Key Takeaways
- DoorDash drivers see the total payout, including estimated tips, before accepting a delivery. However, they don’t see the tip amount directly.
- They can infer if a customer didn’t tip after completing the delivery.
- Drivers generally expect tips, impacting their willingness to take orders.
- Not tipping can result in lower earnings for drivers and slower service for customers.
- Do DoorDash Drivers See Tips Before a Delivery?
- Do DoorDash Drivers Expect a Tip?
- What Information Can DoorDash Drivers See About Customers?
- Help! My DoorDash Driver is Asking for a Cash Tip
- How Do Tips Impact DoorDash Drivers?
- Best Practices When Tipping on DoorDash
- Do Tips Affect DoorDash Driver Acceptance and Service?
- DoorDash Policy on Driver Earnings and Transparency
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Wrapping Up
Do DoorDash Drivers See Tips Before a Delivery?
DoorDash drivers do not see the exact tip amount you leave before they deliver your order.
However, they can estimate whether a tip was included and its potential amount based on the total earnings displayed before they accept the delivery. This total includes DoorDash’s base pay and an estimated tip, if any.
Experienced drivers often use clues like the total payout, distance, and the restaurant involved to gauge whether a tip is likely included.
For example, this is what a driver will see when the order first appears within their DoorDash driver app:
As you can see, the driver only sees the total amount at this point. Once accepted, they get more order information, but they still cannot see the tip amount.
Once the Dasher delivers the order and marks it as complete, only then will the tip amount be revealed.
So, while drivers don’t see the specific tip amount before delivery, they have some information to decide whether to accept an order, which can be influenced by the likelihood of receiving a tip.
And thankfully, DoorDash has cracked down on tip-baiting, so the tip seen after the delivery is completed is the one that the drivers will recieve.
Brett’s Take: Thoughts From an Expert
I’ve heard differing opinions from drivers about being able to see tip amounts. Some see them, some don’t.
Others have mentioned to me that DoorDash hides part of the tip, showing a lower amount initially but revealing the full amount after the delivery is completed.
After I thought about it, I came up with a theory – DoorDash might show more of the tip for longer distances in order to make the offer more appealing.
Do DoorDash Drivers Expect a Tip?
Yes, DoorDash drivers generally do expect to be tipped. In fact, many drivers express frustration with no-tip orders and often decline them.
I suggest always tipping your DoorDash driver, as food delivery is a service and the drivers work hard to get your food to you.
I tip DoorDash drivers just as I would at a sit-down restaurant: 10% for mediocre service and 20% for great service.
As independent contractors that are responsible for their own expenses, drivers usually don’t make that much money. So, tipping significantly contributes to drivers’ earnings and offsets their expenses.
This situation reflects the broader challenges within the gig economy, underlining the need for systemic changes and increased awareness about these platforms’ operation and compensation structures.
Brett’s Take: Thoughts From an Expert
DoorDash drivers don’t have to take an order. However, they’ll usually take an order based on the total pay.
Like anything, they need to make money in order for it to be worth their time.
There’s a general consensus that orders with very low pay (like the minimum base pay) are likely to be no-tip orders. Some drivers avoid these orders due to the low likelihood of receiving a tip.
My suggestion is always tip your driver, especially if you want one of them to claim your order, and do it quickly.
What Information Can DoorDash Drivers See About Customers?
DoorDash drivers have access to only a few pieces of customer information. They can see your first name, the initial of your last name, and your delivery address.
However, they don’t have access to details like your food order, order history, full name, age, gender, spending history on the platform, or the specific restaurants you’ve ordered from.
Your phone number is also kept private, visible only if you choose to include it in the delivery instructions. You can communicate with the driver through the app, ensuring your phone number remains protected.
When it comes to ratings, DoorDash drivers do not have access to individual customer reviews or ratings.
They can only view their overall rating, which means they won’t see your specific feedback.
However, by regularly monitoring their overall rating, a driver might be able to guess who gave them positive or negative ratings.
Help! My DoorDash Driver is Asking for a Cash Tip
Sometimes, DoorDash drivers may request cash tips due to past issues with the company skimming tips from the app.
If you’ve already tipped through the app, you don’t need to tip again. If asked for a cash tip, you can explain that you’ve already tipped in the app.
Additionally, you have the option to rate the delivery service if you’re unsatisfied with the driver’s conduct or service.
How Do Tips Impact DoorDash Drivers?
