DoorDash UberEats Favor bitching

[ChickenSandwich 9853]

13 hours ago, Clintonaldo said:

Had my first bad experience with Doordash last Sunday. Ordered from a place 1.5 miles away. Driver is there on time and then I watch him drive 32 miles past my house and drop off another order. I am on the chat with Doordash and they are telling me they will contact driver to see when he is dropping food off. I tell them I don’t want the fucking food now as it’s been sitting in a car for over 45 minutes. The lady on chat tells me she understands my frustration so I say fuck it. Food arrives and i complain again. I did say the cookie was fine but everything else tasted funny because of sitting in a hot car. They refund everything but the cookie. 

This is not really a problem with Doordash, the driver or the restaurant.  It is a fundamental problem with the business model. 

Cooked food has a diminishing return on flavor as soon as it leaves the kitchen.  Customers have the unrealistic expectation that these delivery drivers are actually their waiters, standing in the kitchen waiting to deliver that one order directly to them.

 

"How the fuck did pizza and Chinese food delivery operate for all these years? "

Because it is a completely different business model. 

First, they deliver food that actually delivers well.  Pizza, rice, fried chicken have proven all these years to be good food products for delivery.  Think sunday/picnic fried chicken, pizza by the slice (which can be sold for up to 4 hours after cooking).  They have very basic menus, with much of it pre-cooked.  They have dedicated drivers that don't go to multiple restaurants and operate in a limited delivery area.

Order with the expectation your food will sit.  If you order a rare steak and frites, you're gonna have a bad time.  The delivery cost and minimum order would at least double if we expected one driver per order.  These places don't have advanced algorithms planning out their most efficient delivery routes and pick ups to maximize profit and food quality.

 

TLDR; The driver is not your waiter, choose your order carefully.

[conVINCEd 21469]

18 minutes ago, ChickenSandwich said:

That’s the point. It’s not worth their time either to deliver 5 wings. 
 

They could just set a minimum, but if someone is willing to pay for the premium so what. 
 

Doordash mistakenly delivered a Torchys order to my door Super Bowl Night. It was 1 trailer park. 1 queso. Don’t remember the bill but some people get high enough, and will pay what the market demands. 

The first time I tried edibles I ended up ordering a cheeseburger, fries, rings, and a milkshake for $45. Don’t ever order a fucking milkshake for delivery.  

[TKthunder2 4997]

29 minutes ago, ChickenSandwich said:

That’s the point. It’s not worth their time either to deliver 5 wings. 
 

They could just set a minimum, but if someone is willing to pay for the premium so what. 
 

Doordash mistakenly delivered a Torchys order to my door Super Bowl Night. It was 1 trailer park. 1 queso. Don’t remember the bill but some people get high enough, and will pay what the market demands. 

Exactly, that was my point (although I admittedly strayed a bit).  If it’s simply a delivery service it shouldn’t matter how many tacos are in the Torchy’s bag.  I order 1 taco the delivery price should be $10, I order 8 tacos the price should be $10.  The work is the same the bag is just 7 tacos heavier, but the DoorDash fee goes up, and drivers expect the tip to do the same.  That part of the model is asinine.  I wish they just get rid of the tip and roll it into the fees but I get why they don’t.

[ChickenSandwich 9853]

If it WAS a simply delivery service, it would work like AMAZON 1hr/2hr delivery (a window).  Place order and they give you a 4hour dinner window. Amazon doesn't have to worry about the food getting cold/going bad (see 45min - cancellation post above, some groceries excluded) while they deliver for multiple customers.

It's not a simple delivery service. 

What you are describing is calling in a to-go order, and then calling an Uber/Taxi driver to go pick up and deliver directly to you.  The amount of the order would then be irrelevant, and I assume the cost of that service would be substantially higher  

 

Edited June 4, 2021 by ChickenSandwich

[TKthunder2 4997]

40 minutes ago, ChickenSandwich said:

If it WAS a simply delivery service, it would work like AMAZON 1hr/2hr delivery (a window).  Place order and they give you a 4hour dinner window. Amazon doesn't have to worry about the food getting cold/going bad (see 45min - cancellation post above, some groceries excluded) while they deliver for multiple customers.

