[citricsquid]

> To be honest, $8.00 in tips isn’t a lot for three hours of biking around town. But I got stiffed on my last delivery, it was pointed out… And I was told by Postmates HQ that couriers typically do multiple jobs simultaneously, which increase the amount they receive. I was just unlucky in that I had to wait in line for ridiculous amounts of time at two of the locations, otherwise my tips would have been higher.

So what exactly is going to prevent couriers from taking multiple jobs they know they can't do in a fast time but can do in an okay time? Doesn't this encourage couriers to take on more jobs than they can do to make more money? A mediocre experience for consumers.

> I probably won’t be quitting my day job and becoming a courier anytime soon. I do, however, have a lot more respect for those guys, and will be sure to tip well whenever I order something from them in the future. (You should, too.)

A very American thing. Here in England we tip people when they do a great job (or not at all) tipping just because they delivered something is rare. It seems Postmates is copying the normal (American) delivery model: pay your couriers the minimum allowed and expect the customer to pick up the slack, even when they're already paying you a premium for the service. Pretty shameful really.

[bastian]

I should start by pointing out that the article does not make it very clear that all Postmates also receive a commission for every delivery they are doing. Currently this commission is between 60%-80% of the delivery fee.

To answer your question about what would prevent Postmates from taking on too many jobs i would need to explain our dispatch in all details but the answer lies in great software.

Finally, the tip is not required on our platform and all Postmates get compensated very, very fair, even without any tip.

[jules]

> So what exactly is going to prevent couriers from taking multiple jobs they know they can't do in a fast time but can do in an okay time? Doesn't this encourage couriers to take on more jobs than they can do to make more money? A mediocre experience for consumers.

One the one hand, couriers are doing more jobs in the same amount of time. On the other hand, customers have to wait longer. Something doesn't add up here.

[bastian]

The answer is technology and a very clever dispatch Jules ;)

[ken]

It's definitely a cultural thing, but England doesn't sound that different from America. From what I've read, a Japanese person would likely find it 'shameful' that you tip at all, even for a great job, because it implies they don't take pride in their work and only did a great job for the money.