Anonymous wrote:

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.

I’m a low paid essential worker and that’s more than I make in an evening babysitting, so I’m cool with not tipping. I’m already paying for the service. Since you do so well in tips, you will be fine without money from me.

Lol. Ordering food is a luxury, not a necessity. I'll tip a few bucks regardless.

So I live in DC and I don't have a car. Pick-up is not an option unless I want to factor in 20 dollars of Uber, Covid risk, or could pick up within about a mile of my home. I used to travel weekly and would use these apps 2-3 times a day, in multiple cities, eating out almost every meal pre-pandemic. Here are my opinions on the apps and tipping:

1) It's not the delivery fees that are an issue, it's the 'service fees.' I ordered so often I sucked it up and paid the 99 dollars/year for Postmates and Ubereats "Free Delivery" on every order. That worked well for awhile and made sense. What I have noticed now though, is enough people were probably using that, that the apps had to make it up somehow. So they absolutely JACKED the service fees. A typical breakdown before would be (100 dollar order) free delivery, 8 dollars in taxes, 3 dollars in fees. Now, on that same order it is free delivery, 8 dollars in taxes, 16 dollars in fees. That's ludicrous.

2) Mentally, when you jack up all those fees to the hilt, people are less likely to give a decent tip. I mean, they're charging 16 bucks just so you could order online, that's sufficient enough, right? But none of that is going to the drivers. It still feels insane to pay 30+ in delivery fees for an order. Personally, I don't cheat the drivers and do tip well, but these apps are getting away with highway robbery. They're charging both the restaurants and the customers exorbitant fees for the ability to use their platform.

3) I don't want to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but I have observed that these fees have been creeping up since the pandemic. One of them, I forget which, looks like it was forced to put some type of disclaimer saying the restaurants are not getting a good bit of money from you for the privilege of using their platform.

4) I can't imagine a 15 mile delivery range. OP, you must not be driving around the DC area. I have rarely seen any options further than about 3-4 miles away and that is still rare. There are many, many restaurants in Arlington that wouldn't dream of delivering downtown.

5) Because of Covid and the risk the drivers are incurring, I tip more. I wouldn't say I tip by strict percentage though, that never made sense to me. I tip on distance and total "burden." I have a floor of about 8 bucks and a max of around 20. This is from home though when I am not socializing. Pre-Covid when I would order dinner for teams of 40+ people, it was different.

Basically, you need to blame the apps for this. People SHOULD be generous, but they have essentially rigged it to make that unpalatable.

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.

I’m a low paid essential worker and that’s more than I make in an evening babysitting, so I’m cool with not tipping. I’m already paying for the service. Since you do so well in tips, you will be fine without money from me.

Anonymous wrote:You should look for different employment. The solution isn't to guilt people into increasing the amount they tip because you need to money. You are not providing the same, or even similar, service as a waiter does. I am not going to tip delivery drivers the same percentage I'm tipping someone who is taking my order, serving my food, refilling my water glass and getting me a to-go box.

+ 1

I’ve never tipped on Uber eats and I never will.

Anonymous wrote:It doesn’t matter what the amount of the food order is. If they’re bringing one bag or three bags of food, they’re still bringing it to you. I always tip 10-15 dollars. I look at it like this - is $5 dollars vs $15 that much different to me? No. But that extra $10 can help the driver with gas money. I

it makes a difference to me.

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I'm 9 months pregnant with 4 little kids... We aren't rich. I always tip the minimum. Not everyone has tons of disposable income lying around

Tipping in this country is getting ridiculous. You're supposed to tip everyone apparently. Between the delivery fee, special charges based on the total and then expected to leave a huge tip. It's also pretty ableist to say " get your own food"

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I ordered Dunkin’ Donuts iced coffee the other day because I was out of coffee and had zoom meetings for 8 hours straight. I tipped $15.

Gold star for your virtue signaling of the day.

Please stop using using virtue signaling in all your posts. It’s like a trademark for you.

It doesn’t matter what the amount of the food order is. If they’re bringing one bag or three bags of food, they’re still bringing it to you. I always tip 10-15 dollars. I look at it like this - is $5 dollars vs $15 that much different to me? No. But that extra $10 can help the driver with gas money. I

I always tip 10 dollars

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You don't get to dictate what others tip.

Totally agree ×1000

They just said Please try to tip well. This is not a directive. I bet you two are fun at parties.

You again. OP has pretty unreasonable and lofty expectations. $10 tip on delivering a $15 food order...? Lol. You obviously work for tips as well and agree, but others are free to disagree and call it out, even if you don't like that.

I can’t believe how many people use these services. We had a coupon for one (door dash maybe?) and tried to use it for our favorite kabob place. Between the markup on the food itself, the separate delivery charge, and the recommended tip, it was going to cost literally double for 2 entrees.

That’s nuts. So we did what we always do and picked it up ourselves. I’m amazed these companies stay in business. (Not saying workers don’t deserve a good wage, just that the business model doesn’t really work.)

Anonymous wrote:I ordered Dunkin’ Donuts iced coffee the other day because I was out of coffee and had zoom meetings for 8 hours straight. I tipped $15.

Gold star for your virtue signaling of the day.

Tip 5-10 based on the size of the order not cost