701
What do you want to me to do instead? Cook myself all the time? Go outside? No thank you.
this post was submitted on 16 Jul 2025
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Anyone who refers to delivery as “chauffeuring” should be forced to listen to unrecognizable music at volume level 1.
who's out there driving a deuce and a half as their daily driver?
Just fyi, like 99% of food delivery via gig workers in nyc is done via e-bike
Even if done in a car in areas where a e-bike isn't really feasible, they usually take several orders at at time. I think 1 car picking up and delivering 3 orders is probably slightly more efficient that each person driving to the restaurant.
slightly more efficient that each person driving to the restaurant
Of course. But the correct solution here doesn't require any individuals driving.
It's kind of wild how the standard fare of pizza and chinese food delivery was absorbed by gig work. They used to be employees of the restaurant.
Technology should have made restaurant deliverer's lives easier and increased their efficiency. They should have made more money and worked less.
Instead we got gig workers who are basically impoverished wage slaves. They get no rights and no benefits. What is worse is whatever temporary profits they made have been sucked up by corporations by now.
This is a great case study for how to not use technology and how Tech Bros are not disrupters, they are destructors who profiteer, choke out, and then destroy markets.
The cost of eating out alone is ridiculous now. There's no way I'm paying an additional $30 to have it delivered, and risk the delivery guy eating half the order, having it arrive late and cold, or not showing up at all.
It absolutely baffles me that people are willing to spend that kind of money on low-quality takeout food that often arrives cold. I live just five minutes away from several five-star restaurants. If I wanted to, I could call ahead and pick up a fresh, high-quality meal in half the time it takes for a soggy, lukewarm fast food burger to show up at my doorstep—and I’d pay only a third of the price.
I genuinely don’t understand the appeal.
Was going to say i and most cant afford even a single star restaurant but then i Realised those only go up to three and you’re talking about fake internet points.
One of the best restaurants (zero stars) i have regularly been too has no website and most people don't even know what its called because its not on the storefront or the menu. People refer to it using the chef/owners name.
Most people don't live so close to good restaurants. And driving is so miserable that they'll pay others to do the driving for them.
...if you think delivery is too expensive, maybe don't get your food delivered, then? Just a thought.
Can't I do both though?
Both what?
Can't I not order delivery but also think its absurdly expensive?
I'm sorry sir, we abhor nuance around here
NYC tipped worker minimum wage is like 13 an hour. Not that The food delivery services are paying minimum wage ...
In one of the most expensive cities in the world, an on-demand courier is not going to be cheap. Even if they're on a bike.
What we're actually suffering from is that the cost of business and minimum wage has increased but the middle and upper wages have not. That, and the delivery services are a bit out of control. They're taking $10 out of every transaction to connect a web page to a mobile app.
It's not just delivery services, basically everything has been co-opted by tech bros that take a huge cut for transactions that are between two parties that have nothing to do with them, just for providing a "shiny" platform. Hotel bookings, AirBnB, marketplaces, Uber, and so on and so forth. All platforms that could be managed by 3 Devs in a basement, or public and managed by the government, but somehow they require 10k employees and vacuum up billions?
https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Platform+Capitalism-p-9781509504862
You might be interested in this book
Just walk and buy the stuff. In a way, I miss how before apps, places just had two or three delivery guys
Related video; "Why Convenience is Killing Us" Levi Hildebrand - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tpe8te3PdkA
Just walk? Okay, I can do that if I want... Subway. 22 minutes. That's fine. The next closest place to eat is FOUR HOURS there and back just walking. That is not a universal solution in the US.
You're 100% correct and it's very appropiate that we are discussing this in c/fuckcars .
If you live in midtown high-rise shit, you will pay $20, and waste 4 hrs of time and energy, now your kids crying and fiance fighting with you to not why just pay $30 and order delivery instead. It's 200% not worth it but also means this shitty urban planning that priorities corporal revenues on its residents expense should change. Look it up btw even local restaurants suffer; The only winner here is Uber eats.
