Delivery rider Syed Putra asks S’pore woman who placed S$133 KFC order to tip S$10 or cancel order

[Tree]

Delivery rider asks S’pore woman who placed S$133 KFC order to tip S$10 or cancel order​

Tip.



Rafael See Toh

May 05, 2026, 01:29 PM​

Image from Shin Min, and Shin Min via Stomp


A woman who spent over S$133 on a food delivery was asked for a S$10 tip after the rider claimed her order was "too large".

On the morning of Apr. 21, the woman, Li (transliterated), ordered 10 KFC meal sets via Grab on behalf of a friend, Shin Min Daily News reported.

Li claimed that her friend’s company was having a lunch gathering, and she placed the order for him.

She apparently left a note requesting the delivery rider to call her friend upon arrival at his workplace.

Li did not check the Grab app again after seeing that the rider had accepted the order.

Tip​

According to screenshots provided by Li, the estimated delivery time was between 11:00 am and 11:30 am.

Li’s friend messaged her to say that the rider had contacted him, requesting a tip.

Li also later realised that the rider had also contacted her with the same demands.

In messages with the rider, he claimed that the order was too large and asked if a cash tip was available.

He added that Li should cancel the order and choose another rider if there was no tip.

When Li’s friend asked how much the rider wanted in tips, he requested S$10.

As the rider was already on his way, her friend agreed to pay the tip to avoid delays.

Li later checked the app and apparently saw that the rider was already near her friend’s workplace but had stopped moving.

He allegedly only continued towards the workplace after her friend agreed to pay the tip.

Threatened

Li claimed that the rider’s behaviour made her feel “threatened” as he would not complete the delivery until the tip was paid.

She also added that after the rider arrived at her friend’s workplace, he waited until her friend handed over S$10 before leaving.

The food was delivered after 11:40 am, which was later than expected.

Voluntary

Responding to queries from Mothership, a Grab spokesperson said that tipping on their platform is "entirely voluntary" and customers should never feel pressured to tip.

"It is not a condition for a delivery to be completed, and our partners are expected to fulfill orders professionally regardless of whether a tip is provided. We encourage any customer who encounters such a situation to report it through the Grab app Help Centre so that we can take the necessary steps to support them."

However, they also emphasised that handling large and bulky orders can be "challenging" for many of their delivery partners.

"We have introduced features such as ‘Split Order’, which allow partners to request additional support for larger orders, at no extra cost to the customer or impact on their earnings."

They also said they are continuing to expand these capabilities and improve their backend systems to better detect "large or complex orders early".

This is so additional partners can be activated ahead of pickup, where needed.

"Beyond that, we are also following up with the delivery-partner to better understand what happened and to ensure they are supported in handling large orders appropriately."

 

[True Believer]

When the rider receives a huge order for 10 x sets of KFC including drinks, he can reject it at that point if he only has a motorbike. A partner driver with a van may take over that order. This rider was holding that lunch order as ransom, and only delivered it after the $10 was paid. This Grab deliveryman is fully aware of what he was doing.

 

[RelativeMath8994]

No wonder he do deliveryman job. Low ses as fuck. He should be grateful that he still got this job during current job market to deliver to people.

 

[Narong Wongwan]

Why order delivery and let those losers handle your food. They could well spit into it. A lot of horror stories also shared regularly online with photos.
Some of these fuckers even use the delivery bag to put their shoes and whatnot. Grow a spine and pick up your own food.

 

[True Believer]

No wonder he do deliveryman job. Low ses as fuck. He should be grateful that he still got this job during current job market to deliver to people.

It is in the gig worker's mindset to game the system to add to his earnings. He accepted the order in spite of knowing that he had to deliver 10 x KFC meals on his motorbike. He "arm twisted" the customer to pay the $10 tip or not receive the order, or get it cold from the replacement deliveryman.

 

[True Believer]

Why order delivery and let those losers handle your food. They could well spit into it. A lot of horror stories also shared regularly online with photos.
Some of these fuckers even use the delivery bag to put their shoes and whatnot. Grow a spine and pick up your own food.

A thirsty Grabfood rider drank the customer's Milo and got caught by the CCTV.

 

[syed putra]

I dunno why he never ask for coffee.