Photo: TikTok
Is $1.50 enough for a tip?
By Ethan Cotler — Written on Feb 25, 2023
How much is enough of a tip for your food delivery driver?
Most of us don’t think much about it, and certainly not as much as the drivers do.
They are independent contractors who receive a small commission from the app for each job they complete, so they rely on tips to get enough money in order to make the job profitable.
One man cried after paying $3 for parking to deliver an order and receiving a $1.50 tip.
The driver, Riley Elliot, claims to have spent 45 minutes on a delivery and had to pay for parking because the customer refused to meet him outside.
In addition to the $1.50 tip, the app the driver works for, UberEats, paid him $2.50.
He profited just $1 from the delivery without factoring in fuel costs.
“I got to prove three times the rent for income in two weeks. And I can’t,” Elliot says. “It doesn’t matter that I’m working multiple jobs. It doesn’t matter that I barely sleep and can barely afford to feed myself.”
The driver went on to detail his bouts of homelessness and calling out low-tipping customers.
“I’m about to be homeless for the third time since May,” he says. “It’s all because people don’t tip their delivery drivers. How hard is it to throw us $5?”
Not everyone sympathizes with Elliot's concerns about low tippers.
“[The app] tells you how much money you gonna make, distance, and estimated time of delivery. His fault for taking it,” one user posted in the YouTube comments.
“Either switch your job or move somewhere more affordable. Stop blaming people for tips,” another user wrote.
Some people, however, shifted the blame toward the app instead.
“It’s not the customer’s responsibility to make up for the poor wages a company pays its employees,” one user posted.
“It is the company’s responsibility to pay their workers a fair wage,” another wrote.
A person on TikTok called his character into question over the tipping video.
A TikTok user named SuSu replied with their own video claiming to be his best friend for over 10 years.
SuSu states that Elliot is not a hard worker and even covered his and his partner’s rent when they lived together.
However, no evidence suggests the TikTok user actually knows the man in the original video.
In fact, the video is likely sarcasm as several other users weighed in with comments that had equally exaggerated claims.
“I’ve known him for almost 8 years and this is spot on,” one user wrote. “His friends got tired of [his] '[woe] is me' self-pitying attitude.”
Regardless of the claims, the video generated a lot of backlash which was directed toward Elliot, who has since deleted the original video.
Many users commented on the GoFundMe he started subsequent to the original viral video.
They claim it had a $100,000 goal, which he shifted to $50,000 after the outpouring of donations.
Elliot amassed around $55,000 from the campaign.
“What a scam artist,” one user commented. “Somebody needs to stop him.”
“Everyone should report the GoFundMe for fraud,” another user wrote.
Despite the backlash, customers on food delivery apps should continue to tip their drivers provided they can afford it.
Most drivers rely on tips to make up for their fuel costs, so not tipping makes the service nearly impossible to function.
Getting food delivered is a luxury for some and a necessity for others, so tip well and tip often.
Ethan Cotler is a writer living in Boston. He writes on entertainment and news.