Do you, as a person who delivers through DoorDash or UberEats or what have you, prefer to be tipped through the app or in cash?
Do you, as a person who delivers through DoorDash or UberEats or what have you, prefer to be tipped through the app or in cash?
I haven’t done any Uber driving for quite some time and never did DoorDash at all, so keep in mind this information may not be valid…
From what I could see, Uber never took a cut of the tip, so app vs cash shouldn’t matter…but…I would still prefer cash, because I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Uber did, in fact, take a cut. Though more importantly, just make sure you tip one way or another. There was something clearly faulty with how Uber calculated their fees for food as opposed to passengers. I did a few Uber Eats deliveries, but turned it off once I saw how little it paid. $2-4 for 30-40 minutes was ridiculous, and it only gets worse if you have any problems (food wasn’t ready…or the customer has you bring it to their door which could be on the 8th floor of their apt building…oh, and you can’t park at the apt building without being a resident…or maybe the Uber Eats driver before you grabbed your order). I strongly discourage using Uber Eats unless you’re prepared to tip very, very well. Uber is barely paying them. I was only occasionally driving for Uber for extra cash around my full-time job, but there are people that are taking every ride that comes up because it’s their only income. Until compensation in the food service industry is fundamentally reworked, always tip well.
Unfortunately I think the reality is that as long as people are tipping well, there is little motivation on any party (except the customer) to rework compensation in the food service industry.
As a customer, I hate the situation. The explosion in tipping (both expected amount and breadth of jobs relying on tips) I’ve seen in my couple decades as an adult is staggering. But I still want my server to be paid decently, and therefore I tip decently. But it leaves a bad taste in my mouth every time, knowing that the establishment is relying on my guilt to pick up the slack in their compensation.
The people who actually have the power to change this are the companies, as businesses in the US at least have a disproportionate buying power of democracy. Unless what you do hurts a business’ bottom line, it won’t rework any system. You either have to adjust the politics so that businesses have less sway, or you just end up making sure someone who’s already not getting paid enough gets paid even less. The company has no incentive to pay them more. A living wage has to be legislated
The path to change through customers decreasing their tips would be:
Workers who rely on tips for income make a lot less money, many of them suffer. There is no impact on the companies.
Workers who can, move to different industries. There is less competition for these roles, and they are filled with less skilled and/or more desperate workers. Companies employ more draconian tactics to compel performance, which the more desperate workers will tolerate.
Eventually the quality of service will deteriorate to an extent that customers will start to notice. Most customers won’t really care. Companies will raise prices to compensate for the few customers who leave.
Given the money saved by not tipping, customers won’t mind the higher prices. Companies will tout their record profits on earnings calls with shareholders.
Eventually some kind of legal or political action will be mounted to challenge the minimum wage exception, now that “tipped employees” don’t make minimum wage when counting their tips any more. Most people don’t feel like they’re affected and don’t care. Companies lobby the government to ensure it is not successful, or if it is, to ensure that it is toothless and won’t impact their earnings.
Companies raise prices more with the excuse of the recent actions. Customers are now paying more than they used to when including tips. Workers are poor and abused. Shareholders think these companies are winners and invest more.
Problem solved?
The compensation that gig-economy drivers accepted is the reason their pay can be so low. None of them are employees. Their independent contractors whose job can be done by anyone with a car and time on their hands. That means that the company doesn’t have to pay minimum wage or provide any benefits.
All of that said the pay and benefits for people employed by restaurants is also messed up and needs reworked as well.