Food & Drink Aug 26, 2015 at 4:00 am

The On-Demand Service Conveniently Delivers Any Dish to Your Doorstep, but at a Cost to Food-Service Workers

“It creates resentment for everybody except the people who can afford the service.”

Comments

1
I worked for postmates for a brief period the tough part about tipping the restaurants is that you can't predict what the customer will tip upon delivery. It was possible to know that certain customers (businesses) would be generous but I had a few times that I would lose money on a delivery because I tried to do right by the cooks in the back. An hourly wage would be a good solution for the couriers and most likely improve relations via the trickle down. There was also a large amount of resentment from restaraunts that were receiving an increase in take out orders during their busiest times, answering the phone while you have a full dining room is infuriating at times.
2

I swear to that unholiest of unholies I sold my soul to, that restaurant workers are some of the most sniveling twunts in existence.

Boohoo, you only got paid your wage to do a job.

Ask for a raise to cover whatever you feel you are owed from a third party. I am sure you are such a valued employee that the boss will pay you twice whatever anybody else will.

3
@2 I am sitting here with actual beads of actual sweat dripping down my face because I've been mopping floors and scrubbing toilets to cap off my already long day. If you want to act like my work is worth "only my wage" (at $10/hr) I invite you to come in and close with me for a night, cleaning the living shit out of every surface in the place after spending a night racing around the floor making sure everyone gets their bunless sandwiches and dressing on the side. It's not that I'm not a valued employee. I scrub these toilets because I work for good people and I'm happy to help them run a clean, pleasant business--one that we can all take pride in. The bosses love us for doing the dirty work and treat us as well as they can afford to. But can they pay me the $25-30/hr I make with tips? Not currently, no. So until America figures out what exactly the hourly value of restaurant work is (thank you Renee Erickson and Jerry Traunfeld for being the proverbial canaries in the proverbial mineshafts) and agrees to pay commensurate food prices, I'm working for tips. Me and my fellow waitrons can't ask for a raise to the hourly equivalent without breaking the business model. I wrote this article because it's extremely frustrating to work for tips and see a large, celebrated corporation skirt the system to its own benefit. So before you go off accusing restaurant employees of being entitled, think for a second about the realities of the situation. Or pick up a fucking mop and see what it's actually like before you post about it on the internet. Also, before you even go on the whole "get an education and a different career if you hate it so much" trip, I have one, I'm using it to the best of my goddamn abilities and the reality of the situation is that I have to sling plates to make ends meet. I'm not bitter about it, but I'm also not trying to hear that demeaning, oversimplified bullshit ever again. So please, if all you trolls out there want to make this thread an accusation of restaurant employees, don't. Say something meaningful and insightful and constructive. It won't kill you, I promise.
4

@2, +1

Restaurant workers shouldn't get Tips period. Postmarked shouldn't tip workers jack shit. And people call for takeout because restaurant is busy. Or, don't want to deal with whiny waiters who want a tip.

Tip for what? Doing your job? Fuck You!

I work at at a major grocery store in Cap Hill. Tip me for bagging your food you food order taking bitches.

And Dave Meinart don't like Postmates because his workers don't get tipped. Fuck You DM! If it bothers you that much, pay them more. You RICH CUNT$!$ you get paid when Postmates call. You're the owner, break your workers off a piece. If not, then don't cry over Postmates.

I'm not going to tip for someone who's being paid by a Millionaire to do their job.

That's what people hate. The GREEDY nature of restaurant workers. Tip Me, Tip Me. I Took Your Order, Tip Me. I Made Your Drink, Tip Me. I Work In A Restaurant/Bar, TIP ME!!!

How's it feel to be like the rest of us? What!, I can't hear you. Your grocery clerk gets no tip. Department Store sales person gets no tip. Fast food worker gets no tip. On and on. Yet you bitches cry. Welcome to the real world. You can bet that I won't tip at a place that is mentioned in this comment section. Or in the Article itself.

