Customers are asked to tip on the checkout screen, with the mid-option pre-selected for their ‘convenience’ and this practice is common for all the markets where DoorDash operates. Customers can change the tip amount manually, but many of us keep contemplating how that would seem since there was a choice selected for us. The good news is that we are seeing a change in all this soon. DoorDash claims that since the minimum wage for delivery workers is low, tipping will be exclusively a post-checkout option in various markets, including New York.
The company said that it wants to keep all the markets affordable, and that the change is going to ensure that the workers can enjoy better balance since the city is changing and there are new costs resulting from it. However, the same company sent out messages to customers that their order will be slow after they selected not to tip at checkout.
The city’s change came when the New York City lawmakers announced that the minimum wage for delivery workers will increase to $17.96. DoorDash’s new policy came after this news, and along came some old complaints!
The law was enforced despite the appeals to overturn by DoorDash and other companies. The company is unhappy with this law and has asked for another hearing in 2024. While DoorDash claims that New York dashers will earn $29.93 per hour, it does not count the waiting time dashers spend around each delivery. Before the wage change, delivery workers were earning a base pay of $7.09 per hour.
There have been other misrepresentations as well. For example, DoorDash claimed that the workers are getting a $30 per hour rate, whereas the city’s minimum wage averages at $15. The NYC Consumer and Worker Protection Department conducted a study. It explained that the higher rate accounts for a higher tax burden on DoorDash workers, which depletes their earnings and brings their total income down to the bare minimum.
It is pertinent to mention that this wage increase came after labor groups such as Los Deliveristas Unidos and Worker’s Justice Project spent years trying to get better pay. These groups emphasised on the need for an increase in wages because delivery work was risky and had several associated expenses, such as fuel costs. The minimum annual income for this group should be $17,000.
DoorDash is pausing the Dasher Priority Access that selects professional and better delivery workers to higher-paying jobs in the area. Since the minimum wage has increased, the company is no longer giving any benefits to the delivery workers who earned higher ratings to get these benefits. DoorDash has started the new tipping approach because the NYC mayor has instructed all delivery apps to pay their workers the minimum wage. All of this struggle and the burden falls on the customers. This strategy by DoorDash will soon become acceptable since everyone has to eat and to order food on the doorstep, we all need delivery service.