsakes declare “I’m never tipping again!”. But my worry is that, while currently most DCs are still under $2, so even if the driver were theoretically getting that whole thing, the customer doesn’t view that as an adequate amount, and still tips.
If the Delivery Charge gets to $2.50, $3.00, or higher, I think that more and more customers will start thinking that the delivery charge is so high that the full tip to the driver must now be included.
Again, I don’t think we’ve reached that point yet, except with a few cheapskates here and there, but there will be a certain point where massive amounts of people start to have this thought.
Funny thing about getting nickel and dimed: My company not too long ago, to cope with rising fuel costs, Increased the delivery charge by 10 cents, and the driver commission by 5 cents per order. So in essence, since most customers say “Keep the change” on a cash order, if the total was $19.50, it is now $19.60. The change decreased from .50 to .40, and the commission went up 5 cents. So the driver actually get 5 cents less as a result! I know this is just nitpicking, but funny nonetheless.
