“I Accepted A No Tip Order”: Driver Sparks Debate After Sharing How She Accidentally Accepted A “No Tip” Order

At the height of the coronavirus pandemic two years ago, when shopping for groceries was out of the question, grocery delivery apps like the startup Instacart became a new kind of “essential.”

Instacart partners with most supermarkets, local specialty shops, and even pharmacies, including membership stores like Costco and BJ's Wholesale. What’s more, many of those shoppers started handpicking groceries for the app, earning some money in return.

But any Instacart driver knows that there are dramatic highs and lows in orders, as well as somewhat of a lottery when it comes to receiving a tip. This is because tipping is not included in service fees or Express membership costs, even when Instacart says it’s highly recommended.

Speaking of that, this story comes from a TikToker and Instacart driver, Angelica, who shared her frustration in a now-viral video clip. It turns out, Angelica accidentally accepted a whopping 70-item grocery order that was worth $267 with no tip. No wonder it sparked a whole debate on what’s fair pay and a fair tip online.

Instacart states that “tips are optional but a great way to show your shoppers appreciation and recognition for their excellent service,” therefore adding a tip to your grocery delivery driver is not a requirement. Instacart adds that there is a minimum suggested tip of $2 per individual store delivery.

However, every user has their settings set on the default tip, which is 5%, or the percentage you chose for your most recent order, whichever is higher.

In April, 2022 Instacart announced that it was tweaking its tipping policy in a bid to address the effects on its workers of a practice known as "tip baiting," where customers zero out a tip after an order is delivered.

According to Supermarket News, going forward, if a customer zeroes out the tip they gave following delivery without reporting an order issue, Instacart will cover the amount of the initial tip up to $10. The company also noted that tip zero-outs post-delivery are “exceedingly rare.”

Bored Panda reached out to Angelica to find out more about this situation and is now waiting for her response.