The DoorDash app will nudge you to leave a tip or ask you to increase the tip you already left

Many of you have food delivery apps installed on your phones like Uber Eats (iOS, Android), Door Dash (iOS, Android), and Grubhub (iOS, Android), to name a few. Through these apps, users can pick a restaurant, order a meal, and have it delivered. And there are some apps, such as Instacart (iOS, Android) and Shipt (iOS, Android), that you can use if you don't feel like heading out to the supermarket but need groceries to stock your fridge and pantry with.

One food delivery app in the news is DoorDash. Now you need to understand that most "gig delivery workers" are paid less than the minimum wage and count on tips to earn enough money to pay the bills. Apps like DoorDash will suggest a tip for the driver based on the distance they are driving from the restaurant to your location and the "effort required" to make the delivery. Customers can change the amount they tip based on a set percentage or a custom amount.

According to Insider, back in June, DoorDash added a feature to its app that allows a customer to increase a driver's tip up to 30 days after a food order is completed. In addition, customers who have not left a tip for their delivery driver will be reminded to do so. Other food delivery firms have followed DoorDash and have added a similar feature to their apps including Uber Eats, Instacart, and Starbucks. DoorDash drivers have a base pay as low as $2 per delivery making the tips they receive extremely important.

Since the customer usually leaves the tip before receiving his/her delivery, this would be a good way for the customer to reward a driver who went above and beyond the call of duty. When announcing the feature in June, DoorDash executive Austin Haugen said, "These new nudges and reminders will encourage customers to tip and show their appreciation after their Dasher delivers an order."

Some DoorDash drivers are concerned that customers won't be happy with DoorDash because of the nudging for tips. One such driver, Heather Taylor, who delivers for DoorDash in Corpus Christi, Texas, said, "I think it would be annoying to 80% of customers." Nonetheless, she says this nudging could hike her income. The tip nudging reminder comes as some drivers have become aggressive when it comes to tips with some trying to shame the customer into raising the tip in the middle of a delivery. DoorDash prohibits drivers from tip shaming customers although it does happen.

Another DoorDash driver, Sergio Avedian, who is a spokesman for The Rideshare Guy blog, delivers about 20 hours a week in Los Angeles and says his base pay ranges on DoorDash and Uber Eats from $1.50 to $3 per order. "When base pay is so low, we have to look for high-tip, low-mileage orders," he said. "We are literally working for tips."

"Customers get a maximum of one nudge per order that does not include a tip," DoorDash said in a statement. "This is not unique to DoorDash and is common practice across gig platforms." Even during 2020, a great year for gig workers because of the pandemic, a survey from the Economic Policy Institute discovered that 14% made less than the federal minimum wage while 29% made less than the minimum wage in their state.

When Instacart announced its tip nudging feature for its app, the company said, "We've rolled out tipping prompts to encourage customers to consider increasing their tip anytime they rate a shopper five stars. The prompts also encourage customers to recognize their shopper's hard work by leaving a tip if they initially choose not to leave one." Uber Eats told Insider it has "invested heavily into improving the tipping experience for drivers and couriers."