A Chipotle customer recently called out the company’s delivery app for putting a limit on how much she could tip her driver.
The customer, who goes by Rachel (@figgyfinds) on TikTok, even asked Chipotle to consider removing this feature in her video’s caption.
Rachel appears against a screenshot of a pop-up notification in her Chipotle app. It reads, in an alarming all-caps, “Whoa whoa whoa.”
The message continues, “That is mighty generous of you, but tips can’t be more than 50% of your food’s total.”
Apparently, the Chipotle customer wanted to tip her driver a bit more than the usual amount. But the app would not let her.
“God forbid you want to give your Chipotle delivery driver 20 bucks,” the woman says.
The customer says she’s found this feature annoying for years. She then addresses Chipotle directly, asking, “Why are you limiting how much of my money I can give to the person bringing me my burrito bowl?”
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen any other food place do this,” she adds before the video ends.
Why does Chipotle limit the amount customers can tip?
Several commenters on Rachel’s video offered reasons as to why companies like Chipotle opt for a tip limit in their online payment system.
“To avoid typos/fraud. If someone accidentally tips $100 instead of $10 that will result in a dispute and cost them money,” one person said.
“Because the likelihood of it being done in error is very high. Then they have to deal with the disputes. Tho I guess they could do a ‘are you sure’ screen,” another echoed.
“I think they do that so people don’t tip bait. Offer a high tip and then revoke it after,” someone else suggested.
But Chipotle isn’t alone in the practice. According to a 2022 report published on MarketWatch, several gig economy companies have enforced tip limits. Some of those companies reportedly include DoorDash, Uber, and Lyft.
These companies claim that the feature was introduced to avoid scenarios in which customers accidentally tipped too much. Apparently, this happened often with customers adding an additional zero on the tip amount. In addition to user errors, companies also cited the possibility of fraud as a reason for the limit.
Delivery app users have alternate suggestions
As several customers of delivery apps pointed out, the possibility of user errors and fraud could be mitigated with a second prompt that asks customers if they are sure they want to continue with a larger tip. This would remove the need for tip limits and ensure that customers are able to express their gratitude to delivery drivers directly.
“I think there should just be a confirmation after, not this,” one commenter on Rachel’s video suggested.
Other users suggested that customers simply provide the extra tip amount in cash.
“Make their day and give them cash on top of the card tip. Cash tips are pretty rare so it’s always a unexpected treat,” one commenter implored other users.
But, as someone else pointed out, elderly and disabled people who depend on delivery apps may not have frequent access to cash as they do not go out as much.
Customers are unhappy with tip limits
Rachel received over 179,000 views. And many users were equally infuriated about the tip limit for delivery drivers that she revealed.
“You should never use a deliver service that’s limits tips.. this is insane,” one person said.
“It makes me so irrationally angry when ppl try to control how I spend my money,” another wrote.
Several people shared that Chipotle isn’t the only company that employs tip restrictions.
“Lyft does this too!! A driver went way out of his way to help me out in the rain and it capped me???” one person wrote.
“I’m a dog sitter on Rover and they legit will not let the people tip the sitters more than a certain percentage of the cost,” someone else said.
@figgyfinds hey @Chipotle can we maybe do away with this thanks #greenscreen ♬ original sound – rachel
The Daily Dot reached out to Rachel, Chipotle, DoorDash, Uber, and Lyft via email for further information.
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