DoorDash is a convenient way to order food from almost any restaurant, directly to where you are. It has also provided a great way for drivers to make some additional income.
However, because the app doesn’t pay drivers very much for deliveries, they’ve become quite reliant on tips – and generally expect them along with your order.
But can DoorDash drivers see your tips (or lack of one?) And if so, do the tips become visible before or after the delivery has been made?
In this article, we’ll cover everything that you need to know!
Can DoorDash Drivers See Your Tip Before Delivery?
DoorDash drivers are not able to see your exact tip before they deliver your food. However, they are able to see the total compensation that they’ll receive for accepting your order.
Because DoorDash’s base pay can be calculated for each order, drivers can very easily tell whether not you included a tip. While they may not be able to easily calculate the exact amount that you offered, it will be obvious if you’ve decided not to tip entirely.
Therefore, if you want to ensure that your order is accepted and picked up by a DoorDash driver, it would be best to include a tip within the app – even if you intend to tip in cash later.
This will raise the total compensation reported when the order is offered to DoorDash drivers in your area – ensuring that it is likely to be picked up and delivered in a timely manner.
Remember, drivers have no way of knowing whether or not you intend to tip in cash after delivery. At the same time, they are not required to accept every order that comes in.
If you don’t include a tip, there is a chance that no drivers will choose to take on your order.
Can DoorDash Drivers See If You Tip After Delivery?
Yes. After delivery has been made, DoorDash drivers will be able to see the exact amount they’ve earned as a tip.
Their total earnings are divided up, showing them how much of what they earned was through DoorDash’s base pay, and how much was earned as gratuity.
This means that your gesture of goodwill will not go unnoticed – drivers will be able to recognize and appreciate the money that you’ve given them as a tip.
Remember that drivers earn very little base pay from DoorDash – as little as $3. Even a small tip goes a long way to raising their total compensation for their order.
Tip: If you want to save some extra cash on DoorDash that you can use towards tips, then you should consider signing up for DashPass! Click here to read our analysis on whether DashPass is worth it or not!
Should You Tip Your DoorDash Driver Before Or After Delivery?
Although seeing a hefty tip come in after an order can be a nice surprise for drivers, it’s recommended that you offer your tip within the app before delivery.
This is because it gives drivers a better idea on how much they can earn in advance.
It helps to think of things from the driver’s perspective. When you place an order, it gets pinged out to DoorDash drivers in your area.
Drivers will see the total compensation listed for the order. They will then take certain factors into account, including:
- What restaurant you’re ordering from, and how quickly they are likely to process the order.
- The total distance of the trip, and their own personal fees incurred for the delivery (such as fuel and vehicle maintenance)
- The total amount of time it will likely require to get from the restaurant to your house.
- The weather, and how difficult it would be to deliver.
- What other orders are likely to come in, that they’d miss if they accept yours. This factor is particularly important on holidays and other busy DoorDash days.
It is simply too big of a risk for many drivers to accept orders with low total compensation. Other than the fact that they may only earn a couple of dollars from your order (potentially for an order that would take considerable time to deliver), they also miss out on the chance to accept higher-paying orders from someone else.
Many drivers are unwilling to gamble on you tipping in cash, or after delivery.
Therefore, it usually makes the most sense to offer your tip beforehand.
What Happens If You Don’t Tip Your DoorDash Driver?
Let’s say you really don’t have any extra money to spare, but you still want to order DoorDash. What will happen if you don’t tip at all?
While your food may still be delivered, it is also possible that nobody will pick up your DoorDash order.
And even if someone eventually does, it may take much longer.
This is due to the way DoorDash’s compensation works. As mentioned earlier, once your order is placed it will be sent out to DoorDash drivers out in your area. Without a tip, many drivers are likely to decline it, in which case it gets offered to someone else.
If drivers continue to decline it, DoorDash will increase the base pay offered for the order. DoorDash wants customers to be happy and be able to get their food delivered, even if they do not include a tip.
The idea behind this is that the base pay will eventually be raised enough for it to be worth it for a driver to pick up.
Unfortunately, this leads to a couple of problems.
First of all, you will have to wait longer for your food as your order is passed around and rejected. This can add a considerable delay to the total time in which the food is delivered.
Secondly, it’s more likely that newer, inexperienced DoorDash drivers will be the ones that end up accepting your order. While you are still protected by DoorDash’s guarantees, inexperienced Dashers may be more prone to making mistakes or fail to deliver as quickly.
They say ‘you get what you pay for’, and in the case of DoorDash, including a tip will likely lead to faster food delivery.
Do DoorDash Drivers Get 100% of Tips?
Yes. DoorDash drivers get to keep 100% of the tips made by customers, and do not take any percentage of the tips offered.
Instead, DoorDash makes their money through service and delivery fees, among other revenue streams such as DashPass.
While not all of the delivery fee goes to the driver, all of the tips do.
Therefore, it’s clear to see how even a small tip can drastically affect the money earned through the order.
Cash Tips – A Double-Edged Sword
If DoorDash drivers get to keep 100% of the tips offered through the app, why do so many drivers still prefer cash tips?
Ultimately, it comes down to taxes, and hiding the money earned from DoorDash.
DoorDash rightly reports all income earned through their service to the IRS, and drivers have to pay tax on their reported income.
While technically drivers are supposed to report all income received (including cash tips), most people don’t.
Therefore, if you tip in cash, drivers get to keep more of their income, and it’s also immediately available them to spend (rather than having to wait for DoorDash to pay them.)
While cash tips are appreciated, they aren’t expected. And because there’s no way to know whether you’ll tip in cash before your order is delivered, many drivers will still avoid accepting orders that don’t have a tip within the app.
Conclusion
DoorDash drivers are not able to see the exact amount tipped until after the order has been delivered.
However, they will be able to see the total compensation expected for the order, and judge whether or not they want to accept it beforehand.
I hope that you’ve found this article helpful. If you have any other questions about DoorDash, please ask them using the comment form below.
Thank you for reading,
– James McAllister
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