Why are Dasher tips so low?

A Doordash delivery driver's pay for a delivery is tallied up from the base pay that Doordash pays and the customer tip. Sure, there are bonuses at times but generally those are the two things that make up a dasher's pay. After swiping an order as delivered, a dasher will be able to see how much a customer tipped, and most of the time, it is below expectations.

 Why are Dasher tips so low?

Customer tips can be a very lengthy subject as everyone has their own opinion when it comes to tipping. Please note that when I titled this article "Why are dasher tips so low," I am basing this off of comparisons to other similar companies. Particularly GrubHub and Uber Eats. I am not going to focus too much on the other companies mentioned here, I will just say that their customers tip much more than Doordash customers. It is not even close.

Let's get back to Doordash though. Tips are of course made when a customer is checking out. This has of course became a standard practice in the industry so no biggie there. The default tip on the Doordash app is 15%. To give a higher tip or lower tip, the customer will have to make some manual adjustment. When you do not get a tip from the customer, there is no doubt that the customer purposely did not leave any tip at all. Why though are Doordash customer tips so low?

Doordash customers think Dashers are undeserving of good tips

Again, everyone has their own opinion on how much a Dasher should be tipped. In my personal opinion, the 15% tip should be the minimum, and a Dasher should be tipped 20% to 30%, but there are some people out there that think that is too much. If a customer orders $30 of food, they may think that $4.50 is too much to tip. They may think that leaving a $1 or $2 tip will suite just fine.

With Doordash, I have received so many $1 and $2 tips, and at least one out of three orders does not leave a tip at all. These Doordash customers are actually giving effort not to tip by manually changing the tip to zero. Even though there are zero dollar tippers on the other apps, it is very rare. With Doordash, it seems to be the norm.

Doordash customer are too broke to tip

To me, this is a bail out. Nobody is that broke, and if you were that broke, you wouldn't be ordering food from Doordash. You would get off your butt and go get the food yourself. Better yet, you would make our own food at home. It really seems that too many Doordash customers think that they are entitled.

This is why many food delivery drivers give better service to Uber Eats and GrubHub customers

As a delivery driver that does multi-apping, I always give priority service to my Uber Eats and GrubHub orders. For example, when I have a Doordash customers order in my car, and I have a Uber Eats or GrubHub order in my car, guess who is getting their order first. Of course Doordash is getting delivered last! Uber Eats customers commonly leave more of a tip after the delivery as they appreciate your quick service. That has never happened with Doordash, and yes, they can leave more of a tip after the delivery if they chose to.

So why do Doordash customers tip so low?

It comes down to one of two things. Either overall Doordash customers are just cheaper lower-class people than the customers of other food delivery apps, or Doordash is taking a cut of the tips.

There is no proof of Doordash currently stealing tips, but with the company's background history, it would not surprise me. I mean, they have had so many lawsuits against them for devious business practices over the years it is insane. Long time Dashers will remember the old days when Doordash would steal tips and actually defended themselves for their deceitful practice. Of course they were forced to change their ways after being publicly exposed.

If Doordash customers are just lower-class cheaper people, then so be it. One of the apps have to hold the honor of having the worst tippers in the industry. Yes, the reward for cheapest tippers belongs to Doordash.

We must remember that Doordash customers do not have to tip

Even though it may annoy the hell out of dashers, it must always be remembered that Doordash customers do not have to tip. It is an option whether they want to tip their driver or not. The only thing Dashers can do is not take these non-tipper or low-tipping orders. You do not know how much a Doordash customer tipped until the delivery is made, but most of these type of orders will usually have a low overall pay that is displayed on your phone when the offer is shown. 

If you do not want to deal with these cheap tip or non-tipping orders, just decline all of those $2, $3 and $4 orders. Most of those orders will not have any tip at all. If they do, it will be a buck or two. Instead, accept and give good service to the decent paying calls which would usually be $8 and up.

If you want to receive good tips for your deliveries, it would be best to deliver with Uber Eats or GrubHub. In my experience, Uber Eats customers are the best tippers with $5 tips being a normal thing and on the low end. Many Uber Eats tippers will leave much better tips than that.