# My perspective on why tipping is important



## Chrisskates808 (Jun 17, 2021)

The reason why tipping is very important, especially with food delivery is that we are basically running our own business as an independent contractor. We don’t work for free.
I don’t usually order deliveries often but when I do I try to give a minimum of eight dollars. Yes, that’s only for me ordering and no one else.
As I’m aware, food delivery companies has to take a cut too and that is my reasoning.


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## jaxbeachrides (May 27, 2015)

It's kind of a moot point. Consumers dont care how little or much you make. Only what they pay.

If the customer isn't educated, or forced to pay a certain amount, there is no incentive.

Kind of like the people on here that laugh at all the fees, because "they'll just pick it up themself". If you make more than $20 an hour at your job, people that provide time saving services actually save you money.

A service is only valuable to those who value the service.

Kind of like sitting at the laundromat for an hour waiting for your clothes to wash and dry, still paying $10 plus detergent.

Smart people drop their clothes off at the laundry, pick them up the next day for $20, all perfectly folded and pressed, detergent and 2 hours of labor included.

Doing service industry work only pays if it's a higher clientele. Not delivering fast food to people who actually like fast food or think its cheap.


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## Atavar (Aug 11, 2018)

The customer pays for the food, they also pay an up charge, they also pay a delivery fee. 
what they get for that is the food and the basic service of having it delivered in a reasonably timely manner. 
Tips are for extra service. What extra service do you provide that makes you feel entitled to a tip?
If you don’t feel you are paid enough to do your job I suggest you find another job.


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## topcat498 (Nov 12, 2021)

jaxbeachrides said:


> It's kind of a moot point. Consumers dont care how little or much you make. Only what they pay.
> 
> If the customer isn't educated, or forced to pay a certain amount, there is no incentive.
> 
> ...


The other issue is the fees are smokes and mirrors. Many people who can well afford won't give the guy or girl 3-4 to safe $. It means a lot more to the delivery person probably.

Uber can afford to give drivers more $,they get minimum wage or more. Any tips is just a nice bonus.


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## Mcwharthog (Oct 10, 2020)

Tips are given after a service has been rendered. The pre tips on delivery apps are offers. The customer offers X amount of money to deliver their food. The driver weighs the offer against variables such as time and distance, and decides to accept the offer or not.

Customers who prefer to wait until after the delivery to tip, or not tip at all will almost always receive horrible service, if they are served at all. Their order will sit on the shelf getting cold while dozens of drivers decline the 3$ offer. If the order does get accepted it’s probably by some desperate weirdo who’s willing to drive 7 miles and spend 25 minutes to make 3$. I would not want that guy handling my food or being at my house.


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## Grubhubflub (Jun 16, 2018)

Mcwharthog said:


> If the order does get accepted it’s probably by some desperate weirdo who’s willing to drive 7 miles and spend 25 minutes to make 3$.


It could also be some loser who thinks, "Well I'm already getting $11 to drive 2 miles, so why not drive another 7 miles and change that total to $14."


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## Chrisskates808 (Jun 17, 2021)

jaxbeachrides said:


> It's kind of a moot point. Consumers dont care how little or much you make. Only what they pay.
> 
> If the customer isn't educated, or forced to pay a certain amount, there is no incentive.
> 
> ...


I'm too lazy to respond to everyone but I respect everyone's input and their own opinion of my post


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## jaxbeachrides (May 27, 2015)

topcat498 said:


> The other issue is the fees are smokes and mirrors. Many people who can well afford won't give the guy or girl 3-4 to safe $. It means a lot more to the delivery person probably.
> 
> Uber can afford to give drivers more $,they get minimum wage or more. Any tips is just a nice bonus.


But the delivery companies entire pay structure is to pass on compensation to the consumer in the form of tips.

The "pay" is nothing more than gas money and expenses.

The fees they collect are squandered mostly on salaries to the idiots ruining the company, and promotions, and not actually part of the pay structure for drivers.

The commission they collect from the restaurant in theory would support a fair driver wage, except that they are prioritizing money losing orders like fast food orders, and subsidizing bad customers with the good customers.


