Instacart driver gets $25 tip for delivering 250 items. Her request to tip better sparks debate

The debate about the tipping culture has become increasingly popular among patrons and service industry workers. When it comes to delivery applications, the scenario is no different as the delivery drivers are also looking forward to tips and one Instacart employee is voicing her opinion on their support. For those who don't know, Instacart is just like Uber Eats and DoorDash, where they deliver the necessities to your doorsteps while you can order from your smartphone and relax. 

The delivery driver, Em–who goes by @emmmroses on TikTok–filmed a video where she called out customers who don't tip their drivers better while placing large orders. She shares that she was tipped just $25 on a large order, which was physically taxing for her to complete. "So I just got home from a nightmare of an Instacart night," Em said in her video. "I accepted an order and I really should have taken a closer look at how big it was. It was about 250 items." She later understood that she should have dropped the order just like the previous two delivery drivers, who were possibly intimidated by the size of it.

"As soon as I accepted it, I got a message in the app instantly from the person who ordered it and she was very grateful that I even picked it up," she further explained. "I guess two other Instacart drivers had started it and then one of them straight up called her and cussed her out and then the other one just canceled it. I probably should have taken those as warnings." The customer also informed Em that she would add more tips later because she couldn't change the listed tip amount on the app while the order was in progress.

Despite Em getting a hike on her tip, she soon realized that it was not worth the effort. She could hardly fit all the items in her car and had to go up and down the stairs of the customer's apartment a total of seventeen times to deliver all the goods. By the time she completed the delivery, her phone's battery ran out and she could not take a photo of the successful delivery. She had to go back to her car, charge her phone and finally finish her job for the day.

"I go up to take the photo again. It dies again. At that point, I just start crying because all of this is for like $25 and by then, it's been like four hours," she added, claiming that this hell of an experience taught her to be more careful while picking up orders from the batches and concluded by saying that the customers should be more considerate while tipping the delivery drivers in these situations. It sparked a debate in the comments section of her video, as many agreed while some also disagreed with her.

@trapatillo wrote, "Can we normalize using these apps for the things we forgot and not 1000 things (I'm only talking about those who can go to the store but choose not to)." @zeedubs commented, "There should be a cap on the amount of items you can order. I wouldn't go to the store myself and get 3 carts of stuff in 1 trip, how could I expect." @the_savory_sooner added, "Dang, I felt bad getting items delivered during some snow, so I gave the girl $100, helped her unload and now I text her when I put in an order." The clip by Em has since been deleted.

You can follow @emmmroses for similar quality content and adorable dog content  

Editor's note: This article was originally published on February 9, 2024. It has since been updated.