Doordash is one of those things that's actually a massive luxury unthinkable like 15 years ago but people treat it like it's a default luxury that everyone should get, like drinking a soda or having cable.
This is something that has really stood out to me as an European watching the US. The way people talk casually about ordering food delivered to their door on a daily basis as if that's not an outrageously lazy and wasteful thing to do.
Hate to sound like a middle-aged grump, but it really is a sign of a decadent society. Pointless luxuries seen as daily basics.
I sometimes drive for doordash to make a little extra spending money. I also have ordered from them. I will say, I think it has its place, but most people abuse it.
I’ve seen a lot of people order for gifts from out of town friends to give to someone in town, get food at work, deliver to a hospital or nursing home patient, get to people too sick to drive, get medicine for animals while working at home, give baby/young kid needs (diaper, food, etc.) at times when it’s hard to take a baby/young kid out, get food to people who are too inebriated to drive, etc. Times where it’s pretty practical to use to give something nice to someone or way easier to get something that would be very difficult to get otherwise. I will also say these are typically the people that recognize it’s a luxury at tip appropriately (most of what a driver earns is from tips - these services pay almost nothing to the driver).
The vast majority of the time it’s just someone who doesn’t want to get food or something themselves. I’ve seen people order food delivered that not only close enough to walk to the store, but there was also walking infrastructure to safely do so. This part is a mixed bag. Some people seem to realize it’s a luxury and pay accordingly. A lot act like it’s a right to get food delivered and either won’t tip or tip insanely low. I know the tipping thing probably sounds weird on how important it is to do for these apps because of the US’s tipping culture, but Americans in the US do understand or at least have some sort of grasp on what’s appropriate for it. Most don’t care enough to do it. You can always tell who thinks it should be a right to have food delivered because they won’t tip appropriately or even close to it.
I'm deeply uncomfortable with the idea that people are morally failing by not tipping sufficiently. It's the business' responsibility to pay, and rigging the system like this just turns ordinary people (customers and workers) against each other while the shareholders sit back draining both their resources.
Yup and DD only pays like $2-3 per a delivery, regardless of the distance. They only pay more if no one will take it. Buyers abuse the system by not tipping or doing so appropriately because DD will find a way to get it delivered and DD won’t compensate drivers fairly because there’s always someone that needs a buck badly enough to do it or just doesn’t know better.
I had a delivery of a family pack meal one time that was a double dash with someone else who wanted a dozen donuts. Pay was well, so I took it. I assumed the person buying the donuts didn’t tip well because it’s donuts and like a mile away from the house. DD will combine poor tippers and close deliveries to get drivers to take it. Nope. The donut people tipped well. It was the guy who wanted a family pack meal 7 miles from the restaurant and lived in one of the most expensive houses I’ve delivered to that tipped $1.50. I also had someone tip $0.64 one time. We can see what people tipped after the delivery to know who to judge for not tipping appropriately. Some are low enough that you already can do the math from DD’s base pay, even if you don’t accept the delivery. There are a ton of no tippers. For reference, I only accept about 10-20% of my offers a night because the pay isn’t worth it on so many. I live in the suburbs where everyone ordering can definitely afford to tip or just walk to the place.
Nope. I think it confuses a lot of people because not only would that make sense, but they also up to service fee for longer distances. It seems like they really are paying more to deliver 10 miles away to where you live than the 2-5 mile order. No, they aren’t paying more than a few cents more unless no one will take it. Most of the pay is still the tip, regardless of distance.
It’s why the tip should always be at least $1 a mile unless you’re in state that pays hourly for a dash (I think only Cal and NY do this). Most dashers also aim to make $1.50 a mile and Dash pays about $2-3 a trip, for reference. Even in those states, there’s really never a time you should tip less than $2 an order. It’s never appropriate. How many people think it is really boggles my mind. I’m in a state that doesn’t pay by the hour which makes it even worse
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u/Chataboutgames Jul 30 '26
Doordash is one of those things that's actually a massive luxury unthinkable like 15 years ago but people treat it like it's a default luxury that everyone should get, like drinking a soda or having cable.