I'm a former restaurant industry employee(front and back house). I never tip for take out. It takes no more special effort to plate the food in a to-go box then on china. If anything it often times takes less effort and skill to throw something in a box. And as far as gathering up plastic forks and napkins.....nah, that doesn't merit any special compensation. On the other hand if I sit down and have a server, it's always a 20% tip, provided it is decent service. I remember what it was like on the other side.

ok, the second time i went to college..i put myself thru the damn place by working at a restaurant. sure, it is a piece of cake tossing a pile of noodles into a flat box, but imagine 20 of those orders. you walk up to the counter and see them stacked up...you grab all the tickets and organize the BS. gather the utensils, chopsticks, stupid fortune cookies...and gobs of soy sauce (you folks drink the stuff).you get home, and the beef chow mein you ordered is correct and not chicken chow mein? that is because of my sharp as a tack mind, and strong organizing skills! during a lunch craze when the place is packed and all the interns (or low man on the totem poles) are standing about waiting to take food to the bosses...the job sucks.

i will always give the cashier a few bucks. (probably less than 15%) and tell him/her, "can you give this to the person who packed this up?" for the record, my wife who has never worked a day in the food industry, doesnt tip. annoys me.

I bartended for about 5 years, so I tend to tip good. It's not that hard on me (honestly, how much does an extra $1-2 hurt) and helps make up for the azzholes that stiff on the tip.

I tip 20-50% depending upon what I've spent when I'm being served. Let me explain the 50%. I've been someplace and spent $6 or $7 on lunch. If someone waited on my for almost an hour, I think they deserve a minimum of $3-4. I sure as hell wouldn't wait on someone for $.90 or $1.20 for a whole meal.

When I go someplace to pick up take out, I'll sometimes write in a tip of something like $1.50 (whatever rounds the bill up to a nice round number), but I don't think it's necessary to tip on take out.

Doesn't tip for take-out, or doesn't tip at all? Like I said, to me, tipping for take-out is unnecessary, but I tip generously for regular sit-down service.

I am a simi-regular at a local Chinese food restaurant. They have a great lunch special that is more food than I should eat for lunch. High quality ingredients and fresh from the wok. The total is only $5.80 and the service is friendly & fast. I usually leave a $5.00 tip. Most of my lunches cost me about 10 bucks so this is just average cost. It is the only place that I eat at that all the staff comes over and says hello. Even the cook comes out and asks if everything is OK. It is one of my favorite places to eat.

trouble is when the chinese come over here. my wife's cousins moved here. they couldnt grasp tipping...now they both work in a restaurant...i suspect they understand now.

When I pick up at the curb (Outback for instance), I always round up add a few more $.

I tip 5-10% for take out. And $1 for the carhops at Sonic.

i dont tip for take out. no matter what she looks like, im not gonna hit so why give her my money just because she is a chick. maybe if i new she was a single mom, might be different.

what about at a buffet. anyone tip?

here in myrtle beach, tourist town, the service can be bad a lot of the time.
we stay away from the big tourist spots, so the service seems better. the big chains we eat at here are abuelo's, carraba's...wow, i guess thats it. those are usually good service.

I go to an Indian food buffet from time to time. They keep your drinks filled, bring around the naan when it's fresh out of the oven and keep the tables clean of old dishes. The wait folks are as busy at lunch/buffet as they are in the evening when they are serving. Yes, I tip there.

When we eat out we tip 15-20 percent. I don't usually go places where the service is bad. My wife tips at take out. I don't.

I never tip for take out but do tip at a sit down joint - depending on the service, if I do a crappy job at work I get fired so there is no way I will give extra money for a guy or girl that does a crappy job

If the service is bad, leave a once cent tip. That way they know your were upset about the service. If you leave nothing the waiter just figures you are just a major cheap-skate. One of my other simi-regular favorite places is normally pretty good about service. One day the service was just horrid. I was out of water and I had to wait over 10 minutes just to get my bill. I left a one penny tip right on the credit card receipt. It is simple message that they will understand.

i never tip for take out
delivery yes. more if you are quick and it still feels hot.
if you circle the block more than once i might give you less. the house number is right there by the front door and with GPS you shouldnt be getting lost.

if i sat down and was actually served and waited on you will get a tip. but putting a box in a bag with some plastic fork and a paper napkin, isnt what i would call being waited on. if the guys in the back do this you dont even have to worry about presentation.

the back of the house rairly see's tips of any kind. i never did at all the places i cooked and dishdogged in HS and college. we were paid full hourly wages. front of the house other than managers relied on tips to make up difference in the cut below min wage.

I do when the service is very good. Usually 5 or 10 RMB which equates to <$2. They appreciate it and remeber the next time you show up.

As for take out tipping I worked in food service for some time so speak from the other side of the counter. Completely optional, i would appreciate the tip, particularly if i did something extra, but i do not expect one. Best 'tip' is to be polite/nice and not be an elitist ass to the servers.

I typically do not tip when I pick-up food, unless there was extraordinary effort involved or they did something special with the order. (For example, our son has food allergies so we sometimes have to request ingredient changes or side-dish exchanges, etc.) I do tip delivery people, typically around 10%, and tip pretty generously for good-to-excellent sit-down table server performance. I recognize it is a tough job and many people doing it are busting their butts to scrape-out a living - students, single parents and so forth.

For all y'all that don't tip on takeout, you are probably costing the server money.

They generally have to pay a percentage of total sales, used to be 8%, at a minimum. I presume this is still the case, when do they eliminate taxes(never) I generally toss them 10% on takeout.

Why does the person behind the cash register have to pay 8% of my takeout order?

Because the tax man says so.

I had this same discussion on another forum, glad to see others kind of struggling with this.

Me, I tip for take out, as long as the service is satisfactory, but only about 10%, not the full 15-20%.