Well, this has moved a ways since I last checked in. I've heard before that tipping is way different in other countries, back when I was active on the driver boards we had a few British and Australian drivers, and they described a very different job than what it's like in the States. There are some interesting differences from shop to shop, for instance in my state they have to pay full wage, while some other states allow something called "tip credit" where a restaurant can pay as little as $2.13 an hour if tips make up the difference with federal minimum wage. Usually it's waiters that get hit with wages that low, though some drivers do get paid under minimum wage in tip credit states. The per delivery commission also differs greatly, depending upon gas prices and delivery range I've seen everything from $.50 up to $2.50, my shop pays $2.00 per run. No one seems to know the proper percentage for a delivery tip either, I average around 15-20%, it depends on the day and the customer.
One of the funnier things I've seen is people who will be abusive on the phone or at the counter, and then proceed to cough up their name, address, phone number, credit card, etc, and trust the person they've just abused to then prepare their food and deliver it to their home. I can't explain it, it's like a disconnect occurs when they call for delivery that prevents them from realizing the potential danger there. Same goes for repeat stiffs, the computer tracks their order history, we know who they are, and their level of service will reflect that history. It's not like in the movies with people spitting in food and such, but people who don't tip will quickly find that their food arrives at the far end of the quoted time and far from hot. Then there's a little something that drivers like to call a "ghost cut", that's where you don't cut a pizza all the way through in the middle so that the first slice taken pulls all the cheese and topping off the pie...
That's pretty rare on my island though, the place is so small that everyone knows everyone and a reputation as a cheapskate will get back to people, it's really a best case scenario for delivery work.