7 ms·

> A harried courier extracts your meal from a fat insulated bag; you say “thank you,” close the door, and feel bad for a moment about the differences between yo

• minikomi 11y ago
  I enjoyed delivery driving while at university. If it suits your personality, and you enjoy listening to music, it's really not a bad part-time job at all. You get really good at priority balancing too!
• zyxley 11y ago
  > People have been delivering food since For the urbanites among the ancient Romans, food vendors (and even things like grab-and-go street vendors and fast food restaurants) were a normal part of life, since their apartments generally didn't have personal kitchens. I can't find a source for it, but I have to imagine they had at least some personal food delivery services.
  • pjmlp 11y ago
    Pompei had lots of small street restaurants, from what one can tell from the ruins. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/pompeii/9850077/Pompeii-exhibition-the-food-and-drink-of-the-ancient-Roman-cities.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/pompeii/9850077/Pompeii-e... So I imagine it is possible many would do some kind of deliveries as well.
  • brc 11y ago
    The wood fired pizza (and oven design) dates to roman times.
    • virtualritz 11y ago
      No, that was just flat bred, aka focaccia. Pizza only came to be much later, when the tomato got introduced to Europe, from South America. And when people eventually found out that many varieties of tomatoes are not only not poisonous but also well tasting. :)
      • cbr 11y ago
        "Pizza" doesn't have to include tomatoes. For example, "pizza bianca".
  • walshemj 11y ago
    Probably something like the tiffin wallahs (dabbawala) in India
  • vincvinc 11y ago
    You don't have to go back 2000 years . . . the situation you describe (no or unused kitchen, going out or delivery for every meal) is the usual situation in large parts of modern asia. Why would you feel that someone who makes your food is beneath you?
  • logicallee 11y ago
    yeah, but so were personal slaves and gladiatorial fights to the death. you can't argue prescriptive social order from history!
  • SilasX 11y ago
    I can't imagine that. Delivery only works when either: a) there's a regular, fixed delivery schedule, or b) you can send an instant signal with the delivery order. I doubt either applied in Roman times. I'll stand corrected if: a) There is evidence people submitted food schedules where the food could be delivered on a regular basis, or b) There were evidence of a pre-telephone method of instantly transmitting an order, or c) It were a practice to send out a messenger to place and bring back the order for the non-wealthy.
• notahacker 11y ago
  I'm going to go out on a limb and speculate that most couriers would rather have the delivery work than not have the delivery work because people instead opt to cycle (or more commonly, drive their SUV) to pick up their own food. They'd probably rather have a tip than a "thank you", a condescending moment of silence and a mention in a sanctimonious article about how the author hopes that one day their job will cease to exist...
  • aexaey 11y ago
    They'd probably rather have a *tip* I couldn't agree more. Indeed, if one would typically tip in a restaurant, why not here?
    • IkmoIkmo 11y ago
      It completely depends on the industry and the worker's rights if you ask me. Where I live, tipping is pretty unusual and unnecessary because the industry functions as normally: prices are based on some measure of cost+profit, and cost includes the full remuneration fee for the worker. Tipping as a way to supplement a deficient salary is a ridiculous business practice that doesn't exist in most industries. I don't tip the bus driver, my teacher, a retail store worker, a police officer or bank manager that provide products or services to me, either. Now paying a small extra on the basis of quality of service, does make sense. But again, that's different from supplementing a worker's deficient salary. The former is merit based, the latter is, on average, a necessary, expected and you could almost say culturally mandatory pity/solidarity payment by the customer that ought to simply be priced in the product or service and arranged between employer and employee. Paying extra based on merit does make sense in some industries, like say a tour guide who didn't just tell you the facts of whatever artefact you walked by, but made sure you had an amazing time, catching your interests and focusing on things that resonate with you, waving stories into a unique experience, that's tip-worthy. A restaurant worker who puts in extra effort might be, too. But a delivery man who mostly has 1 actually important parameter of quality 'being on time or not', mostly, that's not a tip-worthy parameter in my opinion, that's just his normal job, and if he's getting a decent salary, I wouldn't tip for that. I'll happily tip anyone doing his job if it's necessary to supplement a deficient salary, but I wouldn't tip anyone just for doing their job if their salary is sufficient. Whether that's the case for this particular uberised delivery industry will play out soon enough. I'm over in the Netherlands, generally tipping is not done and not necessary either as salary levels are quite decent. (the only exception is youth-wages, which are beyond ridiculous and a movement is on the rise to do away with the concept).
