And that’s why I don’t contribute to GoFundMe. I’d rather give 100% of my money directly to the person…no service fee.
I did an Instacart order during COVID. Supposedly I had a free one time instacart gift. So…I used it. BUT when they substituted aluminum foil for toilet paper (I’m not kidding), I cancelled the order. But that also cancelled my one time free instacart offer.
I don’t think go fund me and the like are asking for tips, they do ask if you’d like to round up so that the charity will get 100% of your donation (since the platforms also keep a percentage themselves).
“GoFundMe asks for a tip because it is a for-profit company that relies on these optional “tips” to generate revenue for its operations, including providing the fundraising platform, customer support, and Trust & Safety teams. While the tip is presented as voluntary, it is a key part of GoFundMe’s business model and a way for the company to make money, distinct from the donation amount that goes to the fundraiser”
The “voluntary “ part is not super evident though. I gave them like $1. Happy to do that so the person/family I was trying to help could benefit from my donation, much more than $1.
I don’t know this family directly to donate directly. Also in their time of need and stress they don’t need randos reaching out for alternative ways to help them. I’m ok with the format in emergency cases like this. But I don’t want to leave a 16% “tip”!
During the pandemic, I used Instacart (through Costco) to deliver my college student chocolate covered strawberries on Valentine’s Day 
. The website said gratuity was included. When the driver delivered the strawberries, my student was asked to sign for a tip. Since it was a surprise delivery, and my student didn’t know what I had paid, they tipped a second time. I contacted Instacart which was one of the worst customer service experiences in my life. I was so angry with the way they handled a customer call that I eventually disputed it with my credit card.
I will never use Instacart again.
That’s my feeling as well.
Instacart got me through COVID, plus my IL’s an hour away. I always tipped very well, they had to line up outside of Costco and ShopRite and wait for entry. Was there a special promotion with a tip included?
I tried having delivery once or twice during covid but really disliked the quality of items selected by the shoppers so decided to mask up and go during early morning SR hours.
I just looked back through my orders. I was wrong. It wasn’t during the pandemic. It was in Feb 2018. I believe the Costco/Instacart partnership was pretty new back then. Maybe having gratuity included was a negotiation that Costco had with Instacart in the early days.
I’m not sure if the drivers knew that gratuity was included. If they were delivering for some companies and asking for gratuity but didn’t know to not ask for it on other deliveries, that could be a problem. I was trying to let TPTB at Instacart know of the potential miscommunication but they would have nothing to do with it.
We used to tip a fair amount to the “kids” when we picked up our carryout orders at an Italian restaurant nearby. Then one of them told us that management kept all the tips, so we stopped. Except during COVID - then we would tip $20 per visit, but that’s because we were trying to help them survive.
I’m not sure if this is like go fund me or not, but a young father we knew died and someone did a Meal Train request for the wife with two young kids. I was not happy to know that 10% of the “donation” we did went to Meal Train and not the wife. BUT I figured the wife would feel weird to accept a check instead, so I went ahead and did the Meal Train thing.