DoorDash added a pop-up this week when you add a custom tip of zero dollars, warning customers that their no-tip delivery may take longer.
“Orders with no tip might take longer to get delivered — are you sure you want to continue?” the warning reads, according to The Verge. “Dashers can pick and choose which orders they want to do. Orders that take longer to be accepted by Dashers tend to result in slower delivery.”
DoorDash now warns its customers that orders with no tip might take longer to get delivered. pic.twitter.com/CL1wOfyDCs
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) October 31, 2023
The warning is “something that we’re currently testing to help create the best possible experience for all members of our community,” Jenn Rosenberg, a DoorDash spokesperson, told the outlet. (RELATED: REPORT: DoorDash Driver Loses Job After Cursing Out Disabled Vet For 25% Tip).
“Everyday, Dashers go the extra mile to help connect consumers with the best of their local communities. That’s why we encourage customers to show their appreciation by tipping,” Rosenberg continued.
“Dashers” are independent contractors, so they have the freedom to accept or decline offers, “based on what they view as valuable and rewarding,” according to Rosenberg. She added a majority of people do tip however, it’s “less desirable” for dashers if an order doesn’t contain a tip. (RELATED: WATCH: Doordash Driver Unhappy With Her Tip Confronts Customer).
In 2019, DoorDash reworked its tipping policy, adopting a pay-based rate, according to their website. Drivers get a base pay depending on the “duration, distance, and desirability of the order” and the entire tip goes to them. The original policies included tipped wages, according to The Verge, meaning it requires an employee to earn the state’s minimum wage with tips and wages combined.
Andy Newman, a delivery service driver, explained in a 2019 New York Times article, “For my first order, the guarantee was $6.85 and the customer, a woman in Boerum Hill who answered the door in a colorful bathrobe, tipped $3 via the app. But I still received only $6.85.”
“Here’s how it works: if the woman in the bathrobe had tipped zero, DoorDash would have paid me the whole $6.85. Because she tipped $3, DoorDash kicked in only $3.85. She was saving DoorDash $3, not tipping me,” he continued.
In June, New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced the city would implement a new minimum wage for DoorDash and Uber Eats drivers. These delivery apps would have to pay their NYC drivers at least $19.96, according to a press release. In July, four delivery services sued NYC over the law raising the minimum wage.
“Bad policies cannot go unchallenged, and we will not stand by and let the harmful impacts of this earnings standard on New York City customers, merchants, and the delivery workers it was intended to support go unchecked,” a DoorDash spokesperson told the Daily Caller News Foundation.