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I suppose it would be helpful if I mentioned that these rules of thumb are specific to New York City, where deliveries are made by foot or bicycle.

I think 20% is a good baseline. My father worked on a case involving a pay dispute with Chinese takeout workers, and their pay is incredibly bad. Many of them get no base pay, and any returned orders (because it is wrong/broken, etc) are taken out of their money. Also, they have to pay the restaurant what the restaurant is owed out of what you give them (if you watch in NY -- you can see the delivery people paying the cashier before they take the orders), and even if you assume each order takes 15 minutes to and from, then that's only 4 orders/hour. If each person gave $3, that would be $12/hour, before the problems of people who can't find the right change, who try to send the food back etc. There's also no overtime, and in other cities (SF etc) where deliveries are made by car parking tickets are the responsibility of the server, which can often be hudnreds of dollars.

I don't feel liberal guilt. I don't think that I'm priviliged etc etc to get food delivery--to me, a job is a job. And you get paid to do your job. And honestly, often, I can't afford the tip, so I eat my canned soup or I go walk the three blocks to pick up my $4.50 stir-fry. But often you are their only paycheck, and so you should pay up.

I also think that restaurants should state a delivery charge. But they should also provide insurance, so good luck with that.

I tend to use 20% as a baseline. Sure, the person isn't delivering plates to my table, but really, the person's delivering plates to my house. They're not refilling my glasses, but they're making sure everything gets there together and that it's the right temperature. I figure I'm paying for the convenience of someone else going to get the food for me, and if I don't want to pay for it, then I go and do pick-up, not delivery. Of course, the 20% is also variable based on quality of service and difficulty of conditions. Interestingly, I've been at a couple large parties where we ordered so much food I found I did have an upper limit -- about $50.

Also, megnut's got a good point. I've not worked in the restaurant industry, but I grew up in Vegas, and you learn a thing or two about minimum wage and living off tips there.

what difference does it make to your delivery guy what the total amount of your bill was

Well depending on how much the difference is, it could mean he's carrying more stuff, heavier stuff, more of a pain, more packages, etc.

I am in NYC, and I guess I feel like it's a real privilege to sit on my lazy ass watching TV and have someone bring me food to my door. Someone who's probably making minimum wage, (who knows, maybe even less if he's illegal and delivering for a sketchy place, many restaurants underpay their kitchen staff, so I've assumed the same could be true for delivery people) busting his hump to get me my food while it's still hot, often when it's too cold or rainy for me to be bothered to go out my door to get something to eat. And I guess I feel like that warrants an extra dollar or two from my wallet when he gets it to me in a timely fashion. I'm not advocating Rockefeller-esque, slip-the-guy-a-$20 tips.

I will admit I'm a bit tipper though, I think that comes from working in the restaurant industry. When you see the hours people put in, both in the kitchen and as servers, when you realize that most people don't make anything close to a living wage for the amount they labor (yeah, tips are great when you're a server, but you're making $3 an hour, so if you're not at a high-end place, or you're not pulling the good shifts, you're not making much...), and you realize most people can't even afford health insurance, well, let me just say: it makes me more generous when I eat out.

Did I mention my name's not Rockefeller over here? megnut, what difference does it make to your delivery guy what the total amount of your bill was? Whether it's $5 or $50, he's humping your bag, a bag, to your door. Therefore, for the same task each time, he gets the same tipping Code. "Man needs a Code." -Omar Little A waiter in a restaurant, by contrast, operates by different rules of convention and theoretically works more on a bigger check than on a smaller check, so he gets a bigger gross amount as the check goes up. You give your delivery guy a $5 tip on a $10 check, and go up from there?? Must be nice...