‘They will do anything except pay the drivers more’: Uber Eats driver says robot delivery bots are being developed as response to tipless orders no one picks up. Is that true?
According to one Uber Eats driver, the company is gearing up to use robot delivery systems to handle the massive number of orders that sit undelivered for hours because drivers often won't deliver without a tip upfront.
@justmakethatmoney Replying to @Moe Uber eats making a delivery robot for Non tipper Check my Stan store on my page to make money online #ubereats #fooddelivery #gigapp #uber #doordash #notipnotrip #uberdriver #uberupdate #doordashdriver ♬ original sound - Let’s Make Money 💰
TikToker Justin (@justmakethatmoney) posted a video about the situation one week ago that has garnered over 19,000 views. In it, he claims food delivery services like Uber Eats and DoorDash are developing robot systems to deliver food orders. According to Justin, this is due to tipping practices.
"It looks like Uber Eats and DoorDash are spending millions and millions of dollars trying to create these robots because all the delivery drivers are not taking these non-tip orders," Justin states in his video. "And, as you can see all over TikTok, [fast food restaurants are] flooded with orders that sit there for hours and hours and hours because drivers do not want to pick up these non-tip orders."
This isn't the first time the Daily Dot has covered Justin's observations on delivery companies' tip policies. In January, we covered his video on companies bundling non-tip and tipping orders together to ensure they both get delivered.
"That's the only way that they're actually gonna get their food," Justin stated in his January video.
Many of his fellow contractors commiserated and noted in the comments section that it has grown more difficult to make money as a delivery driver.
"Doordash lowered pay even more. they no longer pay anything extra on stack orders. 2 dollars [whether] it's 1 stop or 6," one viewer noted.
"TY for share/updates…as DD for 4-yrs. Base pays are low&gas is up, and haven't made as much when I started," another wrote.
"I don't know what's going on with this new robot that they trying to implement," Justin says in the clip, "but it looks like it's because all the delivery drivers are not picking up these orders anymore."
Some viewers suggested that the companies augment their pay structure, such as charging an automatic gratuity. "Implement 15-20% gratuity on all orders," one commenter wrote. But Justin suspects the companies may be more interested in an "employee" that doesn't get paid at all, despite the upfront costs.
"They'd rather spend millions and millions of dollars creating a robot instead of just raising the base pay," he says.
The Daily Dot contacted Justin via TikTok comment and Uber Eats via Facebook Messenger for further information.
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