DoorDash now warns you that your food might get cold if you don’t tip::The app-based delivery service is alerting customers that drivers may not take their order in a timely manner if there is no tip included upfront.
It would be nice if you could put the tip you PLAN to pay, but without a certain rating afterward it doesn’t get paid. Sadly that would likely get abused by customers too. I would rather give them a better cash tip than a (ahem) documented one…
Uber Eats lets customers change the tip retroactively. As a driver this is riskier because people bait drivers with a big tip and then go in and remove it entirely after the fact for no reason.
The other issue is that most people don’t know what they’re eating when they give a rating. My 1 star reviews are from customers who’s food was done incorrectly by the restaurant or who gave such shit directions for delivery that it was impossible (had one apartment customer who wanted me to enter the secure building to leave it at their door but didn’t give access instructions, respond to my texts, or answer any of my calls… and they decided I deserved 1 star for that).
I’d like something that gives both customers and drivers more confidence. Like a proper wage from DoorDash that’s baked into the cost of service (maybe from those exorbitant fees they charge?). Just cut the tip all together and pay drivers appropriately and stop hiding behind the independent contractor shit as an excuse for exploiting people.
Cold food would be an improvement over the last three times I ordered food with DoorDash. Last three times, the driver stole my food. I’ll never use them again.
We’ve had multiple orders delivered to the wrong address. We get confirmation pictures of our food sitting on someone else’s doorstep. Has happened with all of the services. We live in a regular neighborhood with houses and streets pretty much laid out on a grid and signs everywhere so I don’t get the problem but it happens about 50% of the time. None of the places with employee delivery have trouble finding us.
Grub hub was the last one we hadn’t canceled since we get discounted delivery fees through something ( a credit card bonus I think?) Ordered dinner two weeks ago, and got another wrong address delivery, so my husband calls customer service for a refund and they insist on trying order again first. They got it right, but we got food 2.5 hours after we’d ordered.
We’ve canceled all delivery services now.
Did you report it? I imagine they take that seriously but they also don’t have any way of knowing if someone is just being psychopathic.
How about letting us tip afterwards not before. That way we know how much to tip.
How about ditching tips altogether and just paying the drivers a decent, livable wage?
This
No my tip would be for being lazy and then actually getting it to me fast and correct. Which is why I said afterwards tip not before, because that means I’m not funding their underpaid wage.
My local pub in Australia just got new POS machines. Day 1 I’m there. They put in the price for your beer on the till, you go to PayPass and walk off, but it’s asking you to tip first. You say “No Tip”, then PayPass and walk off, but then it asks if you’re happy to accept the 1% CC surcharge, being like 9¢. Then you can walk off.
The staff were losing it and apologising. They were so annoyed they just started hitting “No Tip” and “Yes” for people, because that’s how it normally works.
Lowest level minimum wage for someone pouring beer is $24 an hour here.
People still throw cash in the tip jars from time to time, but it’s like when they really appreciate the staff or see they’re having a hectic shift. Even just good conversation or chucking your tunes on, will empty the pocket change in.
That’s how tips should be. Where I live it’s the same probably even more on the no-tipping side. I’ll leave a tip when you’ve gone above and beyond (which is rare, service here is “sober” to put it gently, which is fine, it’s somewhat efficient but just not personal at all).
Or, if you’re the Italian head of bar at the fancy restaurant I took my wife out for anniversary dinner, got seated at a bar table and then you proceed to both entertain us, rock the venue, swap out our inexperienced waitress for the maître d’hôtes, and pour us free drinks on the sly, then you better be sure I’m slipping you a 20€ on the way out. That stuff is extremely rare though.
As someone that worked in the space, and was forced to AB test this, it’s because pre-tipping increases tip rates and increases the likelihood that an order will be claimed promptly.
That said, if I could wave a magic want and get my way, I’d say that these people need to be employees, and true delivery costs need to not be hidden in fees and tips.
It IS expensive to deliver stuff, and we need to be upfront with that.
It would be much worse for the drivers in that case because they would have to gamble on whether an order would be good to take or not. We’ve already seen something similar on Uber Eats where they allowed people to fully change tips retroactively, so people would get their orders accepted quicker with a large tip and then just remove it once they got their food.
