If you use apps like DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub to order food, you already know that you can add a tip when you place your order.
But do you really need to tip? Can the driver see how much you tip? And does tipping before your order do anything to get you a faster delivery?
Here’s why it’s smart to tip before your order: Delivery drivers on most food delivery apps can see some or all of your tip when they receive your order request.
If you don’t tip during checkout, most drivers will pass your order to the next driver. That can mean cold food and longer delivery times.
You are more likely to get a faster delivery if you tip in the app during the checkout process.
Even DoorDash acknowledges that tips = faster service
Read on to learn more about why tipping can guarantee faster delivery on Uber Eats, DoorDash, and Grubhub.
Can delivery drivers see when you tip? How it works on the top apps
Drivers can see some or all of tips left during checkout before they accept an order. Full tip info is revealed after the order is complete and the tip settlement period ends.
| Can delivery courier see your tip? | |
|---|---|
| Uber Eats | Drivers see partial tip info upfront |
| DoorDash | Drivers see partial tip info upfront |
| Grubhub | Drivers see full tip info upfront |
Tipping in the app during checkout is like a bid for faster service
Here’s how the deliveries work from the driver’s perspective: Drivers are paid a base pay from the delivery app and keep 100% of any tip included with the order.
Most delivery apps show drivers an upfront estimate of the order payout that includes some or all of any tip added during checkout.
So when you tip during checkout, drivers will see a higher estimated payout for your order.
In a sense, your tip is like a bid for faster service. When drivers see a higher payout, they are more likely to accept the order and try to quickly get it done.
When drivers see a low payout, they skip the order and wait for a better one.
How much is a good tip for food delivery on Uber Eats, DoorDash, etc?
$5 is a good starting point for a tip if the restaurant is less than 5 miles away or less than a 10 minute drive. After 5 miles or 10 minutes, add at least $1 per mile.
$5 for a short drive might not be enough if you know that the restaurant will be busy, so consider increasing your tip for popular restaurants and busy drive-throughs.
Should you tip with cash? Drivers like cash tips, but in-app tips are better
Drivers always appreciate cash tips, but most drivers prefer in-app tips left during checkout because in-app tips are included in the upfront payment estimate for every order.
That information gives your delivery person reassurance that a tip is coming. Without that upfront info there is no guarantee that they’ll get a tip and very few customers tip in cash.
Here’s an example of why cash isn’t as big of a motivating factor as you might think. If you leave a $5 tip in the app during checkout, your driver may see an upfront payout of around $8.
If you wait to tip $5 in cash after the order is complete, your driver will first see a payout estimate of only ~$3. They don’t know a cash tip is waiting for them, so they might skip your order and wait for one with a higher guaranteed payout from a customer who tips at checkout.
Can delivery drivers see how much you tipped?
Delivery drivers can’t see exactly how much you tipped until the delivery is complete and a settlement period has ended.
If you tip during checkout, the driver can get a general sense of how much you tipped, but they won’t know the exact amount.
Each delivery app shares different info when they send an order request to a driver. Base pay from the apps varies, so a $10 estimated payout could mean a $5 tip and $5 base pay, or a $7 tip and $3 base pay.
Uber Eats: Delivery driver sees some tip info up front
When an Uber Eats driver receives an order request, some or all of the customer’s tip is included in the estimated order pay that the driver sees before they accept the order.
If you tip during checkout on Uber Eats, drivers will see a larger estimated payout and will be more likely to accept your offer.
Below a side-by-side of what drivers see. On the left, no tip was included and the driver sees a very low payout estimate.
On the right, a tip was included during checkout and the driver saw a much more tempting payout.
Tip ahead on Uber Eats and your driver sees a more tempting offer
Priority delivery on Uber Eats
Uber Eats has an option called priority delivery that will guarantee that your order will be delivered first if your driver picks up multiple orders.
It costs around $1.99–$3.99, and you can select the option during checkout.
DoorDash: Dashers sees some tip info up front
Dashers can see some or all of any tip that you include at checkout before they accept your order request. That means they can make an educated guess about your tip.