It's not a simple delivery service. 

What you are describing is calling in a to-go order, and then calling an Uber/Taxi driver to go pick up and deliver directly to you.  The amount of the order would then be irrelevant, and I assume the cost of that service would be substantially higher  

 

So the amount of the order doesn’t matter but it then it does.  I understand the complexities of the to go food delivery service but you can’t have it both ways.  Either the price matters and the delivery is based on that (which it is) or it doesn’t and it should be a flat fee (which it’s not).  But yeah since getting vaccinated I’ve used them less and less because it’s a shitty service, not worth the money especially when my food is taking over an hour to arrive cold.

[ChickenSandwich 9853]

Well, that is the point, price does matter.  That is the business model and how they project to make money.  Most people will make larger orders when using their service as its a better value than ordering for one.  Their target market isn't the family clipping Pizza Hut coupons. 

It is a premium service, where they are acting as your server (not your UPS driver), hence why some have a minimum order (a flat fee) and go up from there.  They could not sustain the "flat delivery fee" (a flat delivery fee would be $25-$50 in this fantasy) model unless you want to make your order and be given a 4 or 12 hour window. 

"We will deliver your order between 6-10pm, and give you a courtesy call when the driver is on the way" - when it makes sense for them to do so at a flat rate price.

Edited June 4, 2021 by ChickenSandwich

[Clintonaldo 2576]

1 hour ago, ChickenSandwich said:

This is not really a problem with Doordash, the driver or the restaurant.  It is a fundamental problem with the business model. 

Cooked food has a diminishing return on flavor as soon as it leaves the kitchen.  Customers have the unrealistic expectation that these delivery drivers are actually their waiters, standing in the kitchen waiting to deliver that one order directly to them.

 

"How the fuck did pizza and Chinese food delivery operate for all these years? "

Because it is a completely different business model. 

First, they deliver food that actually delivers well.  Pizza, rice, fried chicken have proven all these years to be good food products for delivery.  Think sunday/picnic fried chicken, pizza by the slice (which can be sold for up to 4 hours after cooking).  They have very basic menus, with much of it pre-cooked.  They have dedicated drivers that don't go to multiple restaurants and operate in a limited delivery area.

Order with the expectation your food will sit.  If you order a rare steak and frites, you're gonna have a bad time.  The delivery cost and minimum order would at least double if we expected one driver per order.  These places don't have advanced algorithms planning out their most efficient delivery routes and pick ups to maximize profit and food quality.

 

TLDR; The driver is not your waiter, choose your order carefully.

False. Out of 60 something orders this is the first time it was complete shit. That is on the driver. 

[Samson's Wig 3194]

Order somewhat regularly and tip well, and somehow, magically, the food arrives quickly and hot 99% of the time.  Like everything else in life, money solves your problem.

[mulletpelini 5216]

 

16 hours ago, Clintonaldo said:

Had my first bad experience with Doordash last Sunday. Ordered from a place 1.5 miles away. Driver is there on time and then I watch him drive 32 miles past my house and drop off another order. I am on the chat with Doordash and they are telling me they will contact driver to see when he is dropping food off. I tell them I don’t want the fucking food now as it’s been sitting in a car for over 45 minutes. The lady on chat tells me she understands my frustration so I say fuck it. Food arrives and i complain again. I did say the cookie was fine but everything else tasted funny because of sitting in a hot car. They refund everything but the cookie. 

you are some real lazy mofos

[LABEVO 928]

I don’t see how the unit economics of these companies allow them to ever make a profit 

[DonkeyCigars 143]

I rarely use these for all the reasons mentioned already, and if your food experience/pleasure is going to be materially contingent on a custom change, forget about it. Even if it's as simple as "no pickles" or "extra ranch" or whatever, it will likely fail. You have to be happy with the off the menu configuration and set your bar there.

