DoorDash warns diners: If you don’t tip, expect a longer wait

Tipping can be confusing these days, with various added service charges and fees. But sometimes, it comes down to a simple proposition: Not tipping at all can be a bad thing.

That's what DoorDash is telling its customers via a pilot program that it started testing this year in which customers who enter an order and choose no tip for the delivery person might have to wait longer to get their food. The company offered details this week about how the feature works, after warning messages started showing up in consumers' apps. Some people who choose the option of a zero tip were met with a screen letting them know: "Orders with no tip might take longer to get delivered - are you sure you want to continue?" They are then given the choice to add a tip or continue without one - at their peril.

The company explained that the system, which is being tested in random locations around the U.S. and Canada, is intended to create incentives against cheapskates.

"As independent contractors," the delivery workers, called Dashers, "have full freedom to accept or reject offers based on what they view as valuable and rewarding," DoorDash spokeswoman Jenn Rosenberg said in a statement. "While the vast majority of customers do leave a tip, offers that don't include a tip can be seen as less desirable - this impacts our entire community, leading to longer wait times for customers, orders sitting longer at merchants, and less value for Dashers."

» READ MORE: DoorDash is accused of ‘thwarting’ Philadelphia’s cap on food-delivery fees

The company said it has seen a "meaningful reduction" in zero-tip orders under the pilot, but declined to give specifics. It said it would analyze the results and the feedback and could make it permanent nationwide.

DoorDash described the system as a win-win-win for diners, Dashers and restaurants. "When consumers leave a tip, Dashers are more likely to accept their order because of the value they find in it. This drives positive delivery experiences for consumers, which in turn drives satisfied, repeat consumers for merchants," the company explained on its website. "On the flipside, orders without a tip are less appealing to Dashers and thus are more likely to be rejected by them, which may result in a consumer's food sitting longer at a merchant's restaurant. That leads to consumers experiencing longer wait times as Dashers potentially decline their orders and in turn, a lower quality experience for all members of the DoorDash community."

Reaction among customers seems mixed so far. Some said on social media that the setup seems fair. "Not wanting to tip door dash drivers and still wanting fast service is actually insane," one tweeted. "You deserve cold food every single time."

Others, though, complained about having to choose a tip before their interaction with a delivery person - a setup that is the reverse of tipping in restaurants, where diners might base their tips on how well their server did. "The entitlement of DoorDash drivers has reached its pinnacle," another wrote. "I refuse to 'pre-tip.' How has that insanity even taken hold?"

DoorDash is the largest food-delivery service in the United States, leading other giants UberEats and Grubhub. Consolidation in the industry - the big companies have gobbled up rivals - has given them added leverage. Some cities adopted caps on the fees delivery companies could charge customers, but many of those have lapsed as the delivery companies pushed against them.

The tipping experiment appears to be part of DoorDash’s efforts to quell dissatisfaction among drivers. In June, it announced that it was giving Dashers the option of being paid an hourly rate, in addition to tips, instead of the traditional way they have traditionally earned money, which depended on how many trips they could make.