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## Grubhubflub (Jun 16, 2018)

jaxbeachrides said:


> The "pay" is nothing more than gas money and expenses.


And it's not even enough for that.


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## Alltel77 (Mar 3, 2019)

I wish they'd just go back to the old, old, old old, pay format where we were paid for time & distance but no tips. The only issue with it back then was it didn't show any info map etc. Tips were 50/50 but usually no more than $2. Basically every close order was at least $7-$10 (in my market). The issue was it didn't show where you were going so I stopped doing Uber until they finally started showing a map at the ping. I still get great tips but it's so time consuming now declining order after order.


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## Classified (Feb 8, 2018)

I don’t understand why a driver who is driving from a to b, a simple task and is getting paid a delivery fee to do so, deserves more money than the person who is making the food, I bet you don’t tip the restaurant on that delivery? The restaurant workers work harder than the driver.

Yes delivering is a business, you can increase your earnings by driving a more fuel efficient vehicle, doing your taxes right, and taking orders that are close by, minimising your mileage, and your expenses,

im glad tipping isnt normal here, but occasionally I will tip the driver, if it’s horrible weather, the driver has gone out of there way. Or has to walk up lots of stairs, why would I volunterily tip a driver when I’m already paying a delivery fee? This fee should cover costs, if it doesn’t then I wouldn’t be working for them, a tip is a bonus. And it’s more appreciated when your not expecting one,


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## reg barclay (Nov 3, 2015)

Many orders pay $2-3 without a tip. That's not an amount that covers even basic service. Meaning essentially, that for sensible drivers who don't accept such orders, the tip is the pay (or at least what makes most orders worthwhile).


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## topcat498 (Nov 12, 2021)

Classified said:


> I don’t understand why a driver who is driving from a to b, a simple task and is getting paid a delivery fee to do so, deserves more money than the person who is making the food, I bet you don’t tip the restaurant on that delivery? The restaurant workers work harder than the driver.
> 
> Yes delivering is a business, you can increase your earnings by driving a more fuel efficient vehicle, doing your taxes right, and taking orders that are close by, minimising your mileage, and your expenses,
> 
> im glad tipping isnt normal here, but occasionally I will tip the driver, if it’s horrible weather, the driver has gone out of there way. Or has to walk up lots of stairs, why would I volunterily tip a driver when I’m already paying a delivery fee? This fee should cover costs, if it doesn’t then I wouldn’t be working for them, a tip is a bonus. And it’s more appreciated when your not expecting one,



If you don't make enough quit,the workers left are desperate or have issues. Other make it a profitable side gig,they can pick out the tippers to some degree. You left w a lot of shitty drivers so the service suffers
. This ain't a career it should pay min wage atleast.


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## Atavar (Aug 11, 2018)

reg barclay said:


> Many orders pay $2-3 without a tip. That's not an amount that covers even basic service. Meaning essentially, that for sensible drivers who don't accept such orders, the tip is the pay (or at least what makes most orders worthwhile).


So don’t take those orders.


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## Grubhubflub (Jun 16, 2018)

Classified said:


> I don’t understand why a driver who is driving from a to b, a simple task and is getting paid a delivery fee to do so, deserves more money than the person who is making the food, I bet you don’t tip the restaurant on that delivery? The restaurant workers work harder than the driver.
> 
> Yes delivering is a business, you can increase your earnings by driving a more fuel efficient vehicle, doing your taxes right, and taking orders that are close by, minimising your mileage, and your expenses,
> 
> im glad tipping isnt normal here, but occasionally I will tip the driver, if it’s horrible weather, the driver has gone out of there way. Or has to walk up lots of stairs, why would I volunterily tip a driver when I’m already paying a delivery fee? This fee should cover costs, if it doesn’t then I wouldn’t be working for them, a tip is a bonus. And it’s more appreciated when your not expecting one,


Guess what. The drivers are going out of their way to deliver the food to you. We are not slaves and we are not paid minimum wage to deliver food. When you eat at restaurants, do you tip the cooks? No. You tip the person bringing you the food. It's the same with us, but we are using our vehicles and dealing with traffic.


