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The world of delivery and ride sharing has changed drastically in the last decade or so. A growing segment of the economy coupled with Covid-19 lockdowns resulted in an explosion of this new type of delivery service, convenient, easy, and available to all.
In the past, typically only pizza places and Chinese restaurants offered delivery to a very small radius directly surrounding the store. The rise of Doordash, Uber Eats, Grubhub, Posmates and others changed the whole dynamic for delivery of all types of goods, as did Uber and Lyft forever transformed the taxi industry into ride sharing.
Today, a person may order just about anything and have a delivery service professional bring it conveniently to their door. Herein lies the heart of a larger misunderstanding between the deliverer and the customer. In the past a delivery person was generally an unskilled part-time job, often worked by teenagers who did not have enough experience to land better paying employment. This is no longer the case.
With demand increasing exponentially, the sheer amount of goods to be delivered is growing all the time. Add the fact stores now have a much wider radius of range available to them; the small unskilled labor job working for the local pizza joint is NOT the same experience or even remotely like the challenges drivers face today.
Delivery Service Professionals of today have to think quickly on their feet, do quick calculations for cost per mile and the time taken to the destination. MANY of our friends, relatives, brothers, and sisters are relying on this income to pay their bills. Often, people’s perception is delivery and ride-share are not meant to be a full-time job, but what if someone does not have a choice? Or maybe they actually enjoy the freedom of breathing fresh air while not being trapped in a stuffy office having some boss tell you, “they are going to need you to go ahead and come in on Saturday.” (Hopefully that reference is not too obscure and some of you are old enough to remember the movie.) The point is, no one should be judged by their chosen or forced profession. This is a real job with some very real challenges and safety issues experienced regularly by drivers and customers as well.
Understand companies like Doordash, Uber and the others contract thousands of people as drivers and deliverers. It is only because of the teams of so many roaming independent contractors from all walks of life that the companies can navigate the logistical nightmare of accomplishing all those deliveries and rides in a somewhat timely manner. Truth be told, they do a pretty darn good job overall.
Sure, there are times when the system works less than perfectly, but just realize the process is adapting and improving all the time. It is mind-boggling to consider the amount of time and work that went into creating, maintaining, and improving an AI capable of matching a customer with a delivery service professional nearby seamlessly with a third-party store or restaurant across the entire country and even the world!
You, as a highly valued customer, are entitled to a safe, reasonably quick, professional, and trouble-free delivery. For this service, to match a delivery or ride with a contractor, the customer pays fees to the company, i.e. Doordash or Uber. The company shares very little of these fees with the drivers. A “base” rate for a delivery with Doordash for example is typically $2.00 for the driver. Now remember, the drivers are not employees but independent contractors. Which means the contractor must pay for their own gas and use their personal vehicle. It is not uncommon for many delivery service professionals to drive well over 100 miles a day to make enough to pay their bills. That wears out the vehicle and increases maintenance costs dramatically while reducing the life of the vehicle itself.
Therefore, it is expected but not required, a customer includes a tip. This amount is shared by the company with the driver most of the time, and the driver then may choose to accept the job or reject it to go back to the pool for another deliverer to accept or deny the customer’s offer. The word, “tip” is incorrect in this case. It is really an offer the customer is making for a nearby delivery service professional to accept the delivery or ride. It is not an additional bonus for exceptional service. Like it or not, the “tip” or better phrased, “offer,” is most of the pay to the delivery professional. If a customer does not include a tip, the offer will most likely be rejected by the driver contractors because it may end up costing them money to deliver the goods than the job pays. This is especially true if the delivery requires many miles or long wait times. Challenges such as these increase customers’ waiting time for their order and may cause waste for the store when orders are never picked up because they are too low paying. Companies respond by raising fees and prices to compensate for this kind of waste. Almost any dasher will attest to seeing orders lined up that had no tip and were never retrieved to be delivered. Most of time, it is believed, the companies will raise the base pay slowly until some poor oblivious or desperate contractor accepts a low paying offer. This encourages the companies to add on many new and perhaps less professional or at the very least, less seasoned personnel to fulfill the ever-growing demand for orders. This trend will ultimately result in a depreciated value of service for the customer, and even higher prices to boot!
Also, you should be aware of how the star rating system works. Anything less than 5 stars is a blemish on the drivers record. So be careful when you score someone low. Make sure the low rating is deserved. For example, it is possible that your order was late because of the restaurant, traffic, another dasher who cancelled the order before someone else got it to finish. Consider the possibilities in cases that are not crystal clear. Remember the driver is only responsible for bringing the delivery to you. They are not responsible for preparing the food, packing it or quality. In most cases your driver is not allowed to open the bag to even check if the order is correct. For issues such as these, contact support through the app.
So, the golden question is, “How much should I offer(tip) to ensure my delivery is made in a timely professional manner?” Well, many experienced drivers will not accept an offer that is less than $1.00 a mile trip with others also refusing anything less than $5.00 total. Percentages don’t mean anything here. It is about distance, the difficulty of the job and the amount of time taken. A good delivery service professional will have their own set of rules to accept an offer.
A few other tips to help ensure a smooth experience would be to include specific instructions or directions in the notes. Information like gate codes, building or apartment numbers, and anything else that helps the driver navigate to you faster is much appreciated by most of us who do this job.
GigWorkersUnite.org is about changing perceptions of the workers, the companies, and the customers alike. We want to help develop drivers to become more professional, safe, handle product with care and be courteous to our beloved customers while delivering service with a smile. As a customer, if you find the service you received from one of the delivery apps was less than stellar, disappointing or in some cases even fraudulent; you should report the incident to the company with a detailed account of the occurrence. Good delivery service professionals do not want to see bad drivers out there hurting their reputation. This will improve the overall experience for everyone.
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From the bottom of our hearts,
Thank you!