That said, the one time I used UberEats that was great. I used to have to spend 2 weeks a month in Nashville consulting on a project and I'd always stay in the Vanderbilt area, far west down Broadway as I have a lot of friends there and it's cheaper than The Gulch. As some of you might know, Hattie B's Nashville Hot Chicken was super trendy and having a moment back in 2017-2020-- millennials/gen-z Nashvillians could not get enough of this stuff and I liked it too. The lines were impossibly long and it was annoying, so I'd go off-hours, but one time for dinner I had a real hankering. The line was around the block to get in, and I saw it on UberEats. I ordered my chicken and not 15 minutes later I met the driver in the parking lot of the Marriot across the street where I could see the line had moved maybe 3-4 people.

Edited June 4, 2021 by DonkeyCigars

[ABSR 5324]

On 6/3/2021 at 11:48 PM, conVINCEd said:

They’re not going to drop an 8-ball on your front porch, but anything quasi-legal has been fulfilled. 

What about a 7-ball?

[SizzleChest 8284]

The restaurant delivery business seems  like it's actually worse than the restaurant business (excluding fine dining, but that is probably not much better).

If the goal is to make an industry / business as horrible as possible before the coming saturation of automatons, they're right on track.

All hail our future robot food making and delivery overlords!

I've used Uber Eats twice, while traveling for work in Boston and I was Ubering everywhere instead of renting a car.  It was fine one time, but took an hour to get my food the second time.  I have $20/month credits to use it, but never do.  The pandemic shifted my meal gathering to 90% at home now vs. 50/50 prior.

Edited June 5, 2021 by SizzleChest

[MNLonghornFUKM 8822]

[MajorMajor 109]

White people problems, amirite?

[Deej 76926]

Food delivery services are for those times you get too shitfaced at home to drive to pickup food and you've run out of Totino's party pizzas.

Edited June 6, 2021 by Deej

[CooterBrown 18031]

Does Favor have drivers any longer? Last 3 attempts over the past month, no one ever accepted the request. Finally gave up after an hour each time.

[Enchubben 5510]

9 hours ago, CooterBrown said:

Does Favor have drivers any longer? Last 3 attempts over the past month, no one ever accepted the request. Finally gave up after an hour each time.

You’re probably a bad tipper.

just kidding, maybe. I heard of a couple people I know start working for them recently in Austin.

[dirtonia 269]

Use ubereats/door dash/favor at least 2-3 times a week.

Doing my part to stimulate the economy.

[DonkeyCigars 143]

On 6/5/2021 at 9:58 AM, SizzleChest said:

The restaurant delivery business seems  like it's actually worse than the restaurant business (excluding fine dining, but that is probably not much better).

If the goal is to make an industry / business as horrible as possible before the coming saturation of automatons, they're right on track.

All hail our future robot food making and delivery overlords!

I've used Uber Eats twice, while traveling for work in Boston and I was Ubering everywhere instead of renting a car.  It was fine one time, but took an hour to get my food the second time.  I have $20/month credits to use it, but never do.  The pandemic shifted my meal gathering to 90% at home now vs. 50/50 prior.

I think this is why one of the founders of Facebook or something like that, his new start-up is in ghost kitchens and servicing the need to cook, prep and deliver a variety of foodstuffs, like a warehouse or logistics hub, because this will continue to be a big thing.

But then I also remember hearing that grubhub, etc. were struggling to turn a profit.

[Gene Parmesan 4014]

I'm too cheap to use it and other than being drunk or high I don't really see the value.  I get it in dense metropolitan areas where it makes sense that you may not have a car, but other wise you've got however much invested in a car but go ahead and double your meal costs so you don't have to drive 5 miles.  I mean they are in my area and I don't even think my town qualifies as a suburb.  I can't imagine the drivers in my area getting enough volume to make any kind of money.

