Call me crazy, but all the various food delivery apps should be consolidated into one and run by the government. Make it part of the post office. It helps businesses, drivers would be paid fairly, and it provides an extremely useful public service.
The food delivery bubble is bursting — and maybe that's not a bad thing
Submitted 4 months ago by jeffw@lemmy.world to workreform@lemmy.world
https://www.salon.com/2024/08/04/the-delivery-bubble-is-bursting--and-maybe-thats-not-a-thing/
Comments
ChonkyOwlbear@lemmy.world 4 months ago
jjjalljs@ttrpg.network 4 months ago
Unfortunately one of two major US parties and a chunk of the population believes that government fundamentally can’t work. And they’ll run for office to prove it.
It is a little like saying bridges are unsafe and then taking a sledge hammer to a bridge for years until it falls apart. “See? If you hit it a bunch and don’t pay for maintenance or repair anything, eventually it falls apart!”
SorteKanin@feddit.dk 4 months ago
I feel like making it part of the state is not the right course here. Rather, consolidate it into larger cooperatives (maybe not just one, but one for each area or city or state or something), which are collectively owned by all the restaurants. They all have an interest in having delivery personnel available. It seems like a collectively owned coop fits well for that.
ChonkyOwlbear@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Maybe have the government manage the software/servers that individual co-ops use so that part is uniform. As long as the co-op aren’t in direct competition, I see no issue. With competition there is too much immediate pressure to screw over delivery drivers.
Bonesince1997@lemmy.world 4 months ago
And then a guy like Louis DeJoy gets in there…
ChonkyOwlbear@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Any system will fail if it is directly sabotaged.
AlexWIWA@lemmy.ml 4 months ago
USPS delivering me Taco Bell would be fantastic
frezik@midwest.social 4 months ago
If they add tomatoes when I asked for no tomatoes, do the Post Office police get involved?
paraphrand@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Only if they find a way to make going back to the restaurant to fix order issues possible. If there is no model to make that work, then these services should never exist.
ChonkyOwlbear@lemmy.world 4 months ago
I think with a unified restaurant listing system and order verification by drivers, these could be minimized (no system will ever be error free). As it is now, some delivery companies will list menus without consulting with the restaurant and that is a big source of mistakes.
jaybone@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Exactly! These are valuable services for people who can’t drive.
calcopiritus@lemmy.world 4 months ago
If they operated under the government at a loss I think it’s terrible policy. If it’s ran as a for-profit then it’d be fine.
And of course make discounts for people that actually need the service (disabled people and such). But no way I’m paying for lazy 20 year olds that can walk across the street to pick their food themselves, but don’t want to because the government service would be cheap.
BarbecueCowboy@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Until recently when a bill was passed drastically changing how their retirement accounts had to be funded, the USPS was usually run for profit and was even usually actively profitable year over year. I think they’re still dealing with the fallout of that bill meant to hobble them, but I can’t imagine they’d operate at a loss purposefully.
unconsciousvoidling@lemmy.one 4 months ago
The government isn’t a business. It’s a public service and I never hear anyone bitch about the wasteful spending when it comes to the military. I don’t understand why the post office is being treated like a for profit business.
ChonkyOwlbear@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Every lazy 20 year old is supporting a restaurant and a delivery driver. You benefit from this via taxes. I think the system could easily be made self-sustaining though while still being cheaper than any private options.
trolololol@lemmy.world 4 months ago
I think that’s how it works in Dubai. Basically you’re asking for a benevolent dictator thingy. Now think hard, do you think your own country government has what it takes to do it properly?
Soulg@sh.itjust.works 4 months ago
They’re asking for a government regulated public service. Where the everloving fuck are you getting the impression of a benevolent dictator
ChonkyOwlbear@lemmy.world 4 months ago
The post office delivering things makes it a dictatorship?
morrowind@lemmy.ml 4 months ago
What happens when the restaurants aren’t satisfied with the government service and decide to go with some third party? Or run their own, as many still do?
MataVatnik@lemmy.world 4 months ago
I don’t see the issue with a private/public option
ChonkyOwlbear@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Same as what happens when people use FedEx instead of the post office. They pay more for premium service.
AlexWIWA@lemmy.ml 4 months ago
I am so sick of food places replacing delivery drivers with Uber eats. Now my order takes two hours, arrives cold, and the tip vanishes into the ether. Drivers paid less, restaurants charged more per delivery, and a worse customer experience.
Evotech@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Hmm, kinda update experience for me. The people who have their own drivers are the worst. No accountability, does whatever the fuck they want.
AlexWIWA@lemmy.ml 4 months ago
I don’t know why people so harshly down voted you. I imagine this is very dependant on locale and you were just sharing your experience.
rickyrigatoni@lemm.ee 4 months ago
People are literally paying double the cost of their food or more for doordash delivery from restaurants that already have a free or significantly cheaper delivery service. I don’t get how so many people have been falling for the lazy tax so much.
surewhynotlem@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Life is hard. Making good choices requires do much work.
