Los Angeles/SFV Food Delivery Drivers/Tipping (San Fernando: credit card, how much)

[Kings Gambit]

I have a few friends who are recent immigrants from Ukraine and Russia who are Uber Eats/Doordash drivers who are making (attempting to) a living by doing this. Some of them were telling me how tips are SOOOOO important to them and that the "poorer" areas seem to always have people with the best tips. They say when they work in the more affluent areas, people often dont even tip at all or they tip very little. This is crazy to me.

If you live in LA or San Fernando Valley and use food delivery, do you tip? If not, why? If so, how much? Never in my life have I NOT tipped food delivery drivers. This actually kinda makes me angry that people dont tip. Even if I just order one single Starbucks Mocha or one Chipotle burrito bowl, I still tip at LEAST $3.00-$5.00 for the driver. Non tippers are just some of the worst people IMO.

[citizensadvocate]

The real issue with these companies is they abuse the tipping model to make these "contractors" which they sometimes treat like employees work nearly for free while charging customers nearly twice the cost of what they ordered. I heard they do it to subsidize pay for those who tip less or from parts of the world where tipping is not allowed or expected. Eventually the tipping on these apps means the customer is entirely subsidizing the driver's wages and fuel while the gig companies keeps what ever fees they charge customers.

If one tips 15% on a $50 order they are paying $7 which is about the average these drivers get paid per delivery. Sometimes if customers tip lower the gig company may make up the difference to entice drivers to pick up the order, the difference being that the company is paying it from the deliveries fees they collect from customers instead of the customer otherwise the app would only pay $1 - $3 a delivery to the driver.

I personally do cash tips while keeping the default tip on the app I do cash tips at sit down restaurants as well. I heed the advice to never be temped to tip on a credit card machine as those "tips" often arn't going to those who do the tasks for you.

[Kings Gambit]

Originally Posted by citizensadvocate

The real issue with these companies is they abuse the tipping model to make these "contractors" which they sometimes treat like employees work nearly for free while charging customers nearly twice the cost of what they ordered.

Exactly. This is precisely why I ALWAYS tip and just cannot wrap my head around people who neglect to tip them. I mean, you tip waiters/waitresses who bring you food and they are already earning an hourly wage, these rideshare drivers get basically nothing, drive their own cars, sometimes have to sit around earning nothing waiting for orders, park in non-parking areas with hazard lights on risking getting tickets to run in and pick up/drop off your food, and drop off your food to your door - TIP THEM!!!! ALWAYS ALWAYS TIP THEM!!!

Im curious to hear from folks who dont tip their delivery drivers. WHY? Under what circumstances do you convince yourself that you dont need to tip these people?

[citizensadvocate]

Believe it or not Uber once forbidden tipping and they pay their drivers much better than today. Thus Despite their fares being lower than taxis they actually pay better than taxis. Those who cry they should be able to tip on the app got thiet wish and partially responsible for Uber pocketing much more money while paying drivers peanuts. Tip is gratuity not to subsidize big corporations so they don’t have be to pay their driver. But it ends up as an excuse for the big guys to save money.

Doordash once paid $7-9 now they pay $1-$3 depending on how much users tip. Meaning user tip more DD pays less, very bad trend.

[M3Guy]

I don't think this thread is CA specific. I think it's more of a "tip vs. no tip" thing.

[Kings Gambit]

Originally Posted by M3Guy

I don't think this thread is CA specific. I think it's more of a "tip vs. no tip" thing.

Yeah, maybe. But I am really curious. How horrible of a person do you have to be to NOT tip your rideshare delivery drivers? Under no circumstances ever, can I even imagine that I would NOT tip them. Even if its just an order from a restaurant that is a couple of blocks away, I would NEVER not tip.

[BOORGONG]

Originally Posted by Kings Gambit

Yeah, maybe. But I am really curious. How horrible of a person do you have to be to NOT tip your rideshare delivery drivers? Under no circumstances ever, can I even imagine that I would NOT tip them. Even if its just an order from a restaurant that is a couple of blocks away, I would NEVER not tip.

Totally. That level of meanness is baffling.

[CaliforniaGal]

I always tip ...I'm a senior by the way.