Yep. Unfortunately, government regulations here in the US explicitly make the minimum wage for a "tipped job" much lower than the minimum wage for any other job

Yep. Unfortunately, government regulations here in the US explicitly make the minimum wage for a "tipped job" much lower than the minimum wage for any other job, and the amount is not high enough for the tips to necessarily offset that difference. An employee can be getting paid the legal minimum wage, making the amount in tips every month that the law requires for that lower wage, and still end up unable to afford rent. The obligation really should be with the employer, but since capitalism breeds greedy assholes and the government regulations aren't well-designed, they mistreat their employees on the assumption they can just pass off their responsibilities to customers. It's awful. A good rule of thumb for waiters/waitresses is 15% minimum tip unless they're awful, 18% if they're good, 20% if they're amazing. The idea being that larger bills usually mean more food and/or more work for them. But for delivery drivers, in my opinion, it's the same amount of work whether I order $10 or $40 in food, especially if that amount is artificially inflated by app service fees, so I give all my app delivery drivers the same tip.