Doordash had a pay model that most people saw as thievery. Although, there was a small amount of people that defended it. That's a long story that gets complicated, and that's not what this post is about. I will include a link here later for those that are interested in learning about all of that.
Presently, dashers receive $2 to $10 of base pay from Doordash and receive all the tip money that customers leave for them. In most people's opinion, this new pay model is much better than the old one. Dashers actually receive every tip dollar that a customer leaves them!
With the change of the way pay works on Doordash, I wanted to update this post about the different types of Doordash tippers. The new pay model has certainly impacted how we look at the tippers. I am going to leave in my comments from 2018, but I will also give present day input.
I wanted to point out the different types of tippers that Doordash customers are. To me, every single customer falls in to one of the following six categories. Some of these categories are made up of customers that a dasher will appreciate, and other categories are made up of customers that a dasher may not like so much. Then you have those categories that fall in the middle. Although there may still be customers that do not understand how the pay model of Doordash works, I don't think it's really important for them to understand anymore as dashers now receive all tip money.
My 2018 comments on these tippers:
If you have been a dasher for a while, you are sure to come across customers that feel the need to tell you that they tipped on the app. These customers feel kind of awkward when you hand them their food , and they don't hand over cash. Whether they really did tip on the app or not will be a case by case issue, and to tell you the truth, you will never know if they really did tip or not.
These are the Doordash customers that could care less about leaving their Doordash driver a tip. They will never leave a tip, and honestly, they most likely never give it a thought. To be brutally honest, I think that the majority of Doordash customers fall in to this category. I believe that most of these customers are young people, but that is not to say that a good portion of these people are a bit older and should know better. Maybe they have some delusional idea that the Doordash driver gets paid a decent amount of money to make their delivery. Then again, maybe they don't care.
I just cannot imagine not tipping a person that was delivering food to me. Even though I have never personally ordered food for myself from any of these apps, I would certainly leave a cash tip to the driver based on the service that was provided to me. I really believe that it is a generational thing. I think people in their mid 30s and up know that gratitude should be paid when it is deserved. Don't think that I am bashing on young people because I know that there are younger people that have been brought up with morals and values, but the vast majority of young people do not seem to care about tipping the driver.
Types of Tippers on Doordash
I wanted to point out the different types of tippers that Doordash customers are. To me, every single customer falls in to one of the following six categories. Some of these categories are made up of customers that a dasher will appreciate, and other categories are made up of customers that a dasher may not like so much. Then you have those categories that fall in the middle. Although there may still be customers that do not understand how the pay model of Doordash works, I don't think it's really important for them to understand anymore as dashers now receive all tip money.
The customer that leaves a small tip on the Doordash app
My 2018 comments on these tippers:
These Doordash customers will tip on the app during checkout. They feel that leaving a small tip for the driver is the right thing to do. A good portion of these people are generally young people that don't have much money to spare. Even so, they will still have a good intention by leaving a $2 or $3 tip.
They sincerely believe that the Doordash driver will receive their tip to supplement the amount that they are already getting paid for the delivery. They have no idea that the Doordash driver will never see this tip added to their regular earnings. Instead, this small tip will replace what Doordash was going to pay the driver anyways. After the delivery is completed, the Doordash driver does not even know that this customer left them a tip.
My 2020 comments on these tippers:
My 2020 comments on these tippers:
These Doordash customers that leave a small tip on the app are still doing what they have always done. There is a difference though as they are more appreciated by Doordash drivers now that dashers are actually receiving these tips. Under the older pay model, customers that left $2 or $3 tips were better off not leaving anything at all as dashers never received that money. The dasher would receive the same guaranteed pay for the delivery whether the customer left a small tip or not.
Now, when one of these customers leaves a $2 or $3 tip, it certainly changes the whole dynamics of their order. For example, if a certain customer didn't tip anything, the dashers out in the field may be getting offered $3 to complete the order. Most dashers would pass that up. By tipping $3, these customer certainly changes everything as now the dashers know that they are tipping and are being offered $6 to complete the delivery.