[Lhorn 4964]

^^^^ agree.  It’s hard to believe that people are willing to pay the markup for delivery.  It seems pretty substantial and eating out at restaurants as pretty expensive as it is.  I think there’s also something about getting out of the house, having your food served hot (not just warm) and not steaming in a styrofoam container.  Plus it’s a challenge eating healthy from most restaurants. 

[DonkeyCigars 143]

9 minutes ago, Lhorn said:

^^^^ agree.  It’s hard to believe that people are willing to pay the markup for delivery.  It seems pretty substantial and eating out at restaurants as pretty expensive as it is.  I think there’s also something about getting out of the house, having your food served hot (not just warm) and not steaming in a styrofoam container.  Plus it’s a challenge eating healthy from most restaurants. 

Maybe it's more of a habit or culture that was formed in 2020 during the scariest times of COVID-19, when nobody went out and if you wanted take-out food instead of home cooking for the billionth time in a row, you outsourced the infection risk to the poor and laid off people who had to take the, at the time unknown risks, to serve others.

[Underdog 28773]

On 6/1/2021 at 11:10 PM, RollLeft said:

1, 2, X

[Modessit 5605]

Why should the cost of the food and of the delivery be connected? They are two completely different things. And what does the cost have to do whether it is convenient or not? Usually I expect to pay more for convenience and how much depends a lot on the situation and much less on what I feel like paying.

I was going to read the entire thread before commenting but this is such a shitty uninformed take that I have to respond.

Full disclosure - I'm an UberEats driver who works 40-60 hours a week typically. I also keep insulated bags in my vehicle to keep hot food hot and cold for cold. Many drivers do not.

But let's talk about your problem. Sure, it sucks to pay $14 on top of the $10 food you want, but you can always get your lazy ass up, dressed, get in your car, drive there, wait when it's not ready yet, drive back home, and go back in. Your 20 minutes is worth less than $14 right?

But let's assume you live 5 miles from the restaurant and in normal traffic (not 5-7pm rush hour) it takes maybe 15 minutes round trip if you hit all red lights. Guess how much I'm getting offered to pick up the food and bring it to you pretip? $3.70. Maybe less. And if there is another customer or restaurant going near the same area, it might be an "add-on" that offers even less (like $1). We get to see the offer with the pretip added in and most of us aren't doing a 15-20 minute delivery for under $5 total.

And it could easily take longer because I might be 10 minutes from the restaurant when I get the offer so that's another 10 minutes added on. Then I get there and find out they're short-staffed, or are making all the walk-in orders first and will do the online orders when they get to it, or ran out of something and didn't bother calling the customer so I have to and now have to wait for the sub to be made. Or they closed their dining room and are only doing the drive-thru and there are 20 cars in line. I often end up waiting 10+ minutes at a restaurant that is normally ready. And I cannot contact the other customer to let them know of the delay because my app only allows me to contact the customer whose order in currently picking up.

But let's say everything goes right and I'm actually right next to the restaurant when the offer comes. I'm still not doing it for under $5, and the farther out you 1%ers live the more you better tip of you want someone to deliver to you. You might think that $7 tip is good, but not if I'm driving 25 minutes down 290 or 71 for $14 ($7 offer plus $7 tip) and then I'm in an area with no restaurants and have to drive 25 minutes back just to get another offer.

As I've said, I keep insulated bags in my car and you get the food and almost the same temp as I get it, but you'd be surprised how many restaurants don't give a shit about keeping your food warm. Food is sitting in a table or a shelf getting cold. Nothing like showing up to MOD Pizza in Bee Caves to find pizza boxes sitting on shelf with no warmer and then not willing to remake it and then I get thumbs down for delivering cold pizza.

It's almost a bad as the fuckers that order a shake from a place 15 miles away and then wonder why it's half-melted. Or blame the driver because the restaurant didn't put the dressing on the side. We don't make the food. We don't open sealed bags and containers to check the food. And we don't get detailed order listings that tell us you wanted the gluten-free bun.

Point being, a lot of that money you pay doesn't go to the driver - except the tip - and you get what you pay for. Most of us share who the shitty tippers are, and those who tip-bait (offer larger tips and then change them later to a couple bucks) will quickly find their orders just sitting in a restaurant getting cold.