If you walk the roads near me you won't live long.
Where the fuck do you live that’s so dangerous?!!
Shitty suburban Ohio. No shoulder on the road, no bike lanes, no sidewalk. Two lane roads with relatively high speed limits and lots of heavy truck traffic.
Lots of crosses from dead pedestrians and cyclists. The last time I walked home two miles from the tire shop I had three people stop to offer me a ride. Everyone knows you shouldn't be on these roads without a vehicle.
Where the fuck do you live that’s so dangerous?!!
Agreed, I miss delivery being associated with a restaurant. There was better accountability.
But I also live in a walkable area, so it's easy for me to say 'just walk'.
I don't get it either. That shit is so much more expensive. Not only are they charging you delivery fees and "convenience" fees, the base prices of what you're ordering at are also inflated through apps like Doordash and Uber Eats. Something that is only $5 if you went and got it yourself is now $8, plus a delivery fee, plus other fees. And then there is also a chance that the person delivering it is a piece of shit who just steals your food.
And even if your food does show up ... it's cold. Do people just not know that food tastes worse the longer it's been out of the oven?
Agreed 100%. It takes longer, costs more, and it's worse. My credit card gives me a premium membership and monthly vouchers and I still don't order that shit because it still costs more and stuff from the freezer tastes better.
Wife and I can also make better food, which may contribute to my distaste for delivery apps.
Sometimes you need the convenience.
If I have to work late and don't have time to cook, and my kids need to be in bed in an hour and a half, then I'm going to pay a little extra, and that's fine.
Not everyone has a wide open schedule every night.
Sorry how exactly is tax part of the delivery fee? You pay that either way right? And the service fee?
Driver tip...?
$8 is the full 8-5 working daily wage in many developing countries. I know NY rent is not the same as nigeria, but I'm just putting things in prespective when you see economic immegrants delivering your food
Is the purpose of DoorDash to get food that normally doesn’t have a delivery option? I always call and pick my food up. It’s a reason to get out of the house and exercise.
I've lived several places. In some, I could walk to get food, and I gladly did so. In others, I could not.
Should I have starved?
If your argument is "you should have driven," then you are depending on cars. Whether it's the buyer or an employee doing the driving has little effect on how much a car is being used. The environment doesn't care who's burning the gas.
Should I have starved?
I mean I'd say you could've cooked yourself and saved many trips by car. But fair enough if we assume you must order food (which is quite uncommon to do on a very regular basis where I live), then sure.
That almost makes it a steal, $20 for delivery or $20k + fees (tag, insurance, license, etc) + the cost of the food.
I do get your point though, the shit we have in the US terrible, the are only really walkable places are only in a few overly-expensive areas.
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I only demand the raw ingredients to be grown halfway around the world, shipped by climate-controlled container in giant cargo boats, trucked from the port to the backstore, kept in refrigerated display cases, and sold in disposable containers.
But it's the last mile that's going to change the world, you see.
It actually is the last mile that matters. When shipped half way around the world it's in bulk. The amount of fuel per unit of food is surprisingly low.
For the last mile you're not getting 100 meals delivered even though they would fit in the car. The fuel to food ratio is insane for 1 meal.
Of course buying local is better when you have the option, but it doesn't make nearly as much of a difference as last mile delivery.
Not only fuel to food ratio, but also the amount of labor. If it takes someone 20 minutes to deliver your food, including their return trip), that is 1/3 of an hour of labor.
I know this sub is focused on the vehicle use and ridiculous inefficiency of this in terms of fuel, but the labor to have someone do this is what really runs up the bill. I suppose that's a good thing, because it limits demand.
Gig delivery method is also the most inefficient way to do this. Some people cite medical reasons why they can't leave the house, but many grocery stores manage their own deliveries. When the store handles it, the delivery goes from Store to Point A to Point B... Gig goes from Home to Store to Point A to Store to Point B...
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I've never understood why you would trust some rando contract worker to carry it in their personal car for you. Are you insane? In America? Land of mental illness and poverty? It's disgusting.
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