An Oregon man is trashing “tip baiting” — whereby cruel customers promise a large gratuity to delivery drivers on online apps, only to reduce the amount after their food has been dropped off. Owen Lindstrom, who delivers meals for Uber Eats, took to TikTok earlier this month to blast the stingy schemers in a video that has garnered 4.8 million views. “In food delivery apps, the customer has the ability to increase or reduce the tips after drop off,” Lindstrom explained in the clip. “Tip baiting is when a customer offer a large tip to get their food faster and then take it away at the end. While it’s good to protect the customer from having bad service by holding the tip over your head, it leave a big opportunity to screw over the driver.” Lindstrom admitted that there was no real way to prevent tip baiting, and could only advise delivery drivers to operate in areas known for having genuine and generous tippers — and take the more generous tidings with a grain of salt. Viewers of the viral video flooded the comments section beneath the clip, with many defending tip baiters, saying they are entitled to change a tip amount if the service has been subpar. “Tipping is not automatic or guaranteed. A tip is a reward for great service, not mediocre or basic!” one raged. “Thanks for info, gonna use this trick to get my food faster,” another mocked. “You brought this on yourselves,” a critic remarked. “When you ignore deliveries with normal tips it forced customers to do this just to get their food on time.” see also Another said customers were already forced to pay a “ridiculous $8 delivery fee” on some apps, which encouraged them to subtract a generous tip once their food had been delivered. However, there were some sympathetic TikTokers who came to Lindstrom’s defense. “I hate that people would do that. I’ve only ever increased my tip,” one said. The practice of tip baiting first hit headlines in April 2020, when it was revealed that New Yorkers were luring delivery drivers to their homes to deliver groceries and takeout with the promise of big tips amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to the lockdown, New Yorkers were competing with thousands of other customers to secure deliveries, and pledged the gratuities in order to secure service. The nasty New Yorkers would then reduce the tip amount after their food had arrived.