5
Who tips a full 20-25% for takeout or order-at-counter service? Not me. Not anybody I know. The split betwen the front and back of house isn't my business. If the service fee was 15% or $5, whichever was greater, and the delivery person got that, they could then decide to throw half at the kitchen -or not- and face the fallout. Postmates could take the $5 delivery fee. ($10 minimum fee for those of you playing along at home.)
6
Also, if Dave Meinart don't like Postmates, then don't accept their business. Simple as that.

Same goes to other Business whiners too.

It goes back to Groupon. Restaurants didn't like to honor a Groupon. Yet they signed up for the Groupon.

Tghis is the same. You no likee, no do business with Food Delivery services.
7
It doesn't make sense to tip on a takeout order. That's a retail transaction, no different than buying food at a grocery store.
9
We just need to do away with tipping altogether. It's fucking ridiculous. I go to a restaurant and order a $16 burger and then I pay add an extra $2.50 to the price of that burger for the server to be nice to me? I don't see any logic in this.
Also, it seems bad for the servers as well. I mean, if the server is having a bad day and doesn't smile enough of whatever, the customer can just choose not to tip. Hell, the customer could choose to not tip their server simply because they didn't like their face.
I can't imagine getting paid less everytime I'm shitty at work. Why would people want that?
10
I tend to agree that we should eliminate tipping altogether and just pay people more, but that only works if we PAY PEOPLE MORE. The current compensation model for service employees includes tipping. I tip for take out orders, though generally not as high a percentage as I do for sit down service.
11
Who the hell tips on a pick-up order, when you're just picking up food in a bag and paying for it at the bar/front counter? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Postmates is a service for picking up to-go orders, and nothing more. Ignoring this fact renders this article ridiculous. Tobias Coughlin-Bogue, find me a dozen people who tip a to-go order (This not a delivery where a restaurant brings it to you), and I'll have a bridge in Brooklyn I can sell to you.
12
For Pizza delivery, I Tip $5. For Food Delivery $5 if the food I order is under $25. Not including Delivery Service fees. If it's over $30, then it's between $7-$10 depending on how fast I get it.
13
Don't blame Postmates for the American restaurant industry's broken wage system. Speaking as a Courier, we would never tip unless a customer wanted to tip. Where have they erred? Should Postmates automatically have Couriers decide how much to tip every single time? 100% of tips are written by a human on the receipt. We're not going to stand there while signing a check and do the math of a tip. Another thing that needs to be considered is if we DID tip restaurants, and assuming we would be upfront about this fact (which is not always possible, as not all restaurants have their menus in our system, so sometimes when a customer places the order, we don't yet know what the final total will be when they view it, only the service & delivery fees), it's that if customers knew that sit-down restaurants with a tip line would include an additional fee for the tip, it would dis-incentivize customers from wanting to order tacos from a sitdown restaurant where they'd hypothetically face this additional cost when they could just as easily order from Chipotle, where there are no tips. Again, this is entire article is using Postmates as a strawman for railing against the existence of tips in the restaurant industry. If you want to criticize that, I'm all for ending tips and paying a better wage, but don't act like Postmates is behaving any differently than most regular people who DON'T tip on pick-up orders, or any other food takeout/fast food restaurant where the workers ALSO "slather mayonnaise on your sandwich" in the same way the a tipping restaurant does. Are fastfood workers in the back kitchen somehow less deserving of a tip than the same guy at a different restaurant??
14
In closing, Postmates develops relationships with an increasing number of local restaurants, not just the larger national chains like 7-11 and Chipotle, among others, to increase their business. I'm a Courier in a different city from Seattle, but we have many local restaurants, both sit-down and take-out (bakeries, smoothie shops, etc) whom we've designated as "4.99 favorites," so that they receive even more orders where the distance fee isn't capped at $4.99. If the "restaurant industry hates Postmates," then yell at the owners of the restaurants who want to increase their take-out orders
15
@3 Pleanty of people are mopping floors and scrubbing toilets for less than $10 an hour. Nobody feels sorry for a GED hopeful that gets $25 an hour for most of their shift. You are performing light manual labor and minimal customer service in an air conditioned environment and if you have any game at all you can get blown by a coworker after your shift. Dont like it then try construction.
16
I have never seen so many people bitching about throwing down an extra couple bucks for handmade food. Restaurant work is very hard work. I am a line cook & dish wench at a Cap Hill bar/ restaurant. I have bruises all over my legs from crashing into the speed rack or kegs in the walk-in, regularly catch hot oil on my arms, slice my hands on cardboard boxes, pinch my neck & shoulders spraying down 1000s of dishes, have tennis elbow and nerve damage in my palm from an improperly-installed dish pit sprayer, destroy my knees scrubbing low shelves and reach-in fridges, kill my back standing/ running around for up to 10hr shifts. You have management rushing you and pressuring you to cut down on waste and labor, you have servers who give you 'tude because your 15-top ticket is taking just a bit of time to fulfill, and after work, as a bonus, you get harassed by drunk patrons while trying to enjoy a few minute of peace with your shift beer before you go home to bed so you can do it all over again the next day.

