this post was submitted on 05 Jul 2023
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What's an acceptable tip for a driver who delivers a $20 pizza?

A TikTok video purporting to show a DoorDash delivery driver in Texas swearing at a customer over the $5 tip she gave him has gone viral, sparking fresh online debate over tipping culture in the U.S.

"I just want to say it's a nice house for a $5 tip," the driver can be heard saying as he walks away from a home in the door camera video posted to TikTok earlier this week by a user under the name Lacey Purciful.

"You're welcome!" the resident says, appearing surprised by the remark. "F*** you," the driver responds before walking away.

A spokesperson for DoorDash said a delivery driver had been removed from their platform in connection with the incident.

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[–] dystop 137 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Tipping is not the right way to ensure everyone earns a decent wage.

[–] [email protected] 72 points 1 year ago (1 children)

What a bad take. You expect employers to stop exploiting their staff by underpaying them? Un-American

[–] [email protected] 31 points 1 year ago (2 children)

It's only a bad take if you cannot imagine unions, labor laws, and minimum wage.

[–] [email protected] 52 points 1 year ago (13 children)

Workers' rights? Literal communism! Go back to China

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago

Ahhh china. The country of workers rights.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Tipping is messed up on both ends for both the delivery person and the customer when you think about it.

Tipping is basically a way for a corporation that could actually pay a livable wage to instead not do that, and then criminally underpay their employees - after all, the customers will just pay extra to make up for the literal below minimum wage pay the corporation is paying the delivery person.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

It's also a way for employees to under-report their income on their taxes, which is a perverse incentive.

[–] [email protected] 74 points 1 year ago (1 children)

tipping culture needs to die

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

the question is how to kill it. anytime someone suggests that they just won't tip anymore, they're deluged by a torrent of hate because "that's not how it works!" yeah, they know and they want to change it.

seems like the only acceptable answer is for business owners to recognize that tipping culture is wrong and voluntarily, through the goodness of their hearts, abolish tips in their establishment and pay a living wage. this is super admirable for the very few businesses that do this, but its wildly unrealistic to think it will happen. so the default is accepting that businesses will continue to exploit their workers and their customers kind-heartedness.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I’m okay with being flamed.

Three points to consider:

  • tipping itself is voluntary.
  • employment is at will (if they can find a better paying job, they should.)(for that matter, so is my patronage- which is why I don’t use door dash or whatever. Totally unethical)
  • many tips aren’t going to the driver/waitstaff/other staff at all.

(Door dash for example, if you tip less than or the same as the delivery fee they pay the driver, they pay the same fee regardless and keep the extra tip. If you pay more than, they take the delivery fee. Many of the point of sales kiosks that are asking for a tip never go to the people bejng the counter- especially at place last that you wouldn’t normally tip at. Or some of it goes there, but then management gets a cut, square gets also gets their cut, and visa etc also get their cut)

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

What about making government repeal the minimum wage laws surrounding tipping, so that corporations have to pay the actual minimum wages?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

would be cool. but one political party will throw a shitfit if you try. theyd rather burn the country to the ground than force our corporate overlords sacrifice a single percent of their record profits.

maybe we could include a union info card with every tip.

[–] [email protected] 40 points 1 year ago (1 children)

As a pizza deliver driver once (in the era before GPS when it was usually cash or a check), the nice houses often were the worse for paying a tip, if anything. The apartments and run down areas seemed to get the point of you doing them a service, and would find change they probably needed to make a tip. That being said, tipping in the US is yet another example of corporate power shifting responsibility and blame onto the consumer rather than take direct action on a problem. The modern example is putting in more and more systems to encourage higher tipping, rather than raise wages.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Yes! I never know how to feel about being prompted for a tip when I get carry out. Normally the tip is for table or delivery service. I don't think I should be obligated to compensate someone's wage for running my credit card and handing me a bag.

It is is 100% the case that establishments know customers will feel obligated to tip in any scenario they are prompted.

Hell, how do I even know that such a tip goes to the service staff who are paid less than minimum wage?

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

A business' way of having the customer pick up the bill for them not paying their staff properly. Really unfortunate that this has become so socially expected.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I never understood why the driver should get a tip? Do you top your mail man everytime he turns up with your post?

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 year ago

They often have to pay for the gas. But then again, if they didn't get tips, and they wouldn't get enough money from the job, then they wouldn't take it in the first place. Which means then the companies would have to actually pay enough money, meaning the drivers wouldn't actually need tips. Tipping just needs to go. It's a stupid fucking system to rob the customer of more money than necessary and breeds those confusing social standards that cause nothing but conflict.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago

This is why I don't order delivery anymore.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago (4 children)

So, we are assuming the pizza was $20. a 20% tip, which is still pretty standard, afaik, would be $4. WTF is this driver pissed about exactly?

Also, why the hell does anyone use these services? They take a huge commission from the restaurant, they don't pay their drivers living wage, shit is frequently wrong, or the driver is an ass. What benefit does this "service" actually offer because I can't see it.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I did a little digging into DoorDash's pay scheme, and from what it sounds, larger orders might carry a higher delivery premium paid to the driver, plus incentives, plus the tip. They are paid as follows: Base Pay + Tip + Promotions. Base pay is anywhere from $2-$10 based on time, distance, and deliverability. Tip is 100% to the driver for the delivery. Incentive includes peak pay, guaranteed earnings, and challenges.

So the least the delivery driver would have earned was $7.00 for the delivery ($2.00 service plus the $5.00 tip). If it was peak they could have earned $1-$3 more if you make 5 deliveries with an acceptance rate of 60%. So the driver could've made up to an additional $3.00 if he met this criteria.

I personally don't believe DoorDash has a really great payout model, it heavily pays the company over the delivery driver. If anything the driver shouldn't have a beef with the customer; they should have issue with DoorDash for their pay model. Honestly I wonder why the restaurant didn't have a delivery service of their own; those that serve pizza almost always employ delivery drivers.

As far as tip culture is concerned, I am personally not a fan even though I live in the U.S. but we have to live with it. There are scales used as guidelines for properly tipping service, and we use them. That said, 25% is a generous tip for a driver...they drove the food there. They didn't seat the customer, take their order, cook the food, serve it, serve drinks, clean the table, etc.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

I don't mind tipping well but the cursing was not needed.

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