• untog 11y ago
  Slightly off topic - but I'd be interested to know how Seamless etc have affected tips for delivery drivers. I add a tip to my Seamless order, but don't really have any idea how much of that gets to my delivery person. I could give no tip on Seamless and tip in cash, but I'm concerned that the people in the restaurant might just think I'm cheap.
  • gambiting 11y ago
    That's something I never understood - why would you tip delivery drivers? Like....what is the logic behind tipping someone for doing exactly what they are paid for - delivering product from point A to point B on time. I can sort of understand tipping waiters if they make me feel special or cared for, if they smile and are nice in general - they put extra effort in, so I can understand tipping. But delivery drivers?
    • pmorici 11y ago
      If the delivery was prompt, and the food is in good shape when it arrives that seems tip worthy to me. Quality of service questions aside though the bottom line of whether or not you should tip comes down to if the person in question is working for the tipped employee minimum wage or the standard minimum wage. If they are paid according to the tipped minimum and you don't tip based on your ideological view of the appropriateness of a tip for their job function then you are an ass.
      • gambiting 11y ago
        >>If the delivery was prompt, and the food is in good shape when it arrives that seems tip worthy to me. It if didn't arrive in good shape, I would be asking for a refund, or at the very least not ordering form that place anymore. I don't know, it's weird - I currently live in UK, where tipping waiters is defacto standard(and not because they make below-living wages), but I would never ever think to tip a delivery driver. Like....why would I? This makes absolutely no logical sense, just like I wouldn't tip a plumber or a car mechanic for fixing my stuff on time - they are already taking money for the service.
• spaceflunky 11y ago
  Thanks for snapping this back to reality... I don't see how Sprig is any different from a multi-national pizza delivery chain. Really the only difference is that Sprig is solely available as app, whereas you can walk-in or call a Domino's. Does this author even pizza?
• optionalparens 11y ago
  Yes, exactly. Every time the food and delivery complaining starts, I roll my eyes, almost as much as I do when various food startups preach that they will disrupt and revolutionize the way I eat or whatever thing I do that is not so broken it needed fixing vs. almost every other problem. Generally speaking about delivery, tipping, restaurants, food service - treat people well, as humans, and if you order something you do not like, either try again or move on. You don't always win in life and it really is not a big deal unless you were mortally wounded or something truly terrible happened. Regarding tips, here's an interesting thing to try for when you are unsure - ask. Delivery guys and restaurant workers are people. Most will answer honestly about their working arrangements, especially if you explain yourself. They are people like you and me, and most likely they work just as hard as both of us. These people normally do deserve a tip for good service, even if they are paid in part. A simple example - if someone needs to come up 12 flights of stairs or take the elevator to floor 14 for you, while still managing to deliver many other orders on time, you do in fact owe it to them to tip them. While you might tip less if they are already compensated on some level, you should always reward anyone for good and extra service. If it's too much with tip, don't order deliver. Get up and get it yourself. Why is this so hard for some other commenters here to understand? If the service is bad, you can say so or simply not tip and not order again. Someone mentioned delivery vs. pickup - I've lived in countries where there's no opportunity to pull up your car, SUV, land boat to pickup your meals. You either buy it on the street and eat there/walk it home, or get it delivered by someone usually on a motorcycle or bike. Delivery is a privilege and a service, so you pay for it. As far as tip amount, in some countries, you tip a lot less than the US. But you also tip more kinds of people and act more civil to people doing things in your life that are not generally tipped in the US - plumber, electrician, etc. For instance in Israel, it is extremely rude if someone comes to do home repairs, plumbing, movers, whatever to not offer them a cup of fresh (not instant unless they ask) coffee/tea/beverage and possibly food in addition to paying the full fee. In fact, you offer them at the beginning; they are a guest in your home, so you treat them warmly and you will receive warm and diligent service in return. Regarding the systems food companies and restaurants use, wtf. If you can't run a solvent business without cutting all these corners, then don't. Treating people badly and not paying livable wages should not be an option. If you cannot afford to pay and treat your workers fairly, then you simply failed at you business. This capitalistic notion of cutting corners to win, because everyone is doing it, or whatever else is silly. I could have won at Monopoly that one time, but I needed to pass Go on more time. Deal with it. Finally, if you have a bad experience, solve it in a normal way. Talk to the business, do not order the same thing again, order from somewhere else, etc. What you don't do is throw a tantrum and especially in food service, come to quick judgements about nothing. Listen, I've often ordered bad Chinese, and that's just part of life. I eat the bad Chinese if I can, and then try to remember to order something else or somewhere else the next time. None of this is complicated - don't be a dick and learn to live with consequences.