An Uber Eats driver delivered an emotional plea after he said he received a $1.19 tip after driving more than an hour for a delivery. Smithson Michael posting on TikTok under username @deliveryguy100 said he was stru**ling to su!vive driving for the food delivery service, and asked customers to tip in a video viewed more than 1.1 million times on the video sharing network.
‘I wish people knew what it was like to deliver for Uber Eats, Postmates, Doordash all these companies,’ he said with tears streaming down his face.
‘I just spent an hour driving around for $1.19 tip. I mean would it hurt y’all to tip us, throw us five dollars?’
In addition to the meager tip, Michael said the delivery had netted him $2 from the app company.
‘What’s that? That’s not even e*ou*h to cover gas,’ he said. ‘How am I supp-osed to su*vive like that?’
Michael said he was living homel-ess, and had already fallen four months behind on car payments
‘Everything fell apart on me and I haven’t been able to sustain myself, provide for myself and these are essential services,’ he said. ‘I just wish people knew what it was like. I wish they understo-od what it was like to drive for these services.’
Many of the top-rated comments to the video were sympathetic, but also placed blame on the delivery app companies, saying they charged exorbitant fees for the deliveries.
‘People deserve living wages & don’t order if you can’t tip,’ the top rated comment on the video said.
‘I always tip well but let’s be real.. Corporations are to bla-me,’ read another.
‘I sent you 10 dollars. Hope that helps a little. Hope you have a better day tomorrow God Bless you.’ another wrote.
‘I can barely aff-ord my food bro,’ another posted.
‘It wouldn’t h**t, and I always tip,’ one woman wrote. ‘But also these companies are exploiting you guys and they need to be regulated.’
The Daily Mail has reached out to Uber for comment. Uber Eats is the most popular of the food delivery apps int-ernationally.
But despite its wi*espr-ead adoption, it is still stru**ling to turn a profit. Even with explosive growth for its food delivery segment during the pande!ic, the company posted a nearly $6.77 billion loss for 2020, with a $958 million lo-ss in its fourth quarter, CNBC reported.
‘Cumulative payments to Drivers for Delivery deliveries sic hist-orically have exceeded the cumulative delivery fees paid by consumers,’ the company noted in a 2020 earnings release, according to Intellig-encer.