How to tip on Grubhub? 

How much? Maybe not at all?

Let's find out!

Picture this: a rainy day. You're at home but don't want to go out. But you're craving food from your favorite spot. Maybe that's a fast food chain or a local gem.

What to do? Go out and brave the rain? Hardly!

Grubhub probably has some promos like free delivery, right? 

Oh I get free delivery! Does this mean I don't have to tip either??

The cold hard truth about all food delivery apps is that tipping is not optional.

Preposterous! They say tipping is optional so the drivers probably get paid enough and tipping is just a nice extra, right?! 

As if!

Has tipping culture gotten out of hand?

By far the greatest disservice to the food delivery industry has been the memes about tipping culture getting out of hand.

Yes they're funny and ridiculous and no you shouldn't tip $10 for someone handing you a cup of coffee or a muffin but I want to distinguish between someone handing you a muffin and someone driving their own car, braving traffic and weather conditions to deliver your food.

I often hear, delivery apps should pay more. They don't.

Grubhub pays the driver between $2 and $3 for your order, it is the only app that pays for some of the mileage but that has been reduced in recent years. Its website is also vague about it these days.

Grubhub mileage pay used to be close to GSA rates but now Grubhub is vague about its exact mileage pay and the last few times I went out to deliver for Grubhub, I received between 20 and 30 cents per mile so it's no longer much better than DoorDash and UberEats who don't pay for any mileage.

So why deliver with Grubhub? Because when people compensate their drivers, it's great fun and good money.

Wait, Grubhub pays the driver only $2ish to deliver my food?

Yes. I've delivered around 3,000 orders on delivery apps, including DoorDash, UberEats and Grubhub and aside from maybe an extra dollar or two during hazardous weather conditions or especially busy nights and weekends, Grubhub has consistently paid between $2-$3 for each order I've delivered, unless the mileage was above 10 miles. That's where I saw the mileage pay in action but not for smaller distances.

If Grubhub groups two orders together, it may be a little over $4. 

You might say, that's very little in this economy. And I'll say, that would have been very little even 20 years ago.

Here are some real life examples of Grubhub pay during busier weekends. I wanted to give examples where tips were not outrageously high either so you can kind of see how much or how little an order pays.

This was a delivery close to the restaurant so you can see that Grubhub pay is that dreaded $2 so popular across delivery apps.

I was able to get right back to the busy area with restaurants, which was a plus. I personally don't take long distance deliveries, especially if they end up in a rural area where I have to back track without another order. 

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This example had a delivery distance of 10 ish miles so the pay was higher. I took this order because I saw the total of almost $18 so that was worth for me to travel a bit farther.

How long could it possibly take to deliver food?

Great question. If you remember back in the day before delivery apps (eek, maybe you don't, good for you youngin'), some restaurants offered delivery directly through them.

There was a delivery radius of maybe five miles and if you weren't in that radius, they wouldn't deliver.

That's all changed since food delivery apps sprouted, doable delivery distances have become a thing of the past. Even if you are within a five mile radius, the sheer volume of orders at restaurants across delivery apps is staggering so things do take a while.

If you look at my previous example, the delivery distance was just over two miles. It still took around 18 minutes from me driving to the restaurant, waiting for the order at the restaurant to delivery. 

I can usually only do two, maybe three orders like that an hour since after delivery, I often have to backtrack to a busy area and wait for another order. In this case it was a quick turnaround.

On average, I earn between $25 and $35 an hour before gas and taxes because I'm picky about my orders. I've been doing this for almost five years so I can spot a good order right away. I even know which restaurants are notoriously slow in my area but I too deal with unexpected things like another driver taking my order and traffic, etc.

Customers don't realize that we don't get paid to backtrack 20+ miles if that's how far you live. 

If you live in a rural area, we won't get another order unless we do backtrack and we get paid for none of that. Grubhub locks drivers into zones based on where they live so if I deliver outside that zone, I won't get sent another order unless I backtrack.

No other delivery app does this.

Can the driver see if you're tipping beforehand?

While it doesn't show the exact tip, since we know Grubhub generally pays between $2 and $3, through deductive reasoning we can conclude when an order for $2 pops up, it is a no tip order and not worth our time.

So what happens if you don't tip?

In short: no one will take your order or you'll be waiting a while. The order will pop up on dozens of driver's phones and they'll just hit decline.

That'll keep going until a driver who maybe lives in your area and wants to get paid even a little to drive home and call it a night. Or maybe you'll get a newbie who doesn't know they can decline orders.

Your food will be cold and soggy and you'll have wasted your money. If you don't mind cold and soggy food, that's fine but most people do mind.

People find this preposterous, especially since tipping seems "optional" on most popular delivery apps, including on Grubhub.

Well it's optional if you don't want your food delivered.

As you can see, these delivery apps don't pay so why would someone use their car and waste gas to get paid 2ish dollars?

If you don't like it, take it up with the delivery apps and maybe start a union (Please don't)!

"Oh but I don't tip and I usually get my order."

Grubhub sometimes groups a higher tipping customer with a lower tipping to get drivers to take the order. That's really the only reason why you'd  get your order on time.

Unfortunately, next time you won't tip again because, well you got your food on time the last time. 

But as always, I digress...

So what's a decent tip?

Yes finally, let's get to it! 

Not the dreaded $2. For the most part, Grubhub already chooses to pay us $2ish, could you not? Many people assume that $2 is enough. It's not. Under any circumstances really. Ever.