[Modessit 5605]

I don’t see Pluckers having delivery, but from what I’ve been told the ‘high’ delivery fee means Pluckers isn’t subsidizing the fee for the customer, because they don’t need the business.

Most of us don't pick up from Pluckets because they never have orders ready and it can take 30 minutes just to get the smallest order.

[Modessit 5605]

 
"How the fuck did pizza and Chinese food delivery operate for all these years? "
Because it is a completely different business model. 
First, they deliver food that actually delivers well.  Pizza, rice, fried chicken have proven all these years to be good food products for delivery.  Think sunday/picnic fried chicken, pizza by the slice (which can be sold for up to 4 hours after cooking).  They have very basic menus, with much of it pre-cooked.  They have dedicated drivers that don't go to multiple restaurants and operate in a limited delivery area.

The last part is the biggest. As someone who has managed restaurants and delivered pizza, pizza drivers get paid at least minimum wage, usually get gas reimbursement of some type, and operate in a smaller delivery area.

UberEats, for example, will let you order from any restaurant writhin a 15 mile radius of your location. That's not 15 miles of road, but straight line. You could live in Steiner Ranch and order from a restaurant in Rollingwood. I've seen the offers and turned them down. People in Kyle order from Brodie/71. People in Dripping Springs order from Southpark Meadows. It sucks as a driver, and customers bitch that nobody wants to deliver their $11.90 Pad Thai with a $5 tip when the driver is told the delivery pays $16.60 with expected tip and is estimated to be 14.7 miles and take 72 minutes.

As an aside, every driver has a story of being paid $8 for delivering a $1 soda one block from the restaurant. Sometimes we can see the restaurant from the front door of the delivery. What did those people pay for that $1 soda? These are the lazy folks with money. And they're often under 30.

[Modessit 5605]

Exactly, that was my point (although I admittedly strayed a bit).  If it’s simply a delivery service it shouldn’t matter how many tacos are in the Torchy’s bag.  I order 1 taco the delivery price should be $10, I order 8 tacos the price should be $10.  The work is the same the bag is just 7 tacos heavier, but the DoorDash fee goes up, and drivers expect the tip to do the same.  That part of the model is asinine.  I wish they just get rid of the tip and roll it into the fees but I get why they don’t.

Well, the reason the fee goes up is because the bigger orders take longer to prepare which ties up a driver longer. Very few restaurants will request a driver close to the time the order is ready. Most have auto-confirm turned on so a driver gets summoned immediately even if it'll take 30 minutes to get the order ready. That means they're paying the driver (very little extra) to wait and not get paid doing other work. Many drivers will cancel after finding out they have to wait more than 10 minutes and another driver will get offered.

Many restaurants add surcharges for large groups (5 or more people) and I'll bet some do it even if you order 5 meals to go instead of dine-in. Wouldn't surprise me. That would mean the restaurant payout would go up.

And I agree that delivering 1 taco isn't much different than delivering 8 tacos, but what about 1 pizza vs 8 pizzas? 1 coffee vs 8 coffees? I can make one trip from my car to your door with the tacos but probably not the others. More work should be more pay. More expectations - like walking up 4 flights of stairs because the elevator is broken because you don't want to come down to me - should be more pay. If you have to write a book of instructions on how to get the food to you, then you understand delivering to you isn't easy and should tip accordingly.

I once delivered 32 smoothies to an office downtown on the 18th floor - 2 blocks from the smoothie place. Even with drink carriers I could only carry 8 at a time. I was only allowed to use the service elevator that every other contractor and vendor was using. Had to make 4 trips from the parking garage because nobody had a cart to use and nobody in the office would come help me bring it up. And I got zero tip from it.

[Modessit 5605]

I don’t see how the unit economics of these companies allow them to ever make a profit 

They don't pay much. They used to pay more but they reduced the driver pay a lot in the past few years.

