Delivery has become a central part of daily life. Whether you are ordering dinner through an app, getting groceries dropped at your door, or receiving a new couch from a furniture store, someone is doing the work of bringing it to you. And in almost every case, the question comes up: how much should I tip?
The answer is not always straightforward. Tipping norms vary depending on the type of delivery, the size of the order, the weather, and even which platform you are using. Some services build tips into the pricing; others rely on tips as a major portion of driver pay. Getting it right means understanding how each system works so you can be fair to the person making the delivery without overpaying out of confusion.
This guide breaks down tipping expectations for every common delivery scenario in 2026, with clear recommendations and comparison tables you can reference anytime.
Food Delivery: DoorDash, Uber Eats, Grubhub, and More
Food delivery apps have fundamentally changed how Americans eat. In 2026, more than 60% of U.S. adults order food delivery at least once a month. But the tipping norms on these platforms are still a source of confusion for many people.
Here is what you need to know: food delivery drivers on platforms like DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub earn a base pay that is often very low, sometimes as little as $2 to $4 per delivery. Tips make up the majority of their effective hourly wage. Without tips, many drivers earn below minimum wage after accounting for gas, vehicle maintenance, and self-employment taxes.
Recommended Tipping for Food Delivery
- Standard orders (under $30): $5 minimum, or 20% of the order total, whichever is higher
- Medium orders ($30-$75): 18-20% of the order total
- Large orders ($75+): 15-20% of the order total
- Bad weather or long distance: Add $2-5 on top of your usual tip
The most important rule for food delivery tipping is to never tip less than $3 to $5, regardless of order size. A driver who delivers a single $8 burrito has spent the same time and gas as one delivering a $30 meal. A $1 tip on a small order is worse than no order at all from the driver's perspective, because they still incurred costs to complete the delivery.
Key insight: On most delivery apps, drivers can see the tip amount (or estimated total payout) before accepting your order. Low-tip or no-tip orders often get bounced between multiple drivers before someone accepts, which means your food sits longer and arrives colder. Tipping well is not just generous; it is practical.
Platform-Specific Notes
DoorDash: Base pay for Dashers typically ranges from $2 to $4 per delivery plus tips. DoorDash shows drivers the estimated total (base pay plus tip) before they accept. Orders with low or no tips may be declined multiple times. You can tip in the app before or after delivery, but pre-tipping is strongly recommended since it determines whether your order gets accepted quickly.
Uber Eats: Drivers see an estimated payout including tip before accepting, similar to DoorDash. Uber Eats allows you to adjust the tip for up to one hour after delivery. Base pay is calculated based on distance and estimated time. Tips are passed through to drivers in full.
Grubhub: Grubhub also shows drivers the full payout including tip upfront. The platform has a minimum base pay per delivery. Grubhub tends to suggest tip percentages starting at 20%, which is appropriate for most orders.
Grocery Delivery: Instacart, Walmart, Amazon Fresh
Grocery delivery involves significantly more work than picking up a bag of food from a restaurant. A grocery shopper may spend 30 to 60 minutes selecting your items, communicating about substitutions, loading bags into their car, driving to your home, and carrying everything to your door. This effort should be reflected in the tip.
Recommended Tipping for Grocery Delivery
- Small orders (under 15 items): $5 minimum or 15-20%
- Medium orders (15-30 items): 15-20% of the order total
- Large orders (30+ items): 15-20%, minimum $10
- Heavy items (cases of water, bulk goods): Add $3-5 extra
- Apartment delivery (walk-up, no elevator): Add $3-5 extra
Instacart: Shoppers rely heavily on tips. Instacart pays a base rate that often works out to less than minimum wage for the shopping and delivery time combined. The platform suggests a default tip (usually around 5%), but this is widely considered too low by shoppers. Aim for 15-20% or a minimum of $5 for small orders. You can adjust the tip after delivery if the shopper did an exceptional or poor job.
Walmart delivery: Walmart uses a mix of its own drivers and gig workers. Tipping is optional but encouraged. A $5 to $10 tip is appropriate for standard grocery orders.