It’s not a tip then. A tip is a reward for services rendered. A tip paid before services are rendered is not a tip. It is part of the bill.
Whine some more then, it’s not going to change. It’s more important that drivers get paid than you saving a few bucks.
I get why people are annoyed by tips and why, but god damn some of you sound entitled as fuck on social media.
You can’t have it both ways. If drivers get paid a living wage it’s still going to come out of your pocket one way or the other.
Tips are arbitrary anyway. Fuck tipping culture. I don’t get delivery because it’s too expensive and I can do it myself for cheaper. But if you want something and pay the bill that gets charged for the service then that should pay for everything including the employees.
Yes, exactly. They copied the traditional food delivery formula but should have modified it to fit the contractor model.
The fee you add for DoorDash etc should not be considered a tip. Tips are given after service is rendered, and are based on the quality of service. These fees are more like a bounty. “I’ll pay $10 to the person that brings me a hamburger, dead or alive.”
If it’s to be paid before service, and to make sure it’s good service, then it’s not a tip. It’s a bribe.
No, it’s a bid for service. Think auction house restaurant where the only people going to serve you are the ones who think your pay is worth it.
I always heard tips started as “To Insure Prompt Service” or something. Which is basically what you’re doing here with Door dash, so we’ve gone back to the root of tips.
Nah, that’s a Backronym (added to fit the name after the fact.) Tip comes from English slang, meaning “to give”. You can give tips for money or information.
“that’s a nice lunch you got there. It’d be a shame if something happened to it” - door dash mobster
More like blackmail, specially after this warning.
Tips should always be made after service is rendered, not before.
So pretty much the same as if you do tip.
Don’t like the concept, stop using the service. It’s that simple.
But also that annoying, because this model where your ““tip”” becomes a bribe is a cancer upon society that needs to be eliminated.
‘Food might get cold’ is a euphemism for getting spat into.
Which is why tipping culture is turning into extortion.
Nah, just that they won’t pick up your order if the driver sees that there’s a real possibility they’ll only get paid $2 to drive your starbucks order across the city.
Porque no los dos?
Ah yes, the app for the particularly lazy, maybe that serves as an incentive to move their asses for once and get it themselves
People who waste their money on DoorDash deserve to lose it. Learn to make your own food or pick it up your damn self. At least order from places that do their own delivery.
You’re acting like that is an option for everyone and you’re blaming the people who order from DoorDash which is both pointless and ignorant and helps absolutely no one.
Outside of emergency situations where you’re physically unable to go out and your power is out so you cannot cook and have nothing edible without being cooked, there is no reason a food delivery service is necessary. Food can be delivered from grocery stores and can be cooked.
I’d like to just link my other comment but I’ll rewrite my point, there’s a lot of health conditions and other scenarios where someone may be unable to cook or get help in that moment.
If you have the income for it, DoorDash is an amazing option for this in the US. It’s a lot simpler where I live where you can just get ready to eat fresh food from supermarkets and the restaurants deliver things themselves, but people themselves are not to blame for using DoorDash.
If they are unable to prepare meals themselves, how are they getting up and answering the door? You’re describing a very narrow niche that likely doesn’t really exist. The vast vast majority of people who use these services are capable but unwilling to get it themselves.
I don’t support any of these gig-economy services for various reasons, but this isn’t on DoorDash. This is the reality of the situation, and the consumer isn’t being screwed.
My comment is more or less focused on mental health, where there can be huge blockades to go and prepare food and it’s quite common. I do understand that a huge chunk of people are simply unwilling though.
Over here things like delivery is more of a fun thing you do every 2 weeks, and not a common occurrence which is ideally how it should be. I find comments targetting people like the original quite lame as it accomplishes nothing, and the root cause is how corporations and education in the US works.
“Mrrrm, I HAVE to order McDonald’s at DoorDash, I can’t be expected to do for myself as an adult Mrrrrrrrm”
That’s how you sound right now.
Not quite, there’s a lot of health issues and other things that can impact someone’s ability to cook on their own or get help at that current moment. DoorDash is oftentimes great for scenarios like that and the people aren’t to blame.
Mockery instead of trying to think of reasons why my point could be valid is also a very low blow to make.
Tips subsidize business owners who don’t pay their employees enough.
