Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We use Instacart for Costco and tip 20% of the order. Since January, we've added an additional $10-$15 on top of that. Our finances didn't change but recognize that a lot of people weren't so fortunate.

With the high prices on each item, you must be paying 50% more by using Costco Instacart. We’ve used it too and it is so expensive before the tip.

I do Instacart Aldis. Cheap even with tip and markup!

I tip $5 no matter what I order

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, what was the average tip you got in this area?

OP here. It's hard for me to put it in average tip terms but on a typical Friday/Saturday night, from say 6p-11p, pay can range between $80-$130 for me. These two nights are obviously when people order most often, and tend to tip more as they're getting food for the household vs during breakfast or lunch, oftentimes it's a meal for one, so lots of small to zero tips. I do set aside 20% as I know I'll owe during tax time as an independent contractor but no surprise there when doing this type of work.

If a meal costs $15, you aren't reasonable to expect at $10 tip.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have stopped using any service like Uber Eats or Grubhub. About 5-6 months ago someone posted examples about how much those services charge the restaurants and it was pretty clear that the restaurants operate at a loss when they depend on the services. So now we only order from places that have their own app or we go there and pay in person.

Thank you for your example. It basically reinforces to me that "services" like Uber Eats and Grubhub are scams, like wolves in sheep's clothing. I'm sorry that you are finding this out the hard way. You would have less flexibility but have you considered getting hired on at Amazon as a delivery person there for Fresh or Whole Foods?

OP here. I did see that example on social media and was shocked.
I appreciate the advice but since I'll be back to work full-time in January, going to ride it out for the next couple of months.

Good luck to you!

Thank you!

Anonymous wrote:OP, what was the average tip you got in this area?

OP here. It's hard for me to put it in average tip terms but on a typical Friday/Saturday night, from say 6p-11p, pay can range between $80-$130 for me. These two nights are obviously when people order most often, and tend to tip more as they're getting food for the household vs during breakfast or lunch, oftentimes it's a meal for one, so lots of small to zero tips. I do set aside 20% as I know I'll owe during tax time as an independent contractor but no surprise there when doing this type of work.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a big tipper, but what if the food total is just $15? Even I'm not going to tip $10 for that. Would it be better just not to do Uber eats for smaller orders? I generally try to tip around 25%, with a minimum of $5. (Except for our regular
weekly pizza guy - I always tip him $10, which is around 50%.)

So, to be very honest, the few times I made small orders, I still tipped around $10. This is ONLY because I now see it from the driver's perspective. As a customer pre-Pandemic, I would never have done that.
I think your $5 minimum is still great. So many don't tip at all so it definitely makes a difference. Hope this helps =)

That’s unconscionable. I’m sorry drivers are being stiffed. I don’t leave huge tips, but I would never tip less than $5 for delivery and frequently tip more. I’ll admit, I was super generous in the early months, but now getting delivery is the new normal. It’s hard to balance all the different parts. I want to help keep restaurants open, so we’ve actually increased the frequency of our restaurant dining, but I’m not going to dine in, because I don’t think that’s safe. Pre-pandemic, I’d never had anything but pizza delivered. I always picked up my food. But now we’re eating out more often, so I’ve started using delivery sometimes, and I thought that helped the economy because it provides an income stream for people like OP. Aren’t I stimulating the economy more by ordering restaurant delivery and tipping $5-8 than I would be by eating my own groceries?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Montgomery County put out a statement encouraging people to not use these services because they take such a high cut from the restaurants.

Well if only the County would offer an alternative!

There is one--pick up your own food.

Anonymous wrote:Montgomery County put out a statement encouraging people to not use these services because they take such a high cut from the restaurants.

Well if only the County would offer an alternative!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We use Instacart for Costco and tip 20% of the order. Since January, we've added an additional $10-$15 on top of that. Our finances didn't change but recognize that a lot of people weren't so fortunate.

With the high prices on each item, you must be paying 50% more by using Costco Instacart. We’ve used it too and it is so expensive before the tip.

It's expensive but worth it since I need to stay healthy to (socially distance) visit my father that has stage 4 cancer.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have stopped using any service like Uber Eats or Grubhub. About 5-6 months ago someone posted examples about how much those services charge the restaurants and it was pretty clear that the restaurants operate at a loss when they depend on the services. So now we only order from places that have their own app or we go there and pay in person.

Thank you for your example. It basically reinforces to me that "services" like Uber Eats and Grubhub are scams, like wolves in sheep's clothing. I'm sorry that you are finding this out the hard way. You would have less flexibility but have you considered getting hired on at Amazon as a delivery person there for Fresh or Whole Foods?

OP here. I did see that example on social media and was shocked.
I appreciate the advice but since I'll be back to work full-time in January, going to ride it out for the next couple of months.

Good luck to you!

Montgomery County put out a statement encouraging people to not use these services because they take such a high cut from the restaurants.

OP, what was the average tip you got in this area?

Anonymous wrote:We use Instacart for Costco and tip 20% of the order. Since January, we've added an additional $10-$15 on top of that. Our finances didn't change but recognize that a lot of people weren't so fortunate.

With the high prices on each item, you must be paying 50% more by using Costco Instacart. We’ve used it too and it is so expensive before the tip.

Anonymous wrote:We have stopped using any service like Uber Eats or Grubhub. About 5-6 months ago someone posted examples about how much those services charge the restaurants and it was pretty clear that the restaurants operate at a loss when they depend on the services. So now we only order from places that have their own app or we go there and pay in person.

Thank you for your example. It basically reinforces to me that "services" like Uber Eats and Grubhub are scams, like wolves in sheep's clothing. I'm sorry that you are finding this out the hard way. You would have less flexibility but have you considered getting hired on at Amazon as a delivery person there for Fresh or Whole Foods?

OP here. I did see that example on social media and was shocked.
I appreciate the advice but since I'll be back to work full-time in January, going to ride it out for the next couple of months.

We have stopped using any service like Uber Eats or Grubhub. About 5-6 months ago someone posted examples about how much those services charge the restaurants and it was pretty clear that the restaurants operate at a loss when they depend on the services. So now we only order from places that have their own app or we go there and pay in person.

Thank you for your example. It basically reinforces to me that "services" like Uber Eats and Grubhub are scams, like wolves in sheep's clothing. I'm sorry that you are finding this out the hard way. You would have less flexibility but have you considered getting hired on at Amazon as a delivery person there for Fresh or Whole Foods?