DoorDash uses a ‘hidden tip’ system that may hide some of the tip from the upfront pay estimate. Typically the app won’t show an order estimated payout beyond $10 or so.
When the tip on DoorDash is $0, the estimated payout may only be $3 or $4. When a tip is included, the estimate will be $6 or more, indicating to the Dasher that there is a tip.
Because DoorDash ‘hides’ the full tip after around $8, a very large tip might not actually help you get a faster delivery.
Hidden tips can be a frustrating thing for both drivers and high-tipping passengers. If you leave a $20 tip in the app, you might hope the driver sees it right away and gives you amazing service.
But DoorDash may only show a max upfront payout of around $8 and reveal the full tip after the order is done, so your big tip doesn’t function as a large bid.
Fail to tip ahead on DoorDash and your driver sees a low payout estimate
Grubhub: Drivers see all of the tip upfront
Grubhub drivers see all of any in-app tip included with an order when they receive the order request.
When you don’t tip on Grubhub, drivers will see a low order payout and are more likely to skip your order.
Without a tip at checkout your Grubhub order may look skippable
The no-tip wall of shame
To show you what can happen when you don’t tip at checkout, check out what drivers call the no-tip wall of shame.
The no-tip wall of shame is a shelf full of orders sitting out and getting cold because driver after driver has declined the low-paying offers that didn’t come with a tip.
No tip, no trip! Credit MoffKyloRen
Chipotle frequently features a no-tip wall of shame. Credit Bulldog666 on Reddit
To avoid your order sitting on the wall of shame, add a tip during checkout. The likelihood of your order getting quickly picked up increases.
Tip baiting: When you remove your tip after the order
Tip baiting is when a customer leaves an in-app tip but removes it after the order is complete.
Drivers feel misled and manipulated when the upfront payout is for one amount and the final payout is lower because the tip was removed.
Sometimes customers lower the tip because they are upset with the service they received. It could be a delivery error, or a restaurant error.
But the most dishonest form of tip baiting is when customers leave an in-app tip to make their order more appealing, then remove it after the delivery even if there were no problems with the delivery.
Don’t tip bait! Only lower the tip if your delivery driver made a major error. Remember: Delivery drivers aren’t usually responsible for missing items!
Why your delivery still might be slow even when you tip
Unfortunately, it’s still possible for your delivery to be slow even if you leave a generous tip during checkout. Here’s why.
- Busy night for the restaurant, inefficiency – Busy nights happen, and not every restaurant has an efficient order process
- Delivery driver makes a mistake – Nobody is perfect
- Order batching/stacking – Your order may be batched with another delivery nearby, causing a slowdown. To prevent this, DoorDash has express delivery and Uber Eats has priority delivery
- App outages, tech issues – Sometimes the apps go down (especially DoorDash and Uber Eats)
Even though there is a chance your tip won’t guarantee good service, you should always tip during checkout to make your order as tempting as possible for drivers.
“No tip no trip” is a slogan making the rounds. Put yourself in their shoes. It’s a busy night and lots of order offers are coming in. Would you rather accept an offer for $2 or $10? You want your order to be the $10 order.
More delivery tips
Darren says
TIPS. Originally stands for To Insure Prompt Service. When you expect a door dasher to deliver your order say 8 miles round trip 16 who knows where started from let’s say 20 miles in all driver gets paid $2.50 from door dash you don’t tip gas is 3.30 gallon driver looses money why would any driver accept your order!!
Yann says
Sounds like you were a delivery driver before and trying to promote this BS. Tipping has always been based on the service that was rendered. Why tip and potentially still get a shitty service? This is BS
WebWizard says
To be fair, it is merely saying the quiet part out loud. The facts are the facts!
The Doctor says
All I have to say is if my order arrives cold, that driver is getting a bad review. I tip but this passing along thing is baloney.
WebWizard says
The driver who delivered is not the culprit. They are the kind person who finally accepted such a low-paying zero-tip order, after the rest of us declined and rightfully choose an order that paid at least $5 higher than that $3 or $4 delivery offer, missing the tip. (BTW, over 90% of the time, even Top Dashers do not get tipped after the delivery.) #Facts