"It is not mandatory"; Rappi customer does not tip and delivery man takes revenge

Food delivery apps were protagonists for millions of people during the pandemic.
According to the Federal Consumer Protection Law, tipping is not mandatory.
Offering a good service attitude directly drives consumers’ decision on whether or not to tip.

A rappi delivery man has sparked a debate on social networks by “eating the potatoes” of a customer who did not tip.

Food delivery is a widely used service today compared to a few years, having a particular growth thanks to the decrease in social mobility due to the Covid-19 pandemic. According to the Statista study on the online food ordering in latin america During 2021, only Mexico managed to break its record for the year by adding 2,164 million dollars in revenue, where brands such as Uber Eats, Rappi, Didi Food, among others, benefited considerably (some more than others).

Likewise, these brands were also of vital importance so that thousands of people could find a way to supplement their income, or even 100 percent of it, since the platforms allow a person capable of transporting these foods to be integrated into their work team as “partners”.

Within the same application, users can decide whether or not to leave their respective tips to members, as is often the case when contracting other types of services, such as waiters in restaurantsaction which is merely optional, but where some stores even choose to integrate directly into the amount of the final bill.

One of the reasons why these applications have achieved their growing popularity is because they allow you to make the respective payment for products and services digitally, where even before requesting your order you can tip (or not); however, consumers also tend to tip them in cash.

On this occasion, an alleged Rappi delivery man has uploaded a video to TikTok where he writes that “the customer forgot the tipI forgot the potatoes”, while showing how he is eating an order.

@memin0409 the hungry rat #rappi #friends ♬ original sound – Israel Montoya

This has generated a debate of hundreds of comments, among them, “I think that’s why they don’t give you a tip”, “not honest on your part”, “it’s a job, not a favor and the tip is earned”, “it’s not obligatory”, “I take away the tip and I give it to them when I receive the order”, among other types of thoughts on the matter. When the Rappi delivery man saw the conversation that was being generated around the event, he mentioned that “it’s a TikTok, don’t get stressed”, clarifying that it was actually a joke.

In accordance with the provisions of the Federal Consumer Protection Law, in Mexico the tip is not mandatory and, if a restaurant forces customers to leave it, it could be fined. Despite this, customers are willing to pay a little extra if they receive quality service.

How to earn a good tip? There are several ways, but the key lies in offer good customer service and improve their shopping experience; This can be done with some small but significant acts, such as offering a good service attitude, staying attentive, offering solutions to your specific problems, showing enough concern to help you, among countless other strategies that we can learn from the waiters, but that we could replicate in our personal projects.

Example of how to provide good customer service (even with some inconsistencies along the way) we find it with those employees of McDonald’s who ran out of product to be able to deliver their drink to a customer; however, they decided to compensate for their experience by bringing him two different drinks so that his perception of the service was not damaged, a fact that enhanced his experience with the brand and to whom he surely gave a good tip, in addition to the fact that he will probably continue buying at said branch.

Clients are not obliged to give a tip when contracting servicesbut this could be encouraged if we bet on offering a good shopping experience.