The Good Place finale did a whole bit on it.
echodot@feddit.uk 4 months ago
Not to be pedantic but the conclusion was that it isn’t simply too much work to make good choices, it’s impossible to make good choices. Everything is so complicated now that it’s literally impossible to consider the implications of every single one of your choices. Even the guy that actually tried to make good choices was unable to do so and would still have been punished.
snooggums@midwest.social 4 months ago
It never should have become the bubble it was.
Lon3star@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Great, do short-term residential rental properties next
buzz86us@lemmy.world 4 months ago
I don’t understand the people who get McDonald’s on these apps
bionicjoey@lemmy.ca 4 months ago
Right? McDonald’s has their own app!
(/j) Although I do use the McDs app, only to order ahead and then go pick up in person
mihnt@lemmy.ca 4 months ago
“cost of fuel, insurance and car maintenance have increased”
As someone who drives for one of these companies, cost of fuel is only really an issue sometimes. When it gets closer to $4 a gallon, it stops being worth it. I do my own car maintenance so this really isn’t too much of an issue either. Car insurance though? You bet those fuckers have made plays to try and jack driver’s prices up. Some companies outright won’t insure you if you’re a driver without getting commercial insurance, which, from when I was shopping was over a grand a month in my state.
thallamabond@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Bubble my ass, these companies were only profitable for a few quarters out of the last decade. VC is shifting there capitol around
Sanctus@lemmy.world 4 months ago
I have literally never been able to afford these services, and I didn’t use them at the start so I dont know what the VC money days were like. Its already like 50 bucks to feed your family at McDonalds when you get it yourself.
Razzazzika@lemm.ee 4 months ago
I open the app to try to find what I want to eat, then look at the prices and decide to drive there myself and get the food which saves $10-$20.
at_an_angle@lemmy.one 4 months ago
And 3/4 of the time, the price and hassle to drive drives me to cook at home.
derpgon@programming.dev 4 months ago
I know food delivery is becoming an issue in the USA, but here in Czechia it is significantly better. Sure, you cannot tip the restaurant - but delivery tipping has never ever been a thing as far as I can remember (maybe if you pay cash). The delivery costs are usually not jacked up, and the drivers make a living wage.
Am I missing something? The three services we usually use are Wolt, Bolt Food, and Foodora (predecessor was bought by a multinational company and renamed, was a regional thing in the past).
frezik@midwest.social 4 months ago
Somehow, the delivery services in the US have gotten into a situation that’s bad for basically everyone involved. The drivers are underpaid. The restaurants are underpaid. Customers feel they’re being gouged. Despite charging a lot without paying much to the people who actually make and deliver the food, the companies are losing money.
Arguably, the only people who are happy with the money involved in any of this are the salaried programmers working for these companies. That only because they could make just as much anywhere else. The owners can hope that line will go up enough that they can sell the company and take a big payout. This cannot last, and while you shouldn’t cry for them, it probably won’t last long enough for the owners to get their payout.
jerkface@lemmy.ca 4 months ago
“Somehow!” Like every other unregulated industry. Weird!
rishabh@discuss.tchncs.de 4 months ago
Can it be because of the fact that they do deliveries in the US using cars mainly while in Europe it’s mostly with bikes/e-bikes?
fruitycoder@sh.itjust.works 4 months ago
Honestly that seems like a huge factor to me. The more car dependent places I’ve lived the less delivery was a thing.
derpgon@programming.dev 4 months ago
Might be true, almost all of my deliveries to work are by bike. But that’s in the city centre where going 200m take about 20 minutes by car.
On the other hand, where I live, it is almost always a car, because it is faster and more convenient for the drivers.
But I feel like the company also has something to do with the quality of the service for the end user. I feel like Wolt, which originates from Finland, is not funking up the economy here.
Chewget@lemm.ee 4 months ago
Weird way to say broke people don’t order delivery…
CurlyWurlies4All@slrpnk.net 4 months ago
[deleted]Socsa@sh.itjust.works 4 months ago
That’s always how it’s been though. The difference is that in-house delivery is actually optimized for delivery volume, and restaurants which don’t have that volume or workflow just don’t have in-house delivery. When I drove pizza in college, I would take like 5 or 6 deliveries per hour. Turnaround time from getting to the restaurant and back out the door would be a minute or two, and I’d leave with at least three different orders That was good for $50/hr in tips during the dinner rush. Even a regular weeknight would be good for $150 in a 6 hour shift.
With the app ecosystem, it’s just impossible hit that kind of efficiency because you are almost always taking one order at a time, and you end up waiting on the restaurant most of the time.
jeffw@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Apps destroyed food delivery
stoly@lemmy.world 4 months ago
No. Delivery is broken. Fees commonly go to double the food cost just because a few companies own everything. It’s like ticket master.