In order to make money doing it, you have to put in a lot of hours, be selective on what offers you accept, and try to find a good ratio of how long it'll take to deliver and how much it pays for that time taken. I can usually avg $25/hr - sometimes $40+ - but I've been doing it a long time and have a good idea of what I'm doing. But I use my own car, pay my own gas, and file my own taxes. About 8% of my earnings go to gas, and my mileage write-off is so large I pay minimal taxes.

But I know a lot of drivers who don't make half what I do in the same amount of hours.

[Modessit 5605]

Does Favor have drivers any longer? Last 3 attempts over the past month, no one ever accepted the request. Finally gave up after an hour each time.

From people I've talked to who did Favor, they hate doing it and don't make much money so they quit. If it wasn't for HEB I don't think they'd have many drivers.

[Modessit 5605]

I think this is why one of the founders of Facebook or something like that, his new start-up is in ghost kitchens and servicing the need to cook, prep and deliver a variety of foodstuffs, like a warehouse or logistics hub, because this will continue to be a big thing.
But then I also remember hearing that grubhub, etc. were struggling to turn a profit.

There are a lot of ghost kitchens in Austin, under the name Reef Kitchens as the big food truck version (at least 8 locations around town) and ATX Kitchens (2 buildings that I know of). And many restaurants that you know well are online with 2 or 3 different names - each with different menus - with no mention of their more well-known name. Some have online items under these other names that you can't order if you were in the actual restaurant. I often see I'm being sent to a restaurant I've never heard of only to see a note that tells me to pick up at more famous restaurant. For example, Doc's Backyard at Brodie/71 is also Gametime Grub. Red Robin is also Fresh Bites. Lots of others.

[MNLonghornFUKM 8822]

Well, the reason the fee goes up is because the bigger orders take longer to prepare which ties up a driver longer. Very few restaurants will request a driver close to the time the order is ready. Most have auto-confirm turned on so a driver gets summoned immediately even if it'll take 30 minutes to get the order ready. That means they're paying the driver (very little extra) to wait and not get paid doing other work. Many drivers will cancel after finding out they have to wait more than 10 minutes and another driver will get offered.

Many restaurants add surcharges for large groups (5 or more people) and I'll bet some do it even if you order 5 meals to go instead of dine-in. Wouldn't surprise me. That would mean the restaurant payout would go up.

And I agree that delivering 1 taco isn't much different than delivering 8 tacos, but what about 1 pizza vs 8 pizzas? 1 coffee vs 8 coffees? I can make one trip from my car to your door with the tacos but probably not the others. More work should be more pay. More expectations - like walking up 4 flights of stairs because the elevator is broken because you don't want to come down to me - should be more pay. If you have to write a book of instructions on how to get the food to you, then you understand delivering to you isn't easy and should tip accordingly.

I once delivered 32 smoothies to an office downtown on the 18th floor - 2 blocks from the smoothie place. Even with drink carriers I could only carry 8 at a time. I was only allowed to use the service elevator that every other contractor and vendor was using. Had to make 4 trips from the parking garage because nobody had a cart to use and nobody in the office would come help me bring it up. And I got zero tip from it.

You didn’t get a tip because 24 smoothies were melted. Step on it

[idigTexas 2290]

Regarding the "tipping based on distance" issue, sometimes that is not the customer's fault.  I've had multiple occasions where I thought I was ordering from a place a couple of miles away, and the order ends up going to a different location that is half way across town.  I feel bad for the driver when this happens, but I use DoorDash exclusively, and unless I am missing it, there is not a method for changing the tip once the order has been placed.  As a rule, I generally only order from places that are close, as it increases the odds of getting a meal that hasn't had to sit too long.    

[immamac 43075]

I ordered some stuff on ubereats yesterday I had a 20 dollar off any order of 25 or more. Cool. 

Got 32 worth if food. 20 dollar coupon. After fees it was still 27 dollars (not inckuding tip). What the actual fuck. I always thought it was expensive for us near dripping for the reasons @Modessitwas highlighting. Nope, just stupid ridiculous fees/pricing and NONE of it except tip really goes to the driver. 