Amazon Fresh: Tips go directly to the delivery driver. Amazon suggests a default tip amount which you can adjust. For standard grocery orders, $5 to $10 is appropriate, scaling up with order size.
Pizza Delivery
Pizza delivery is one of the oldest forms of food delivery, and the tipping norms are well established. Unlike app-based delivery drivers who are independent contractors, many pizza delivery drivers are employees of the restaurant. However, they still rely on tips for a significant portion of their income, and they use their own vehicles in most cases.
- Standard order (1-2 pizzas): $5 minimum or 15-20%
- Large order (3+ pizzas or catering): 15-20%
- Bad weather: $7-10 minimum
If your pizza place charges a "delivery fee," be aware that this fee typically does not go to the driver. It covers the restaurant's delivery infrastructure costs. The driver still needs a tip separate from the delivery fee.
Package Delivery: UPS, FedEx, USPS, Amazon
Tipping package delivery drivers is one of the most debated topics in delivery etiquette. Here is the general consensus:
- Regular daily deliveries: Tipping is not expected for routine package drops. UPS, FedEx, and USPS drivers are salaried or hourly employees with benefits.
- Holiday season: A cash tip of $20 to $50 or a small gift for your regular carrier during the holidays is a widely appreciated gesture, especially if they deliver to your address frequently.
- Exceptional effort: If a driver carries heavy packages up multiple flights of stairs, waits for you during a signature delivery, or goes out of their way, a $5 to $10 cash tip is appropriate.
Note on USPS: Federal regulations technically limit the value of gifts that postal workers can accept (no more than $20 per occasion, $50 per calendar year from one customer). Cash is technically not allowed, though gift cards are commonly given and accepted. UPS and FedEx drivers have no such restrictions.
Flower Delivery
Flower delivery drivers are often employees of local florists or contracted delivery services. The work involves careful handling of a fragile, time-sensitive product. A tip of $5 to $10 is standard for flower delivery. For large or elaborate arrangements (such as wedding flowers or event deliveries), tipping 10-15% of the arrangement cost or $10 to $20 is appropriate.
Furniture and Appliance Delivery
Furniture and appliance delivery is physically demanding work that often involves carrying heavy items up stairs, through narrow hallways, and into specific rooms. Assembly may also be included. Tipping is customary and expected.
- Small item (single chair, end table): $5-10 per delivery person
- Medium item (couch, mattress, washer): $10-20 per delivery person
- Large or complex delivery (multiple items, stairs, assembly): $20-30 per delivery person
- White-glove delivery (full setup, packaging removal): $20-40 per delivery person
If the delivery team includes two or three people, tip each person individually. A two-person team delivering a sofa to a third-floor walk-up apartment should receive $20 to $30 each, totaling $40 to $60. This reflects the significant physical effort involved.
Complete Delivery Tipping Reference Table
| Delivery Type | Standard Tip | Minimum |
|---|---|---|
| Food delivery (apps) | 18-20% | $5 |
| Pizza delivery | 15-20% | $5 |
| Grocery delivery | 15-20% | $5 |
| Flower delivery | $5-10 | $5 |
| Furniture delivery | $10-20/person | $5/person |
| Appliance delivery | $10-20/person | $5/person |
| Package delivery (routine) | Not expected | N/A |
| Package delivery (holiday) | $20-50/year | $20 |
| Water/bulk delivery | $5-10 | $3 |
| Catering delivery | 15-20% | $10 |
Tipping More in Bad Weather
If it is raining, snowing, extremely hot, or icy outside, you should tip more than usual. Delivery drivers face real danger in bad weather conditions: slippery roads, poor visibility, and longer delivery times that eat into their earnings. Adding $3 to $5 to your standard tip during bad weather is a meaningful way to acknowledge the extra risk and effort.
During severe weather events (snowstorms, hurricanes, extreme cold), many experienced drivers stop working because the conditions are genuinely unsafe. The drivers who continue working in these conditions deserve exceptional tips. Consider tipping 25-30% or adding $10 to your usual amount.
Percentage vs. Flat Amount: Which Is Better?
