After reading the entire thread, I'm sort of shocked by most of the
opinions.

It's likely that I'm making a lot more than the delivery guy. So for
me, $20 to make his day and to encourage him to place the machine in my
garage and wait for me to unpack it is a small price to pay. I know
for a lot of people cash is (their) king. But for me, I never let it
get in the way of treating people right. For me, the $20 is not too
significant, i'll never miss it, and probably means more to the
delivery guy that it does to me. And before you think I was born in to
money or something, I was the child of a single mother in a trailer
park and took seven years to pay my own way through college while
working two jobs and raising three children.

As for the restaurant, I try to leave 20% unless I have to get my own
food, then it's less.

If you want to see the power of tipping, consider this: I have soon to
be nine children. When I take most of them to a restaurant I've never
been to, the waitresses fight because no one wants our table. But if I
tip my normal 20%, the next time, they fight because they want our
table.

The same is true for the delivery guy. If I continue to buy grizzly
machines, there's a good chance that the same saia delivery guy will
bring me the machine. In the past, I could tell that some of the
drivers were jealous of my shop, either because of things they said, or
just the look on their face. I think the $20 in this case does several
things. From an interpersonal relationship standpoint, it ensures that
they'll remember me the next time. It (most likely) ensures good
service this time. It brightens their day. And from a practical
standpoint, it may prevent them from showing up at 3am to clean out the
shop.

You might view this as an extortion payment, but I tend to think of it
as good people skills.

James E. Cannon wrote:
When a truck driver drops a pallet in your garage, is he expecting a tip?
How much? What do you think?

I don't think they're expecting it. I give them a $20.

It's never a question with the UPS guy since he is already gone before I can
even answer the door, but the freight guy is a different story.

UPS is different.

This is why the whole concept of tipping sucks.

I agree when it's not clear what the rules are. Russia is a tipping
culture and I had nothing but problems there. The translator said
restaurants are 10%, I left more because it felt wrong. The bellhop in
moscow thought I was a cheapskate for tipping him $5.

brian