AIBU Not to tip Just Eat driver?

[DukeofEarlGrey]

I’m open to whether or not AIBU here.

During lockdown I started using Deliveroo and Just Eat a bit, usually for the occasional lunch or dinner at about £10-£15. On Deliveroo there is a delivery charge and then an additional option to add a driver’s tip and I would always add an extra 10-15% to the initial delivery fee.

I then broke the Deliveroo app (don’t ask me how) and switched to Just Eat. Just Eat doesn’t have an option to add the delivery tip and I’ve never been sure of the etiquette for cash tipping the driver. I occasionally do it but more often than not either forget or don’t have cash at home. It’s never seemed to offend the driver and I’ve never given it much thought.

Anyway, I just ordered lunch from Just Eat and when I thanked the driver, I think he said ‘thanks for the tip’. I didn’t give him a cash tip so assume this was sarcasm and now wonder if I am being really harsh in not tipping.

I get that it is technically optional, but am curious to know what others do and whether there is an established etiquette, so...

YABU - They should be tipped, bad form not to
YANBU - It’s a nice-to-have

I am in the UK, by the way.

Lots of content online if you are interested - first example on google:

www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/business/2021/mar/25/some-uk-deliveroo-riders-earning-just-2-an-hour-survey-finds

Deliveroo has said riders are paid more than £10 an hour on average, but the analysis by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism of invoices collected via Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain found more than half of the couriers were paid less than that.

@TinySaltLick

Tipping shouldn't be necessary - the fees should be increased so they can pay their staff fairly. If the prices cannot sustain a fair wage then the service isn't viable - and profits shouldn't come at the expense of the riders who are often without a choice.

@TinySaltLick what do you call a fair wage? Because I think being paid twice the minimum wage an hour is more than fair even minus their expenses, especially when they get tax relief against those expenses!

So tight.

Pre covid I tipped £2 to just eat, £5 on a bank holiday. But stopped when deliveries went contactless and mostly stuck to deliveroo or Uber eats as I could tip.
Using just eat again but not tipping as I've not had any cash in forever and nowhere takes it to get change.

@TinySaltLick

Lots of content online if you are interested - first example on google:

www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/business/2021/mar/25/some-uk-deliveroo-riders-earning-just-2-an-hour-survey-finds

Deliveroo has said riders are paid more than £10 an hour on average, but the analysis by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism of invoices collected via Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain found more than half of the couriers were paid less than that.

My DH works for deliveroo, just eat, uber eats and Amazon flex and that article is bullshit!

They have done it against time logged in to the app vs money earnt! They do not take into account all the jobs that the riders have rejected!

My DH regularly earns £20-30 an hour using the gig economy, he then claims tax relief against his expenses, so even after expenses he earns well over minimum wage for a job he is in total control of, he works when he wants for as long as he wants as a self employed contractor.
Yes there is no sick pay or holiday pay but that is the same for anyone who is self employed.
They gig economy is very open about that and people sign up knowing it is self employed with no guarantee of work, they cannot then moan about that! It is supposed to be a top up not a full time job anyway!

Really??? 😮 I keep a stack of £5 notes exclusively for tipping food delivery drivers. (Full disclosure: I'm American, and it's what we do...)

As an example, the other night my DH was working for 3.5 hours, in that time he earnt £95. About £10 of that was petrol, about £5 for his additional insurance. So £80 or £22 an hour, He can then claim tax relief against his milage at 45p a mile so will barely pay tax on it. How is that badly paid?
And as for being badly treated? He gets offered food and drink by every restaurant if he has a small wait, the staff all know him and chat to him and he loves doing it!

Never tip delivery drivers, that is their job - what next, tip Hermes?!!!

@MrsMariaReynolds

Really??? 😮 I keep a stack of £5 notes exclusively for tipping food delivery drivers. (Full disclosure: I'm American, and it's what we do...)

That might be the cultural norm for an American but not for a Brit.

There's a much less established tipping culture here. I do tip my hairdresser, taxi drivers, waiters / waitresses, and I'll tip delivery drivers if there's the option to online / if I have cash and on the latter occasion if they actually wait long enough to take it! It's rare they do.

It's odd what professions get tipped and which ones don't. In a restaurant I'm happy to tip for good service ( and tbh only don't leave a tip if it has been shocking) because the service is an integral component of the night out. Ditto chatting to the hairdresser whilst getting my hair done.
But the delivery driver is literally just dropping off the food, there's little opportunity for them to make your takeaway a good or bad experience.