This is a common dilemma, and the answer depends on the order size.
| Order Total | 20% Tip | Flat $5 Tip | Better Choice |
|---|---|---|---|
| $12 | $2.40 | $5.00 | Flat $5 |
| $20 | $4.00 | $5.00 | Flat $5 |
| $30 | $6.00 | $5.00 | 20% |
| $50 | $10.00 | $5.00 | 20% |
| $80 | $16.00 | $5.00 | 20% |
| $120 | $24.00 | $5.00 | 20% |
The rule of thumb: use whichever method results in a higher tip. For small orders under $25, a flat $5 minimum is almost always more appropriate than a strict percentage. For orders over $25, the percentage method ensures the tip scales with the size and complexity of the delivery.
When NOT to Tip for Delivery
While tipping is expected in most delivery scenarios, there are legitimate situations where tipping is not necessary or not appropriate:
- Business-to-business deliveries: If a business is receiving a commercial shipment, tipping the delivery driver is not standard practice.
- Delivery is already built into pricing: Some premium delivery services include the tip in the quoted price. Check the fine print.
- Mail carriers delivering standard mail: Your regular postal worker does not expect tips for daily mail delivery (though holiday tips are welcome).
- Terrible service: If a delivery person is genuinely rude, damages your items, or fails to follow basic instructions (such as leaving food at the wrong address), reducing or withholding a tip is reasonable. However, late delivery caused by app routing issues or restaurant delays is not the driver's fault.
- Automated or drone delivery: As more companies experiment with robot and drone delivery in 2026, tipping is obviously not applicable to non-human delivery.
How Tips Affect Driver Pay: What You Should Know
Understanding how tips factor into driver compensation helps explain why tipping matters so much in the delivery economy.
On most delivery platforms, a driver's total pay for an order looks like this:
- Base pay: $2 to $5 (varies by platform, distance, and time)
- Tip: Whatever the customer provides (passed through 100% on most platforms)
- Promotions/bonuses: Occasional peak-pay bonuses during busy times
A typical food delivery takes 20 to 40 minutes from acceptance to completion. If a driver receives $3 in base pay and a $5 tip, they earn $8 for roughly 30 minutes of work, which works out to $16 per hour before expenses. After gas, insurance, vehicle depreciation, and self-employment taxes, the effective hourly rate drops to $10 to $12. Without that $5 tip, the driver earns just $6 per hour before expenses.
This is why delivery tipping is not a luxury; it is a functional necessity of how the gig economy works in 2026. Until platforms restructure their pay models (which shows no sign of happening), tips remain the primary way to ensure delivery drivers earn a livable wage.
Small Orders vs. Large Orders
One of the most common misconceptions is that a small order deserves a small tip. In reality, the delivery driver's effort is roughly the same regardless of whether you ordered a $10 sandwich or a $60 family meal. They still have to drive to the restaurant, wait for the order, drive to your location, find parking, and bring the food to your door.
For this reason, always maintain a minimum tip floor of $5 for food delivery, no matter how small the order. If you are ordering a single coffee for $5 and the delivery fee is $3, adding a $5 tip brings the total cost to $13. If that feels too expensive for a $5 coffee, the better option is to pick it up yourself rather than skipping the tip.
Final Recommendations
Delivery tipping does not have to be complicated. Here are the core principles that will serve you well in any delivery situation in 2026:
- Always tip for food and grocery delivery. These workers depend on tips for a livable income.
- Maintain a $5 minimum floor for any delivery where tipping is expected.
- Tip more in bad weather. An extra few dollars acknowledges the real risk drivers face.
- Use the percentage method for larger orders and the flat minimum for small ones.
- Tip furniture and appliance delivery workers per person, especially if they carry heavy items or climb stairs.
- Pre-tip on delivery apps. This ensures your order gets picked up quickly.
- Remember that delivery fees are not tips. The driver rarely sees that fee.
For quick delivery tip calculations, our free tip calculator can help you figure out the right amount in seconds. Enter the order total, select the appropriate percentage, and split it however you need.
Sources & References
Need to calculate a delivery tip right now?
Open Tip Calculator