Many American consumers are feeling pinched by high inflation, less disposable income, higher prices, and the general bad economic policy coming from Washington. Under Joe Biden, Americans have less money than they did under President Trump, and despite this, the tipping culture has taken on a life of its own.
It seems as though businesses, particularly in the service industry, have made a push for tipping to supplement salaries that they don’t want to pay. Couple that with the reality that most Americans don’t have the extra money, and something clearly has to give.
While there is no issue with tipping at traditional sit-down establishments, the food delivery industry has presented its own set of specific issues. People have been conditioned to tip pizza delivery drivers, but services like DoorDash and Uber Eats still lag behind in terms of tipping delivery drivers.
Services like DoorDash and Uber Eats give consumers the option of getting food delivered from their favorite restaurants right to their door. Drivers typically make a small fee for the delivery and get to keep all of the tips. Unfortunately, many consumers either don’t realize or don’t care.
Subsequently, services like DoorDash are taking extreme steps to coax tips from customers. On the Door Dash app, delivery drivers can choose to accept or not accept a particular delivery based on how much or whether a customer is willing to tip.
This might sound like a difficult situation for consumers, but DoorDash is taking steps to warn customers that not tipping can have consequences. DoorDash is advising customers that not tipping can result in vastly delayed delivery times.
Door Dash has added a warning to the app. The food delivery service has been testing the efficacy of issuing a warning message for customers trying to leave a $0 tip for drivers. DoorDash released a statement “Dashers have full freedom to accept or reject offers based on what they view as valuable and rewarding.”
It is reasonable for drivers to refuse to take a delivery that would only pay several dollars for the trouble of picking up food in their own personal car. DoorDash is trying to remedy that by telling consumers about potential wait times for not tipping.
The delivery service continued: “This reminder screen is something that we’re currently testing to help create the best possible experience for all members of our community. As with anything we pilot, we look forward to closely analyzing the results and feedback.”
What DoorDash is likely to find is tips will increase as awareness about how much the drivers make for their trouble increases. It simply isn’t worth the time and gas to take a delivery across town for a few dollars without a tip included.
Consumers might blame the company for not paying the drivers more, and while that might be understandable, it is also fair to expect customers to offer a few dollars extra to drivers using their own personal vehicles to deliver chicken nuggets. For now, customers deciding not to tip can expect to wait for their food longer than normal.
Featured image credit: By spurekar – Winter snow storm, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=97935741
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