New Yorkers are biting the hand that feeds them.

Workers with grocery delivery apps such as Instacart say that customers relying on them for groceries during the coronavirus lockdown are robbing them of a livable wage — by luring them with a big tip, only to decrease or remove the tip altogether after delivery.

“They’re really hurting,” Paul Bagdan, professor at Johnson & Wales University’s College of Hospitality Management, says of the workers. He calls these people “heroes” for the risks they’re taking by going door-to-door — especially for menial wages.

“That’s even more than fluffing a pillow or holding a car door,” he tells The Post. “These people are actually putting themselves in harm’s way for us.”

Instacart worker Annaliisa Arambula, from Portland, Oregon, calls the bait-and-switch trend “demoralizing.”

“I don’t pretend to be a hero, like a nurse in a hospital . . . but I literally am exposing myself [to the coronavirus], and when I return home, exposing my own family to the possibility of transmitting this disease,” she told CNN Business. “When you know that it’s somebody who’s just doing it to game the system and to get their order when they want it, it’s really frustrating.”

In late March, Arambula accepted an order that included a generous tip of $55. But an hour after a successful drop-off, she noticed that amount had gone to $0, with a note reading, “Customer modified the tip post-delivery.”

On apps like Instacart, shoppers can opt to accept a “batch” of deliveries, which includes information such as customer locations, items requested and tip offered. Once a delivery has been made, customers have up to three days to adjust the tip on the order.

Arambula and others claim that approximately half of their earnings come from tips. Meanwhile, Instacart’s business is booming, according to a recent announcement by the company that said they planned to hire some 300,000 new food-delivery people in North America to meet the increased demand during the coronavirus crisis.

A representative from Instacart told CNN Business that tipping has increased overall, and said that the recent removal of the “none” tip option is helping. Now, app users must manually enter $0, which would ideally produce pangs of guilt — enough to make them think twice about stiffing staff.

However, they would not confirm whether incidents of bait-and-switching had occurred among their employees. Nevertheless, they wrote in a recent email to customers to “please consider tipping above and beyond to reflect the extra effort of your shopper.”

“These are affluent communities that I’m delivering to,” said Jenifer of Pennsylvania, who withheld her last name for fear of “retribution,” according to CNN. She was recently promised a tip of $32.94 on a 27-item order, and $13.31 for 38 products. Both were reduced to $0 following delivery.

“There’s almost no need to not tip, especially because not only is this a convenience for you, but we’re in a pandemic right now,” she said.

Commenting on the colleagues’ recent protests over their employer’s labor practices, Jenifer added, “I can’t strike — I literally cannot afford to.” To prevent getting scammed by customers, her tactic has been to shop during peak demand, when Instacart pays a few dollars more for their work.

“We always say: No matter what, never trust a tip,” she said.

Some customers, according to Carilyn, who chose to be identified by first name only, have made outrageous and out-of-touch claims to justify their tip removal. One such person, she said, called her shopping performance “unethical” when she could not deliver on notoriously scarce toilet paper.

“I tried my best. A lot of people are detached from the situation going on,” said Carilyn, from Florida. “They really don’t see what we see. We know things are a no-no, like soap, and toilet paper. You barely find eggs.”

How much should you tip?

“Go with your heart,” advises Bagdan. The hospitality-industry expert has a few guidelines for those in a position to tip — keeping in mind that the demand and risk associated with this work is unprecedented during the pandemic.

In terms of amount, he says customers should apply the same generous spirit they do during the holidays.

“If you can afford it, we say give them twice the tip,” he says, adding that the national average for tipping is as high as 22% to 23% outside of the holiday season — so tipping as much as 45% is called for.

When it comes to picking up food from a restaurant, the same rule apply.

“You should tip regular prices on takeout,” says Bagdan, pointing out that without in-dining, the cooks and others who prepare your food are no longer getting as much of a cut of tips usually guaranteed to them via waitstaff.

And, yes, most waiters are required to split their tips with those working back-of-house — so consider that next time you are able to dine in at a restaurant.

Bagdan adds that, while some supermarket chains have policies that ban cash tips, you should feel free to slip your grocer a few bills.

“These people are really putting themselves at a real risk,” he says. “Those people don’t really have a choice, and they’re there to help us.”

He acknowledges that debate has roiled for years over whether it’s unfair that workers should have to rely on customers to supply a large percentage of their wages through tips — and he sympathizes with the argument.

But please don’t choose this time to take a stand on the issue.

“A lot of people have debated the concept of tipping in the past, but we’re certainly not going to change it anytime soon,” he says.

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