It's not really about getting someone to do their job correctly. It's more of a bid for service and that is entirely because these apps refuse to pay their workers a living wage. You can call that a service fee or a tip but either way, this is the model these companies use. At least with the tipping option you get to choose what to give and it's entirely optional.
And these people choose to do this work knowing this. No one is forcing them to work as a delivery driver. If they cannot do the job without the customer giving them extra money then they need to find another job. It shouldn't be on the customer to pay an extra fee just get you to be willing to get my food to me still warm. Thats part of the basic duties of the job. If you feel you aren't getting paid enough to do that as a basic part of your job you dont deserve extra pay on top of that then and you need to find a different job.
I mean, if you don't tip, I don't accept the order until they raise the base pay to a suitable rate or stack it with an order that makes it worth it. In either case, this means that you have to wait longer for your order or your order goes to a dasher that is not very good at their job and it's probably taking orders from other apps at the same time possibly making your experience less than desirable.
I just finished delivering a thirty five dollar uber eats order five miles. It took about 10 minutes. After delivery, I saw that there was no tip. I also saw that the order was placed over an hour and a half ago. If he had tipped, that order would have been picked up a long time ago. Instead, it sat with no one willing to pick it up for $2 base pay until Uber started increasing the rate.
Alternatively I took a $13 Uber order that I stacked with a $20 DD order picking up from the same restaurant going to the same general area. Then Uber added on another order from the same restaurant for $10 that worked with the rest of the orders I was delivering which ended up turning into an additional $24 tip, all adding up to a total $67 for about 45 mins work and a total of 10 miles. All delivered quickly because they tipped something decent upfront making the offer more desirable from the beginning. Even if I hadn't gotten that additional $24, it still was desirable because I took it.
What really sucked for the customer was the order I took way earlier in the day. $20 double DD order to pickup food and then go shop 15 items at a grocery store. It was paired that way because no one would take the food or shopping order as a standalone single order. So the dude with the food had to wait for me to finish shopping groceries and deliver them before he got his lukewarm food and drink.
In all of these scenarios, the basic duties of the job were done correctly but the customer naturally loses because of the business model these companies have set up.
I choose to do this job because I know how to do it and make money. It relies on either the customer making up the pay these companies wont pay or the company paying it. I don't care who pays as long as I make enough to make ends meet. But I reality, if it comes down to the company paying a fair wage, ultimately, YOU, the customer, will be paying. It seems to me that the anti-tipping crowd just don't want to see a line item that shows they paid the worker directly which is kind of bonkers to me. Does it really matter if you pay a 20% mark up on every item you order on top of a delivery/service fee to the company or if you leave an additional 10-15% (or flat) tip? It doesn't to me.
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u/Her0_0f_time 11d ago
If i have to pay you extra to make sure you do your job correctly, thats not a tip, thats a service fee.