3 ms·

Doordash substitutes tips for the driver delivery pay

9 points by tareqak 8y ago

tareqak 8y ago
I discovered this website in a comment (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18853446 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18853446) to this post (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18853232 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18853232). I'd like to repeat the comment I made there (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18855110 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18855110): DoorDash is a YC company (#8 by valuation as of October 2018) [0][1]. Could we get some insight here from people working with DoorDash? [0] https://www.ycombinator.com/topcompanies https://www.ycombinator.com/topcompanies [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/DoorDash https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/DoorDash
ryanmercer 8y ago
Even if this is the case, Doordash has to make money somewhere, they also have to insure the drivers. I see this no differently than every major pizza chain charging several dollar delivery fee that does NOT go to the driver. To me this site seems like 2 things: - A hit site against Doordash, either made by a competitor or just some generally unpleasant person. It makes accusations against Doordash that are contradictory to public statements from the company and recommends you accuse them of dishonest practices to local media and to share the site on social media. - Somewhat of an attempt at tax evasion, recommending cash tips. The fact the site offers zero evidence whatsoever, and is attempting to solicit donations for hosting that is likely dollars a year... yeahhhhhh.
- tareqak 8y ago
  DoorDash could make money and insure their drivers at a per delivery level. That they scale how much they pay the driver based on how much a particular customer tips is what is questionable.
human_person 8y ago
As a previous employee of DoorDash I can confirm, this is accurate. Its a fairly sleazy system. They are able to honestly say that '100% of the tip goes to the dasher' (legally they have to give the tip to the dasher[0]) but that is because they use the tip money instead of, not in addition to what DoorDash would have paid the dasher. For example if they tell the dasher they will make $6 on a delivery and you tip $5 through the app the dasher still makes $6 If you tip $10 the dasher gets $11 (DD always pays $1, I assume for pr or legal reasons) Basically if you tip through the app you are just paying twice and subsidizing a company that is supposedly worth $4 billion. Just tip in cash, the drivers always appreciate it and if you do it enough you can get good at smoothly slipping money into someone's hand which feels pretty cool. Semi related - I worked at DD during the roll out of the this driver pay model and they spent months working on the messaging for the dashers. [0] https://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs15.htm https://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs15.htm "all tips received by the tipped employee are to be retained by the employee except for a valid tip pooling arrangement limited to employees who customarily and regularly receive tips"

9 points by tareqak 8y ago

I discovered this website in a comment (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18853446 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18853446) to this post (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18853232 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18853232). I'd like to repeat the comment I made there (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18855110 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18855110): DoorDash is a YC company (#8 by valuation as of October 2018) [0][1]. Could we get some insight here from people working with DoorDash? [0] https://www.ycombinator.com/topcompanies https://www.ycombinator.com/topcompanies [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/DoorDash https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/DoorDash

ryanmercer 8y ago

Even if this is the case, Doordash has to make money somewhere, they also have to insure the drivers. I see this no differently than every major pizza chain charging several dollar delivery fee that does NOT go to the driver. To me this site seems like 2 things: - A hit site against Doordash, either made by a competitor or just some generally unpleasant person. It makes accusations against Doordash that are contradictory to public statements from the company and recommends you accuse them of dishonest practices to local media and to share the site on social media. - Somewhat of an attempt at tax evasion, recommending cash tips. The fact the site offers zero evidence whatsoever, and is attempting to solicit donations for hosting that is likely dollars a year... yeahhhhhh.

tareqak 8y ago
DoorDash could make money and insure their drivers at a per delivery level. That they scale how much they pay the driver based on how much a particular customer tips is what is questionable.

human_person 8y ago

As a previous employee of DoorDash I can confirm, this is accurate. Its a fairly sleazy system. They are able to honestly say that '100% of the tip goes to the dasher' (legally they have to give the tip to the dasher[0]) but that is because they use the tip money instead of, not in addition to what DoorDash would have paid the dasher. For example if they tell the dasher they will make $6 on a delivery and you tip $5 through the app the dasher still makes $6 If you tip $10 the dasher gets $11 (DD always pays $1, I assume for pr or legal reasons) Basically if you tip through the app you are just paying twice and subsidizing a company that is supposedly worth $4 billion. Just tip in cash, the drivers always appreciate it and if you do it enough you can get good at smoothly slipping money into someone's hand which feels pretty cool. Semi related - I worked at DD during the roll out of the this driver pay model and they spent months working on the messaging for the dashers. [0] https://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs15.htm https://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs15.htm "all tips received by the tipped employee are to be retained by the employee except for a valid tip pooling arrangement limited to employees who customarily and regularly receive tips"