Pre-delivery tipping turns gratuity into a bid for adequate service

American delivery platforms ask customers to set a tip amount before the driver even picks up the food, which means the tip is not a reward for good service but a bid for adequate service. Drivers see the total payout including tip before accepting, so low-tip or no-tip orders bounce between drivers for 30-60 minutes until someone desperate enough accepts, by which time the food is cold. Customers who tip well subsidize the system while no-tip customers get terrible service, creating a two-tier delivery experience that looks identical in the app's UI. Platforms designed pre-tipping because post-delivery tips were unreliable and drivers refused low-payout orders entirely, but the result is a system where the tip is functionally a bribe rather than a gratuity.