You read it right. Apparently desperate for tips, some delivery drivers are holding food orders hostage. They message customers, suggesting delivery will be delayed if they don’t agree in advance to proffer a tip. The company must clamp down!
What happens
Here’s just one example of a driver ransoming a customer’s food order for a tip…
Moments after Catriona Kimber of Medicine Hat, Alberta, placed her Doordash dinner order, she got a text message from the driver who was supposed to be delivering it. She hadn’t included a digital tip in her transaction…
“Most dashers now are not accepting any orders without tips so your food just sits there getting cold until someone finally does,” the driver wrote. “Even just $1 makes all the difference.”
What the f…?
I couldn’t believe it when I first read the story. Was this just a single, rogue Door Dasher? Weaponizing a customer’s order?
According to the dastardly dasher, all – or at least many of the delivery people in Medicine Hat – share a ‘registry’ of customers who don’t tip. And the drivers are routinely making customers an offer they can’t refuse’.
“We have a Facebook group with customers’ names/addys who are non-tippers, so we know,” the driver emphasized.
Kimber was as shocked as she was outraged: ”
“I’m not trying to ruin anything, or anyone,” Kimber told CHAT News. “I just want it well known that this person is a door Dasher, who contacted me personally, to tell me that I will be waiting for … food.”
What the online community said…
The prevailing opinion among online commenters was that tips to food delivery drivers should be earned, not si9mply expected as an entitlement. Several commenters said tips should be given when the drive goes ‘above and beyond’:
“I get it, some people rely on tips, but that doesnt excuse this behavior,” one responder wrote.
“They have a job to do first and foremost. If they don’t want to do it they have two options: decline the order, or not work the job at all,” said another.
Others said tipping is just a routine part of ordering food:
“Just my opinion, but if you’re using door dash or Skip, everybody should know that a tip is part of the whole procedure,” one commented.
She’s being stonewalled
Kimber has not heard back from Doordash about her formal complaint over the incident. And the delivery driver – who has been positively identified through his messaging activity – did not respond to a CHAT News request for comment.
What I say
This kind of behaviour by drivers simply can’t be excused. Period. They’re not doing the job. Furthermore, they’re committing extortion. It’s not like holding an heiress for millions of dollars in ransom. But it’s extortion, just the same. And extortion is illegal!
Doordash (and any other company whose drivers are shaking down their customers) needs to act immediately and decisively. Fire any driver who engages in extortion. Summary dismissal. Drivers holding food orders for ransom also expose the delivery company to civil and possibly criminal liability.
But it appears that Doordash and the driver are stonewalling Kimber and the media. Maybe what it will take to get Doordash to clean up its drivers’ act is to out them in the real media. Let’s see how long it takes Doordash to express contrition. The company is already in enough trouble these days, with declining orders and revenues. They’ve laid off thousands and closed facilities.
To put in language they can understand, “Let’s see how long u wait for my next order…”
~ Maggie J.