I LITERALLY LIVE OFF MY TIPS. By the way I have a 4 year degree and am trained in A/V, however, this sort of work is the only thing I can get lately in seattle thanks to Amazon importing workers. Not that I want to get chewed up in THAT machine.

My point being- food service is hard work. And so is retail. I would ABSOLUTELY LOVE TO TIP my grocery bagger....but I go to the food bank and eat at my job. Please tip.
17
Current postmate courier here, and I've thought long and hard about the tip issue (as have most of the couriers). Just want to make a few corrections to this article (to be fair the company is difficult to get real information out of). The current system for how couriers get paid includes payment for wait time at restaurants, unlike what the ex-courier is quoted saying. This is due to the fact that Postmates is constantly tinkering/changing their pay system and made this big change back in April. There are now many restaurants (including Honeyhole) that include a special Postmates surcharge. Seems like a pretty reasonable response that more aggrieved restaurant owners should consider. To be fair, every time I go into Honeyhole the bartender is pretty chill to me. I rarely encounter hostility though sometimes people are cold/unhelpful. That said, considering the way some couriers act on the facebook page I can only imagine what they're doing in restaurants. There's lots of lame entitled people on both sides of the restaurant door, I wish people would focus more on solving problems than complaining about each other.
19
@working stiff, I don't give a fuck how hard you think your job is over other jobs. And I'm not gonna "throw a couple of bucks....." Fuck you WS. Don't tell me or others what to do with our hard earned money.
20
#3,
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!eleventy!!
I have cleaned my share of toilets, and have had at least two menial jobs in my life, just make sure you pumice off the black ring, and always leave the seats up to dry.
$10 bucks an hour!! You must be an absolute loser, I pay my janitor far more than that to clean my companies thrones.
At home, I do them MYSELF, because I can clean all three baths, in far less than an hour.
I've had lots of practice. Having put myself through college cleaning things, that was valuable skills when I entered the Marine Corps, and after I left, my spouses liked that I would clean things. (Here's your tip Sparky, women like a Guy that will clean things, if you know what I mean.)
I guess you missed the part about whiners, I sad they were "the most sniveling twunts in existence".
21
You know what? Get off your duff and go to the restaurant. Enjoy a fine meal in a nice place with friendly waitpersons and tip them the money you would have spent on delivery fees.
22
The 80/20 split has long been gone for Postmates in Seattle. They rolled to a time+ distance model on April 8th. $1.60 base + $1.20/mile + $0.15/minute wait time.