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## reg barclay (Nov 3, 2015)

Atavar said:


> So don’t take those orders.


I don't.


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## Atavar (Aug 11, 2018)

Grubhubflub said:


> Guess what. The drivers are going out of their way to deliver the food to you. We are not slaves and we are not paid minimum wage to deliver food. When you eat at restaurants, do you tip the cooks? No. You tip the person bringing you the food. It's the same with us, but we are using our vehicles and dealing with traffic.


No, the drivers are not going out of their way to deliver. They accepted the order and the route to deliver is expected. It is on their way, heck, it is their way. 
If you don’t like what the order pays don’t accept the order.
You don’t know how tips in restaurants work? Really?
Yes, if I think the cook did an extra good job I will tip them directly. In most places tips are shared to cook and buss staff. You don’t tip the food bringer, you tip the staff.
If you want to make sure your tip goes to a specific person place it in their hand.


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## Grubhubflub (Jun 16, 2018)

Atavar said:


> Yes, if I think the cook did an extra good job I will tip them directly. In most places tips are shared to cook and buss staff. You don’t tip the food bringer, you tip the staff.
> If you want to make sure your tip goes to a specific person place it in their hand.


Oh, so you just don't ever tip servers then? Did you know servers do a lot more than just bring you your food from the kitchen?


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## VanKalDriver (Sep 13, 2021)

On UE in my market you _need_ to offer at least a few dollars of up-front tip to get a driver, since in this one, with how I've been doing, I nearly always get the "expected" amount after the hour that customers have to change the tip amount is up.

I may be sort of an ant in comparison with most other people on UP.N, but even I still won't take anything under $5, period, or if it's going something like 7 miles for $6, or a likely long wait at the restaurant for $6, or something. With no tip, the offer presented to me is likely to be $2-$5, depending on the distance. Just not enough money, however convenient it might seem, between possible traffic and waiting at the restaurant.

As a result, about 99% of deliveries I do take have tips on them, and those times I get "extra" tip are usually because of the $8 cap on what UE shows me in the tip (which is, thankfully, still enough for me to take almost any delivery that's really possible!) Most "true extras" for me have been cash tips on top of the app tip.

Unfortunately, I see with UE, "no tips, food sits" - because I can't take them for Uber's too-low base pay. And my standards are at the low end, it seems, on UP.N among drivers as well!


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## Cabbage19901 (Dec 28, 2021)

Chrisskates808 said:


> The reason why tipping is very important, especially with food delivery is that we are basically running our own business as an independent contractor. We don’t work for free.
> I don’t usually order deliveries often but when I do I try to give a minimum of eight dollars. Yes, that’s only for me ordering and no one else.
> As I’m aware, food delivery companies has to take a cut too and that is my reasoning.


Pushing a food menu price RAISE is better than begging for people to tip. Honestly, there are too many fzxkers in the society, we need to have these mother foxckers pay too. Those who would tip wouldn’t matter or complain anyway because they have the mind to pay anyway.


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## Ms. Mercenary (Jul 24, 2020)

Atavar said:


> The customer pays for the food, they also pay an up charge, they also pay a delivery fee.
> what they get for that is the food and the basic service of having it delivered in a reasonably timely manner.
> Tips are for extra service. What extra service do you provide that makes you feel entitled to a tip?
> If you don’t feel you are paid enough to do your job I suggest you find another job.


If I don’t feel I am paid enough, I decline the offer. I’m not sure what you are saying, really. Quit because some people don’t tip? They don’t tip - they don’t get their food from me. It’s pretty straightforward.

Maybe they’re happy to wait 2 hours for a beginner who doesn’t know better. It’s up to them. But I’m not delivering it.

Mind you, I’m one of the easier ones: I’ll take the crappy McD if it’s going less than 2 miles for $5. But no way I’m taking Chick-Fil-A going 12 miles for $4.50. Or for $8 .

