Content creator James, who is one half of the TikTok account @JamesAndLeondra, also does Instacart deliveries, and he recently uploaded a video about the gig.
Calling his peers to unite, the man explained why he thinks nobody should accept some of the tipless orders they get.
"Look at this," James said at the start of the clip, before dissecting the app's microclimate. "They want 43 items. No tip. Good luck with that."
The video quickly blew up and ignited a discussion on fair pay, tipping culture, and the entire service system as a whole.
This Instacart shopper is so sick and tired of tipless orders, he just made a video about it
Image credits: jamesandleondra
"Look at this s**t. They want 43 items. No tip. Good luck with that"
"This is a call to arms to all Instacart shoppers. If you're an Instacart shopper, I'm calling on you to join all the other Instacart shoppers. I've been seeing batch after batch with no tip."
Image credits: jamesandleondra
"If somebody orders one thing and they don't want a tip, I get it. I'm not going to take the order. But when somebody orders 43 items with no tip and it's 6 degrees outside, it's a 10-mile round trip, they want us to go to the store in six-degree weather, pick up 43 items, bring it to their house, drop it off at their door, possibly ring the doorbell, wait for them to answer the door in six-degree weather."
Image credits: jamesandleondra
"They don't wanna tip. If you're an Instacart shopper and you see a batch with no tip, don't take it. Do not take it. Let it sit there and sit there and sit there until they have to go to the store their damn self. Don't take orders with no tip. Don't."
Image credits: jamesandleondra
With this video, James has touched on a sensitive subject
Dr. Jaime Peters, assistant dean and assistant professor of finance at Maryville University, has a quick solution for determining when and if it is appropriate to tip: “It helps to understand how people are paid,” she told CNBC.
In other words, a waiter at a restaurant is not paid the same minimum wage as a cashier at a grocery store or coffee shop. “The lower hourly rate is justified by the opportunity for the waitstaff to earn generous tips, which should — theoretically — bring their wages to or above the state’s minimum wage,” Dr. Peters explained.
For this reason, leaving a gratuity for your waiter at a restaurant has been standard practice Other situations where tipping it's also routine include taking a cab ride or getting a service done at a salon.
Dr. Peters added that you may also tip most front-of-house restaurant employees, bellhops, parking attendants, airport service workers, and food delivery workers. ”[Customers] should consider each one of them an independent contractor that [they] are hiring for the moment,” she said.
His TikTok quickly went viral
On the other end of the spectrum, fed-up consumers are posting rants on social media complaining about tip requests at drive-thrus, while others say they're tired of being asked to leave a gratuity for a muffin or a simple cup of coffee at their neighborhood bakery.
As more businesses adopt digital payment methods, customers are automatically being prompted to leave a gratuity — many times up to 30% — at places they normally wouldn't. And some say it has become more frustrating as the price of items has skyrocketed due to inflation, which eased to an annual rate of 6.5% in December but remains painfully high.
Unlike tip jars that shoppers can easily ignore if they don't have any change in their pockets, experts claim digital requests can produce social pressure and are more difficult to bypass. And your generosity, or lack thereof, can be laid bare for anyone close enough to glance at the screen — including the workers themselves.
And received a lot of positive replies as well as inspired people to share their own take on the subject
However, there was a fair share of backlash, too
Some think Instacart itself is to blame for the division between shoppers and customers