Then they changed the pay structure, on July 17th, which is now is now $2.00 base price + $1.09/mile (from restaurant to drop off) + $0.15/ minute wait time at the restaurant.

They still charge the customers a delivery charge based on the previous payout model.
23
Some restaurants are adding an automatic 10% gratuity in SF for Postmates orders. Do this. I'm a courier, and I want you to have your money. I really do.

Try being a courier sometime, see how much we make (spoiler, it's less than a restaurant worker), then you'll understand why I wouldn't want to tip out of my own pocket for food I don't get to eat.

But have the owner add the 10% gratuity to the bill. I'll be happy for you. I WANT you to make money. Especially if it helps the food come out faster, because I also lose money when someone wastes my time.
24
/getting kind of tired of hearing from put-upon restaurant workers. You aren't building the pyramids at the end of a whip, you're making dinner. Don't like it? Get a new job! Please, get a new job -- take classes to expand your skill set and obtain a better paying, less whiny job. Someone else will gladly take your current position.
26
Thill Killer and Slam1263 sound like middle-aged pricks who have lost touch with the realities of living off of service work.

That said, I voted for $15 an hour so that this is shit I don't have to think about. Tips are unfair and demeaning and ridiculous. I have often found servers in countries that don't tip to be MORE courteous, probably because they have the peace of mind of consistent pay and a social safety net. Most american waitstaff are one paycheck away from homelessness.
27
Man, I'll never get over how unprofessional it is to verbally bitchslap the commenters on your article.

Ever wonder if maybe you're getting such shitty pay because your attitude is only $10/hour tolerable? If you don't want to clean toilets at your job, get a new job. If you're cleaning toilets as a means to an end, clean the fucking toilet and take the wage you agreed to.
28
I wish the topic of this article was a little more broad than just a single business. I live and work on the east side of the lake, and Peach Delivery typically brings me a lunch about once per week. I would be curious to know if the system described in the article is specific to Postmates, or if it's more general to the industry with other companies like this. My assumption was that the cost of tipping was built into the price of the meal, as well as the delivery fee (a $1 convenience fee, in Peach's case).
29
@27 I don't , actually. And it's not unprofessional, it's heartfelt. You want to make negative ad hominem comments with impunity, find an inanimate object to belittle.

If you read/comprehended what I posted, you'd realize I don't make $10/hr. I make $10/hr + tips. If it were easy to "get a new job" that paid $25+/hr and didn't involve cleaning toilets, I'd do it. But it ain't exactly like that. And anyway I'm happy to do it for how much I actually make with tips. But I'm not happy when people circumvent the tipping system in a sneaky way. I'd much rather see that system done away with, but until then this is what we got. I'm for the 10% fee, I'm for a commensurate wage, but that shit ain't exactly widespread right now. Exploiting that fact is wrong, and that's the premise of the article.

@28 Most other services I found contract with restaurants that already offer delivery and take a cut of the transaction. But the restaurant's staff is still providing the delivery and receiving the tip. Postmates is relatively unique in that they offer delivery from places that don't do it already or they provide delivery from places that already have it but do it outside of their system.
31
WTF, it's a take out order. Nobody tips on a take-out order. Tipping is for the service waitstaff provide, not the people who make the food. Those people should be paid a living wage.
33
The comment section at the Seattle Times or Fox News is more civil than most of the shit posted above.
34
I have to say, waitstaff have the market cornered on figuring out ways to complain about every facet of their job.

I swear, every person I have ever known who waited tables has always whined nonstop about everything involved with the job. Yet, they never seem to stop waiting tables.
35
On one hand, I've been a server in restaurants where I sometimes processed and packaged to-go orders. It involved a fair amount of work and took me away from my tables, often during our busiest periods. When I pick up an order for one or two people from a full-service restaurant, I don't tip a percentage but I'll leave at least 2 or 3 bucks. In cash.

