As a customer I suppose I should start adding tips only after the order is finished rather than when I place the order.
and by doing this, you're just perpetuating the problem. If the base pay is too low, the worker _needs_ to quit, but if you force yourself to tip just enough to string them along, you're only kicking the can down the road.
Edit: to clarify, the tip isn't included in the sticker price of the meal/service. Therefore, a business is indirectly mis-advertising the true price of their product/service, and thus, gain unfair advantage in the market. The business then surreptitiously charging you more by adding the tip, and therefore, the true price is hidden until after you're already completed the meal, and too late to refuse the tip.
This is only true for the first time you buy a meal in the US. After that first experience, you know the tipping etiquette. So, at the time you peruse the menu, you can factor in the tip you expect to leave at the end of the meal.
However, where the real price is hidden is in establishments which add a surcharge labelled 'SF Health' or similar to the bill. This is sneaky because:
i) Unlike sales tax, the SF health mandate is not a consumption tax. It's just a regulation that specifies the minimum an employer must contribute to employees' healthcare costs. It's just like any other business cost, like cooking oil or lightbulbs.
ii) some businesses declare the amount they will charge on the menu, but usually in small writing (the most egregious example I've seen is yellow text on a white background, on a sign near other random promotional signs at the cash register)
- some businesses don't tell you about it at all. I bought some burgers (which were yummy) and paid by card. I had no opportunity to see the itemised bill on the POS machine, but paid anyway because the total was in the range I expected. Only when I received the email receipt moments later did I discover the extra charge.
Of course you can tip after in some of these apps, but they don't consistently surface that to you. I know offhand how to add a tip hours after a Lyft ride (i've done it before, there's a little link buried in the receipt) but honestly don't know how I would do that for a doordash or grubhub order, I'm not even sure I can.
I try to tip delivery drivers with cash now that I know the services used to steal tips, I can't trust them not to do it again - but if I don't have any cash on hand I'm probably just going to plug 15-25% into the app when placing the order and if I get unbelievably bad service I can try to claw it back by complaining to support.
FWIW it seems like these services are pretty generous with refunds/discounts when you have a bad experience if you contact them. I've only had to do it once, but my sister has gotten $5-15 refunds from services like grubhub or doordash multiple times when a delivery goes haywire. I assume they build that into their model as an expected expense on N% of deliveries.
I bet the refund comes from the delivery person's pay.
According to a quick search federal standards in the US requires at least $2.13 per hour be paid to employees who receive at least $30/mo in tips, with the total needing to hit 7.25. It's probably higher in some areas. This is part of why wage theft is such a pervasive problem in the US because it's very easy to get away with it in scenarios where you're supposed to be compensating for variable tip income, etc - sometimes the boss just doesn't pay what they're supposed to, oops!
All those hipster restaurants where you need to go up, order, and pick up your own food?