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Come downstairs or we’ll eat your order, delivery workers tell customers

restofworld.org

71–80 of 246 posts

Re: Come downstairs or we’ll eat your order, delivery workers tell customers

#71

Zzz. Expecting the delivery workers to eat the difference between "5-second hand-off to somebody who's waiting at the street entrance"* and "gotta secure their vehicle & stuff and get through your building security and figure our where your apartment is and trek up there and..." is an age-old "treat your servants like shit because you can" move. *The article is very clear that the delivery app's Terms of Service spec…

Comparing it with a 5-second hand off is like one of those bar graphs that cuts off the origin to make the difference in the bars look bigger. It’s more a difference between a 15 and 18 minute delivery. Not nothing, but I don’t see a huge difference between that and someone who lives 18 minutes away.

I personally go down to meet them, but mostly because it’s faster for me to run down than wait for them to take my slow elevator.

Re: Come downstairs or we’ll eat your order, delivery workers tell customers

#73
post #42

US perspective (eg theft of bikes / crime is not AS serious a problem as Brazil, although it can be bad): I'm a bit torn here. On the one hand, I fully empathize with the delivery drivers (particularly if the rules / policy of the app is NOT doorstep delivery) and where theft is a real issue. However, as a (US) consumer, where the apps DO allow us to request doorstep delivery, I think there is no issue with consumers…

Ehhh no ethical consumption and all that but I’m gonna have to go ahead and disagree with that last sentence. If I become aware of a business treating workers poorly I’m inclined to find an alternative.

Re: Come downstairs or we’ll eat your order, delivery workers tell customers

#74

The absolute entitlement to believe that delivery workers should be coming up to your door at the 9th floor, while complaining about "ethics". You're using a delivery service like Uber Eats, Deliveroo or Doordash that are well known to underpay, overwork and unjustly punish workers that do not maximize their deliveries per hour, and you have the gall to complain that they're not taking pride in their jobs from your i…

At what point do consumers become responsible for the choices made by businesses that they patronize? I expect the working conditions and pay of your delivery driver exceeds that of the person who made your pants. Don't you also owe those workers a fair shake?

While I do not have any control over whether the place I buy my jeans from uses overworked children from Bangladesh, I also have the very basic human empathy needed to know you shouldn't complain to said children when your Shein order isn't next day delivery.

By all means, blast Uber, blast , but passing on the blame onto the guy that barely makes minimum wage and destroys his car/bike in the process is downright moronic.

Re: Come downstairs or we’ll eat your order, delivery workers tell customers

#75

Zzz. Expecting the delivery workers to eat the difference between "5-second hand-off to somebody who's waiting at the street entrance"* and "gotta secure their vehicle & stuff and get through your building security and figure our where your apartment is and trek up there and..." is an age-old "treat your servants like shit because you can" move. *The article is very clear that the delivery app's Terms of Service spec…

There’s no problem unless a service specifies entrance-only delivery. All parties agree to the same contract. But if you still prefer to eat that cost, the company they contract with will pocket it through market means. Not them. Same for tips, they pay those who are underpaid. Delivery drivers are unprotected, period. It’s an unregulated low-skill high-competition job, these suck systemically. You can’t unsuck it by personal means.

Re: Come downstairs or we’ll eat your order, delivery workers tell customers

#76
I hate all of these companies. The streets in my city, especially in the evening, are now flush with their drivers zooming around on e-bikes, e-scooters, and mopeds, often on the sidewalks, with little regard for the traffic laws or pedestrians, and I've personally witnessed them colliding with pedestrians on multiple occasions (thankfully not badly hurt). I have never used any of the services, and I take spiteful pleasure in knowing that those who do are wasting their money and poisoning themselves with unhealthy ****.

Re: Come downstairs or we’ll eat your order, delivery workers tell customers

#77
post #19

The market decides. Food delivery most places mean to the door of the apartment, not the apartment complex entrance. This is terrible for food delivery agents, since it slashes the efficiency of most deliveries. I always run downstairs, since I am humbled that anyone would cook and bring me food. But as long as this is not the norm, food delivery agents are at the bottom of the food chain. In the past, this was a job…

I live with chronic sciatica. Some days, I'm feeling well enough for a walk in the park. Other days, I can barely limp to my kitchen or bathroom. Modern food delivery has been amazing for those kinds of days. Whenever drivers don't actually dash to my door as requested, it turns a simple meal into an agonizing journey.

This is tough, but there is an easy solution: delivery apps provide a way to communicate with the delivery worker, explain your situation, potentially offer a better tip for the service. They will come to your door.

Re: Come downstairs or we’ll eat your order, delivery workers tell customers

#78
post #42

US perspective (eg theft of bikes / crime is not AS serious a problem as Brazil, although it can be bad): I'm a bit torn here. On the one hand, I fully empathize with the delivery drivers (particularly if the rules / policy of the app is NOT doorstep delivery) and where theft is a real issue. However, as a (US) consumer, where the apps DO allow us to request doorstep delivery, I think there is no issue with consumers…

I think this is exactly the problem. The expectations should be clear on both sides. If I am expecting delivery to my streetfront I will be happy to go down and get it. If I am expecting delivery to my apartment door I will be annoyed if they refuse to do that.

If people want different things there could be an option in the app to decide what you want (with an appropriate price difference).

Re: Come downstairs or we’ll eat your order, delivery workers tell customers

#79
post #19

The market decides. Food delivery most places mean to the door of the apartment, not the apartment complex entrance. This is terrible for food delivery agents, since it slashes the efficiency of most deliveries. I always run downstairs, since I am humbled that anyone would cook and bring me food. But as long as this is not the norm, food delivery agents are at the bottom of the food chain. In the past, this was a job…

Where I live I saw a big shift in delivery people in the late aughts. I live in a city in the northeast (not NYC). These days even most of the apps like DoorDash are still using a restaurant's own delivery drivers.

I lived in a high-rise with elevators. From about 2000 until the late aughts it was like clockwork. They'd ring my buzzer, I'd buzz them in, and they'd stop at my door. In the late aughts it started to shift. More and more drivers would call me from downstairs and tell me I could pick up my food.

I can only imagine what it's like these days in a building like that. I live in a single family house now and 9 times out of 10 they won't even walk the 5 feet to my door from their car.

Re: Come downstairs or we’ll eat your order, delivery workers tell customers

#80
post #21

Imagine getting paid to deliver something and complaining about actually having to deliver it. I can see the problems they face, but delivering an item...most of the way...isn't the solution.

Imagine being in a world where you can wave your finger over some little glass shard, and a hot meal of your choosing is delivered to you. Then imagine complaining that you had to go outside your house to get it. I think the act of getting off the couch and going downstairs before consuming your food is probably a good thing for your health; and the primary reason for all of this is the delivery driver, who is likely…

The same logic extends however far you feel like making it extend, though.

Imagine being in a world where you can wave your finger over some little glass shard, and a hot meal of your choosing is prepared for you, and all you have to do is go get it. Obviously it's absurd to imagine that anyone would ever want it to also be brought to them.

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