But last week I bought a loaf of bread at the counter of a restaurant/bakery and paid with a card. The cashier handed me a tablet to sign, and I had to choose a tip option (ranging from "none" to 25%) to complete the transaction. There's something about having to go such a step in that situation that's off-putting.
36
Gee, a new service doesn't play in to the bizarre possibly racist illogical inconsistent local tradition of tipping. How terrible.
37
@29, what makes you think you deserve a Tip? Just because you work in a Restaurant/Bar? Unh-Uh. There are plenty of people who make $10 hr in Seattle. You are NOT SPECIAL. So fuck to you and your tip. When was the last time you tipped the gas station, or 7-11 worker? Of your grocery checker? If you don't tip those that make what you make. They you're a Hypocrite.
38
Perhaps the greatest failing of our greatly failing public school system is the transfer of a basic understanding of economics:

You work in a restaurant.
Other people are willing to do that work. And for less.
You don't have to do that job. You can choose to do another job that pays more.
However, you will have to do more, better or for less than the person that is already doing that job.

If you are not paid as much as you think you're worth, its because everyone around you thinks you could be replaced by someone else for the same amount.

If you are only paid the minimum wage, its because your work quality or productivity level isn't any higher than "just anyone else available."

Employers don't set wages. Employees do – by agreeing to take the wage.

Your wage-earning potential is about your worth to others. Your wage-taking potential is about getting other people (unions, policy-makers) to steal from others, for you.
39
In 12-15 months Postmates will be defunct and nothing but a memory like so many Web 3.0 companies and this thread will be one of the few historical records of it's meaningless existence.
40
I totally agree with @37, why do wait staff and restaurants think they should get a tip but sniff at the idea of a McDonald's worker doesn't get it. I think a living wage is a great idea, I think tips are horrible.

I disagree with #38 above, if you give 8 hours of your life a day, you deserve to be paid for the 8 hours you sacrifice.

Do I feel bad a waiter isn't getting $35 an hour because of tips? Not at all. A wait person gets paid far in excess of anyone else in the back of the kitchen (I worked back for years so please don't try and say you tip out the back people). The cook, the dishwasher, all of them work just as hard as a waiter and they are just as important (especially the cook).

Maybe the owner of the restaurant needs to start paying decent. However, either way I will continue to use a delivery service and as a general rule not feel bad about crying waitstaff until they stand up and demand the other minimum wage workers get paid decently as well.
41
This is the dumbest thing I've read all week. I generally tip $1-2 on my take-out orders to cover the cost of packaging but I certainly don't feel obliged. Avoiding the tip is part of the reason I order take-out!

Paying postmates or some other delivery service to pick it up is the exact same thing from the restaurant's perspective and provides another paying job for the courier. If it is really such a problem a restaurant could always say dine-in only but they wouldn't do that because they still make money on take-out orders. Even if you don't get a tip that revenue is part of what keeps the business solvent and pays the wage portion of your paycheck.
42
I only order have Postmates deliver Taco Bell or Dick's. Am I still a jerk?
43
I sure TYPE like a jerk.
44
More whining from the restaurant industry...
45
@41 Another crazy part of this is that take-out orders are potentially quite profitable. They need to provide less table space (square footage in a city is expensive!), dishes, linen, and even waitstaff. It allows them to basically increase the volume of business without costing anything more than ingredients and kitchen capacity. I don't understand why any profit-seeking restaurant owner would have a "dine-in only" policy, unless it's to drive liquor sales.
46
When I worked at a bar/restaurant the cook made $20/hr no tips with set hours, I was a bartender/waitress making $8.00/hr+tips and my hours were contingent on how late the bar crowd wanted to stay drinking and spending. It was our arrangement that any tips on take out orders went to the cook only, and that was the only time he got tips. As a service staff my involvement in take out orders was equal to what a cashier does at a grocery store.
47
@45 - Can't answer your question, but that's a decent guess. The more popular restaurants in my neighborhood either have a "no takeout Thurs-Sat" rule, or ask you to call to see if takeout is available that night. It seems clear to me that customers eating in are their priority, whether that's for reasons of sustainability (locals keep restaurants afloat and staff paid—delivery can come from anywhere) or simply drink sales I don't know.
48
Wow, there's a lot of people in here living in some kind of fantasy world where workers and employers are on even ground, pretending that workers "agree" to take their low wages when they really don't have a choice. That's what unions were for, leveling the playing field, and those aren't so popular anymore. Tips are a shitty way to transfer the responsibility of fair wages from the employer onto the customers, but everyone is mad at the employees for some reason.

