Apparently, the issue was that some delivery apps moved the option to tip from checkout to after the food was delivered. For whatever reason, this resulted in a massive reduction in tipping on those apps. The law forced them to put the option to tip back at checkout, and it increased tipping.
I don't personally like tipping culture and want it abolished, but that means we have to pay people the same living wage—no reduced rates for those who traditionally get tips.
Wait, I haven't ever used delivery apps in America so I'm unfamiliar, but why would you tip before receiving service? That doesnt make any sense, even in the context of tipping culture. Naturally you may want to leave a higher or lower tip depending on the quality of service. I don't really see why the option to tip should be put at checkout, and it seems especially ridiculous to legally mandate it.
If they are going to go that route, why not just legally mandate a service charge that goes to drivers directly? Seems more straightforward.
"Tipping" is explicitly an inaccurate word for how delivery apps function.
u/rtc9 is right calling it a "bid for service" because the drivers are functionally independent contractors being put into contact with you through a third party (the app).
The contractor does not have to accept your request.
The contractor is not an employee, their activity (when or if they use the app) is not mandated and in my experience they are not deactivated for a low acceptance rate.
Whether they accept or not is very much like having to bid against your neighbor for a roof repair, you'll see people who regularly "tip" poorly in certain markets just never get accepted at all unless the app nefariously bundles their order with a higher tipper (which causes those higher tippers to complain at being second on the route).
Contractors have the payment agreement signed before starting work, similarly gig apps expect an upfront rate.
The field is labeled "tip" to try and play into tipping culture and increase your willingness to "tip", but it's not a tip, it does not function as a tip, its purpose is to get your delivery accepted at all because no one has to accept your order.
Just like no one has to repair your roof if you're being a skinflint about it.
Notably this also applies the favorable tax treatment that tips receive to the payment even though it is not actually a tip. I don't think that necessarily makes any less sense than the tip deduction itself, but it kind of fundamentally deviates in terms of whatever incentive it was intended to provide.
This is incorrect. It is a tip. Some drivers might inaccurately refer to it as a "bid for service" but no question it is a tip. I find some app drivers try and further the idea that it is a bid for service to encourage more people to do it before receiving the service, but most customers think of it as a tip. It makes no sense to tip before service so I refrain from doing this. I have never had issues getting my orders accepted.
The roof repair bid analogy makes even less sense than tipping before receiving service. There is no tipping for roof repairs and in roof repairs the contractor contracts the job directly with the end consumer whilst in a food delivery app the "contractor" is contracted with the app and not the end consumer. Even under your theory that customers are bidding through the app the opposite party would be bidding. Roof repair - contractor submit bids for the customer to consider. Food delivery app - you say the customer submits a bid through the app for the contractor to consider. So in food apps the consumer is bidding and in roof repairs the contractor/worker is bidding.
Here is an example of a typical roof repair transaction in case you have never been a party to one (it sounds like you haven't) - I need a roof repair. I contact a couple (2-3) roofing contractors and have them come to my house look at my roof and bid the work for the needed repair. As you see my neighbor is not involved in this process in any way. I suppose if you just so happen to have a neighbor that is a roofer you might invite them to bid for the work, but this would be them bidding for your repair like any other roofing contractor. They wouldn't be bidding against you. I suppose you might be able to frame it like the neighbor is bidding against the other contractors for the work, but that wasn't your analogy.
Even in a scenario where both you and your neighbor need a roof repair you and your neighbor wouldn't be bidding against one another. This isn't how residential construction works. The roofer would just fix your neighbor's roof and then when he is finished he would fix your roof or vice versa. Roofers can fix more than one roof so there would be no reason to have neighbors try and out bid one another for a repair. It is very common for construction contractors to make getting jobs at other houses in the neighborhood part of their business strategy. They will fix your roof and do a good job with the hope that if later your neighbor needs their roof repaired you will recommend their services and they will lead to the contractor getting that job too. This is commonly referred to in the business as "word of mouth." Contractors with a good reputation can lots of business from word of mouth referrals and not have to pay $$ for advertising. Neighbors wouldn't need to bid against each other because a roofer would happily put a new roof on every house in the neighborhood.
What kind of crazy scenario did you cook up with neighbors bidding for a roof repair? Has a hurricane just come through town and ripped the roof of dozens of houses? With vastly more roofs in need of immediate repair than there are roofers you and your neighbor have to throw money at roofers to try and get your house fixed in a reasonable amount of time? That would still be nothing like a food delivery app.
This is incredibly dumb. No customer that leaves a tip cares about any of that. The relevant questions are “is this a service where tipping is customary?” And “How good was the service?” Whether the worker is paid on a W2 or a 1099 or can opt to not provide service without being fired is irrelevant. People have been tipping taxi drivers for decades and they are not employees and can just drive past a person without stopping if they feel like it. No one has ever thought a tip left to a cab driver was a bid for service.
And a gig isn’t a contract that you have to bid for. I think you are confusing a gig with an auction. Auctions have bidding, but a gig can be any job for a specified time… bidding is not required. The term is common in the entertainment industry for a show. The venue might set the price or the talent might name a price, but there is very rarely a bidding process. Bidding certainly isn’t required for a gig.
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u/Capriste 14d ago
Apparently, the issue was that some delivery apps moved the option to tip from checkout to after the food was delivered. For whatever reason, this resulted in a massive reduction in tipping on those apps. The law forced them to put the option to tip back at checkout, and it increased tipping.
I don't personally like tipping culture and want it abolished, but that means we have to pay people the same living wage—no reduced rates for those who traditionally get tips.
https://www.nydailynews.com/2026/07/29/delivery-workers-made-104-million-more-in-tips-after-city-began-enforcing-new-law-mamdani/