My Frantic Life as a Cab-Dodging, Tip-Chasing Food App Deliveryman

Haven't read the article yet, but from the pull quote alone, that DoorDash policy seems absolutely fair. Assuming that, had the customer tipped $7+, the extra $0.15+ would've gone to the runner.

 

I live in NYC. I always tip $3-5, depending on circumstance. In cash as often as possible.

It *boggles* my mind how people (most frequently those who can afford it) do not tip. Disgraceful. A human being is hand delivering food to your doorstep, and you know damn well they are underpaid.

 

Considering the fact that the pull quote points out that your grat goes to the company and the employee wouldn't make a penny less if you didn't tip at all, I think it's far from disgraceful. While I would never still a delivery driver, the notion that you HAVE to is a little wild. They tend to get paid pretty well considering the skillset required. I believe my local dominos starts them at ~$15/hour. I worked professional, post-collegiate jobs I had to punch my way up in to get to that rate, so for some teenager or 20 year old it's probably fair.

 

I’m pretty sure that $15 an hour is minimum wage + tips so if people aren’t tipping they aren’t getting that $15 an hour.

 

Sorry if I am getting the wrong end of the stick here, but wouldn't "fair" here be DoorDash paying the $6.85 and then the delivery guy keeping the $3 the customer had tipped him? Just looks like the company are keeping $3 because the guy already received that much from the customer; in a sense he himself is $3 worse off because the customer was satisfied with the service he provided?

 

Really interesting article...I work part time at a Cheesecake Factory and we get tons of Door Dash orders from 5-10pm each night. The part that is concerning to me is that the Door Dash orders can begin to affect the dining experience for those in the restaurant.

When the restaurant preps food for the day they take into account last years sales, in store traffic, etc...but with the delivery apps it can really screw with your projections. There’s no way to predict how many or how large the delivery orders will be.

For example, last week Sat night around 11pm we had maybe 6-7 tables in the restaurant but had 15 Door Dash orders in the system as well. Guests in the restaurant were wondering why food was taking so long considering the restaurant was largely empty.

 

Interesting. Things are definitely shifting. Did not think DoorDash orders would account for such a large amount of orders, as takeout has always been an option. People really do not like to leave their homes!

I’m pretty much a $5 tipper, unless it’s a massive order (rarely). I even tip at takeout, just a few bucks (2-3$). I been on the other end of the counter, just a couple dollars was enough for a menu item so my dinner could be paid for. It’s such a small amount to make someone’s day. I’m farrrr from rich, but if I’m dropping $15 for a meal, I can throw a few more bones. Those people don’t forget those gestures either. You will get better service, at least to the best of their abilities.

 

Glad this is finally getting the attention it deserves. I first read about their tipping policy months ago, and unfortunately I still use DoorDash from time to time when I'm in a place with limited options, but I now only use it if I have enough cash on hand to tip.

 

The food delivery app business is pretty fascinating and disruptive, and I don't necessarily mean that in a good way. I enjoyed listening to Dave Chang recently talk (briefly) about this on his podcast, and he spoke about how restaurants and food aren't set up to successfully accommodate the operations or quality control of volume delivery.