We saw a rise in food delivery apps from 2019 to 2021, with the market for food delivery nearly doubling during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. But the demand didn’t stop even after quarantine was lifted and now it’s a matter of ultra convenience, even with the rising delivery fees that nearly doubles the price of the meal. In 2024, nearly three out of four restaurant orders were not eaten in a restaurant (National Restaurant Association).
Services like Instacart and DoorDash have increasingly dominated this market, with “doordashing” becoming synonymous with “ordering take-out.”
In a recent survey conducted by the National Restaurant Association, they found that about one-third of American adults ordered food for delivery at least once a week.
Specialized in food ordering and delivery, Doordash has risen to the top as the largest food delivery platform in the US. Meanwhile, Instacart has found its niche in becoming one of the leading grocery services in the US. The food delivery industry is booming, but the work conditions for delivery drivers have only gotten worse. During extreme weather conditions when people are most likely to stay home and order food, delivery orders surge amidst hellscapes of weather: sweltering heat, raging snowstorms, and thunderstorms threaten the safety of already exploited delivery drivers.
What exactly goes on behind the scenes when you order a private taxi for your burrito?
Despite record breaking revenue that continue to climb, little of these profits were seen by delivery workers. Pay remains erratic and the tipping model remains obscure: even if customers select to tip through their order, workers often only see a small fraction of it or none at all.
The tips are often even deducted from their pay: Doordash claimed to pay their workers 100% of their tips, but in reality they were found to be subsidizing the dashers’ base salaries with them (offsetting the base pay rather than giving full tips).
Here’s an example of how this works: you’re making a delivery that guarantees you a minimum of $10 and if the customer leaves $0 tip, DoorDash would pay you the entire $10. Now, let’s say the customer tips you $3, then DoorDash would only pay you $7 so you still only receive $10 in total — the customer essentially saved $3 for DoorDash instead of giving you a bonus for your labor.
Because dashing is considered “gig work,” dashers are not actually considered workers but “independent contractors” who are not guaranteed a minimum wage, overtime pay, or insurance of any kind. But things are slowly changing. In NYC, new laws are set to enforce new tipping regulations and expand a minimum wage of $21.44/hr for app-based delivery workers.
DoorDash’s pay model almost forces the workers to entirely rely on tips to make a living: they make around $2/delivery from the company and are not compensated for gas or travel.
Despite this tipping model that allowed DoorDash to pocket the tip meant for workers, they continued to encourage customers to tip at checkout, claiming it 100% went to the workers. But not without consequences: in a recent investigation, DoorDash was charged $16.75m as settlement for workers that did not receive their tips due to their exploitative financial model.
POV of a delivery worker on a bicycle
POV of a delivery worker on a bicycle