Rosario Monachino
DoorDash has issued a strong warning to customers who choose not to tip their delivery drivers.
Although tipping is not mandatory in the US, diners are often expected to add a gratuity, according to Travel Insider.
Customers usually tip between 15% to 25% of the total meal cost – with 25% awarded for excellent service, according to CNBC.
Now, America’s largest food delivery company has warned customers of the consequences of not adding a tip.
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For the uninitiated, DoorDash works just like Uber Eats, Deliveroo and Just Eat.
Customers pay for the cost of their food and any local taxes, plus a delivery fee, an optional Dasher tip and a service fee.
As tipping is non-compulsory, consumers are not obliged to pay their Dasher that extra fee but the delivery service has now warned you could face unwanted consequences if you don’t.
As reported by The Verge, DoorDash added a pop-up that will appear if you enter $0 in the tip amount when placing an order in the app.
It says: “Orders with no tip might take longer to get delivered — are you sure you want to continue?
“Dashers can pick and choose which orders they want to do. Orders that take longer to be accepted by Dashers tend to result in slower delivery.”
The Verge adds that the new pop-up warning doesn’t appear to have been pushed across the whole of the US yet.
One reporter in New Jersey reportedly received the pop-up, but another in South Carolina didn’t.
Speaking to CBS, a spokesperson for DoorDash explained that the reminder is something that they are testing to help ‘create the best possible experience for all members of our community’.
They added that the company will analyse customer feedback and respond accordingly.
The company shared that since the reminder came to fruition, they have had a ‘meaningful reduction’ is $0 tips.
DoorDash now warns customers that orders without a tip may take longer to be delivered:
Im a regular tipper but tbh tipping culture is getting wayy outta hand. They ask for tips every where. There should be no reason to tip the person taking your order at a fast food restaurant pic.twitter.com/cVhqyOUvYk
— Alexander the Don (@TheDonAlexander) November 2, 2023
The spokesperson continued by stating that delivery drivers are independent contractors who can ‘accept or reject offers based on what they view as valuable and rewarding’.
They add: “While the vast majority of customers do leave a tip, offers that don’t include a tip can be seen as less desirable — this impacts our entire community, leading to longer wait times for customers, orders sitting longer at merchants, and less value for Dashers.”
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DoorDash has previously come under fire after it was revealed how the company handles tips and payments.
It used to pay workers a flat fee for each delivery and any gratuity paid by the customer – so for example, if a driver got a guaranteed base rate of $6.85 for an order, but the customer tipped $3, the driver would still get $6.85, as per The New York Times.
After a bad experience with DoorDash, I NEVER tip before delivery, I tip afterwards.
I tipped $11 once on a McDonald’s order. Not only was the food cold, but this woman ate out my little sister’s happy meal, thinking we wouldn’t notice but you can tell the box was opened. 😭 https://t.co/4FWVrDbKX6
— JOLLY J✨ (@DynamoSuperX) October 31, 2023
Tony Xu, the company’s CEO, defended his actions at the time in a post on social media, which said: “We thought we were doing the right thing by making Dashers whole when a customer left no tip.
“What we missed was that some customers who did tip would feel like their tip didn’t matter.”
In response to this, DoorDash revamped its pay method to ensure that drivers received 100% of the tips a customer would add
However, this has apparently backfired as customers were less willing to tip – which is maybe why they have introduced this new policy.
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