People can spend an entire day arguing over the merits of tipping. Some believe in giving generously, others base it on the quality of service, and some think we should get rid of the model altogether (see: Seattle). But one thing we can all agree on is, if you give somebody extra money for their services it should go to them, right?
Sadly, this isn’t always the case. DoorDash — the biggest of the on-demand food delivery apps — has been using your tips to subsidize their own contributions to their workers (called Dashers) since 2017. Basically, they created a sliding scale. But a report in the New York Times written by Andy Newman, who worked as a deliveryman for the company, has reignited outrage over the tipping policy and caused DoorDash to finally drop the model.
“Going forward we’re changing our model — the new model will ensure that Dashers’ earnings will increase by the exact amount a customer tips on every order.” Said DoorDash chief executive Tony Xu in a tweet.
Under DoorDash’s original policy, Dashers were guaranteed a base minimum amount to complete a delivery, if a customer happened to tip, the tip would go directly to DoorDash to help subsidize the remainder of the Dashers’ total earnings, in most cases. If a Dasher accepts a delivery that will earn them $10, DoorDash will pay them $10 if you don’t tip. If you do tip — let’s say $3 — DoorDash would give the Dasher $7 plus the $3 you tipped, for a total of $10. Making your tip more of a kickback to DoorDash than to the Dasher who delivered your meal.
Xu, after facing criticism over the policy in February of this year, explained to the New York Times:
“This is a model that is built with Dashers in mind… the pay model is meant to make sure every order is worth fulfilling.”
And to be fair, DoorDash’s tipping policy is easy to find on its website, but whether or not the employees are aware of the tipping policy (they likely are) is not the issue.
In a now-viral tweet, tech journalist Louie Matsakis wrote, “I don’t believe that a single person intends to give a tip to a multibillion-dollar venture-backed start-up, they are trying to tip the person who delivered their order. This deceptive model should be illegal.”
I don’t believe that a single person intends to give a tip to a multibillion dollar venture-backed startup. They are trying to tip the person who delivered their order. This deceptive model should be illegal https://t.co/hL2CkzjXL6 pic.twitter.com/EfG9EaOFEC
— Louise Matsakis (@lmatsakis) July 21, 2019
And that is the major issue people are having with DoorDash’s tipping policy. While the company is forthcoming about how they pay their workers, that information isn’t shared outright with the customer base. At the very least this is a shadowy practice and one that may confuse its own users (you’d have to tip $10, sometimes $13 dollars on an order for a delivery person to see a pay increase).
According to an article on Lifehacker, as of now Postmates, Seamless, Grubhub, Instacart, and Uber Eats all give 100% of tips to their deliverers. If you’re using these services, tip away! As for DoorDash, you might wait until the old policy is scrubbed from their website or a new policy officially takes shape.
