I am not at all against delivery drivers getting their due, but the whole tipping culture is a pressure I can just avoid if I don't have things delivered which I can go get myself. I envy the countries which lack this automatic tipping culture.
I really don't get people who are against tipping people in low-paid service jobs. (Even if they're making at least minimum wage.) If you're paid more than they are, and their service is providing you with value, show them some appreciation!
as a random anecdote, I was talking to the ups delivery guy for my building the other day, and he said he's been making more money in tips than from his actual paycheck during the present crisis.
In foreign land: delivery person gets $10
In america: service pays delivery person $6. Client must device whether to give delivery person $3-$5.
Big uncertainty about which situations call for a tip, and which don’t, and how much.
In restaurants you can at least say “I pay to reward good service”. But with delivery, I am getting an undifferentiated bag of food at my door. Nothing differentiates service quality level. Deciding what amount to pay absent any interaction is confusing. And why is it based on a percentage of food?
Your argument is based in the assumption the worker has little pay. In america this is true, the worker gets little because tips are expected to make up for it.
In other countries, no tips are expected, so salary makes up for it.
It's always a loss for a business from my point of view.
Tipping is dumb. It being percentage based is silly. I have to "appreciate" the service more because... I ordered a more expensive bottle of wine? C'mon, that's silly. It's also crazy arbitrary. We don't tip fast food workers, but we do tip people at Starbucks? I recently had someone come out and fix my washer. I had no idea whether or not to tip.
I think of that Mad Men scene when these conversations about "appreciation" come up.
Peggy: "you never say 'Thank you'!" Don: "That's what the money was for!"
I'm a simple man, but I like service exchanges being what they say on the tin. I give you money. You give me service. No hidden societal expectations that involve more out-of-band funding.
Coming from a poorer country, mandatory tipping is such a strange concept.
Apart from that, I'm a typical engineer in FAANG, and I feel it's expensive... So I wonder who find delivery app cheap? A millionaire??
Back in my country, I ate out every single meal (even when I was a college student). Delivery app works well too because the price is sensible.
if you're in an unfamiliar situation, you can always just ask what a typical tip is. service staff at a fancy establishment will probably try to evade the question, but otherwise the person will usually answer honestly.
if you really just want to "set it and forget it", there's virtually no situation where someone would hold a 20% tip against you.
Great strategy if you have money burning a hole in your pocket and want to subsidize businesses that don't pay a living wage.
It's with this money spending culture that people in the US end up in the streets when they miss a single paycheck.
if you're this concerned about saving money, you probably shouldn't be ordering food for delivery or dining out in the first place.
And the cause there, as presented by Wikipedia[1] is fascinating to contemplate. The abnormally high tax rate (especially compared to the services provided) increases the demand for corruption to avoid taxation. Taxation avoided reduces money available for bureaucrat salaries, to where they are almost reliant on the bribery system to make ends meet. And hence the pressure on line staff to kick back money up -- a promotion would separate you from direct contact with the public and represent a loss of income that must be replaced somehow. It's kind of a weird Laffer curve phenomenon where higher tax rates yields less revenue.
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption_in_India#Factors_co...
And they often do.