Grab user tipped RM500 to a frontliner in a single booking

Grab revealed through their press release that Malaysians have been nothing but generous through the movement control order (MCO). However, one user gave a generous RM500 tip to a frontliner in a single booking.

According to Grab, there has been a 75% increase in tips given compared to before the MCO. But Grab driver and delivery-partner Lee Kok Joon, who received the RM500 tip, still thought the deed was a mistake at first.

“When I received the RM500 tip, I was shocked… I would never have expected such a generous tip. I’d like to say thank you very much to that customer,” said Lee Kok Joon.

The tipper, who only preferred to be known as John Smith, noted that if you give a tip through the Grab app, the driver or rider won’t be able to refuse—which can be the situation if you try to tip frontliners with cash.

“This driver was delivering a package for me, and even though it was difficult to find my location, he remained calm throughout. What motivated me to tip him that much came down to one simple act—to show gratitude and thanks to our neighbours. It doesn’t matter what your profession or circumstances are, we all can help lift each other up. It just takes one act of random kindness,” Smith said.

Smith’s generosity was by far the biggest tip by a Malaysian. But Grab users in general have contributed over RM2.4 million in tips throughout the MCO (18th March – 31st May).

According to Grab, Grab users in Klang Valley were by far the most frequent tippers, with more than RM160,000 in tips given. However, Kuala Terengganu received the highest average tip value per booking in the country.

The platform also revealed that 1 tip in every 30 bookings are tipped by Malaysians, as compared to before the MCO started—where it was only 1 in every 100 bookings. As great as this was as an improvement, I feel like more people could have tipped more often.

Even so, users spent more than RM30,000 a day giving tips to their drivers and delivery riders. In fact, delivery services on Grab garnered the most amount of tips with more than RM2 million in total.

Going back to how only 1 in 30 bookings are tipped, the problem might not just be due to the fact that users might not want to spare extra cash—or have extra cash to begin with. Grab received feedback that many of their users sometimes forget to tip their driver and delivery-partners. 

The platform solved this issue by launching a new feature to enable in-transit tipping. Users don’t need to wait until after the job is completed to tip their driver or delivery-partners, in fear that they might forget. So guys, don’t forget to tip your frontliners.