Many of the people who drive for food delivery services like DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Postmates often depend on the tips they get from customers to supplement their income. It’s something that can either make or break their entire shift.
Most drivers just rely on getting the food to the customer in a timely fashion and being communicative and friendly in the hopes they’ll be rewarded for the good service. However, one Uber Eats driver admitted to engaging in a rather unconventional method to ensure that customers are generous. She sneaks her feet into the picture of each delivery as an added incentive for a bigger tip.
A food delivery driver makes sure her feet are in every delivery photo to earn extra tips from customers.
In a post on Threads, Uber Eats driver Jade Phoenix explained that she usually does her food delivery runs in the morning to earn some extra spending money for the day. To guarantee that she’s getting good tips, Phoenix shared that she’ll use feet pictures as incentive.
“I started leaving my feet in the frame of the picture of the food by the door. I’ve seen my tips go up by a lot with people adding extra tips after the drop off!” Phoenix wrote. Sharing three specific photos, Phoenix’s legs and feet can be seen in the photos she takes of the food order sitting outside customers’ doors.
In the comments on her post, many people applauded her for thinking outside the box with a method that clearly works for her. Sometimes that bit of creativity is the difference between getting zero tips for a whole morning of delivering food and actually getting quite impressive tips. From her perspective, the results seemed to work and even spoke for themselves.
Most food delivery drivers aren’t making enough money during their trips.
Tipping culture is often debated amongst consumers. When it comes to restaurant servers, many aren’t receiving enough tips to sustain themselves, and the same can be said for food delivery drivers.
According to a New York Times article, Uber and DoorDash drivers are paid about $3.50 per order, plus $1 per mile they have to drive. But Uber told the Times that pay was based on something a bit more complicated than that. For drivers, the difference seems to be almost unimportant. That’s because the most important part of their pay is the tips.
They also have to identify specific locations and methods to increase their chances of being offered a restaurant delivery. Things like pressing their phones up against the wall of a building or waiting in an alley near a popular eatery are common, the New York Times reported. Even when drivers do get orders, they can only see the amount they’ll be tipped up to $8, which is far below the amount many drivers are looking for.
New Africa | Shutterstock
Many of these food delivery apps encourage their drivers to take as many orders as they can, essentially working 10- to 15-hour shifts each day just to make a modicum of good money. Of course, that doesn’t account for the fact that most drivers’ tips are most likely going straight to gas, considering all of the driving around they are essentially forced to do.
So, when drivers like Phoenix come up with methods of earning more tips, it’s pretty much them hoping to make up for the fact that, on average, they aren’t really making good tips at all. It might seem odd to others, but it clearly works for Phoenix, and considering the reality of many food delivery drivers’ finances, that is considered a win.
Nia Tipton is a staff writer with a bachelor’s degree in creative writing and journalism who covers news and lifestyle topics that focus on psychology, relationships, and the human experience.
Comments are closed.