I don’t care where the money comes from. If CFA wants to supplement their deliveries to serve their customers - I’m fine with that. But I’m not taking a hit for them to look good. If THEY are offering free delivery, then THEY should deliver it for free. Don’t offer free delivery assuming I’ll be providing it.

What you are saying in other words is “deliver for $2, or quit if you don’t like it”. I’ll just deliver those that pay more.

I’ve been saying it from the beginning - the biggest mistake was calling them “tips”. Tips are what we sometimes get in cash on delivery. What they enter in the app are more like offers. No point for me to provide my vehicle, equipment and time for something that doesn’t show a profit.

It’s not a basic human right to have a Starbucks delivered to you. You can get it yourself for free. I get my own food to save money, so can they. They can literally get it in their pajamas in the drive-through. Absolutely FREE!


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## Ms. Mercenary (Jul 24, 2020)

P.S. If anything, UE needs to be more like DD in that respect - taking their “tips” (offers) away should come with effort - you have to call Support and explain what exactly happened that you feel your offer hasn’t been properly fulfilled and why you want to offer less or nothing. I’ve said on many occasions that tip-baiting has not been an issue for me so far - just once - so it really shouldn’t be an issue to make this required cancellation a touch more difficult than pressing a button because you feel guilty of paying $8 extra for your single taco.


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## jjminor82 (Oct 25, 2019)

Classified said:


> I don’t understand why a driver who is driving from a to b, a simple task and is getting paid a delivery fee to do so, deserves more money than the person who is making the food, I bet you don’t tip the restaurant on that delivery? The restaurant workers work harder than the driver.
> 
> Yes delivering is a business, you can increase your earnings by driving a more fuel efficient vehicle, doing your taxes right, and taking orders that are close by, minimising your mileage, and your expenses,
> 
> im glad tipping isnt normal here, but occasionally I will tip the driver, if it’s horrible weather, the driver has gone out of there way. Or has to walk up lots of stairs, why would I volunterily tip a driver when I’m already paying a delivery fee? This fee should cover costs, if it doesn’t then I wouldn’t be working for them, a tip is a bonus. And it’s more appreciated when your not expecting one,


I agree with some of the sentiment.

The restaurant employees are paid based on their jobs and usually earn more than the driver, without the expense associated with delivering with your own vehicle.

I don’t really care where the money comes from. UE or DD or GH send me an offer which is part from the company and partly from the customer tip. I can accept the rate or not. The customer and company are bidding for my service - simple as that.

Covering costs is not the end goal. Profitability is, at least for the driver if they have sense.


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## Mad_Jack_Flint (Nov 19, 2020)

First off I am a private contractor, so my business ( yes people it is a business ) depends on me maximizing my profits and if someone believe I should deliver their food for two dollars while I lose money, well that is never happening.

If you put a tip in and you take it back without giving a negative rating and did a tip baiting that happens a lot on Uber now, well you are costing the driver income and should be forced to explain why the driver shouldn’t be paid the promised fare and if your explanation is lacking then you should be stuck with what you offered.

Many customers believe a driver is their slave and look down on them and that is why you get what you get in personal service.

I had a woman give me a negative rating because the restaurant she ordered from didn’t give her fries and extra sauce and she was told not just by me but the restaurant it would be extra in cost for those two things and she told me it was my job to force the restaurant to give her those things for free and I laughed and walked away.

Now some of you might consider my response to be rude but the customer can not expect the driver to change their order for them when the restaurant refuses and you have been notified changes couldn’t be made but some customers believe the driver must do all this for that small tip.

Also a customer will blame the driver for their food being late when they didn’t tip.