Most dashers would accept this call and delivery it. This is also great for the customer as they will receive their food much faster. If they didn't tip, their order will have a greater chance of going around and around from dasher to dasher declining their $3 call. These customer's small tips actually matter now. It is great for the dasher, and great for the customer.
My 2018 comments on these tippers:
The customer that leaves a large tip on the Doordash app
This Doordash customer usually does not keep a lot of cash on hand and prefers to tip the Doordash delivery driver on the app during checkout. He will usually tip very good, and the Doordash driver will notice the gratitude after sliding that this customer's order has been delivered. Unfortunately, the dasher will not see or receive the full amount that the customer tipped due to the Doordash pay structure that came in to existence during the middle of 2017.
Still, since this customer tipped so generously, the dasher will see that they earned more than what they were guaranteed for the delivery and will be aware that a tip was left. These type of customers are great in the eyes of a dasher. The only disappointing thing is that this customer usually believes that the driver is receiving 100 percent of the tip amount that they left. I won't get too much in to this now as that is a whole other subject for another time. Those with knowledge about this will know what I am talking about. If you don't, just put it on a shelve for another time.
My 2020 comments on these tippers:
My 2020 comments on these tippers:
These tippers still rarely have any cash on hand and keep all their funds in their bank. This makes it easy for them to add a large tip during checkout. It was unfortunate that many of these large app tippers had to change their ways when Doordash was being exposed for keeping a good portion of their large tips. Fortunately, these Doordash customers can now feel comfortable leaving large tips on the Doordash app as they know that their drivers actually receive every dollar that they leave them.
No dasher in their right mind would ever complain about these large tippers, Sure, the tip is on the app, but does it really matter anymore? The good thing is that nobody is feeling ripped off. The customer is happy that the dasher is receiving all of the tip money that they intended to go to the driver, and the dasher is happy because they are getting a nice tip for their services.
My 2018 comments on these tippers:
The cash tipper
This person prefers to tip in cash instead of tipping on the app. They may have grown up with family values that were passed on to them such as tipping the pizza delivery man or local Chinese restaurant that delivered to them. It is insulting to their own personal ego if they do not leave a cash tip.
Even if this customer is a person that does not have a lot of money, they will find a way to scrape up at least a few dollars around their house. These tippers are always appreciated by dashers. Can you imagine if every customer tipped at least a dollar or two in cash? A full day dash would easily earn a driver $30 to $50 in cash.
My 2020 comments on these tippers:
Even with all of the improvements that Doordash made with their pay model, cash tippers are still king. There is nobody more appreciated than a cash tipper. They are presently appreciated. They were appreciated in 2018, and have actually always been appreciated throughout history.
Gratitude and appreciation is a trait that some people naturally have installed in them. It's just part of the natural order of the way things should be. They are still of the classy minded people that treat others like they would want to be treated. It's called old school values.
My 2018 comments on these tippers:
The large cash tipper
This is the kind of customer that every Doordash driver hopes to get. This individual usually has an old-school way of thinking and gives gratitude when it is deserved. This person does not tip on the Doordash app. He is not going to give a delivery driver a tip before the service is provided. That kind of thinking does not make any sense to him.
The amount of the tip that he gives will depend on many factors such as if the driver makes the delivery on time. Is the dasher friendly and courteous? If there was a problem with the order, or if the delivery was going to be a few minutes late, did the driver update the customer about these issues?
This tipper will give the driver what he thinks the driver deserves. If perfect service is given, he will tip more than the standard and recommended tip amount. He will also base his tip amount by the total amount of food delivered, and the total amount of his bill. Many times, this individual will tip 20 percent or more. He will gladly hand out a $20 bill for a $100 order. A customer like this is what it is all about.
My 2020 comments on these tippers:
These tippers are by far the best of the best if a dasher is doing their deliveries the way they should be done. This group of tippers is still the rarest kind out there. They will tip a dasher based on the type of service provided.
