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Meals on food delivery apps can be 90% more than if bought from the restaurant

nytimes.com

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Re: Meals on food delivery apps can be 90% more than if bought from the restaurant

#31

Post by apacheCamel »

justanotherc wrote: post #7

This is why I have never ordered UberEats. Plus cold McDonalds is gross. Its not hard to order takeout and run down the road myself. To be honest I don't really get why this whole trend is so popular.

My one and only (and probably last) experience with UberEats was a couple of weeks ago when a driver picked up my order and then proceeded to hang around the nearby airport for ~30 minutes with my food. The airport was sort of along the way to my house but not really. It was almost like he was trying to pick somebody up (for Uber or Lyft I guess) and hopefully get someone near me to drop them off then my food but it ended up just wasting 30 minutes and turning my food cold. I contacted Uber during the trip and then afterwards and they refused to talk to me more than "here is 5 dollars in UberBucks, sorry!". Terrible customer service IMO.

edit: Side note about their customer service, there seemed no easy way to contact them during my delivery. I tried to contact the driver but the call was declined twice. Uber kept telling me that "the food may be experiencing delays, wait until it arrives before contacting us."

Re: Meals on food delivery apps can be 90% more than if bought from the restaurant

#32

Post by ryanmercer »

m-p-3 wrote: post #11
derision wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People are increasingly more lazy

Or increasingly run out of time.

Or feel like death. Last time I ordered delivery via one of these apps was when I was at the tail end of a very bad stomach bug and even walking to the door left me wobbly and breathing hard. I cracked the door open "I'm sick, you can just set it down" and swallowed the absurd price I paid for it because a salad and a sandwich sounded like it would be much kinder to my stomach than pizza and I knew I didn't have it in me to actually prepare something.

Re: Meals on food delivery apps can be 90% more than if bought from the restaurant

#33

Post by SN76477 »

Food delivery in its current form will be short-lived.

It is a 4 party system where the company controlling the money is the only one that wins.

Restaurants are asked to pay 30% of the ticket. The customer is asked to pay more than expected for their meal, a delivery fee, and a tip. For the customer, this can be nearly double for a simple $10 lunch.

The driver that has to deliver it gets stuck with fuel, automatic, and typically much less than $15 an hour. All of this is happening while Doordash has a 10billion dollar valuation.

Re: Meals on food delivery apps can be 90% more than if bought from the restaurant

#34

Post by InitialLastName »

KMnO4 wrote: post #16
m-p-3 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or increasingly run out of time.

Or, following legalization, increasingly impaired beyond the ability to drive.

Or, more aware that driving drunk is unacceptable.

Re: Meals on food delivery apps can be 90% more than if bought from the restaurant

#35

Post by walrus01 »

SN76477 wrote: post #33

Food delivery in its current form will be short-lived. It is a 4 party system where the company controlling the money is the only one that wins. Restaurants are asked to pay 30% of the ticket. The customer is asked to pay more than expected for their meal, a delivery fee, and a tip. For the customer, this can be nearly double for a simple $10 lunch. The driver that has to deliver it gets stuck with fuel, automatic, a…

Food delivery by car should actually be way more expensive than it is, if you consider the standard IRS mileage reimbursement rate for driving.

Re: Meals on food delivery apps can be 90% more than if bought from the restaurant

#36

Post by ghaff »

jmpman wrote: post #25
justanotherc wrote: post #7

This is why I have never ordered UberEats. Plus cold McDonalds is gross. Its not hard to order takeout and run down the road myself. To be honest I don't really get why this whole trend is so popular.

I use it on business trips if I’m not scheduled to go out with customers. Uber back to the hotel, order some Grubhub and enjoy a quality meal without having to go to a restaurant by myself. Much better quality/variety than room service.

I suppose it depends on the type of places you travel to. I haven't ordered room service in decades but I'd much rather walk or take a short drive from the hotel and get out than hang out in my room with semi-hot takeout.

Re: Meals on food delivery apps can be 90% more than if bought from the restaurant

#38

Post by AlexandrB »

SN76477 wrote: post #33

Food delivery in its current form will be short-lived. It is a 4 party system where the company controlling the money is the only one that wins. Restaurants are asked to pay 30% of the ticket. The customer is asked to pay more than expected for their meal, a delivery fee, and a tip. For the customer, this can be nearly double for a simple $10 lunch. The driver that has to deliver it gets stuck with fuel, automatic, a…

> Restaurants are asked to pay 30% of the ticket.

I was not aware of that. I can see the logic (“we’re providing a service for your business”, etc.) but it feels like double dipping. Especially since it seems as though that cost is passed straight onto the customer anyhow.

Re: Meals on food delivery apps can be 90% more than if bought from the restaurant

#39

Post by mdrzn »

theGreatgame wrote: post #3

It would be great if Hacker news could add tags to these posts letting us know when there is a paywall.

Agree, the google search workaround doesn't even work anymore.

Either post directly the archive.is version or find another source, it's only gonna promote article-skipping and comments based on headlines.

Re: Meals on food delivery apps can be 90% more than if bought from the restaurant

#40

Post by anonsivalley652 »

SN76477 wrote: post #33

Food delivery in its current form will be short-lived. It is a 4 party system where the company controlling the money is the only one that wins. Restaurants are asked to pay 30% of the ticket. The customer is asked to pay more than expected for their meal, a delivery fee, and a tip. For the customer, this can be nearly double for a simple $10 lunch. The driver that has to deliver it gets stuck with fuel, automatic, a…

And it's not a defensible business model because anyone can start such a company with very little expenses.

I remember using waitersonwheels.com in the mid 90's and it wasn't any better than what's available now. Also, I know waiter.com has been around a long time and makes very good money. Perhaps the SF Bay Area is a unicorn where there are so many people with disposable income that their time is worth more than overpaying for things that it can sustain many delivery services? I don't think the business model would work in rural Michigan but it would work anywhere with high property values and/or high incomes.

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