It’s no secret that delivery drivers rely on tips and apparently some folks are using that to their advantage, offering up a high tip for faster service, only to lower it once they get their delivery. The practice is called “tip-baiting” and one delivery driver in Oregon took to TikTok to blast customers who do this, only to be met by a lot of push back from users.
Owen Lindstrom, who works for UberEats, shared his thoughts on the subject in a post that has since been viewed almost five million times. “In food delivery apps, the customer has the ability to increase or reduce the tips after drop off,” he shared. “Tip baiting is when a customer offers a large tip to get their food faster and then take it away at the end.” He adds, “While it’s good to protect the customer from having bad service by holding the tip over your head, it leave a big opportunity to screw over the driver.”
Owen admits that there really isn’t much of a solution to the problem, except for drivers to only deliver to areas known for having generous tippers.
- But while the practice does seem pretty terrible, many folks on social media actually defended it.
- “Tipping is not automatic or guaranteed. A tip is a reward for great service, not mediocre or basic!” one person commented, while another added “Thanks for info, gonna use this trick to get my food faster.”
- Another argued, “You brought this on yourselves,” noting, “When you ignore deliveries with normal tips it forced customers to do this just to get their food on time.”
- But at least one person took Owen’s side, sharing, “I hate that people would do that. I’ve only ever increased my tip.”
Source: New York Post