They still won't ever tip on the app as nothing has changed with their thinking. Who in their right mind would tip anybody before service is provided? They will certainly reward friendly, courteous and prompt dashers, and love to slip that $20 bill or more for a job well down.
My 2018 comments on these tippers:
The "I tipped on the app" tipper
If you have been a dasher for a while, you are sure to come across customers that feel the need to tell you that they tipped on the app. These customers feel kind of awkward when you hand them their food , and they don't hand over cash. Whether they really did tip on the app or not will be a case by case issue, and to tell you the truth, you will never know if they really did tip or not.
I'm sure most of them have, but I'm also sure
that many of these people just say that they did to save themselves some
embarrassment. Sometimes these people can be a bit annoying with their
"I tipped on the app" comment.
My 2020 comments on these tippers:
A good portion of this group from 2018 is no longer in this group. They were those that would lie and say that they tipped in the app when in fact they didn't. Dashers now know when a customer tips, so if a customer is lying about it, it's easy to call them out.
Sure, there will occasionally still be those that mention that they tipped in the app, but they will be telling the truth. It's really nice that the lying customers cannot BS anymore and are now in the group that they belong in. Now, to that group we go.
My 2018 comments on these people
The no-tipper
These are the Doordash customers that could care less about leaving their Doordash driver a tip. They will never leave a tip, and honestly, they most likely never give it a thought. To be brutally honest, I think that the majority of Doordash customers fall in to this category. I believe that most of these customers are young people, but that is not to say that a good portion of these people are a bit older and should know better. Maybe they have some delusional idea that the Doordash driver gets paid a decent amount of money to make their delivery. Then again, maybe they don't care.
Sometimes, this customer will even have
you search for them at some complicated apartment complex. I'm not sure
what to say here. I guess some people are just spoiled and believe that
they deserve to be treated like a king or queen for nothing. These are the type of customers that Doordash drivers would like to avoid.
My 2020 comments on these people
This group is still at the bottom of the barrel. They could still care less about tipping any of their drivers, but things are not so convenient for them anymore, and it makes me wonder why they wouldn't upgrade themselves. Their orders are no longer comingled with customers that leave a small tip on the app. Back in 2018, dashers could not tell the difference between the customer that left a small tip on the app and the no-tippers. The no-tipper's orders are now coming to dashers usually offering $2 or $3 for the delivery. Most dashers are rightfully passing up on these orders.
It's nice that dashers can now give priority to other orders. Those that even tip a few dollars deserve quicker and prompter service over these non-tippers. I'm glad to say that these non-tippers are now getting what they pay for. If they don't tip, they shouldn't get prompt service. Let their cheap paying order circle around and around from dasher to dasher. Hopefully these orders take at least an hour for a dasher to accept it.
With the popularity of food delivery services such as Doordash, GrubHub, Postmates, Uber Eats, etc. I believe that it was becoming normal and acceptable for customers to not leave tips. This may have been due to the deliver fees and other add-on costs that the customer has had to pay.
My Final Thought
With the popularity of food delivery services such as Doordash, GrubHub, Postmates, Uber Eats, etc. I believe that it was becoming normal and acceptable for customers to not leave tips. This may have been due to the deliver fees and other add-on costs that the customer has had to pay.
Nevertheless, with all of that said, I also believe that here in the present time that many customers are finding out that they get what they pay for. Sure, they still have the option to not tip anything, but with that choice they will usually get cold and old food that takes forever to be delivered. When this happens to a person enough, I think that they'll learn to at least leave a couple of dollars as a tip. It will make a big difference in their delivery experience.
I just cannot imagine not tipping a person that was delivering food to me. Even though I have never personally ordered food for myself from any of these apps, I would certainly leave a cash tip to the driver based on the service that was provided to me. I really believe that it is a generational thing. I think people in their mid 30s and up know that gratitude should be paid when it is deserved. Don't think that I am bashing on young people because I know that there are younger people that have been brought up with morals and values, but the vast majority of young people do not seem to care about tipping the driver.