I also couldn't use Google pay because the app just kept going into a doom loop when trying to place the order. Had to change payment method and actually force close the app and reorder. 

I'm done with Uber eats and these delivery platforms. The technology is fucking garbage and the experience is even worse.

[TKthunder2 4997]

16 hours ago, Modessit said:

Well, the reason the fee goes up is because the bigger orders take longer to prepare which ties up a driver longer. Very few restaurants will request a driver close to the time the order is ready. Most have auto-confirm turned on so a driver gets summoned immediately even if it'll take 30 minutes to get the order ready. That means they're paying the driver (very little extra) to wait and not get paid doing other work. Many drivers will cancel after finding out they have to wait more than 10 minutes and another driver will get offered.

Many restaurants add surcharges for large groups (5 or more people) and I'll bet some do it even if you order 5 meals to go instead of dine-in. Wouldn't surprise me. That would mean the restaurant payout would go up.

And I agree that delivering 1 taco isn't much different than delivering 8 tacos, but what about 1 pizza vs 8 pizzas? 1 coffee vs 8 coffees? I can make one trip from my car to your door with the tacos but probably not the others. More work should be more pay. More expectations - like walking up 4 flights of stairs because the elevator is broken because you don't want to come down to me - should be more pay. If you have to write a book of instructions on how to get the food to you, then you understand delivering to you isn't easy and should tip accordingly.

I once delivered 32 smoothies to an office downtown on the 18th floor - 2 blocks from the smoothie place. Even with drink carriers I could only carry 8 at a time. I was only allowed to use the service elevator that every other contractor and vendor was using. Had to make 4 trips from the parking garage because nobody had a cart to use and nobody in the office would come help me bring it up. And I got zero tip from it.

The technology shouldn’t be that bad, especially for the cut the apps are taking.

Again if I order 5/6 bags of food with drinks then I’d expect to pay a bigger fee, I think it’s stupid that the fee goes up for the exact same amount of effort/work.  This isn’t on the drivers, it’s on the app which I think are about see a giant drop off once we get back to preCOVID routines.

Also I gave UberEats another try after using DoorDash exclusively for the last year and it’s a way better experience.

[ChickenSandwich 9853]

It should just be a flat delivery fee of $20. $15 for the driver (plus tip) and $5 for the app. That is good for an hour of the drivers time, regardless of price of order. Charge more for large/awkward orders. 
 

Volume would be way down but it would at least make sense for the driver and customer. 

[Brothahorn 10087]

SIAP

[Lhorn 4964]

22 hours ago, ChickenSandwich said:

It should just be a flat delivery fee of $20. $15 for the driver (plus tip) and $5 for the app. That is good for an hour of the drivers time, regardless of price of order. Charge more for large/awkward orders. 
 

Volume would be way down but it would at least make sense for the driver and customer. 

To me this make sense and seems fair but for Doordash and such probably not so much.  It cuts out the low end of the market and limits their cut on the high end I would think.  Probably a fair number of people willing to pay $8 to have a $2 coke delivered (we’ll call those people “lazy garbage” for clarity sake) but far less people willing to pay $20 to have a $2 coke delivered.  On the high end orders, Doordash probably gets much more than $20 on big orders.  
Its interesting discussion.  I appreciate the stories from the delivery people.  It sounds like it can be a real beating dealing with people’s unreasonable expectations and cheap tippers.  
 

I looked once at pricing and was instantly turned off by the cost but for people who do this, considering a fair tip in the cost, how much more percentage wise does an average meal for 2-4 people cost?  
 

Edited June 14, 2021 by Lhorn

[gyroprotagonist 2595]

On 6/12/2021 at 10:53 PM, Modessit said:

Full disclosure - I'm an UberEats driver who works 40-60 hours a week typically...

We get to see the offer with the pretip added in and most of us aren't doing a 15-20 minute delivery for under $5 total.

