4 ms·

It would be honest for them to simply remove tipping from their app. You don’t tip the UPS guy who delivers packages, why should the social consensus be to tip

by lacker 7y ago

It would be honest for them to simply remove tipping from their app. You don’t tip the UPS guy who delivers packages, why should the social consensus be to tip the DoorDash guy who also delivers packages. Pay them more to make up for it.

toomuchtodo 7y ago
UPS guy has a union and gets paid a living wage. DoorDash can’t afford to do the same.
- spectramax 7y ago
  Should we let the market forces play that out? No tip, less incentive to join Door Dash as a driver. Also fix the minimum wage laws.
  - gempir 7y ago
    If you let that play out DoorDash goes out because in reality it isn't feasible to sustainably deliver to your doorstep in minutes. UPS does it in a 1 day timeframe and not with food which could get cold or something and they deliver to a lot more houses at once. While DoorDash targets 1 customers house and lets 1 biker drive there. If you want to pay for him to have a fair wage then you probably wouldn't order from DoorDash anymore because it's too expensive
    - mytailorisrich 7y ago
      That would exactly be letting the market play out. At the moment tips are a hidden cost that customers don't see or think about when they order. It effectively allows Doordash (and others) to present their service as being cheaper than it really is. If presenting the full cost upfront means people stop using the service then it simply means that there is actually no viable market.
      - ukoki 7y ago
        > If presenting the full cost upfront means people stop using the service then it simply means that there is actually no viable market. There are plenty of food delivery companies (eg Deliveroo, Wolt, FoodPanda) in countries without a tipping culture. Go to any European capital and chances are you'll see loads of brightly-coloured cube-shaped backpacks cycling around — so the companies seem to be doing OK.
        mytailorisrich 7y ago
        I am in Europe and use Deliveroo from time to time. There are several of these companies here, indeed. This does not mean that any of any of them are doing OK in terms of bottom line. According to figures from end of last year Deliveroo lost £185m while making £277m in sale... Any 'normal' business would have collapsed even before getting there. These companies are like Uber and Lyft: The business case is very shaky and they are facing employment law pressures at the same time. So we'll see...
    - sigwinch28 7y ago
      You say this as if it's a bad thing, as if DoorDash has a right to exist but the workers shouldn't get a living wage to facilitate it.
- Nullabillity 7y ago
  Then DoorDash can't afford to operate.
pubutil 7y ago
In addition to what others have said, the UPS driver is an employee of UPS and gets benefits, PTO, etc. The DoorDash courier is a contractor, not an employee, and gets no benefits. The same goes for many emerging courier services: Postmates, Uber, Lyft, etc. People joining these services as couriers are getting burned in ways beyond what DoorDash has arranged for their couriers. A DoorDash courier makes like $5/delivery. Most couriers work nights and get ~5 deliveries in a night. That’s $25/night or $750/month before gas, car maintenance, increased car insurance payments due to their courier job, etc. For people who take this on as a second job, it’s barely worth it. For people who do this for a primary job, it’s a lot of work to barely keep your head above water. As for the issue of tipping your food courier, I see it like this: you tip the pizza delivery guy, why not the DoorDash guy?

by lacker 7y ago

toomuchtodo 7y ago

UPS guy has a union and gets paid a living wage. DoorDash can’t afford to do the same.

spectramax 7y ago
Should we let the market forces play that out? No tip, less incentive to join Door Dash as a driver. Also fix the minimum wage laws.
- gempir 7y ago
  If you let that play out DoorDash goes out because in reality it isn't feasible to sustainably deliver to your doorstep in minutes. UPS does it in a 1 day timeframe and not with food which could get cold or something and they deliver to a lot more houses at once. While DoorDash targets 1 customers house and lets 1 biker drive there. If you want to pay for him to have a fair wage then you probably wouldn't order from DoorDash anymore because it's too expensive
  - mytailorisrich 7y ago
    That would exactly be letting the market play out. At the moment tips are a hidden cost that customers don't see or think about when they order. It effectively allows Doordash (and others) to present their service as being cheaper than it really is. If presenting the full cost upfront means people stop using the service then it simply means that there is actually no viable market.
    - ukoki 7y ago
      > If presenting the full cost upfront means people stop using the service then it simply means that there is actually no viable market. There are plenty of food delivery companies (eg Deliveroo, Wolt, FoodPanda) in countries without a tipping culture. Go to any European capital and chances are you'll see loads of brightly-coloured cube-shaped backpacks cycling around — so the companies seem to be doing OK.
      - mytailorisrich 7y ago
        I am in Europe and use Deliveroo from time to time. There are several of these companies here, indeed. This does not mean that any of any of them are doing OK in terms of bottom line. According to figures from end of last year Deliveroo lost £185m while making £277m in sale... Any 'normal' business would have collapsed even before getting there. These companies are like Uber and Lyft: The business case is very shaky and they are facing employment law pressures at the same time. So we'll see...
  - sigwinch28 7y ago
    You say this as if it's a bad thing, as if DoorDash has a right to exist but the workers shouldn't get a living wage to facilitate it.
Nullabillity 7y ago
Then DoorDash can't afford to operate.

pubutil 7y ago

In addition to what others have said, the UPS driver is an employee of UPS and gets benefits, PTO, etc. The DoorDash courier is a contractor, not an employee, and gets no benefits. The same goes for many emerging courier services: Postmates, Uber, Lyft, etc. People joining these services as couriers are getting burned in ways beyond what DoorDash has arranged for their couriers. A DoorDash courier makes like $5/delivery. Most couriers work nights and get ~5 deliveries in a night. That’s $25/night or $750/month before gas, car maintenance, increased car insurance payments due to their courier job, etc. For people who take this on as a second job, it’s barely worth it. For people who do this for a primary job, it’s a lot of work to barely keep your head above water. As for the issue of tipping your food courier, I see it like this: you tip the pizza delivery guy, why not the DoorDash guy?