Instead of being upset at the restaurant workers for wanting more money than other typical low wage jobs, why not ask why those jobs aren't better paid? So much rage directed towards the little guys, it's incredible. Maybe instead of being mad at the delivery drivers, we could be mad at the restaurant owners who are knowingly making more money while leaving less to their workers. Delivery drivers get screwed too, restaurant people; they're not cheating you out of your tips because they're sadists and enjoy hurting you. Take it up with their employers. Oh sorry, they're "independent contractors" and are self-employed (fuck you, postmates).
49
@11: I and lots of others tip on takeout orders. Not 20 percent, of course, but maybe a couple of bucks on a $20 order. Those people preparing the food are working just as hard whether I'm eating in or taking out.

Not everyone is as cheap as you.
50
Alright, I just realized that postmates doesn't necessarily have any agreements with any restaurants. The owners don't really get much of a choice in the matter since the postmates contractors go in and make takeout orders like normal customers. So boooooo postmates even more.

The rest of my previous comment may apply to other delivery services that contract with restaurants directly.
51
@46.......What about the dishwashers, what was their hourly pay? Did they receive any tips, did they have specific hours or where they expected to stay until all of the dishes were washed?
52
@45, recently ate at a smaller thai restaurant in West Seattle and the person who was taking take-out orders was swamped and was also responsible for waiting on customer tables. They were the only person in the front of the house and it was pretty miserable service. They also had a policy of 2 hrs before they'd cancel a delivery order and it sounds like customers were calling angry that it was approaching that time frame.

Yes, it's a structural problem, but I know her tips were suffering in house and the delivery driver was probably going to get stiffed a bunch too.
53
It's awesome to hear so much talk from back-of-house workers about their plans to organize and pressure their bosses to pay a fair wage! Just kidding, I'm only hearing them whine about how the public doesn't tip them enough for take-out orders. Maybe you guys should go on strike against your customers. I'm sure your bosses would love that.
54
Wow, so much rage on Slog these days. If Postmates is already getting a 20% cut off of their poor "contractors" just for maintaining a simple ordering app, why are they also charging the customer a service fee? When I see a service fee, I think it is for tipping the driver/server. I'd bet I'm not the only one so mistaken. So the greedball jackals who run this company are robbing their "contractors". What a surprise, not! If there were no service charge more people would tip, like we always tip pizza delivery people.
It's bizarre that so many conservatives and women-haters hang around Slog and liberal/progressive sites, reading stuff and raging. Free tip, dudes. Anger and hate put your body in stress response. Very BAD for your heart; reading Slog and hating on everything and everyone is going to end with you having a stroke or a bursted aneurysm, likely while you're sitting there foaming and spitting and pounding at your keyboard.
55
@29 “If it were easy to "get a new job" that paid $25+/hr and didn't involve cleaning toilets, I'd do it. But it ain't exactly like that.”
Easy???
Who the fuck told you your whiney ass is entitled to easy???
No sympathy.
I tip (often generously), but only for truly exceptional service in this brave new $15/hr world.
56
@52

