Is $3 a good tip for Doordash?

If you’ve been using Doordash or any competitor, you sure know that tipping is a big deal for drivers as it can make a lot of difference

This article will cover the question asked from the perspective of an experienced food delivery driver in the industry, Ebubechukwu Isaiah.

Is $3 a good tip for Doordash?

The truth is, there’s no one way to tip, at least, that is recommended by Doordash.

For instance, many trusted resources “recommend” customers tip drivers a minimum of 15-20% per order they make on the platform.

And for a reason…

This is basically the standard way of tipping in many industries – barbing, traditional restaurants– you name them.

Also, this works well and is generally accepted on Doordash (but never a yardstick – you could tip higher, you know?;).

So what happens when you tip $3 on Doordash? and is it a good tip?

Typically it depends.

If you were making an order with a total of less than $20, $3 is an average tip that would be welcomed by most drivers, depending on a couple of other factors such as the total distance, the time of the day, weather conditions, etc.

For most people, however, $4 – $5 is the recommended minimum tip.

But as we said earlier, it all depends.

Let’s take a look at the aforementioned factors that play into how much you should tip and whether $3 is good.

1. Worth and Size of your order – Are you ordering a lot of things? If the total of your order is above $20, you may want to follow the 15-20% tipping standard.
2. Distance – For drivers, it’s not just about the total of an order. In fact, the biggest factor in accepting an order for drivers is the distance and time it takes to deliver them. The farther the distance, the higher in amount the tip is expected to be. Note that drivers have to drive from their current location to the restaurant before getting to you.
3. Time of the day – for orders during peak time, tips are expected to be a bit higher. This is because, drivers are usually busy during these times, as the demand would usually be high.
4. Weather conditions – remember, tipping is a thank-you gift. If the weather condition is bad you might need to say a bigger thank you ;).

Usually, anywhere from $3-$5 is a good tip at minimum. But you should always try keeping up to 15%-20% if you can.

Why does tipping make so much impact on Doordash? Why is it a big deal?

The truth about tipping on most delivery platforms is that they kinda make up the major part of driver’s revenue on the platform.

Why?

Well, Tipping on Doordash (as well as other food delivery platform) is more of a practice than not.

In fact, if you don’t tip before your delivery, there are fewer chances you’ll get your order accepted by a driver unless your location isn’t busy enough.

To simply put, the base pay of food delivery companies to drivers is usually nothing to write home about. So, as a supplementary, the tipping makes up for it.

On average, drivers earn around $1-3 per mile (per order) as base pay depending on the location, and a couple of other factors Doordash puts in place, such as:

1. The total distance needed to be covered by the dasher (as we said earlier)
2. Time of the day
3. An estimate of the time that’ll be spent
4. Traffic
5. The desirability of the order

However, this is what Doordash tells us.

Also, a single delivery takes over 30mins to complete on average, considering the time taken to drive to and fro, as well as the time spent in the restaurant.

Without Tipping in place, making even a minimum wage on Doordash won’t be possible.

And as said earlier, this is not just a Doordash thing but applies to several other delivery platforms like Ubereats, Deliveroo, Grubhub, etc.

So what about the delivery fee?

Most people think the delivery fee on Doordash goes directly to drivers. And of course, it should, right? Since Doordash already charges a service fee and a couple of other charges, the delivery fee going to drivers is not a bad idea?

Well, that’s not exactly the case.

The delivery fee goes to Doordash, who then pays drivers what they receive (their base pay), an amount that is calculated based on a couple of factors listed above and independent of the delivery.

In fact, Tips are the only pay that goes in 100% to drivers, without a cut.

Final Thoughts

Tipping on Doordash is totally flexible.

However, for determining whether a $3 tip would be worth it, put in other factors, such as the distance needed to be covered, time is taken, the worth of the order you’re making and if you’ve got any serious instruction that may need to be followed.

However, it’s worth mentioning that the pretty much standard minimum tip is $3- $5 and 15%-20% (for orders above the minimum tip).