Dasher Diary: The Debate of a Recent Over-tip in Amarillo

There is a lot of talk about tipping your delivery drivers in Amarillo. Some people think they pay enough fees through the delivery service that a tip shouldn't be necessary. They feel the delivery company should pay a decent wage. Oh, we wish that they would.

Nope, we get about two dollars per delivery. So if there is not a decent tip you might not get your delivery in a timely manner. Of course, using a delivery service is a luxury for most people. You can get food, drinks, desserts, or whatever delivered.

You don't have to leave your house. You don't have to use your car, your gas, or waste your time waiting for the food. Yes, it is a luxury, especially in the winter months when it is so cold you don't even want to get out of bed.

Recently I had a delivery that made me question a lot of things. I picked up the food from Chick-fil-A on Georgia. I had to travel to North Grand Street to deliver. When I got there the business was closed. I was about to call the customer when I got a message from them:

The customer wanted to make sure I got her message, so she called me as well. She said she would tip me $40 to bring the food to her. I get that I wasted a lot of time traveling to the location of North Grand. So, yes an added tip was necessary. That is just what happens when something like this occurs.

We don't have to make the delivery. We can just call DoorDash and they will cancel the order and make the customer reorder and sometimes repay. That is the customer's fault. So most people do offer to tip and a lot more. It is cheaper than having to reorder and pay all of the fees again. It is also better than not getting the food at all.

Having to go to AmTech was not really out of the way. It was me traveling back to my starting location with a little detour. So I thought the $40 offer was a little overboard. I did call DoorDash Support so they would know why it was taking so long.

When I got to the school and contacted the customer she was going to meet me outside. She had to let her teacher know. So this was a student. Again, there is no way I could take that much money from a student.

When she got outside she apologized again and handed me the $40. I told her there was no way I could take that much money from her. I took some and gave her the rest back. Maybe it wasn't her money, maybe she is loaded, not sure, she didn't act too impressed that I gave her a lot of that money back. So as much as I needed that extra money I wouldn't have felt right about doing it. I did question whether I did the right thing or not. I think I did, regardless.