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

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

#211

Post by ImPostingOnHN »

prepend wrote: post #129
mistercheph wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry, but it is insane that people that live in areas with no parking can request doorstep delivery in the United States. People that live on the 10th story of a luxury high rise in the downtown of a major city with a 5 minute security process will request doorstep delivery, forcing drivers to occupy driving lanes for minutes with their hazards thrown as they navigate the byzantine favela that the villager has reque…

> their $8 Mcdonalds order be brought to. Their $8 McDonalds order with a $14 delivery fee. Look, the customer base for Uber eats is lazy. That’s why they are ordering McDonalds delivery in the first place. Guilting them for meeting at the door isn’t going to work. In New York, if I’m coming to the door to meet the delivery, then I may as well just walk the 1/4 block to get it myself. Delivery has figured out how to…

> Their $8 McDonalds order with a $14 delivery fee.

Yep, I'd agree that paying that fee for a service which doesn't have to deliver to your door is silly, but some people still do it

> In New York, if I’m coming to the door to meet the delivery, then I may as well just walk the 1/4 block to get it myself.

As a fellow city dweller: yep, I'd agree there, too (that's why I don't order $8 mcwhatevers with $14 delivery) but to each their own

It seems unreasonable to expect every driver to know how to legally park around, efficiently gain access to, and navigate the twists and turns of every building, but it doesn't seem unreasonable to expect every building tenant/employee to do so for their own. If your building was a house, you wouldn't expect the driver to know how to gain entry and navigate to a specific room in it. That's what an apartment building is: a way bigger and more difficult to navigate house.

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

#212

Post by jkaplowitz »

bobsmooth wrote: post #200
jkaplowitz wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So how are people with mobility issues or medical quarantine situations supposed to get their food if there isn’t a way to reliably arrange for delivery people to bring it to (at least outside) their door? And yes, both of these circumstances have happened to me at times within the last few years, though fortunately not so far in a permanent way. Other people do have such limitations permanently.

>So how are people with mobility issues or medical quarantine situations supposed to get their food if there isn’t a way to reliably arrange for delivery people to bring it to (at least outside) their door? What did these people do before doordash? Can they not just call the restaurant and explain that going downstairs is a burden?

In my experience both before Doordash and now, deliveries usually happen to the door, and indeed Doordash allows requesting that - it’s usually been honored when I’ve done it, except in rare cases like building policies disallowing delivery people in the elevators (and even then they sometimes came up). In the linked article we are discussing a different case in Brazil where street-level delivery was the contract with the drivers, and the person I was replying to was defending that. I think there’s a potentially viable safety argument for that policy in the unusually theft-prone context of Brazil, but not one that would outweigh the downsides in most broadly safe developed countries.

But as to your suggested solution, I think it’s not appropriate to require a disabled person to explain their burden to every restaurant on every order, or similar. That’s too emotionally harsh. And as I said, delivery to the door is usually not a problem in my experience, but we are discussing a context quite different from my experience.

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

#213

Post by bombcar »

mrguyorama wrote: post #208
reaperman wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's what I did when I did bicycle deliveries. Yes it was a pain, but I considered it part of the job. But I was working for an individual pizza shop which did a good job making the job worthwhile overall and paid me well enough for my time and this sort of "extra effort".

Now imagine the pizza shop put you in a race with another delivery driver, and the loser was going to be banned from delivering and making that extra money. Because that's the reality these delivery apps set up.

Isn't this the plot of Snow Crash?

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

#214

Post by jkaplowitz »

mistercheph wrote: post #132
jkaplowitz wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So how are people with mobility issues or medical quarantine situations supposed to get their food if there isn’t a way to reliably arrange for delivery people to bring it to (at least outside) their door? And yes, both of these circumstances have happened to me at times within the last few years, though fortunately not so far in a permanent way. Other people do have such limitations permanently.

There are services and residences that accomodate those needs, and they pay the workers that satisfy them commensurately and they cost more.

And yet, every delivery app I’ve used has let me deliver to the door at no extra charge, and that’s usually been honored. We’re disagreeing about the reasonableness of the Brazilian service discussed in the article where street-level delivery is the standard service, at least ignoring the unusually high theft risk in Brazil that may make that restriction more defensible there. In the US and Canada and Germany, delivery to the door has been routine in most of my experience.

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

#215

Post by 5040 »

vuln wrote: post #185
5040 wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Humans are addicted to convenience no matter the cost. Another way of stating this is that people pay for convenience, and why not?

Folks subvert _security measures_ due to perceived or real inconvenience also. In this example one is getting paid to do a task, security controls make the task longer, less convenient, the human will find ways to subvert the inconvenience of the security controls.

Good point. Calls to mind the sharing of access control cards or the using of various means to prevent computers from locking in hospital settings, etc.

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

#216

Post by malux85 »

yjftsjthsd-h wrote: post #80
malux85 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Yes, you can extend the logic forever, however that ignores the obvious and enormous power differential between the two parties.

The first has to go down and get their food, a minor inconvienience.

The other has to risk losing their delivery vehicle / property when it gets stolen while they are in the building (an enormous, possibly income-destroying inconvienience)

I'm saying that the person in the building should maybe have a little gratitude for their position and empathy for the delivery driver

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

#217

Post by ryandrake »

nlh wrote: post #81
minitoar wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Very fair point. I considered revising that as I wrote it. I think consumers can and should be able to "protest" (for some definition of protest) by either choosing an alternative or tipping more or whatever. But that should be a consumer decision, not necessarily an obligation.

As someone else mentioned, "tipping more" does not protest the practice of paying workers poorly. In fact it enables and reinforces the practice.

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

#218

Post by throttlebody »

nlh wrote: 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…

Unbelievable how lazy people have become. Obviously people physically incapable are excused.... What a world

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

#219

Post by 6D794163636F756 »

minitoar wrote: post #73
nlh wrote: 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.

Just because it's not our responsibility doesn't mean we can't vote with our wallets. I try not to give money to terrible companies but ya know what? I'd rather labor laws do that instead.

For example, I have type one diabetes. I'd love to not give Eli Lily another cent but I don't have that option. I know it's not the same as abusing workers, but abusing a captive market is also boycott worthy.

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

#220

Post by ImPostingOnHN »

ahtihn wrote: post #162
hiatus wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mail trucks are a bit different though as they are federal vehicles. Private delivery services like FedEx get tickets all the time and pay them as the cost of doing business, but I doubt food delivery services do the same for their drivers.

So then find parking? Even if they need to walk a mile or 2? How is that the customer's problem? If delivery is not possible it's up to the service provider to refuse service. If they accept the order they agreed to deliver it.

I don't see how it's the driver's problem that the orderer chose to live somewhere impossible for delivery drivers to park while taking food through whatever apartment maze they chose to live in, but there's always the option of meeting at the front door

if that's not possible, it's up to you to refuse ordering. If you place the order, you agreed for it to be delivered according to the terms and conditions.

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