If You're Ordering From A Delivery App During Extreme Weather, You're Likely Not Tipping Enough

If you’re ordering chicken nuggets or Pad Thai when the air quality is officially “hazardous” to breathe , you probably should be tipping more. (And naturally, the same goes for any other natural disaster.)

Food delivery drivers hope that’s the message people take to heart after wildfire smoke blanketed the Midwest and East Coast  earlier this month, creating terrible breathing conditions for anyone outside. 

It was especially bad in New York City, where some 60,000 people  do deliveries for apps like Uber , Grubhub and DoorDash.

Gustavo Ajche is one of them. He was biking around making food deliveries during the worst wildfire smoke. Tips were hit or miss, he told HuffPost.

“I did notice that people were tipping a bit more maybe $6 or $7 instead of $4 but there is no shortage of people who do not give a tip, and as a delivery person, that frustrates us because we depend on tips,” said Ajche, who delivers for DoorDash and GrubHub and also does construction work.

Ajche, who’s the founder of the labor group Los Deliveristas Unidos and a member of the Workers Justice Project, a group that fights for better working conditions and higher wages for immigrant workers, masked up during his deliveries, but it was impossible to keep the smoke out of his eyes. 

It’s not the first time he’s endured extreme weather or environmental factors during his work, and Ajche doesn’t expect it to be the last. As climate emergencies become more and more common across the U.S. hurricanes,  wildfires, flooding and high winds, even in unexpected places delivery drivers are becoming a new class of essential workers. (Of course, we also became highly dependent on them during the pandemic.) 

“Our jobs are essential work that makes life easier for thousands and thousands of people who may not be able to go out,” Ajche said. “I personally have been on the streets several times in big winter storms. In 2010 there was a big snowstorm where I remember it was very difficult for me to get to my house, everything was closed, and also there was no public transportation.”

Ajche said, “Here in New York, the delivery man is always on the streets.” 

Adam who, like others in this story, asked to use his first name only to protect his privacy is another New Yorker who’s delivered through it all.

“On bike, I’ve delivered in weather that was close to 0° Fahrenheit. I’ve delivered in snowy weather, and I’ve delivered in the rain, and a few weeks ago, I delivered while NYC was dealing with pollution from fires in Canada,” he said.

Snow hasn’t been as bad in the past two years, but Adam recalls times in 2013-2015 when the snow got so bad his heels slipped out of the pedals, and he hopped off his bike to avoid injury, all while balancing hot food. 

“The snow can clog up the bicycle drivetrain, making it much more difficult to shift gears,” he explained.

In the winter, he also contends with flights of slippery stairs since most customers expect their delivery to be brought up to them in their walk-up apartments.

The apps have initiated policies to prioritize the safety of their drivers. When the wildfire smoke was at its worst last month, Grubhub reportedly alerted drivers that they would not be penalized if they didn’t feel safe completing deliveries and reminded those with pre-existing conditions to stay inside.

DoorDash automatically suspends operations in serious emergencies, including blizzards and hurricanes. The company has activated the protocol in response to Hurricane Ian , major U.S. winter storms  and wildfires near Vancouver  in the past few months. 

But gig workers like Adam say there’s also some incentive to drive or bike when the weather is bad, but not quite “suspend-operations” bad. 

“Sometimes the apps will offer more base pay for workers since less people want to work during such weather,” Adam said. “It’s one reason I try to work when there’s inclement weather; the ball is more in the court of delivery drivers on those days. Customers may tip more during rough days, too.”

Depending on the app, delivery requests that drivers receive show tip estimates, so if Adam sees a low or no tip order, he declines. 

That said, delivery workers don’t get much time to pull out their phones, navigate to the app that’s ringing, and decide whether to accept an order.

“We may get 22 to 30 seconds for most delivery requests,” Adam said. “Sometimes we’re already on our bikes, so we have to slow down and go through that process or stop completely depending on traffic. The apps give no consideration to weather with the time we have to evaluate requests.”

In the past, Adam has gotten no tips at all during dangerous weather and measly tips, too ($1-$3.) One of his worst experiences was this past winter when someone ordered three packs of Poland Spring water 24 16.9-ounce bottles and only tipped him $8.

“This was a shop and pay delivery, and that water weighed about 75 pounds,” he said. “I had a bike rack and a large backpack, so I was able to carry it, but I am now more selective about certain orders.”

As for how much more customers should tip, Adam said he thinks distance, the weight of the order and the weather conditions should be considered.

“I know customers are charged fees on top of higher app prices, so it’s not cheap,” he said. “During winter and bad weather, I would like at least $7 for a delivery with a max distance of about half a mile. So with a $2-3 base pay, that equals at least a $5 or $4 tip.”

On that day, when air quality was at its worst in New York City, Bimal Jhale tried to squeeze in some Grubhub deliveries in the evening. (Earlier in the afternoon, Jhale, a father of a 5-year-old, said he felt too dizzy to travel around the city after he’d completed his shift at a diner.)

“We can’t afford to take a day off, so we are the ones taking all these risks in bad weather,” said Jhale, a Justice for App Workers  member who responded via email. 

“People have their own needs, but we want people to think about our safety and understand the situation we are in,” he wrote.

He and other Justice for App Workers members think customers should tip around 15% to 20% more during dangerous or hazardous conditions.

Jess, a delivery driver in Portland, Oregon, has contended with wildfires every year since she started driving in 2020. She’s dealt with eye and lung irritation from the particulates in the air, distracted drivers on the road, and extra strain on her car. (For instance, vehicle air filters must be replaced immediately after the smoke clears or during the wildfires if the conditions are prolonged.) 

On days like that, Jess told HuffPost that she tends to see a little increase in her tips by the night’s end, but it’s usually thanks to a few outlier high tippers.

“Most tip the same as they always do even if that is zero,” she said. “Yes, people don’t tip at all, even when there’s wildfires.”

There’s usually surge pricing on the apps if there aren’t enough drivers on the road, but Jess said it’s usually only a dollar or three extra per order: “It’s not great, but it’s worth it in the right situations.”

Jess, a mom to a 5-month-old, said she’d love it if people changed how they view tipping regarding delivery apps. She said that instead of being called a tip, it should be called a bid.

“That’s how it works from the driver’s point of view: You bid a certain dollar above the minimum for better service and faster delivery,” she said. “A good driver is more likely to quickly accept an order with a higher bid than a lower bid.”

To the customer, though, tips are still seen as optional.

“They think, if $5 is good enough for the Domino’s guy, why not do the same for the UberEats guy regardless of the conditions?” she said.

The drivers we spoke to recognized that the app companies should be adequately compensating their workers. Delivery drivers who are organizing, like Ajche and Jhale, say they will continue to fight for better wages from the apps. (They scored a win earlier this month when New York City set an $18 per hour minimum wage for food delivery workers.)

But customers need to remember that delivery is a luxury, especially when conditions are hazardous.

“I don’t mind when people order during rough weather. It’s the poor tipping that’s frustrating,” Adam said. “People shouldn’t suffer outside and not get tipped so that others can relax at home while they eat and enjoy Netflix .”