Not really. Money for everything at a business comes from customers. If anything you are subsidizing customers who don’t tip.
No, you are subsidizing owner’s new yacht.
That’s what you’re doing by spending money there at all. Do you think these owners would replace tips with money out of their own pockets?
US minimum wage laws say yes. See: minimum wage for tipped vs non-tipped employees.
“The minimum wage for employees who receive tips is $2.13 per hour. The amount of tips plus the $2.13 must reach at least $7.25 per hour. If not, your employer must pay to make up the difference.”
Employees who fall into that category are either bad at their jobs or the restaurant is about to go under due to poor sales. At 20% tip they would only be selling $25 worth of food an hour per waiter.
You seem to be moving the goalposts or talking about something different - we’re talking about employer obligations when changing between tipped and non-tipped. I quoted the department of labor to show that contrary to your incredulity, yes all employers are required to increase base pay to a higher rate in the absence of tips. You seemed to suggest that employers would not cover any increase in pay if tips were removed - however federal law requires that employers meet a higher base pay for untipped workers. This is regardless of how well a restaurant is doing - if a Michelin 5 star restaurant pays it’s employees 2.13 + tip but decides to go tip free, yes they too will be required to increase base pay to 7.25.
The detail about restaurants also being required to cover the difference between tipped pay and 7.25 in cases where the restaurant underperforms is an unrelated detail not central to this discussion. My quote of the department of labor was only to demonstrate the 2 minimum wages between tipped and untipped pay.
No, I’m talking about their take home not the legal minimum. Waiters aren’t making minimum wage after tips. If tips went away tomorrow, no waiter is going to staying making $7.25 an hour. Employers having to cover wages for those that don’t receive enough tips is an inconsequential part of it.
*in US
THIS IS IT. All other comments in this thread that don’t say this are focusing on the wrong problem or are flat out wrong.
Tipping is literally becoming extortion now.
The end result of the tipping surge is going to be the collapse of all tipped work. People will stop using tipped services entirely and eventually the pyramid of wealthy users who can afford increasingly high tip is going to shrink.
I hate to break it to you but it’s always worked like that. I drove pizzas for a long time pre-apps and drivers have always prioritized deliveries based on expected tip. We even had a no-go list by the phone of people who stiffed drivers. If anything it’s way easier to get away with not tipping now.
I’m a school bus driver and we get tips (at Christmastime and the end of the school year) for no fucking reason that I can figure out. This is bad enough as it is, but last Christmas one of my co-workers actually handed out fucking tip envelopes (like what the garbage collectors give out) to the kids on his buses. I was at least pleasantly surprised that he got in trouble for this.
A Christmas present isn’t a tip.
jfc
My wife had an employee who was fired from a previous business for taking a tip.
I usually give a tip to you guys around that time of the year. Why shouldn’t I? 180 days of the year, 2x a day I depend on you and I have had no problems. This is for two kids btw. Think of anything in your life that you use 720 times in one year without issue. So yeah here is 20 bucks happy holidays.
Why shouldn’t I?
Because we’re not volunteers, we get paid. Do you tip everybody who performs a service of any kind for you? I used to write software for a living and nobody ever tipped me.
Thanks for the $20 BTW - it’s not like I throw out the gift cards or anything, I just think it’s weird.
I am sorry you didn’t get a Christmas bonus. Your old employer sounds like a tool. And no I don’t tip everyone. Also I don’t give gift cards I just give cash, cash is like a gift card but you can use it at more locations so it is better.
That’s just all of late stage capitalism. Most industries are shrinking bc most people can’t afford to spend on much beyond the basic necessities of rent and food anymore.
I’m in the hotel industry and occupancy rates are declining, people just aren’t going out on vacation like they used to.
Inevitably any service tipped or not will be wealthies-only.
Part of it I blame on anti social behavior among people under 40. We have a lot of extreme social anxiety over simple things like talking on the phone which extends into a severe inability to date. When you have tons of incels that means that means that men and women can’t share the cost of housing and women have to work as much as men, which doubles the workforce. Obviously the solution is not to prohibit women from working, the way that people like Pim Tool like to imply.
Have you considered that people are less social when everything costs so much and people have so little?
That can certainly contribute, though people have been poor in the past and we didn’t have an epidemic of severe social anxiety.
