When the Weather Gets Bad, We Tip Better for Deliveries

Have you heard? The Polar Vortex may be coming back. I spent most of the previous Polar Vortex holed up with tea and wrapped up in a fleece blanket. Gauging the number of times the buzzer rang in my building, it seems as if my neighbors coped by ordering tons of takeout. Did they give the delivery people who ventured out into the freezing weather nice tips? The data says yes, according to The New Yorker:

GrubHub Seamless, the food-ordering company, told me that it sees a surge in business during inclement weather. Take this month’s polar vortex, which whirled and whipped cold arctic air from the North Pole down into central and eastern United States — making it colder in Florida than in Alaska, sending a polar bear indoors in Chicago, and freezing Niagara Falls. GrubHub Seamless’s figures also show that people tipped more generously during the polar vortex — in some areas, by quite a bit. (See our interactive of how New Yorkers tipped during the weather.)

According to some dining establishments, some of their delivery people had to abandon their bikes during the snowstorm and walk, and, yes, were rewarded with big tips. Good!

Photo: Brad K.

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