Over
the summer a New York Times reporter
- Andy Newman - took a job for DoorDash delivering food to explore what life is
like for people in the gig economy.
Among
the things he discovered was the fact that DoorDash steals its employees
tips. There was such an uproar after the
article ran that DoorDash changed their policy to include more transparency. But
they're not the only ones guilty of this practice. (Vincent, 2019)
And,
after a brief flurry of articles in 2018, I don't see anyone talking anymore about
the fact that using Seamless may drive your favorite restaurant out of
business. (Dunn, 2018)
But
back to tipping. Andy reported that for
almost 2/3 of his 43 deliveries he got no tip at all. Wow. I
guess people don't realize that workers are dependent upon those tips to make a
living wage. It's just like in restaurants
where the minimum wage for servers is $2.13 an hour versus $7.25 for non-tipped
positions. They are counting on tips to
make up the difference so they can survive.
The
article went on to say that "People in public housing tipped consistently,
while students at NYU rarely did." (Newman, 2019)
Why do
you think this is? Why do people in
public housing tip consistently? Why
don't NYU students tip? How does this
relate to our discussions about tribes? And
to the happiness studies with regard to giving?
Vincent,
J. (2019, July 22) Delivery apps like
DoorDash are using your tips to pay workers' wages. theverge.com. Retrieved October 2, 2019, from
Dunn,
E. (2018, February 3) How Delivery Apps
May Put Your Favorite Restaurant Out Of Business. newyorker.com. Retrieved October 2, 2019, from
Newman,
A. (2019, July 21) What Our Reporter
Learned Delivering Burritos to New Yorkers.
nytimes.com. Retrieved October 2, 2019, from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/21/reader-center/insider-reporter-food-deliveryman.html
6 comments:
I think the main reason for people who live in public housing tipped more than NYU students did is because they are from lower social class. They understand the value of tipping to the driver. Most of important, they want to help these people to earn their lives. Based on the happiness studies, they will gain happiness through the giving tips. On the other side, NYU students usually from an upper middle class due to the heavy tuition. They intend to think the delivery service has already charged their delivery fee and the service fee which usually cost around 15% of the order, so it is not necessary for them to tip the drivers.(Door Dash / Seamless). In addition, I think it is also the result of the tribes effect. For public housing residents, they will talk with each other when they are using the food delivery service. If some people start to encourage and stated the benefits of tipping drivers, other people will delivery be influenced and do the tip.
Unfortunately, I am also one of the people who tipped not very often. However, I used to tip often, especially on Door dash. But after I was been requested to pick my food in the lobby with no reason when I tipped more than 20% on my order, I changed my entire behavior. I personally think Uber Eats is doing a very well job because they can let users easily change their tipping amount within 1 hour delivered, which can solely depend on the performance of drivers. If the drivers earned the service, I will more than happy to tip.
The Doordash example sheds light on shady business that goes in in the U.S. I truly feel that the ones behind keeping this a secret can no longer engage in this behavior again.In fact Doordash changed their policies about tips after an uproar from the customer (nytimes,online). I think people in public housing are compassionate about helping people because it makes them feel happy.It was shocking to see the results on NYU students because being one I always tip every app or place I eat out because I know people are trying to make a living. I would think that most NYU students don't tip because they are broke. This example shows you that people out of the kindness in their heart to tip and help employees make their money. Its hard to list the exact person that does this but the studies have proven that people do things to feel happy or fulfilling about themselves.
nytimes.com, Andy Newman
Multimedia, Online
7/24/2019
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/24/nyregion/doordash-tip-policy.html
LH
I think the disparity comes from a difference in experiences. I believe that people in public housing tip consistently, because they are or have been in the shoes of the person who lives off tips, the person dependent on other’s charity, and they have probably lived in NY for a long time and know the struggle of doing so with a low income. NYU students come from all over and many are thought to be young people who come from affluent households. Though these are my personal assumptions, they lead me to believe NYU students are unaware and/or indifferent to the adversities faced by restaurant workers and solely focused on themselves possibly and suddenly being strapped for cash, which helps them rationalize the thought that they shouldn’t tip, because they need the money too. NYU students may even be oblivious to the practice of tipping, because money is/was always handled by their parents. This relates to our discussion about tribes, because the residents of public housing more than likely belong to the same tribe as the restaurant workers, the downtrodden tribe, so they feel the need to support their own. Tipping restaurant workers probably gives public housing residents a sense of happiness, because they can empathize with them and feel they are making a small difference in another person’s life.
I think the reason that people in public housing tip more consistently is because they understand the value and impact of that tip in the individual’s life. They are able to relate more with the delivery persons because they too depend on low income for survival. Most of the individuals in public housing are low income households hence they understand the impact tipping has on the delivery individual. In addition, they could be tipping more because not only do they relate but they relate on a personal level as most of them are in the same positions as the delivery individuals. Positions that depend more on tipping which places them all in a tribe. This means that they support their own when tipping hence the reason they do it consistently. Tipping therefore, also gives them satisfaction and happiness when giving. On the other hand, students at NYU who often come from middle and upper class families do not relate with this tribe. Therefore, they do not understand the value of tipping hence the reason they do it rarely. They fail to connect with the problems that the delivery persons have to go through to survive unlike those in public housing do. There is satisfaction in supporting your own and because most of these students do not relate with these individuals, giving them tips becomes a rare occurrence.
The main reason I think is that people from NYU always are students. And they came from everywhere. For me, I came from China. I don't have a habit to give a tip. If I go to the restaurant, I will give a tip. But from the app like doordash, I think the tip is from the service fee and so on. So for most students, they don't know much about the deliver's tip. Moreover, in the takeaway app, in addition to the cost of food, taxes, and fees, there are service fees and delivery fees, so in general, the average person may think that the tip is already included. But in public households, they understand the meaning of tipping from such workers. They may come more from this type of work, so they will be more generous and pay more attention to the importance of tipping. Therefore, paying a tip is a priority, not a kind of giving.
Huiwen Xu
While reading the article, the first thought that crossed my mind was whether I personally tipped the delivery guys or not. I have to admit I never do. I think they are two main reasons for this. The first one is that tipping your delivery guy in not as common as tipping your waiter in a restaurant. I always do tip my waiter when I go to the restaurant, whether that's in the U.S. (where it's almost an obligation) or whether it's in Europe (where waiter are not necessarily expecting any tip, or a least not a "very generous" one). The second reason I believe is because as students, we live on a tight budget and food delivery is something we rely on pretty frequently when we don't live with our parents. If we tip the delivery guy every time we make an order, we will hit our budget way quicker...
Also, I believe that public housing people tend to tip more often than students because they know the struggle those delivery guys can go through. People living in public housing feel and can relate to the delivery people experience. During last week's class (October 1st 2019) we evoked the fact that low-income people would tend to be solidarity and help one another whereas high-income people would tend to me more individualist. The same phenomenon can be seen here. Concerning happiness, I feel that even though it is true that giving prodigal a feeling of happiness, it varies depending on the person you give to. I personally find it feels more rewarding when you give to a homeless person or someone in need than to a delivery guy.
Allan C.
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