All over the parks here are signs that you can’t use the park unless you have your $35 annual park pass. I’m talking about random dinky local parks. If you can’t pay you can’t even enjoy the trees. In 1980 the average movie ticket was around $2 in 2023 in the city its more like $15. 4 kids want to go see a movie its $60, $80 if they share some drinks/popcorn.
Simultaneously to everything being expensive and having less and less to spare after they pay for drastically more expensive essentials there is more to do and see online without spending a bunch of additional money per unit of time spent.
Adjusted for inflation, that’s three times what it should cost. Four kids, adjusted for inflation, it should only be $23. 15 years ago, loading up on over priced popcorn, soda and candy was only $10.
We have a lot of extreme social anxiety over simple things like talking on the phone which extends into a severe inability to date.
Do we though? I’ve not met anyone like this, but maybe there’s a reason for that. My social circle is outrageously slutty and outgoing. And prefer to share Netflix logins and cook at home because you can have an amazing night at 20% the cost of going out.
RacketcapitalismI have no problem tipping, I have a problem with DoorDash and Grubhub calculating the tip on the total bill with all their fees included.
I have no problem tipping 20% with a $4 minimum, but it’s going to be based on the meal I ordered, not your bullshit service fees.
Gonna be real boss, as a driver for DD, delivery drivers don’t care what you ordered. They care about mileage, pickup & drop off times, and stairs. A $5 tip will cover most sane orders. $10 will usually cover insane orders / stairs.
If you’re concerned about timing, tip $5 and then text them when they are assigned the order and let them know it is time sensitive and that you’ll add cash tip on arrival for prompt delivery.
Tipping is weird to me. Since every other business doesn’t have tips because they already price their services or products correctly to account for their employees salary, since it is 100% their responsibility as the employer.
This shifting of responsibility and blame to the client by underpaying staff and pushing a system of begging and guilty tripping is incredibly weird.
This all signifies a pricing problem. Well I guess not one for the employers who are cheapskates raking in profits in a system where they shift attention of blame away from themselves.
Tipping is paying for the service. Having someone deliver food to your doorstep is a luxury. The restaurant needs to be paid for the food, the service needs to be paid for facilitating the delivery, and the driver should be paid for the service.
Why not actually price it into the cost of the food. Like any delivery x distance will cost x amount. Like actually charge what they want instead of this arbitrary guessing game.
Like you know… Like how online orders will provide the shipping cost to the consumer and then not expect tips, since the shipping cost is already accounted.
Charge what they want…
Because the restaurant isn’t doing the delivery.
Now, I agree, if you’re talking a restaurant doing delivery themselves, yes, bake it into the price of the food… Except then you’re dealing with competition from other restaurants. If Pizza Hut is $4 more a pie because they pay their drivers more, what happens when Papa John’s under cuts them?
In the case of Door Dash, you’re dealing with three entities all trying to make money, the restaurant, the Door Dash service, and the contractors they have driving.
That is the business justification for it. I’m saying set the price themselves and if it’s door dash than actually set a high enough fixed price as opposed a system worse than ticket master where it’s a guess game of begging and charity.
You try to make it out to be so complex but really is as simple as an online company not being the one to do the delivery but providing different delivery options from various different companies that have set a clear and upfront cost to deliver the package.
Instead of a weird paying the cost of the product and being charged cost of shipping but then that actually not being enough, since delivery companies can be bothered and having to start tipping hoping x delivery company eventually delivers it since they don’t know how to set prices themselves.
Door Dash doesn’t set the menu prices, the restaurants do. Door Dash sets the delivery fees and then leaves the tipping of drivers to the consumers.
If Door Dash set the delivery fee at $10 with no tip, and Grub Hub sets the delivery fee at $5 with tip to be decided by the consumer, nobody would use Door Dash.
Seems like a company that shouldn’t exist if they can’t stay in business by actually charging what is necessary to remain solvent because customers will be scared off as you claim.
Seems more an excuse for door dash to justify why they don’t set a proper delivery fee to lure customers and underpay drivers and just sit back and have the blame game being played between customers and workers.
‘That’s a really nice and hot meal you’ve got there. It would be a shame if it were to be… how you say… room temperature when it arrived.’