As independent contractors, Dashers primarily earn from the app’s base pay, tips from customers, and promotions. As such, tipping Doordash drivers or not significantly affects their overall income.
Four years ago, the company received public backlash for not passing customer gratuity to its drivers. They instead provided a fixed service fee for each delivery completed.
Now, DoorDash policies ensure Dashers receive 100% of delivery tips. It’s also more transparent, listing tips before or after the delivery in the Dasher’s earning report.
In the app’s latest iteration, DoorDash included a feature encouraging customers to pre-tip at the checkout. Otherwise, they receive a pop-up notification warning them of a slower delivery.
Best Practices When Tipping on DoorDash
What can you do to ensure Dashers get the compensation they deserve?
First, follow the recommended tipping rate in the service industry. A good tip would be 15% to 20% of your food delivery service bill, which includes taxes and other fees.
Tipping at this rate helps support Dashers’ livelihood and encourages them to provide continued excellent service.
Second, consider your DoosDash driver’s situation. If you know they had to brave heavy traffic or unpredictable whether to make that delivery, throwing an additional dollar or two would be excellent.
Of course, you can always lower your tip in cases of poor delivery services. However, ensure not to punish drivers for circumstances they can’t control, and contact DoorDash for advice.
Do Tips Affect DoorDash Driver Acceptance and Service?
Adding a tip does affect driver acceptance and quality of service in DoorDash. Customers who offer no tip may experience a slower delivery rate than those who do.
As noted in DoorDash’s latest pilot announcement, Dashers have full autonomy on the orders to accept or reject. As one would expect, they’d prefer jobs they think are more rewarding.
Drivers can identify orders with tips, and most would prefer orders with more generous pay. It means delivery requests with tips usually get picked up and delivered faster.
On the flip side, deliveries with no gratuity will be less appealing for Dashers, leading to longer waiting hours and cold food.
Still, some customers could find tipping before checkout uncomfortable if they don’t know the quality of service they’ll get. In this case, they can tip after an order is complete.
DoorDash Policy on Driver Earnings and Transparency
DoorDash has worked vigorously to improve its Dashers’ experience. The company now offers detailed earning reports, fairer salary rates, and better incentives for its drivers.
One notable improvement made by the platform to boost transparency is its earning breakdown. The app now displays essential information, from delivery address to payment receipts, separating guaranteed pay from customer tips.
The company applied a few updates to its payment structure as well.
In recent optimization, and with fairness in mind, DoorDash calculates the distance and time needed for a delivery to increase the minimum base pay. The platform also prioritizes orders with shorter delivery times to offer to Dashers.
Incentives are getting better, too. By rolling out new promos and features to keep track of said promos, every DoorDash driver has every opportunity to earn as much as they can.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Happens if You Don’t Tip DoorDash Drivers?
If you choose not to tip in the DoorDash app, it’ll notify you with a message. The notification will explain how Dashers freely decide which orders to accept and that not tipping can result in slower deliveries.
Does the Tip on DoorDash Go to the Driver?
Yes, 100% of the tip you give goes to the driver. Gratuity payments made before or after the delivery will promptly add to the Dashers’ guaranteed salary and promotional incentives.
Wrapping Up
To recap, while DoorDash drivers can’t see tips given before delivery, they can estimate when an order includes a tip. And it affects how quickly your request gets to your front door.
Sure, tipping isn’t mandatory. But it’s an essential gesture and culture in the gig economy. It shows you’re happy with the services you get and appreciate the people doing the job.
Ultimately, tipping promotes a positive service experience for DoorDash users while offering a profitable opportunity for hard-working delivery workers.
The DD president flat out states that they hide part of some tips from the offer screen if the tip amount is high. Supposedly, this is to help customers by preventing dashers from cherry picking high payouts and leaving other order to sit, but this is the exact opposite of the “transparency” he states is important. Every dasher cherry picks to some extent; DD minimum pay is usually between $2 and $3, and I just don’t see many drivers accepting orders with long drives and low payouts. This hurts the customer, since they often tip larger amounts to entice drivers to complete their order quickly, but we only see part of that tip and essentially make our decision based on a completely different payout total. Customers have a right to know what they are paying for, and independent contractors should also have a right to know exactly how much they will be paid before accepting a job. The video linked below is from an interview between a rideshare YouTuber and the DD president back in June of 2021.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3OWnOVhYd4
I still see most of the tips up front on the app. Most of us would stop doing DD otherwise.