BigBenis@lemmy.world 4 months ago
About a year ago I made a rule for myself that if I wanted takeout, I’d go and get it myself unless I was physically incapable of doing that (drunk, high, etc). It means I don’t get takeout quite as often but I do still get it a couple times a week and even still my eating out expenses have reduced by more than 50%. Also, many delivery app prices are higher even if you’re opting to pick it up yourself. I often save a significant amount by just calling the restaurant rather than making the order through one of the delivery apps.
frigidaphelion@lemmy.world 4 months ago
As someone who works in a restaurant, I can say that the prices for our menu items on doordash are up to ~40% higher than menu price regardless of whether you get it delivered or pick it up. If you’re getting takeout somewhere, call instead of using a 3rd party app, or at least see if their website lets you place orders sans doordash/postmates etc
woodenskewer@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Maybe this is a dumb question but why are people willingly using a third party app to order food if they’re going to go get the fucking food themselves anyway? I had no idea this was a thing. Do we not like looking up phone numbers? No access to online menu? Pay a premium to avoid having a conversation? The only thing that makes sense is not wanting to have a conversation.
jerkface@lemmy.ca 4 months ago
Haven’t gotten delivery since before the pandemic. Get fast food or a restaurant less than once a year. Honestly if this is one of the problems in your life, you are not poor.
BruceTwarzen@lemm.ee 4 months ago
One of my friends was often complaining about money before and during the pandemic, so we never did anything expensive or nothing that costs money at all, which is fine by me. He had different work hours than me so i often cooked for two and invited him over. Just things like that. By the end of the pandemic i went to his place for the first time in years, and on his balcony he had two big garbage bags filled with empty delivery food boxes and McDonald’s crap. Bro, wanna know where your money goes?
chonglibloodsport@lemmy.world 4 months ago
What I don’t understand is why the apps themselves aren’t even profitable. They’re taking billions of revenue yet losing money. What is costing them so much? Developers? The apps really haven’t changed much in the last few years.
trolololol@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Worker fees must be the top cost. In a purely it company the costs go mostly in building the features then rise slow and steady with numbers of users. These companies have a steady and bulky cost increase with number of users.
chonglibloodsport@lemmy.world 4 months ago
You mean the drivers? Or server/support/IT?
I thought the whole point of this business model was that they could build the software once and then using the power of scale they could make billions in profit. You know, like Google, Facebook, Snapchat, TikTok…
jaemo@sh.itjust.works 4 months ago
I loathe the line-cutting self-important food delivery hustle bros with every fiber of my being and will never use their service. This is glad news.
WoahWoah@lemmy.world 4 months ago
I still find these apps useful/handy when I’m having a party, I’m over at someone’s place with a bunch of different people, or I have family visiting or whatever. It stretches longer than people expect, people get hungry, etc., and then we can decide on a place, and everyone can simultaneously scroll the menu and make their order, and it shows up labeled for each individual.
It’s indulgent af and expensive, but once in a while for that kind of ordering efficiency, I like it.
For me and my girl or whatever, it’s my fun to just take a little cruise around town, get some take out, and then drive it straight home while it’s actually still hot.
Nuke_the_whales@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Last time I used Uber eats they scammed me out of $200
trolololol@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Uber eats is the worse as a customer. I wish they were the first to close shop but nope.
Nuke_the_whales@lemmy.world 4 months ago
The restaurant didn’t have most of what I ordered and called me so I tried cancelling the order, and so did they but Uber basically said that they have a no refund policy so I don’t get my money back, even though I didn’t get anything for that money. I put a fraud charge or my card, and I’m waiting to see if I can get the money back that way.
kitnaht@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Thank god. I’ve got too many friends who “can’t afford” anything, but order fucking uber eats almost daily. “woops, spent $70 on taco bell!”, they’ll laugh…
Shit needs to legitimately stop.
NegativeInf@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Of that 70 dollar order, none of it actually pays the driver. So yes. Let the companies die.
If you really want that ultraprocess garbage spend the ¢50 in gas and drive to the taco bell. The new one by my house even has a mobile order lane separate from the standard ordering lane, so you can at least skip waiting behind the Civic full of baked college bros that forgot what a quesadilla is.
chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 months ago
Baked college bros driving to Taco Bell seems like more of a case for convenient delivery options imo, they should not be driving at all
Cryophilia@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Can I get uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
kitnaht@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Not only that but it pushes the ‘everything on demand’ mentality. All of these people I know have gained 50 or more pounds since the COVID lockdown, and they got trained to order everything online.
dogsnest@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Got peeps ordering cigarettes, potato chips, chocolate bars, soda…
“We’re house-poor!!!”
jaybone@lemmy.world 4 months ago
And so much avocado toast.
phoneymouse@lemmy.world 4 months ago
It really is that price too. You go in the app and start adding like $20 worth of food to buy and somehow by the time you’re done tipping it’s $70.