How Much Should You Tip a Shipt Shopper?

Shipt shoppers provide a valuable service, selecting and delivering groceries and other items directly to customers. Understanding how to appropriately acknowledge their work through tipping is a common consideration for many users. This guide provides clarity on how to approach tipping your Shipt shopper.

General Tipping Guidelines

Tipping your Shipt shopper is a customary practice. A common guideline suggests tipping between 15% and 20% of your order’s total value before any discounts or promotions. For smaller orders, a minimum flat tip of $5 to $10 is recommended. This ensures shoppers receive reasonable compensation for their time and effort.

Tips are a substantial part of a Shipt shopper’s income, supplementing the base pay they receive from the platform. As independent contractors, shoppers are responsible for reporting all their earnings, including tips, to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). If a shopper earns $600 or more from Shipt in a calendar year, they typically receive a Form 1099-NEC.

Factors Affecting Your Tip Amount

Several circumstances can influence whether you adjust your tip upward from the general guidelines. Order size and complexity are considerations; very large grocery hauls, orders containing numerous heavy items like cases of water or multiple bags of pet food, or those requiring multiple store visits, often warrant a higher tip. These situations increase the physical demands and time commitment for the shopper.

Exceptional service quality also plays a role in tip adjustments. This includes proactive communication about item availability, careful handling of delicate products, accurate substitutions, and punctual delivery. Shoppers who go above and beyond, such as fulfilling specific or unusual requests, providing thoughtful service, or navigating difficult delivery conditions like inclement weather or multiple flights of stairs, are often recognized with a more generous tip.

How and When to Tip

Shipt offers convenient methods for tipping your shopper, primarily through the app itself. After your order has been delivered, you will receive a prompt within the Shipt app to rate your experience and add a tip. This in-app tipping feature ensures that 100% of your tip goes directly to your shopper. You have a window of up to two hours after delivery to adjust your tip if needed, though you can add a tip much later if prompted the next time you open the app.

While less common, providing a cash tip at the time of delivery is also an option. Tips are provided after the delivery is complete, allowing you to assess the service quality.