A woman who delivers Uber Eats orders as a side gig says she was a victim of tip baiting—a phenomenon in which customers entice drivers with a large tip, but change it to $0 after delivery.
TikTok user Epic Roaming Adventures (@epicroamingadventures) posted a viral TikTok detailing her promised tip versus what she ultimately received.
Her video detailing the switch-up for the Costco run accrued over 35,000 views on the platform. Additionally, several folks who responded to her video argued that Uber Eats should make changes to its tipping policy.
Why did this Uber Eats driver pick up a Costco order?
At the beginning of the video, the TikToker says she isn’t sure whether or not she should be angrier at Uber Eats or the customer she delivered to.
In addition to working a full-time job, she does Uber Eats. The gig allows her to earn some extra cash for the holidays and her son’s upcoming birthday.
So when she got an offer for a $48.64 shopping run after work, she was happy. The Costco was only 5 miles from her house. Although it’s situated right next to a newly opened Bass Pro Shop (which means it’s a mad house during the holidays), the TikToker was willing to make the 22-mile trip for “that amount of money.”
She estimated that shopping for the 26 items in the store would take her about an hour. This, combined with about a half hour of driving, meant she’d make a decent hourly rate.
An expensive Costco order
The TikToker recounts her shopping experience—and the lengths to which she went to secure the customer’s Costco order—in the video.
“I got 100% completed. Packed it all up for her,” she explains. “I packed her chemical stuff, like she got Febreze and things like that in, a separate box. She had nine giant bags of chicken nuggets. OK, you like chicken nuggets, cool. Also got some ribeye steaks for 50 bucks. Those chicken nugget bags are about 17 bucks apiece. Her total was $422, so that average is gonna be, you know, that amount is gonna be feasible for that.”
The TikToker continued to delineate how punctilious she was about packing away the customer’s goods.
“I even put the steaks in between two of the frozen items so they would stay nice and cold,” she says. “So I get it delivered, I’m communicating with her the whole time. You know, I’m on my way, I pull up, I get her pin from her. I proceed to hand her everything, ask her if she needs help with anything. And at the end, I said, ‘Thank you so much for your generosity. I really appreciate it. My son’s birthday is coming up.’”
What happened to this Uber Eats driver’s tip?
Following this, however, the TikToker reveals that the amount of money she was quoted for the gig ended up being way less. In fact, it was less than a quarter of the original $48.64 she was told she was going to get for completing the order.
“So, right away, I get this amount,” she says, moving her head out of the way to reveal a green-screened image showing a $9.52 total. “That is my fare from Uber. That’s what comes through right away.”
However, she seems to indicate that the gratuity for the order will come in shortly after. “They have an hour to change the tip, either make it more or they can make it less. So watch what happened.”
After waiting to see what she would get as a tip for completing the job, the TikToker discovered the customer removed the whole tip. “She took the entire tip away,” she says.
Was this driver tip-baited?
Going on, the TikToker began to discuss the phenomena known as “tip baiting” the bane of many delivery drivers. The Daily Dot has previously reported on this practice. Workers for DoorDash, Instacart, Uber Eats, and other delivery applications have criticized the practice.
This method is predicated on the idea that a driver is more prone to take on a delivery if they believe it’s associated with a tip. This means customers have a higher likelihood of having their requests processed in a timelier fashion. Additionally, as evidenced by the care @epicroamingadventures put into handling the Uber Eats customer’s order, better service may even be provided.
Upon receiving their order, customers will then rescind their gratuity. This leaves drivers with less money than they initially thought they would receive for the work they accomplished.
“It’s happened to me before.”
The TikToker says she’s no stranger to the phenomenon, “but not in that amount.” She continued to vent her frustrations at being hoodwinked. “I’ve been up all night. Not only just angry, but sad that somebody would do that to somebody,” she says. “Especially after they expressed such gratitude and did such a good job. It’s just wrong.”
She adds that while folks are “entitled” to their feelings about tipping, lying to workers is a grimy thing to do: “Someone says they’re gonna give you almost 50 bucks for doing any job. And they only give you $9.50, it’s wrong. It’s just wrong.”
@epicroamingadventures says the practice ultimately just harms customers who are attempting to place orders in good faith. “And when it happens…it makes me not want to do those orders anymore,” she explains. “So some of you are gonna try to order on Uber Eats from Costco, here in St. Augustine, [Florida]. And I would have done that order, but I’m probably not going to do it anymore.”
@epicroamingadventures #greenscreen #ubereats #tipbaiting #uberdriver #tipbaited #uber ♬ original sound – EpicRoamingAdventures
Viewers slam tip-baiting
One user assured the TikToker that the customer would ultimately get theirs under cosmic law: “Karma will take care of business.”
However, others couldn’t understand why Uber Eats allows users to adjust their tips so easily.
“This is crappy. They should be kicked off the app and banned from using the service,” one user wrote.
“Why does Uber eats allow this? That’s the problem here. Yeah she’s a sh*t person, but she shouldn’t even have that option to do,” another claimed.
@epicroamingadventures agreed with their comment, writing, “I agree. I’m hoping they’ll change it bc it needs to stop.”
Someone else remarked that the option to reduce tip amounts could still be allowed. However, there should be more hoops to jump through in these instances. “You should only be able to reduce your tip. Through a customer service interaction, because there is an issue with the driver. The only change you should be able to do freely is add to the tip,” they argued.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Uber Eats and @epicroamingadventures via email for further comment.
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