Do people realize that in many areas tips are used to subsidize physical servers in restaurants? Often the minimum wage for a server is something like 3 dollars and change and then tips make it up. If the tips don't bring the hourly wage up to the normal minimum the restaurant is suppose to make up the difference but if is the case generally you are just fired or no longer on the schedule.
I am a fan of the tipping system but to go to bat for these gig workers while letting hundreds of thousands of traditional workers flap in the wind is ridiculous.
The difference here is that the minimum wage for tipped workers is guaranteed. If wages + tips is less than the normal minimum wage, the restaurant has to make up the difference, but if wages + tips > normal minimum, they (the restaurant) don't get to reduce their contribution or retain a portion of the tips, and the employee has the opportunity to make significantly more than minimum wage. This is very different doordash's system, where if wages + tips is greater than the minimum, Doordash keeps some or all of the difference. I think its fair to say that people who are tipping their delivery person expect that their tip is increasing the income of the delivery person, and not their employer.
I am a fan of the tipping system but to go to bat for these gig workers while letting hundreds of thousands of traditional workers flap in the wind is ridiculous.