I had a woman notify me she had been waiting an hour for her food, and I told her I had just got the order a moment ago and will be there ASAP and when I got there she complained the food was cold and I asked her did you tip in the app and she just closed the door and when I hit order delivered it showed no tip, and she wanted someone to drive ten miles for minimum pay and when I got it I was paid over ten dollars…

So for those saying “ Well a tip is not required and should only be paid if you died trying to deliver my food “ well then go get your own food because I ain’t bringing it for two dollars for ten miles…

If I do not get two dollars a mile on a deliver I am not touching it because most of you will never tip afterwards and feel entitled to have it delivered at the cost of the driver…


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## Ms. Mercenary (Jul 24, 2020)

Tip baiting _does not_ happen “a lot”. It is rare. And while upsetting, it should be considered a business risk - every business has those.

We tend to remember those few instances more than we remember large tips. It’s human nature. That’s why to us they seem more frequent than they really are.


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## Mad_Jack_Flint (Nov 19, 2020)

Ms. Mercenary said:


> Tip baiting _does not_ happen “a lot”. It is rare. And while upsetting, it should be considered a business risk - every business has those.
> 
> We tend to remember those few instances more than we remember large tips. It’s human nature. That’s why to us they seem more frequent than they really are.


I have seen it a lot in Houston, and that is why I stopped delivering in Houston. Houston has low pay, hardly anyone want to tip and they do tip bait more now because they know driver’s are not willing to deliver for that two dollars.

I also remember all my big tips…


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## OLDSCHOOLPARAD (May 4, 2019)

I don’t really care if people tip or not. I generally tip when I order food. But I have noticed that customers that used to be good tippers aren’t tipping as much anymore.

I think the reason for it is that they’re basically paying the driver to deliver food to someone else for free. Basically, as someone here put it, subsidizing bad customers. It’s possible that may actually hurt DoorDash and UE’s business. But I’m sure they probably know the risk. All in the name of growth I s’pose.

It definitely upsets me when I see my driver delivering to someone else before me. And I’ve also seen in the DD comments people state that if you ain’t delivering to them first leave the order for someone else.

When I order stuff other than food, I sometimes don’t tip. I try to order when there’s a promo though. But not always. I guess that makes me an a-hole.

Hey, at least I’m never demanding like the people that usually don’t tip. Those people are the worst, most ungrateful bunch. I only see them when Uber or DoorDash raise their pay. Cause not even with promos, I’d take an order without a tip.


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## Ms. Mercenary (Jul 24, 2020)

Oh poop. Took an order, thought it was a hidden tip. Was for $10 something. Big order too, from that upscale sushi/chinese place. Two huge heavy bags, at least $120 (I’m being conservative).

UE paid me $3 something, difference is $7, not $8.

***** tipped me $7.

I hope they get diarrhea.

I still got my $2/mile (was 5 miles, I wasin the parking lot) so not devastated. But deflated. That one should have been a $20 at least.

I caught several hiddens today, so it all evens out (like $18.33 for barely 2 miles), but still…


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## jaxbeachrides (May 27, 2015)

Ms. Mercenary said:


> Oh poop. Took an order, thought it was a hidden tip. Was for $10 something. Big order too, from that upscale sushi/chinese place. Two huge heavy bags, at least $120 (I’m being conservative).
> 
> UE paid me $3 something, difference is $7, not $8.
> 
> ...


It isn't often but it happens. 

I think large orders are usually a few people that were supposed to "pitch in", but didn't go as planned.

That's why sone restaurants charge a minimum 15-20% tip on large orders, to avoid the server getting caught in the middle of people that want to pay the bare minimum.


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## Ms. Mercenary (Jul 24, 2020)

jaxbeachrides said:


> It isn't often but it happens.
> 
> I think large orders are usually a few people that were supposed to "pitch in", but didn't go as planned.
> 
> That's why sone restaurants charge a minimum 15-20% tip on large orders, to avoid the server getting caught in the middle of people that want to pay the bare minimum.


No matter how old I get, human nature just floors me. It’s hard for me to comprehend how someone could bring oneself to type in “$7” tip for that order. I’m semi-curious what they are thinking when they do this.

Particularly as she was nice enough to address me by name - which btw is very hard to spell correctly, and she did - when I wrote her I was on my way.

So I can’t say she was just not a good person - crappy people wouldn’t bother with “Thank you, Jaburblifteyah!”, know what I mean?


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