Yep. What's the best is when the drivers/couriers stand in the window asking the busy cooks questions and/or asking how much longer it will be and totally getting in the way of FOH staff. Another good one is when you look at the fax at a restaurant in Seattle and see that it was ordered from somewhere in like Bellevue.
57
@51 -- it was a staff of three people, two bartenders for the two shifts that drinks were served, and one cook for the one shift that the kitchen was open.
58
How does this work for normal delivery. Eg if i tip the zeeks delivery guy how much does he tip out?
60
"By the way I have a 4 year degree and am trained in A/V, however, this sort of work is the only thing I can get lately in seattle thanks to Amazon importing workers."
oh, that's a convenient target. Maybe you can't get a better job because you whine, and suck.
61
You know what? I think that the people posting here who say they work in a Restaurant/Bar should name where they work at.
62
#26
I already mentioned the whiners.
As for being middle aged, we worked to get were we are, or at least, I did.

After having to listen to the Children from the Age of Entitlement whine about having to put some effort into this Game called Life, I really don't care.
When I cleaned toilets, I was the best damned toilet cleaner on my crew. It got me noticed, and advanced. But that is what I did with every single one of the dozens of jobs I had, being the best employee was the way to get ahead.

If a restaurant can't pay it's workers $15, they should close their doors. If you don't like what you are being paid, ask for more. If the boss says no, walk on them.
Quit being passive/aggressive cowards.
63
This "new" article is written as though anyone participating in this free marketplace is doing so at gunpoint - somehow forced to participate. The Stranger should change it's name to The Victim, since it seems to cater to nothing but the faux, self-appointed victim class.
64
Throughout my life I've had over a dozen jobs in a range of fields, including bartender, bar-back, and bus boy. I completely relied on tips for those particular jobs and still think the system is BS. Yeah, it is difficult work. But one of my other jobs was substitute teacher for at-risk youth, and I found that to be substantially more difficult. It didn't pay well and there were no tips. I also worked the front desk at several busy hotels, as a cashier and sales person at retail stores, and as a cashier and food preparer at Boston Market and chain pizza, none of which paid well either.

I understand that given the current BS structure where employers pass off costs to customers tipping is necessary and having worked in the service industry I usually do tip at least 20%. But the idea that tipping needs to happen for a takeout order is ridiculous and highlights the entitled, bratty, and self-righteous attitude so many servers have. It's infuriating. In other countries tipping servers is either non-existent or minimal. I hope that with the minimum wage increase that becomes the norm here.
65
Let me get this straight. Postmates pays for drivers, who do all the work moving the orders. The restaurant gets paid for the food, as if you had placed a pick-up order.

So restaurants are annoyed because they are not getting paid for a service they didn't provide, and which cost them nothing? Ridiculous.
66
I currently work for Postmates and have been for almost a year. I make on average at least 20$ to 25$ an hour. I don't average it out per day because yes there are some days that are just horrible, I do it weekly and then monthly which all averages out. I felt really awful in the beginning about not being able to tip the restaurant on that $200 bill of pizzas or whatever for the Amazon down the street. That being said, we all do what we have to do to make money. If you're in the restaurant industry and want to make a steady amount you can only guarantee that set amount you were hired on at. I love the fact that couriers don't make a set amount, you make your own money on your own time. I know the times of day that I make the most and have the least traffic, so I go during that time. I went from working 40+ hours a week busting my ass to 20 - 25 hours with Postmates and making double my monthly salary. Half the time, double the money. The chefs in the back who make the food are getting paid more than the waiting staff out front because of tips. The more I've worked, learned, and experienced the industry no, I don't feel bad one bit. I'm sorry you took the 5 minutes to box and ring up my order but that's not my problem, companies in my area (one I've come across) doesn't accept Postmates, which is their decision. Point being, that the 200$ order with no tip is still going into the owners pocket regardless. If you hate it that much, ban it. Starbucks and Postmates have now merged - which is another option. I am a generous tipper when I go out because I was a barista for years so I know how it feels to spend all your energy at work and have not a whole lot to show for it. The waiters who have the guaranteed $10 whereas the order I just did got $5 commission and a $0 tip that took the same amount of time. I don't want a flat rate plus tips for Postmates because it will create more animosity between all 3 parties instead of just the 2. I'm tired of seeing all the negative feedback from couriers that "tried it for a day" or just had a bad experience altogether which is fine, but If you steadily do the work and figure what time works best for you and the platform, you will make that amount and spend less time.
67
I've worked in the service industry, and I'm truly so confused on why anybody would be expected to tip on a take out order. I have literally never heard of that. Usually, if I'm picking up and order and I'm given a slip to sign, I'll leave a few bucks. But I always thought that was a courtesy- never something I was expected to do, especially not at the same 15%-20% rates...