Actually, if your dasher is very tech savvy, he can see your last name. He will have to use a web debugging proxy, and intercept and filter HTTPS web traffic coming from the Doordash server. He can use the iOS app, Http Catcher, install a root certificate to his iPhone, then decrypt and inspect the JSON coded data packets that get sent to his phone when a new delivery opportunity gets sent to his phone. This code contains much of the information that is hidden that the article says the dasher is unable to see. Some of this information is shown the the dasher later, some of this information is never meant to be seen by the dasher. Customers should not worry though, very few dashers have the patience, know-how, let alone the time to do this (it’s too cumbersome for this code to be inspected on most orders, anyway…unless he writes his own code to parse this code)
I found a lot of incorrect information in this article. Base pay is usually more like 2.50 and order. Most of the time, you can see the tip when accepting the order, but there is also times when you complete the order the tip is actually more than when you accepted, so no they dont always show all tips up front. I have seen first and last names so many times, and when I do only have the first name and last initial, I still end up knowing the last name because the merchant often times has the first initial but last name. Cash tippers will NOT always get their order fast and hot/cold like you say because for the majority of js, if all we see when accepting the order is a low base pay, we instantly decline the order because taking 10-30 minutes, sometimes even longer to complete the order is not worth the 2.50 that I am guaranteed to get. Thats like working for $5 an hour. Not many people give cash tips anyway, so never try to count on that. Most people dont even go back and add tips after the fact, most likely because its not easy to do. I did one time just to see for myself and I actually had to call doordash to add a bigger tip and nobody wants to go through that hassle, so also dont try to count on receiving tips after its already delivered. FYI, your dasher hasn’t already hopped in their car and drove away when they see how much the tip is at the end. I usually don’t even make it back to my car when I hit that final button to see what they really tipped, so chances are, they are still out front of your house when they realize that they just waited 10 mins at the merchant for your food and then drove 8 miles in rush hour traffic or a snow storm to leave your food at the door because you only left $1 tip. I would never be rude to my customer’s, but I do 100% get it when I watch the videos of other dashers flipping out over doing so much for so little. Some days are extremely good and some days are extremely frustrating. Also, just because you cash tip, doesn’t mean that you will always get the driver who knows your a cash tipper, so chances are more likely that the order will be declined several times before d d finally ups the base pay enough for one to accept it, and by then your food has been ready at the merchant for 20 mins so it wont be fresh when you finally do get it. The better offer we see up front, the better chance of getting fresh food in a timely manner. And its not always the drivers fault if the food is not right, or if it is not fresh, or even on time. I accepted and order last night and then realized it should have been picked up almost 2 hours before it even came to me, and then I had to cancel it because the merchant still didnt have it ready after I waited there 15 mins. Most places seal the bags so we cant even see if the order is correct or not, so if its wrong, its most likely the merchant who messed it up. Another thing, we CAN see what you ordered when we are waiting on your order at the merchant. It gives a whole list at most places. Thats not even all of the misinformation I read in this article. Maybe the author of it should go dash and get facts before just writing a bunch of garbage.
I am a Dasher and I don’t want to carry cash. Just use the app to tip.
BTW if you have part of your order missing it is not always the Dasher’s fault. Some places seal the bags and we’re not allowed to open them. I never do. It’s up to the restaurant to verify your order is correct in such cases, and up to the customer to contact the restaurant.
And please, PLEASE clear ice off your walkways and porches!
Please with the ice thing. I’m not risking walking in icy sidewalks or steps anymore. They can come to me to get it
I am a driver, and have a few thoughts.
First if all, base pay provided by doordash is much lower where I work. Doordash offers a base pay of $2.25 (+ a small milage bonus if it’s over a certain amount of miles away. They also will slowly up the base pay of it gets declined over and over by dashers)
Drivers also do not always see the entire tip before completing a delivery. (Some states have legislation requiring doordash shows the entire order total but majority of places do not. California and NY City are the only places I know of.) So if you tip $10 hoping to get your order sooner, doordash might hide part of the tip.
For example, sometimes I’ll get an order that shows $6.25 for the total pay (almost all orders also have a note saying there might be a hidden tip) and it’ll turn out to be a $10 order. The bad part is how this effects the customers, if you live far away from a restaurant and you leave a tip as an incentive for drivers to take the order, it might not make a difference if doordash hides it.
Doordash will also pair orders that tip well with orders that don’t tip in “stacked” orders. Which is also unfortunate for the customer that tipped well who, most of the time, end up waiting for the no tip order to be delivered first