Jeanna Duerscherl | The Roanoke Times

Christina Love serves lunch last week at Blues BBQ in downtown Roanoke.

Jared Soares | The Roanoke Times

On one afternoon, Pizza Hut delivery driver Stephanie McKnight made just $8 in tips for five deliveries.

Stephanie McKnight places the cardboard box in her passenger seat then takes off to the next destination.

As she goes house to house, she sees her gas gauge falling closer and closer to E -- for empty.

Some customers are nicer than others, leaving a dollar or two for McKnight to help replenish her tank, while others simply don't have any to spare.

As gas prices rise and Americans grip their dollars tighter, among the tip-reliant service workers whose pay is being cut are pizza delivery drivers.

Area delivery drivers such as McKnight are struggling to fill up their gas tanks. She said she puts $30 of gas in her car on each work day.

The Williamson Road Pizza Hut that she works at delivers in a six-mile radius.

McKnight said when people do tip -- which is rare -- they give between $2 and $3.

"Right now, I'm not making my money for gas back," she said.

According to tipping.com, a Web site dedicated to educating consumers on appropriate gratuity practices, tips for delivery drivers should be between $2 and $5 or more, depending on the distance and size of deliveries.

The restaurant's general manager said some people assume the $1.50 delivery charge is a tip for the driver and covers expenses.

It doesn't, she said.

Stormy White said $1 goes to the driver's paycheck, while 50 cents go to the company for insurance.

"It's only covering a few miles," White said. "Drivers are suffering. ... The delivery charges nowhere near cover gas expenses."

American economic woes are reflected in other service workers' pockets at the end of a shift, too, as many in the Roanoke Valley say their tips have been cut in half.

Stephanie Hervey has been a waitress for 17 years. After a sluggish lunch bunch at Blues BBQ on the Roanoke City Market, she counted $30 in tips -- half of what she usually makes.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, restaurant owners are not required to pay their employees more than $2.13 an hour because tips can be considered part of wages. So tips are expected to make up more than half of employees' income.

And restaurantgoers who don't tip can also hurt other restaurant staffers' pay -- in many restaurants, tips are pooled and distributed among employees including the host, the busboy and the dishwasher, Hervey said.

Exact numbers are not easy to obtain because the Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Census Bureau don't break out tip data.

Patrick Maggi, owner of Blues BBQ, said most people think more about the amount of a tip than they do other charges on their bill -- such as an extra 5 percent Roanoke meals tax and 5 percent sales tax.

Maggi admitted he had to raise the price of everything on his menu to help cover higher costs.

Other restaurants on the city market have done the same in response to higher fuel prices to ship food and higher produce prices.

Another contributing factor to service workers' wages is a decrease in people eating out.

Maggi has resorted to finding ways to increase volume in his restaurant such as offering $6 lunches featuring smaller portions.

"Believe me, I don't want to sell a lunch for $6, but I'd rather have some people out for lunch than none," Maggi said.

"Although it's rough, the worst thing to do is to raise your prices," he added. "As small businesses, we are taking a hit, but it's hard to transfer the costs of the hit to the customer. McDonald's can raise their prices and people will continue to buy."

When it comes to proper gratuity practices, one thing Maggi noticed is people tipping bartenders more than wait staff.

"Someone will come in and order a meal that costs $9.85 and leave $11," he said. "But the same person will come in for a drink and put a $1 tip on a $2 drink. A waiter will wait on someone hand and foot and get a lesser tip than a bartender who only takes a minute to whip up a drink."

Jody Yates, general manager at the Red Robin on Valley View Boulevard, said everyone is feeling the pinch.

"When the economy is good, people tip good," he said. "When the economy is bad, people don't eat out as much and, consequently, tips and sales go down."

Yates said gasoline prices are forcing people to make different decisions with their money.

"A tip is expendable -- it's not totally necessary; it's one of the things you can control," Yates said.

Chris Fitzgerald, lead waiter at Red Robin, said he hears one sentence from many customers: "Money is tight right now."

"People have started tipping a dollar less or so," he said. "I see people coming in and splitting burgers and ordering water instead of a $2.50 soda."

Usually, Fitzgerald said on the weekend he makes $300 in tips, but he is now making between $200 and $250.

Red Robin has also raised its menu prices.

"People that I used to see three times a week, I only see once a week now," he said.

The same can be said for hairdressers and manicurists who also make up part of the tip-reliant work force.

As people try to cut back on expenses, hair and nails are lesser priorities than gas and rent.

According to payscale.com, hairdressers make about 42 percent of their income in tips on average, supplementing a base hourly wage that comes in at about $13.95.

Helen Heath, stylist at Great Clips in Roanoke, has been a stylist for the past nine years. She said she understands why people aren't tipping as much.

She said her tips have been cut in half -- most people leave a $1 or $2 tip when it used to be $5.

"We don't expect them to give that much, because we know that they're in the same boat as us," she said.