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Comment by resters | Hacker News Reader

Why doesn't this problem exist when I order something from Amazon? Because there is no absurd idea that I should be tipping the UPS guy or anyone else involved in fulfilling my order.

It makes much more sense for InstaCart to simply collect star ratings and offer bonuses for the employees who are going above and beyond.

Considering how often the shopper has to call me about replacements, parking outside my building, etc., Instacart should be focusing on fixing the inventory issues and logistical issues, not trying to shame me into paying its employee an extra $5 at every turn.

Instacart charges for delivery and often marks up the prices of the items. I don't like being shaken down via a default tip when trying to check out. It's extremely irritating!

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In my opinion the tip comes in when you ask for a service specific to you and a person provides it. USPS is providing a general service to your, let's call it neighborhood. But a barber is providing a personal service to you.

Doordash and the like are more like the latter than the former. You say what you want, a single person in that profession does the work for you, and then you pay their fee and something on top.

Of course I'd rather tips were not necessary but it is practices like this one that make them necessary. And I wouldn't trust them with some rating/bonus system. If these companies were paying a good wage and had good benefits instead of relying on the 1099 economy and skimming payments even after that, we could eliminate tips altogether. I look forward to that day, but until we get there...

A Florist provides personal service to me, and you aren't expected to tip them, as does a cake decorator, or mechanic. This reads like a reverse justification for tipping, that is innately irrational.

Same with a doctor, lawyer, accountant, refrigerator repairperson, gardener, painter, nanny, DMV clerk, bank teller, and the person making your chipotle burrito. Yet you aren't expected to tip them.

I also find "bring me food" hardly more "personalized" than "scan my items and take my money."

The times you tip are when it's socially acceptable to tip, there's no "rules" you can apply that make any sense.

Don't worry, Amazon screws their delivery workers in other ways.

Employees? What are those?

I think tipping someone who delivers food to you is one of the only areas where tipping makes sense.

Why do think this? There are plenty of cultures where tipping is not normal and will in general be refused if you try to tip.

... because?

It's not uncommon to tip your UPS/FedEx delivery person, or your USPS carrier. At least around the holidays.

One of my close friends is a USPS courier. Technically they are never allowed to accept cash or cash equivalents like gift cards.

You can give them small non-cash-like gifts such as a bottle of wine though.

https://about.usps.com/postal-bulletin/2012/pb22349/html/cov...

The tip you give to the UPS driver is a real tip for good service, not a necessary wage supplement to keep them from starving.

How is it good service? Does the driver have any control over the traffic?

I often meet the driver. Some of them are nicer than others.

I would guess that the ratio of the number of tips to the number of deliveries for UPS/FedEx/USPS is orders of magnitude lower than for Instacart/DoorDash/etc.

And those delivery drivers are paid a wage, unlike the $0.80 per hour w/o tips from instacart.

Isn't there a minimum wage even for tipped workers at like 2$ something?

These types of "gig workers" aren't employees, they are independent contractors so minimum wage doesn't apply to them.

there is a term for that in German "Scheinselbstständigkeit" basically "pretend independence", seems more like a loophole than anything else

The UPS guy doesn't have to push a cart around the store to fill your order, either

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