DasherTips

As I shared in a previous post, I really didn’t understand why anyone—least of all me—could tip someone for a service they hadn’t yet received.  That is the preferred practice for DoorDash, who appears to want to make it easy for the customer to spend all their money at once.  Why wait to see if your order shows up, let alone shows up in a place that’s easy for you to access it?  Trust our drivers, and tip them now.

Yeah—no.  I have a front door with a screen that opens towards the street, and the overhang on that door isn’t particularly deep.  Leaving an order or package there leaves it exposed to the elements—and if it’s left right in front of the door (more than likely), it means it gets pushed out into the garden, not exactly a first choice in the heat of July or the cold of February.

This is why the note on my DoorDash account asks to leave all orders at the side door.  That door swings in, is nicely covered, and has enough room to deliver a baby elephant.  Combined with the ease of walking on a dry driveway—not on dew- or snow-covered grass—I’m thinking it just couldn’t be easier for Dashers to drop stuff at my house.

Boy, was I wrong.  Full meals have been flung into the nasturtiums, knocked into the marigolds, and left at the picket fence 20 feet from the front door.  I understand Dashers deal in heavy traffic and crummy neighborhoods.  On the other hand, the Dasher really has two jobs:  Keep the food upright in the car, and deliver it where I want it.  I don’t undertip if the restaurant gives me the wrong food; on the other hand, once I tip, I can’t get the tip back if the Dasher puts the order where getting it requires me to fling it to Sacramento while opening the door.

So, I’ve changed Door Dash strategies.  Completing an order allows me to customize the tip, so I set it to zero.  DoorDash nicely warns me this could lead to Dashers refusing my order, but that hasn’t happened so far.  Instead, every Dasher but one has suddenly bothered to read the Note I leave with my order:

I tip based on where my order is delivered.  Please—please—place the order on the stoop off the driveway, on the side of the house.  I promise it will be worth your while.

Except for one, every order has landed there since taking on this strategy.  Once I see the picture of the order in its orderly home, I go back into DoorDash and update the tip—yes, you can do that—and if the weather is bad, I tip more than what DoorDash recommends.  It’s a longer walk to the side door, so even if they have to stay off the grass, they’ll get a little wetter. That matters.

COVID was really a gut buster for all of us, and we all seem to be trying to remember what life used to be like before we had to rethink it.  Even during the pandemic, I think life was about being reasonable, and that was true with tipping—if the hostess walked your order to your car and put it in your trunk, that was worth something.  I go in the restaurant when I pick up, so the hostess gets no tip—and when I ask for delivery, the DoorDash crew gets my respect and money, as long as they do their job.  That’s fair.

Visions

Your eyes are fading
He said
Writing something on my chart.
A stronger prescription then, I asked.
Try this first.
Think of ten things you’re convinced of
And reconsider them.
I can now read
Without my cheaters.