Delivery drivers bring your favorite meal right to your door so you can eat without even extracting yourself from a solid Netflix binge. We talked to Kira Heeley, who’s been driving for DoorDash for two years, about why it’s important to thank the folks who deliver your food with a tip.
Why is it important to tip your delivery driver?
Often the service fees in the app don’t all go to the driver. DoorDash gets the service charge. It’s important to make sure that you’re actually tipping them, whether you tip more in the app or you give them cash. A lot of times in the service industry, base pay is not even minimum wage. If you don’t tip somebody well, you’re not helping them to live. About half of what I make is from people’s tips.
How much should you tip?
The standard should be 20% on the total bill. You can leave more if you want. There’s plenty of people that don’t have the means and that’s totally fine, but for the people that do, what does it take for you to hand over an extra few bucks? What were you going to do with that $5 bill anyway? Hit 25% or 30%. You can really brighten somebody’s day and help them out. Also, if you use a service likeDoorDash, give your delivery persona good rating in the app because it helps them get more orders.
What’s the far-reaching impact of tipping?
You’re helping to support an industry that’s not only crucial right now, but touches each and every one of us every day. We all have to eat, right? When you are pitching into the restaurant economy, so many people and their livelihoods depend on it. That is economic stimulation as well. People forget how much all of the little things add up. If every single person that had the means tipped an extra $5, it would have a big impact.
