Lawrence Thomas has a simple plea for his customers: Please tip more.
An Orange resident and delivery driver for Uber Eats, GrubHub and DoorDash, Thomas spends anywhere from 5 to 9 hours a day driving up to 80 miles across the city and sometimes neighboring towns. In the trunk of his 2013 Toyota RAV4 are customers’ orders from Red Robin, Islands, McDonald’s and Chick-fil-A.
His post to the 12,700 members of Orange Buzz noted “customer tipping is significantly down from 2021 and even more since 2020.”
“Please consider tipping your delivery and rideshare drivers a little more than before,” he wrote Tuesday, March 9. “Gas is now up by nearly $2 per gallon compared to a few months ago and we do not get any extra compensation for this by Uber, Grubhub, Doordash.”
Poor tip offers for food runs also have Thomas, who also works as an apartment manager, turning down delivery requests.
“I spent the majority of lunch today declining low-paying offers from customers who either didn’t tip or only tipped $1-$2,” he said. “Not enough.”
Thomas is one among thousands of delivery drivers in Southern California feeling the sting of soaring gas prices. Filling up the tank has drawn much shock and awe from drivers as prices topped $5 per gallon amid oil sanctions with Russia over its unprovoked invasion into Ukraine. Prices continue to rise daily by 10-14 cents, depending on the county.
In four years on the road, Thomas says he’s logged 6,000 combined deliveries for the three companies. He switched from rideshare fares to food in 2018 because the tips and routes often were better, he says.
Thomas took a few minutes away from a busy lunch rush to answer questions regarding how rising gas prices are impacting his bottom line.
Q: Do you have a general territory for deliveries?
A: My delivery area is almost exclusively the city of Orange. I will wander into Villa Park, Tustin, Santa Ana and Anaheim Hills sometimes if the money makes sense.
Q: How many miles do you log making deliveries each day?
A: I don’t consider myself a full-timer anymore because it’s not as lucrative as it was a couple of years ago. I do anywhere from 40 to 80 miles per day, depending on how busy it is. Friday and Sunday are generally the busiest days to work while Monday and Tuesday are probably the slowest.
Q: Has there been any suggestion by the companies that they will help subsidize drivers for rising gas prices?
A: There has been zero talk from the companies about any additional pay or temporary supplement to help with the high gas prices. I don’t believe it will ever happen — even if gas goes to $8. They will just hire more drivers who will work cheap and won’t know any better. That’s always the solution to them.
Q: You mentioned not taking delivery services from customers who tip poorly. How do you avoid getting stiffed?
A: The delivery apps do show us an upfront offer for a delivery that we can either accept or reject. The offer does include the customer tip. If the offer is $3 or $4 that means the customer hasn’t tipped and almost certainly won’t.
If the offer is for $7 or $8 that means the customer has included a $4 or $5 tip in advance. Using the pay scale, it is very easy to figure out if you’re going to get tipped or not. I reject anything that’s not pre-tipped as it’s just not worth my time.
Distance is another factor. I don’t mind a $3 tip if the customer is just a mile from the restaurant. But a $3 tip when the customer is 6 miles from the restaurant isn’t going to cut it.
Yes, we are shown distances in advance as well so we can also use that to make a decision about accepting or rejecting an offer. Believe it or not, some of the offers we get sent are 10 miles with no tip. Obviously, I decline that every time.
Q: Have you seen customers rise up yet and offer better tips to help you out?
A: So far in 2022, delivery business has really fallen off. It’s a combination of customers now going out more themselves since COVID is winding down. Plus with the rising prices on everything, it’s probably that people can’t afford to order as much now.
But one thing is for sure. People are definitely not tipping as well as they used to, despite the increase in gas. I was getting much better tips in 2020 and 2021 than I am now.
The only solution is to work less and be more picky about what I will accept. I only target short distances now so less gas is used.
Q: How much will it cost to fill up the tank now that prices are hovering around $6 per gallon?
A: I filled up yesterday — $75. Used to be around $55 not too long ago.
Q: Is there a point that you would stop making deliveries, or will you take the hit and keep going?
A: I think at $6.50 gas prices I would quit. It’s getting close.
Q: Do you think rising gas prices are going to sideline many drivers as prices continue to climb?
A: The people that do ride-sharing and deliveries seem to really like it and don’t want to give it up. I suspect most will stay and eat the loss in profit. But I’m sure there will be a smaller percentage who throw in the towel and find another job to go back to.
The lockdowns created a lot more delivery drivers than what we had pre-2020. They were needed heavily then with COVID at its peak. However, they aren’t needed as much now, but unfortunately, we have a surplus of drivers now and not enough work to go around for a good portion of the day.
But it really doesn’t matter because these companies can keep hiring more drivers to replace the ones that quit.
Tips for drivers
Only take offers paying over $2 per mile.
Look for short distances and reject long ones.
Try to avoid large apartment complexes as they take longer and can be a hassle to park and find the customer unit.
Delivery hot-spots
For Orange residents ordering delivery, these are some of the top-hitters on Thomas’ route: Islands, Chipotle, Red Robin, Chick-fil-A, McDonald’s and Jersey Mike’s.
Why not more orders from bigger, fancier restaurants? They take too long, Thomas says.