Even though most readers of this post will be individuals that work in the food delivery service, if you happen to be a Doordash customer that orders food, please consider leaving your dasher a tip. Even if it is one or two bucks, it would certainly be appreciated and more importantly for you, you'll receive your faster and fresher.
If only there were a way to politely let people know the truth about how much of their tip actually benefits the driver and how even though they say 100% of all tips go to drivers that what they don't tell you is for every dollar you give the driver we will remove one of ours until we meet our $1 minimum limit.
ReplyDeleteHeck, I would rather a couple of bucks cash than twice that in the app, as it works out more for me in the long run, but most people these days don't carry cash, I know I rarely have any on me.
You are right. it would be great if there was a polite way to let customers know the truth about how the tipping on Doordash works. If you do bring it up, it is worrisome to think that the customer will think that you are being rude and that you are just some driver out there begging for cash tips. I have heard from others that had an idea of passing out some kind of flyer explaining the situation. Basically, putting the flyer in the bag of every order. If I ever have the time, I may just write one and make it available for others to download and pass out with all of their deliveries if they wish.
DeleteYou should write that article and put it in every bag! I am retired but make a decent living and always have tipped at least 15% and sometimes more. I didn't understand the various ways each food delivery service dispersed their drivers tip money. I assumed the 15% (or more) I provided through the app went directly to the driver. I was embarrassed to hand the driver $3 or 4 dollars cash versus the percentage calculated by the company. Now I understand that you'd rather have a cash tip handed to you instead of waiting to receive only a portion of my tip with your pay check. Doordash is one of the better delivery services around. I feel they are more transparent than the other companies. The worst being Favor, who had an online delivery charge stating a $7 delivery fee, which was reasonable. The first red flag was the app didn't calculate or disclose my total food charge (for me to calculate the tip) and no option to tip online. I gave the driver $5 cash, which was a little more than 15% for my $30 food charge. The next day when I checked my bank statement, I was astonished to see that Favor had charged me over $20 in "fees", part of which went to the driver. How much did the driver get? I don't know! When I called Favor's customer service the next day, their explanation was vague & made no sense but I was assured the driver was tipped "appropriately". According to whom, the receptionist? I won't be using them again but will continue to use Doordash. Thanks for the great explanation of how tips are dispersed to delivery drivers. Great food service education! :)
DeleteVery informative. I had an experience as a customer recently that I think speaks to some of the concerns in the comments: placed an order with a friend on Grubhub and she tipped $10-15 via card. When the driver arrived he asked what the tip was and produced a hand written receipt from the restaurant - the restaurant had reduced his tip to $5. He asked because the handwritten receipt is not what he's supposed to get for GH orders. She asked the driver first if it was okay for her to contact GH or the restaurant, and he consented to her calling GH. GH said they would address the matter with the restaurant.
ReplyDeleteBut, I think when you have a legitimate reason to question whether you're getting the entire tip, I don't think most customers would mind. She's a 20% card tipper and I'm a cash tipper, either way, we want YOU the driver to have the money, not the restaurant.
Thanks for sharing.
DeleteWouldn't the last and first come out the same for you?
ReplyDeleteLOL - Unfortunately you are right! It will come out the same. Since Doordash is stealing the driver's tips, Dashers will not receive anything for the first or last. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for this explanation - I always figured DD was getting theirs but I had no idea it was like this. I now leave $1 on the app and $3-4 in cash (my orders are usually under $25)
ReplyDeleteordash IS NOT stealing customer tips. Doordash pay $1 plus 100% of tips. When a dasher receives an order, doordash will guarantee the dasher will receive a minimum amount for that order. This minimum ammount is made of the $1 plus what doordash believes the dasher should be tipped. If the tip falls short of that amount, then doordash top up the tip from their overheads. If it exceed that amount the dasher keeps the extra.
DeleteCustomer 1 - no tip. Dasher promised $6. Doordash pay $1 and tip $5. Dasher receives $6.