A decent tip is anything that compensates your driver for having to drive to the restaurant (think gas), wait for your order (time) and drive to your home (gas and time).

Again, if you live in a more rural area, the driver isn't gonna get another order until they're back in a more populated area so that's also a consideration.

How much is that convenience worth to you?

Some people say well, it's just popping in to the restaurant but let me tell you, I'm not your loved one on her way home who begrudgingly pops into a restaurant to pick up your food.

I'm not gonna show you all the amazing tips I've received in the past because I do want you to decide for yourself.

I do understand that not everyone has money to spend but you are springing for delivery, don't cut corners where it matters most.

OK fine, so how much??

Here is what I would recommend as a baseline for tipping:

• at least $3 in tip for lunch orders within a couple of miles from the restaurant
• at least $5 for dinner orders on weeknights if you live within a 5 mile radius of the restaurant
• beyond 5 miles, you should add $ to account for mileage (58 cents per mile is standard)
• at least $8 for weekends, during busy times from 5PM-8PM

I'm talking minimum here! No matter if you just order a sandwich from Panera or a full meal from your favorite local spot.

More than that is always appreciated and will get your food to you faster.

What about the restaurant tipping standard?

So we've already discussed compensating me for my time, gas and putting a price on the convenience of having food delivered to your doorstep.

Many people choose to use the 10-20% restaurant tipping standard based on the total of their order.

That works perfectly fine but many orders are around $20 so bear in mind that the process of picking up a $20 involves the same on my end as a $90 order.

In other words, tipping 10% off your $20 or a $2 tip isn't great and would most likely put your order in a similar holding pattern as a no tip order, especially on the weekends when it's busy and drivers are able to get orders between $15 and $25 a pop.

If we do the math from before, I'd get around $3 of base pay since it's the weekend plus your $2 for a total of $5 so that's not gonna be a priority unless you live around 1 mile from the restaurant. 

The restaurant tipping standard is fine for orders over $40 but please bear in mind that unlike waitstaff, I use my car to drive around and deliver to your doorstep so if you just have a $10 Panera order, don't just tip 10-20%.

Are cash tips OK?

I think by now you know that's not a good idea unless it's cash upon delivery in addition to what you tipped on Grubhub before you placed the order.

If you plan on tipping cash only, your order will show up as a no tip order on the drivers' end and not get picked up in a timely manner or at all so cash is a super nice extra but not if you're adding $0 on Grubhub beforehand.

You're doing yourself a disservice and you risk wasting a ton of money on your food that's gonna get to you in bad shape or not at all. 

Grubhub gives us 100% of your tips so there's no reason to opt for just cash. 

What about terrible drivers?

I know you've probably wasted some money on a terrible driver and vowed to never tip that much again. Maybe that person was new or just not cut out for the job, who knows.

Even delivery driving isn't for everyone even though anyone who can pass a background check can be a driver. 

We don't receive training (I know you're thinking, how hard can it be to grab an order?) but trust me, I've had to deal with anything from missing orders to double orders to wrong addresses, etc.

I've created this site in hopes of providing relevant information to food delivery drivers so they can provide the best customer service since the companies we deliver for don't usually provide much, if any training.

I am a big advocate of drivers using professional insulated bags. I’ve had to buy my own bags and yes that’s a tax write-off but most drivers don’t go the extra mile and don’t use bags, which is probably why you’ve received some lukewarm meals in the past.

Grubhub is the only delivery service that does provide its drivers with a decent sized bag.

One of the good things on Grubhub (wow, I'm so generous!) is that you can increase or decrease your tips after delivery and in all honesty, I'm all for that.

You got crappy service? Reduce your tip. 

I've ordered on Grubhub and have had drivers look down and barely acknowledge me when handing me the order and other weird stuff.

I also know, drivers often leave the order right in front of a door that opens outward so your stuff gets knocked over and other dumb stuff. There is kind of the focus on speed so common sense falls by the wayside. 

Grubhub doesn't really do ratings like DoorDash and UberEats but you should definitely feel heard when you get crappy service. Make it about that particular driver, not everyone who drives.

Here's a tip for a better delivery experience

See what I did there? 

I highly recommend leaving insanely detailed delivery instructions such as "door opens outward, do not block it". Seems obvious but honestly, a lot of times, we're rushing to get you your order and are probably lost so when we finally get to your place, we're like phew that's done.

People don't leave good delivery instructions. Some places don't show up on Google maps, if you know that you live in one of those places, leave delivery instructions.

OK, that's enough of that but it's super important to take charge of your order. You've already outsourced all the annoying parts like cooking and having to go out to grab the order so take a few seconds to leave good delivery instructions.

That's all she wrote... no really!

Hopefully, you have a better understanding as to why your tips matter so much. It's not someone spinning an iPad around after you've ordered a small coffee and expecting a tip.

It's for someone who is willing to go out when you're not. Someone who often braves weird weather and traffic conditions, wait for your order and use their car to deliver where no man has ever delivered before.

Well, that's a bit much but you get the point. 

How much to tip on DoorDash (spoiler alert, it's kind of the same song and dance)

How much to tip on UberEats (you guessed, it similar song and dance)

How to tip on Instacart (one of my favorite pages I've written!)

How to tip your Amazon Flex driver when ordering from Whole Foods for delivery (ugh, you gotta tip those guys too?)

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