When the Doordash customer tells you that they tipped on the app

This is an older article that I am updating. The article here is from 2017. It basically covered those Doordash customers that we Doordash drivers would sometimes encounter that said to us "I tipped you on the app."  The amount of customers saying this has dwindled down a lot during the past couple of years.. Actually, since the new pay model came in to effect in September of 2019 I very rarely hear it at all.

Now, with Covid 19 and Prop 22 in effect, we may never hear it at all. It kind of makes sense though. Now that us dashers are actually receiving our tips and seeing the breakdown after we complete a delivery; we know the customers that are tipping and those that are not.

I always understood that it can sometimes be an awkward position for Doordash customers. The dasher walks up to the customer's door and hands them their food. They stand there for a second, and even though most people never say anything, once in a while you have that customer that feels the need to say that they tipped you on the app. Generally, anybody that says this is doing so because they don't want to look like a cheapskate.

 

I've personally heard it from people of all ages and classes. In the past, before the new  pay model came out, a dasher never knew whether the customer was telling the truth about tipping on the app or whether they were full of it. Newer dashers probably wont understand any of this, but yes, there was a time when we had no idea if a customer tipped or not. Even after a completed delivery we did not know. That goes into a whole other subject of when Doordash used to steal driver's tips. We'll briefly talk about that in a minute.

 

There was no payment information break down like we now have. You just never knew if they had tipped or not and had to take their word for it. The best thing to do was not even give much thought to it because you were only receiving your guaranteed pay (What Doordash promised to pay) anyways whether they tipped or not.

The "I tipped on the app" Doordash customer telling the truth

Surely a lot of the Doordash customers saying that they tipped on the app indeed did. The problem was that Doordash drivers never found out if a particular customer did or didn't. Surely dashers were curious as to which customers tipped them and the ones that didn't. Everything was hidden though because of the old tip stealing scheme that Doordash ran more many years. Since Doordash was stealing the driver's tips, dashers would always receive their guaranteed pay for the order, but they never knew if any of that was a tip from the customer or all from Doordash.

 

The only instance a dasher knew that the customer had tipped something was when a dasher received an "Over Guaranteed." This basically meant that a customer tipped a lot, and these "Over Guarantees" did not happen very often. It was a confusing time, but we should all now be grateful that Doordash finally did change their tip stealing practice and that dashers now receive the tips that they deserve.

The "I tipped on the app" Doordash customer that told a lie

Doordash customers that said this even though it was a lie did so for the sake of not looking like a cheapskate in front of the dasher. In all honesty, these people most likely normally tipped but couldn't for this order for some particular reason. Under the old pay model, even though dashers could not tell on their app whether the customer tipped or not, the customer did not know that and felt obligated to say something.

My reasoning comes from the fact that if they were a regular non-tipper that did not care if they tipped or not, they most likely would not have said anything at all. A person like this could care less if a dasher looks at them like a cheapskate. They most likely did not grow up with the morals and values that others have grown up with. Your typical non-tipper does not feel obligated to tip a dasher. 

 

I remember when Doordash first starting showing dashers the breakdown of orders I was surprised a few times. The time I am talking about is when Doordash started showing dashers the breakdown of each order but had not yet released the new pay model. I had a couple of customers tell me that they tipped on the app, but when I was sliding the order as delivered and seen the breakdown, they didn't tip me anything. It's so nice that all of the non-tippers are revealed under the new pay model.

Most non-tippers are revealed right away when a dasher receives one of those cheap paying $2 to $4 calls. To be fair, it is possible that with some of these orders the customer tipped a buck or two, but in most cases they did not tip anything at all. The surprising ones are the orders that pay for example $8. After making the delivery, the breakdown shows that the Doordash base pay was $8 and that the customer did not tip anything.

Leaving a Doordash driver a tip shows class, morals and values

Doordash drivers will always feel gratitude when a customer tips, and it is always appreciated. Most customers feel an obligation to tip when a service is provided. Personally, I would feel like a cheapskate if I did not tip. That's just me though, and I am sure that a lot of other people feel the same way. As a customer, handing off a cash tip to a driver is the best thing for me to do. If I didn't have cash I would surely leave a tip on the app. In most instances, I would do both.

 

 

Tipping is a must! This is especially generally true of people who are of the older, more polite and just down-right classier generation that feel the need to hand of cash to the driver for the delivery. These customers come from the old-school generation where you just felt rude and like a dummy if you didn't tip the driver cash. Even if they tipped on the app, these customers still have something inside of them that wants to hand the driver at least a few dollars. If they don't have a few dollars, these customers may may have sometimes said " I tipped you on the app" to get rid of the awkwardness that they feel.

I want to point out one thing here and do not want to be misunderstood. I put GENERALLY the older, more polite and just down-right classier generation feel the need to hand of cash to their Doordash driver. The key word there is GENERALLY. I have had good cash tips from people of all ages. I have had kids and teenagers hand me $5 cash tips before. There are classy people with morals and values of all ages, but naturally as the generations pass so do morals and values. Anybody that has lived long enough will vouch for me on that.

Doordash customers have a right not to tip

Not tipping is just not right! At least that it my opinion. My opinion is not set in stone though as the golden rule. If a customer does not want to tip we have to remember that they have the right to not tip. Many of these people don't care about tipping and don't even give it any thought. They just want their food and figure that they paid what they need to, and that's the end of the story.

Under the old tip stealing pay model the Doordash non-tippers were pretty much hidden. The pay that dashers received to deliver their food was similar to the pay that they would receive to deliver the tipping customer's food. This was really wrong! Why were the tipping customers receiving the same type of service as the non-tippers? Most of us know the answer, but it's a long story that I am not going to get in to.

Under the new pay model dashers actually receive the customer tips and can now spot the non-tippers pretty easy because when they receive offers to deliver the food, they are being offered $2 to $5 for their service. Most drivers rightfully deny these calls, and instead accept the decent paying calls where the customers tip. Sure, there will be that dasher that will deliver the non-tippers food for $2, but that customer surely will be waiting for their food for a while. The tipping customer is the one that is going to get prompt service. Again though, tipping is an option that the customer has.

I'd rather not hear "I tipped you on the app"

As a Doordash driver it leaves me feeling a little weird when a customer feels the need to tell me that they tipped me on the app. I mean, what do I supposed to say? Do I supposed to jump with joy and tell them thank you? Well, I actually would say thanks minus the jumping. I'm sure some of these customers really did leave a tip and just want me to know about it. Again, they don't want me looking at them like they are some cheapskate.

I used to get a customer telling me that they tipped on the app about once a week, but like I said, ever since the new pay model came in to effect, I don't have people telling me this anymore. Coincidence? Have you had customers tell you this? What is your reaction to this? Do you even give it any thought?