Customer 2 - $5 tip. Dasher promised $6. Doordash pay $1 and don't need to top up the tip. Dasher receives $6.
Customer 3 - $10 tip. Dasher promised $6. Doordash pay $1 and don't need to top up the tip. Dasher receives $11.
Yes, in both these scenario's the Dasher get's paid $6 and in one scenario the customer paid a tip, the first didn't, so that seems unfair right? Sure it might be unfair, but please tell me, at what point did Doordash steal the customers tip? They didn't. They believed in both cases that the dasher was entitled to $5 tip, but one customer shorted the dasher so doordash stepped in and covered the tip. Doordash paid the dasher EXTRA to make the delivery worth while.
Where you do think that extra money comes from? It comes from the profit made from delivery fee's. But you know what? Doordash have overheads. They have to pay support center staff, website and app development, cyber security, office space etc. So what happens if none of the customers tip (or make cash tips)? Well doordash start operating at a loss. They either go bankrupt (and I'm out of a job) or they change their model, likely to one where they pay the dashers a set amount per delivery, plus 100% of customer tips, but no topping up of tips. This would mean I'd get $1 for the first delivery, and $6 for the second.
Sure, cash tips are always appreciated, because I end up making more money, because doordash didn't realize I was getting cash so they already topped up my tip from their profits, and doordash made a loss on this delivery while I came out on top. But that is not a sustainable business practice. At the end of the day, I'd rather have a guaranteed minimum per order than get screwed down the line because doordash change their business model after realizing they are paying tips to dashers who already received cash tips.
I can completely understand why, as a customer, you'd think "well why should I bother tipping, the dasher gets paid the same amount know matter if I tip or not." Well your tip is important, and appreciated. Without the tip, doordash will lose money. Either the delivery fees will go up, or dashers will paid less.
So I thank you doordash customer, on behalf of dashers for your kind and generous tip, regardless of how you pay that tip to the individual dashers.
I happened to have cash on hand and tipped an extra $5 on top of what I’d tipped in the app and the dasher seemed so appreciative I went and looked it up. So, cash tips from now on! I had no idea that the 100% just covers door dash paying the driver.
DeleteI whole heartedly agree with tipping . I ALWAYS tip. I have friends who do NOT tip and when I ask why they say they’re getting paid thru the service fee . Smh, that’s exactly why they have to wait 20 -30 min for a dasher to be assigned ! I’m a dashpass user in nyc . I order 2-3 times a day on the app . I would NEVER not leave a tip.
ReplyDeleteget the delicious food at discount price by using the swiggy coupon code today
ReplyDeleteI came here to figure out if I should tip cash or tip in the app, and it sounds like since 2018 there's not much of a difference? I prefer to tip after the fact so I can reward better service, but the app doesn't seem to allow that. I'm afraid now that if I were to not tip in app and just wait to tip with cash no one would pick it up because it would look like I wasn't tipping. Is that the case?
ReplyDeleteIn all honesty, it will seem that way to many Dashers. Why? Well because when they are offered your delivery, the pay amount will be very small, and many drivers will decline it, and this may have you waiting a mighty long time for your food. There is not a lot of drivers that want to gamble with the chance of receiving a nice cash tip when they deliver. To be honest, they will lose 90 percent of the time, and most Dashers will decline low paying calls.
DeleteThis is my advice. Leave at least a $3 tip on the app that way the pay that is offered to the Doordash drivers is not $3 or $4. Most drivers will pass those by. If you tip $3 on the app, there's a good chance that the drivers will be offered at least $6 to make your delivery. For example, say Doordash pay is $3 for your delivery and you don't tip anything on the app; Dashers will be offered $3 to make your delivery - not good. If you tip $3, at least the drivers will be offered $6 as $3 will come from Doordash pay and the $3 tip from you. Some drivers will still pass on a $6 order, but I guarantee you that many will also take it. Then, if your Dasher gives you satisfying service, go on ahead and give him or her an extra cash tip when they arrive.