Even for dining in orders, I've never had a back of house tip out of anything more than single digit percentages. From my experience, anyone in back of house usually makes much more hourly than the servers and the tips are simply supplemental. The only significant tip outs I've made have been to bartenders.

I'm honestly so confused. People who are like "OH, u think you DESERVE a tip????" suck, esp because where I live the server minimum wage is $2.14 an hour, and Ive worked in the service industry for years and love it, but this article, honestly, sounds so pretentious and entitled.

It's the servers job to tip out the BOH. If the server isn't serving... ????

Such a ridiculous article. Yes people who don't tip are pretty much scum. But while I was waitressing, even with several rude customers that wouldn't leave shit, I made more than I've made at any other job by far. So why complain? I can't believe I'm on the other side of the argument but God, you sound just like I'd expect someone from Seattle to sound.
68
I came to the U.S. 2 years ago with a law degree from a third world country. The only job I could get was doing the dishes at a buffet. In addition to washing thousands of pieces of dishes in 100% humidity and 100 degree temperatures (We weren't allowed to open the rear door for fear of theft) after everybody left, we'd scrub the whole fuckin place down with the 2 managers on shift breathing down our necks.

It was back-breaking work. I was getting paid $7.25/hr which afforded me the luxury of my 100 sq ft $600/month room and I was literally one paycheck away from ending up on a friend's couch. I would walk 4 miles to the restaurant and back even when the temperatures were in the teens and the moisture in my nose would freeze to solid ice by the time I got home.

Every single fuckin day we would see the pretty-ass waiters and waitresses count their tips at the end of the day which was more than what we'd make in a day and they also took home their $7.25/hr.

I ended up developing arthritis in my fingers and wrists but I slogged through it while I was working at night for grad school.
I just got my first real job as a developer at Amazon and I'm glad the nightmare has finally ended.

While it saddens me to see how hard some people have it in the so-called 'greatest country on the planet' I have nothing but contempt for the tipping system. It's demeaning, breeds entitlement, increases inequality and it's a fuckin disgrace.

The Japanese actually take offense to being tipped and that's how it is supposed to be. If you are not proud of what you do go find something else to do.

69
I am a bartender/server and I love my job. I work for a small business that can't afford to pay someone to willingly sell their body and soul to every little pathetic need of assholes like you. It's hard enough paying flakey cooks $10hr to slave 40hours in a hot kitchen with no hope of overtime pay. Because I am good at my job and treat respectful and polite people with equally hospitipal service I make an average of $30 an hour 4 days a week 6 hours a day giving me time and enough money to pursue my art and music. The restaurant pays me 3.75 an hour which I don't see because of taxes. I rely solely on my well deserved tips. When you come to my restaurant and are in need of my service I will help you because I care about what you need and how I represent my restaraunt. I will always treat you with respect and have a smile for any decent human being just looking for some good food, drinks and service.
Post mates is a third party that is leaching off actual businesses and taking up space that could be used for people actually looking to have a good time out to lunch/dinner. Post mates doesn't ask for permission to advertise said companies and expect these companies to bend to their needs as if they were an endless conveyer belt of product. On top of all that they poach my tips.

If you want real service then pay for it.
And fuck post mates

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