DoorDash has added a pop-up in its app this week warning customers that orders with no tip might take longer to get delivered. Upon seeing the prompt in a since-deleted tweet on X, formerly Twitter, The Verge confirmed that if you enter $0 in the tip amount in the DoorDash app while placing an order, an alert appears with the below warning, prompting you to add a tip or continue without a tip:

Orders with no tip might take longer to get delivered — are you sure you want to continue? Dashers can pick and choose which orders they want to do. Orders that take longer to be accepted by Dashers tend to result in slower delivery.

The move appears to be an effort by DoorDash to show customers that drivers are likely going to prioritize more profitable work. According to DoorDash spokesperson Jenn Rosenberg, the prompt is “something that we’re currently testing to help create the best possible experience for all members of our community.”

If they don’t see a tip, they may choose not to take the job. It appears the pilot is not live in every locale; one Verge colleague in New Jersey got it, while another in South Carolina didn’t. (Neither proceeded to place an order without a tip, however!)

Doordash spokesperson Jenn Rosenberg:

Everyday, Dashers go the extra mile to help connect consumers with the best of their local communities. That’s why we encourage customers to show their appreciation by tipping. 

As independent contractors, Dashers have full freedom to accept or reject offers based on what they view as valuable and rewarding. 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. 

This reminder screen is something that we’re currently testing to help create the best possible experience for all members of our community. As with anything we pilot, we look forward to closely analyzing the results and feedback.

While tipping isn’t something anyone who lives in America should be surprised about doing (or should ever consider not doing without a really good reason), pre-tipping is a relatively new concept in our gig economy.

It’s entirely plausible you might be planning to tip your DoorDasher with cash or intend to bestow a giant tip on the driver when they arrive promptly and with piping hot food or perfectly packed groceries, something you can still do in the DoorDash app post-delivery.

The driver preference for pre-tipped orders may be linked to DoorDash’s somewhat convoluted courier payment method, which was reworked following revelations that DoorDash was not giving drivers the full amount of customer tips.

In 2019, DoorDash restructured its payments to drop the controversial “tipped wage” method and pay a base rate with 100 percent of tips going to drivers. The knock-on effect of this, however, makes orders without tips less appealing to drivers.

According to The New York Times, the way DoorDash’s payment structure previously worked was that if a driver got a guaranteed base rate of $6.85 for an order, but the customer tipped $3, the driver would still get $6.85. Now, it seems that an order without a tip will show at that base rate, which DoorDash says ranges from $2 to $10 “depending on the estimated time, distance, and desirability of the order.”

The difference is that the driver gets to keep all of any tip given, but without knowing they are getting one, you can see why they’d pick a $6 order (where the customer included a $4 tip) over a $2 order and the hope that the customer plans to tip.

A person claiming to be a former DoorDash driver posted on X that he often passed up offers where no tip was included, as those with tips had more of a guarantee for his time. “If you want to wait an extra 1-2 hours to get your food, then don’t add an extra dollar or two,” is his advice.

Update October 31st, 4PM ET: Added statement from DoorDash confirming the message is part of a test it’s piloting.