DoorDash Tipping Controversy

Overview

DoorDash Tipping Controversy refers to the food delivery service app DoorDash's pay policy for its delivery-people. The issue of DoorDash withholding tips became a topic of conversation on Twitter after a the New York Times published an article about being a delivery driver.

Background

In late April 2019, According to New York Daily News^[1] Bronx Councilman Ritchie Torres introduced a bill "that would require apps like DoorDash to notify customers if gratuity is paid to delivery workers in addition to their regular wage – or if tips are put toward their base pay." The bill caused DoorDash to include the notice in fine print on their site. On July 21st, The issue of DoorDash tips began gaining traction with Twitter users after New York Times^[2] writer Andy Newman published an article titled "My Frantic Life as a Cab-Dodging, Tip-Chasing Food App Deliveryman." In the article, Newman stated,

"DoorDash offers a guaranteed minimum for each job. For my first order, the guarantee was $6.85 and the customer, a woman in Boerum Hill who answered the door in a colorful bathrobe, tipped $3 via the app. But I still received only $6.85. Here’s how it works: If the woman in the bathrobe had tipped zero, DoorDash would have paid me the whole $6.85. Because she tipped $3, DoorDash kicked in only $3.85. She was saving DoorDash $3, not tipping me."

Spread

On July 21st, 2019, Twitter user @lmatsakis^[5] shared the New York Times article saying, "This deceptive model should be illegal" (shown below, left). The tweet gained over 3,900 likes and 1,700 retweets in three days. On July 23rd, DoorDash Tony Xu^[4] took to twitter to address the issue saying,

"After a year of research and conversations with thousands of Dashers, we built a pay model to prioritize transparency, consistency of earnings, and to ensure all customers get their food as fast as possible. But it’s clear from recent feedback that we didn’t strike the right balance. We thought we were doing the right thing by making Dashers whole when a customer left no tip. What we missed was that some customers who did tip would feel like their tip did not matter. We did not launch our current model to pay Dashers less. In fact, when we moved to it, our average contribution to Dashers stayed the same. Going forward, we’re changing our model – the new model will ensure that Dashers’ earnings will increase by the exact amount a customer tips on every order. We’ll have specific details in the coming days. Customer obsession and getting 1% better everyday are core values at DoorDash. These beliefs have led us to improvements in the past and they serve as our guide for the future" (shown below, right).

As of July 24th, 2019, DoorDash^[3] lists a changed policy that includes a higher minimum pay than before but the delivery person still might not received their full tip (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References