Tipping culture is different in the U.K.

Erm... only if you're tight. I always tip 10%.

I tip 10% in restaurants too. Why would you not?

@GreenFingersWouldBeHandy

Tipping culture is different in the U.K.

Erm... only if you're tight. I always tip 10%.

I tip 10% in restaurants too. Why would you not?

Well in the US it is the norm to tip 18-20% so it is different! They also get paid taking in to account the tips, so if you don't tip they effectively pay to serve you, whereas in the UK they get minimum wage plus tips!

I never tip. Don’t care if I’m “tight”

@GreenFingersWouldBeHandy

Tipping culture is different in the U.K.

Erm... only if you're tight. I always tip 10%.

I tip 10% in restaurants too. Why would you not?

Where does that end though? Do you tip your Hermes delivery drivers too? Your postman? Binmen? Staff on tills at the supermarket? Bus drivers? The people who fetch your parcels from the post office counter? Shoe fitters? Your dry cleaners? The people who make your sandwich at the deli?

What's cheap and what's normal? There'll be a line somewhere, why is it ok to tip X people but not Y people (or vice versa, why is it NOT cheap to tip Y people)?

Cultural norms dictate that tipping isn't as common in the UK as in the US. It's not cheap, it's just how it is.

Nah, some people are definitely just cheap.

I would always tip personally, although I rarely get delivery and normally collect my order myself because the food is far fresher that way.

I'm a nurse and sometimes my patients ask me to collect their takeaway orders from the front door of the hospital, they almost never give me money to tip the driver with and I find it incredibly awkward to give nothing.

@Classica

Nah, some people are definitely just cheap.

Ok, but can you define who it's cheap not to tip? And how much you have to tip so you're not cheap? And explain why you tip that group but not another group? And why you don't tip more?

@LyingWitchInTheWardrobe

Well said, DifficultBloodyWoman, it's irritating when posters who don't live in the UK pontificate and criticise UK methods and customs. They'd be quick enough to complain if UK posters did it in turn.

I've seen that poster before. Goady covers it.

Have you not seeing the weekly threads slagging off the US?. The food, the culture, the vocabulary.

If you can afford to order food to be delivered, you can afford to tip.

@GreenFingersWouldBeHandy

If you can afford to order food to be delivered, you can afford to tip.

Agreed, but that doesn't answer any of my other questions.

@GreenFingersWouldBeHandy the question isn't whether someone can afford it - it's whether they 'should'.
A service should cost what is charged (upfront) - and delivery drivers are paid a reasonable wage for the hours they work. By their employer. It's not the customers job to ensure that they have enough to eat.
Now in acknowledgement of harsh conditions (e.g. rain) it's nice to tip but it's never a 'must'.

Also as @Lockheart there are plenty of people who make less than delivery drivers even. Are you supposed to tip everybody? Your cashier at Tesco is also on a zero hour contract and exposed to Covid all day long - why don't you tip them too?

@GreenFingersWouldBeHandy

If you can afford to order food to be delivered, you can afford to tip.

Even when you pay more per item on the food, a service fee and a delivery fee? Because it is those charges that go to the company and the driver to pay for the delivery.

It is a bit different if you order from a local takeaway who includes delivery but it is different on the apps who already charge for it!

I can afford to buy a car but I don't tip the saleman 10% of the price, I can afford a house but I don't tip the estate agent 10% of the price etc
Why do delivery drivers deserve tips but other services don't? they are all doing the job they are paid to do.
The whole point of gig economy is that you are already paying extra for the convenience of it being delivered, the drivers do not expect to get tipped as they get a fee for every delivery they do

MidnightBallerina, No. If I had seen them, I would have made the same point.

Why does everything have to be so personal? It's so tribal here now, over such inconsequential things. Now it seems to be de rigeur to suggest that people are not to order if they can't afford a tip? Brilliant dunderhead thinking.

Let's just penalise people who have budgeted for their food and paid the delivery charge for the privilege - because they don't have tip money to add on top? Better that the businesses themselves go out of business then. Oh well, omelettes and eggs, but the sheeple must comply.

I really wonder at the thinking power (or lack thereof) from some of the posters on MN and I'm glad I don't know them in real life. None of the people I know are this pointlessly judgemental and short-sighted.

I wouldn’t order without tipping which is a pain as I carry cash less and less.

Uber eats you can tip in app.

Deliveroo you don’t need app to order you can use a web browser.