Papa John’s app held a customer hostage until they paid a tip, just to pick up their own pizza

If you’ve ever felt like tipping culture is completely out of control, you aren’t alone, and a recent incident involving the Papa John’s mobile app proves that things are getting downright ridiculous. One customer trying to place a simple carryout order was essentially held hostage by the app, forced to enter a tip amount just to complete their purchase and pick up their own pizza.

This is a terrible experience. When you’re doing the work of picking up the order yourself, you absolutely shouldn’t be required to pay extra just for the privilege of placing the order digitally. While the company has done wild things, like the garlic bath bomb, forcing tips is a questionable decision.

The issue was brought to light by Reddit user u/evilemmyy, who shared their frustration after encountering the mandatory tipping prompt. According to Daily Dot, when they attempted to place a pickup order, the app insisted on a valid tip amount. Since the user was going to pick up the pizza themselves, they tried to enter a zero tip. That’s when the system returned an error message.

Why is a tip required for no other service than the regular job?

u/evilemmyy explained exactly what went down. “Papa John’s didn’t let me order carryout on their app unless I tipped… I was doing carryout, so there’s no reason to tip,” they wrote. “Their system doesn’t recognize 0 as a valid entry. So I gave them one cent just to complete my order.”

I totally understand why they had to do this, but forcing even a penny just to proceed feels like digital extortion. The user perfectly summed up the absurdity of the situation, differentiating this from traditional service jobs. “It’s one thing to tip a delivery driver, but the people making the pizza? When I only had one brief interaction with them? Do these companies expect us to pay all of their employees?”

It’s a valid question. This thread quickly exploded online, racking up thousands of upvotes as users shared their outrage. While many people routinely tip delivery drivers or servers, requiring a tip for a carryout order is a step too far for almost everyone.

The conversation quickly shifted to the underlying problem: large corporations expecting customers to subsidize employee wages. Commenters were infuriated that a business would require customers to pick up the slack because the employer won’t pay adequate wages. This isn’t tipping, this is mandatory income supplementation, and it’s just not right.

One commenter, u/wjcj, called the tactic “bullying and extortion,” especially since the tip is requested before the service is even rendered. Another user, u/NatalieKCY, pointed out that mandatory tips might actually be illegal, which shows just how far this tipping creep has gone.

So you can either pay a tip with Papa John’s or get a chance to get a whole bunch of food from Pizza Hut. I’d choose the hut.

Interestingly, while u/evilemmyy was forced to pay that single cent, the Reddit community did offer a technical workaround. According to other users, the $0.01 tip was actually made in error. Apparently, the Papa John’s app will allow you to complete a carryout order with no tip, but only if you actively deselect the custom tip entry box before submitting payment. It sounds like a confusing user interface design that’s designed to trick you into leaving money.