If you would tip the pizza guy for your health, you should tip a tow truck driver for your safety. Like the pizza man, even though there is a rule of thumb, it’s not an obligation, so you’re at your liberty.
For the single fact that this has become a topic of discourse validates itself that tipping a tow truck driver should in hierarchy be more a human act than tipping your pizza guy. I am not trying to make a basis for comparison. But considering that most drivers mostly risk their lives daily for little pay and even less appreciation, tipping a driver won’t be a bad idea. Sometimes they help transport you and your vehicle off a busy highway to a safe location or help you change your tire at the middle of the night so you could get safely home to your family won’t be a disservice.
The rule of thumb will always favor tow truck drivers because their work most at times are forms of interventions that as a human, it’s unlikely you would feel good not going out of your way in the contract while you watch them go over the line to save you from an uncomfortable situation.
This is not to mean people should feel so much obligated to tip a tow truck driver to the extent that they always end up double paying for a service like any other that one enjoys for exchange of money.
I did a little query on this topic and here are the few ways I would instead summarize this topic.
You May Tip A Tow Truck Driver Depending on their Personality.
If they feel safe, you go ahead. If not, a thank you would still be fine. In this forum:Do you tip the tow truck driver? One of the commentators wrote that she never considered it a thing of discourse until her ex who always insisted, they tip tow truck drivers made it part of her that she almost considered it an obligation. However, that contrary to her conceived belief, one of the tow truck drivers working with AAA considered her tip an insult when she offered him a tip, while not too long after that another tow truck driver felt surprised that she gave a tip. According to the comment, these two events raised a new question in her as to what the appropriate etiquette is? It’s somehow clear like approaching a lady for a date that you should establish some level of easiness to deliver your intention as quickly as possible before offering such a tip. Only a hungry man will take a tip from a buyer who feels it’s an obligation but even a self-sufficient man will always receive from a cheerful giver. So, if truly you want to appreciate a driver for the job well done, you should appreciate him with your countenance before the little bucks otherwise it’s fine if you just receive your car and never even think of saying thank you.
If you’re Likely to Reuse a Tow Truck Driver,
Another comment considers tow truck drivers as people who aren’t working for tips unlike waiters so he wouldn’t feel less a human if he didn’t give a tip. But that he would only do that if he’s likely to reuse the tow truck driver.