I did not know that.  So it should actually pay off to tip well as far as getting your job taken.  are there actual scores for patrons?

What does the 'diamond'/platinum' ranking system mean?  Can anyone snag a good tipper's order or is there a hierarchy or pecking order for that? 

lastly, how often do UE drivers share their account with dipshits who have no idea what they are doing? 

[F250 28823]

Does anyone regularly use the HEB/Favor delivery service? I think it might be store dependent but the simplicity of ordering groceries online through the HEB app has really improved. I haven’t stepped inside an HEB in two months.

 

[Brothahorn 10087]

Does anyone regularly use the HEB/Favor delivery service? I think it might be store dependent but the simplicity of ordering groceries online through the HEB app has really improved. I haven’t stepped inside an HEB in two months.
 

We use instacart for HEB and Aldi. Never had any real problems.

[Clintonaldo 2576]

On 6/12/2021 at 11:53 PM, Modessit said:

I was going to read the entire thread before commenting but this is such a shitty uninformed take that I have to respond.

Full disclosure - I'm an UberEats driver who works 40-60 hours a week typically. I also keep insulated bags in my vehicle to keep hot food hot and cold for cold. Many drivers do not.

But let's talk about your problem. Sure, it sucks to pay $14 on top of the $10 food you want, but you can always get your lazy ass up, dressed, get in your car, drive there, wait when it's not ready yet, drive back home, and go back in. Your 20 minutes is worth less than $14 right?

But let's assume you live 5 miles from the restaurant and in normal traffic (not 5-7pm rush hour) it takes maybe 15 minutes round trip if you hit all red lights. Guess how much I'm getting offered to pick up the food and bring it to you pretip? $3.70. Maybe less. And if there is another customer or restaurant going near the same area, it might be an "add-on" that offers even less (like $1). We get to see the offer with the pretip added in and most of us aren't doing a 15-20 minute delivery for under $5 total.

And it could easily take longer because I might be 10 minutes from the restaurant when I get the offer so that's another 10 minutes added on. Then I get there and find out they're short-staffed, or are making all the walk-in orders first and will do the online orders when they get to it, or ran out of something and didn't bother calling the customer so I have to and now have to wait for the sub to be made. Or they closed their dining room and are only doing the drive-thru and there are 20 cars in line. I often end up waiting 10+ minutes at a restaurant that is normally ready. And I cannot contact the other customer to let them know of the delay because my app only allows me to contact the customer whose order in currently picking up.

But let's say everything goes right and I'm actually right next to the restaurant when the offer comes. I'm still not doing it for under $5, and the farther out you 1%ers live the more you better tip of you want someone to deliver to you. You might think that $7 tip is good, but not if I'm driving 25 minutes down 290 or 71 for $14 ($7 offer plus $7 tip) and then I'm in an area with no restaurants and have to drive 25 minutes back just to get another offer.

As I've said, I keep insulated bags in my car and you get the food and almost the same temp as I get it, but you'd be surprised how many restaurants don't give a shit about keeping your food warm. Food is sitting in a table or a shelf getting cold. Nothing like showing up to MOD Pizza in Bee Caves to find pizza boxes sitting on shelf with no warmer and then not willing to remake it and then I get thumbs down for delivering cold pizza.

It's almost a bad as the fuckers that order a shake from a place 15 miles away and then wonder why it's half-melted. Or blame the driver because the restaurant didn't put the dressing on the side. We don't make the food. We don't open sealed bags and containers to check the food. And we don't get detailed order listings that tell us you wanted the gluten-free bun.

Point being, a lot of that money you pay doesn't go to the driver - except the tip - and you get what you pay for. Most of us share who the shitty tippers are, and those who tip-bait (offer larger tips and then change them later to a couple bucks) will quickly find their orders just sitting in a restaurant getting cold.

Let me just say as someone who uses Doordash a lot I appreciate what you do and only had one bad experience in 1.5 years. I live in populated area and normally Doordash within a 2 mile area and tip $5. I hope they make money off of me.