5 ms·

You also pay way less. DoorDash and all the others don't just charge the fees and the tips and what not, they also inflate the food cost by a pretty hefty amoun

You also pay way less. DoorDash and all the others don't just charge the fees and the tips and what not, they also inflate the food cost by a pretty hefty amount. A simple example: McDonalds has a 2 for $2 deal on sausage mcmuffins & hashbrowns - been around forever. Let's say you and the wife want a McMuffin & a hashbrown each - you're in for $4 dollars and a bit of change for tax. Here is the same meal via DoorDash: McMuffins: $2.87ea Hash browns: $1.91ea Subtotal: $9.56 (just below the 10 dollar minimum to wave the fee if you have DD+) Delivery fee: $1.99 Service fee: $3.00 Tax: $0.91 Dasher Tip: $5 (good luck getting your order on time if you tip less than this) Grand Total: $20.46 for $4 of food. You can "optimize" by ordering an additional hash brown to get over the $10 hump so you can wave the delivery fee and reduce the service fee - which will instead cost you a total of $17.91 for $5 worth of food. Either way it's a shit deal. Not included here are the costs associated with 1 in every 4-5 orders being incorrect, or delivered to the wrong house and the hassle that adds to your life. Obviously I went with low cost items to illustrate a point but often any food prices you see on DD are a good 50% markup vs going in person regardless of the restaurant before you even get into fees and tips.

shyn3 4y ago
UberEats in Canada inflates the regular menu price as well.
scarface_74 4y ago
But guess how much money I can save by not having a car?
- krisroadruck 4y ago
  None. If you live in a city that has enough stuff nearby or public transit sufficient to be considered "walkable" your housing costs are 2-3x higher than they would be otherwise and your taxes are probably higher as well. Far more than the cost of a car.
  - scarface_74 4y ago
    You keep forgetting other scenarios - someone who works remotely and can just take Uber when he needs to go somewhere during the weekend. In fact, my son started working at a pizza place before he had his driver's license. It was cheaper to pay Uber $350 a month than his current car note + car insurance. Just to give you a hint about "affordability", we paid $335K in 2016 to have our house built - 3100 square feet - in the "good school system" in the burbs of a major metropolitan area.
    - mrguyorama 4y ago
      $350 a month would cover a $22ish thousand car loan. I know the used car market is a bit absurd right now but I think you're being a bit excessive
      - bombcar 4y ago
        The era of kids driving old hand-me-down cars is over. Now at 16 you need a $85k SUV or why even bother!
        scarface_74 4y ago
        Well, seeing that my (step)son is six foot 3 and couldn't even fit in my car at the time -- a Chevy Sonic -- that wasn't an option. Also car insurance for a teenage male ain't cheap... https://www.valuepenguin.com/18-year-old-car-insurance https://www.valuepenguin.com/18-year-old-car-insurance Not to mention that the old car needs maintenance and repairs.
      - scarface_74 4y ago
        You're forgetting about how much car insurance is for an 18 year old male. Car insurance alone is $200+/month for a new driver. https://www.valuepenguin.com/18-year-old-car-insurance https://www.valuepenguin.com/18-year-old-car-insurance. It's slightly cheaper bundled with a parent's insurance.
        4y ago
- horsawlarway 4y ago
  You say this like it's either/or.... which is dishonest. I have no car, but between grocery delivery and an e-bike, why would I want to continue paying an exorbitant tax to get shitty, cold food two hours after I order it? Basically - you having a car or not has zero (zilch, nada, nothing) to do with the insane markup these companies charge. And if the difference in you having a car or not really was doordash... jeez man. Go re-evaluate your life.
  - scarface_74 4y ago
    Yes my difference between spending money on the average price of car + car insurance + gas + maintenance and using Uber for the weekend and a delivery service for the week is great. I bet you live in a higher cost of living area and not in the cheaper burbs to be able to take an e-bike everywhere.
    - horsawlarway 4y ago
      You keep conflating the type of wholesale delivery services talked about here (doordash/uber/grubhub/etc) with delivery in general. I have no problem calling a restaurant and ordering delivery. Or ordering groceries for delivery. Neither of those delivery services is charging me a 50%+ markup to get food from them. And the quality of the food is generally much higher. Doordash and Uber are charging me a 50%+ markup. Basically - I have no problem with you preferring delivery instead of a car (hell - I made a similar choice and take public transit and bike when delivery doesn't work) I'm saying that's unrelated to the fact that you're getting swindled by these companies. If you're coming out ahead by using doordash, imagine how much money you could save if you literally just called the same fucking restaurant and ordered delivery directly. ---- As for your bet... I live in SW Atlanta. For comparison - cost of living in Atlanta is almost exactly the national average (101.8%), and the south side of the city is MUCH cheaper (I paid less than you for our house, slightly smaller at ~2200 sqft, but we got nearly a full acre of land)
      - scarface_74 4y ago
        I happen to live in North Atlanta off of 400. Most restaurants don't have there own delivery service. If these companies aren't making money, how are they "swindling" anyone?
apalmer 4y ago
This to me is what killed delivery as a service. It doesn’t work even when they are charging what works out to be double the salary the restaurant pays its own delivery people. And it works out for no one, restaurant, driver, even the delivery as a service providers since they are all hemorrhaging money. It’s a fake industry held up by VC money.
- Nextgrid 4y ago
  Even the VCs ultimately don't make a profit on it. I think the only winners here are the employees of the delivery companies who get paid hefty salaries to work on a guaranteed failure.
  - bombcar 4y ago
    The VCs could make money if everyone became dependent on it, they drove the actual delivery restaurants out of the market, and then jacked prices. But I don’t see Dominos dropping delivery.
    - Nextgrid 4y ago
      Only one company must win for this to work. If they compete (and use their respective VC’s money to subsidise orders) then they all lose.
  - slotrans 4y ago
    The early VCs make money as long as they can sell their stake to a different set of VCs in a later round. The later VCs make money if the thing IPOs before the universe proves it can never be profitable (as with Uber).
- propogandist 4y ago
  most of the VCs dumped these POS companies onto retail investors by going public personally I would to like to see their share prices go to zero
NavinF 4y ago
Who would be dumb enough to pay $20.46 for that? I looked at my most recent receipt for something more realistic: A $12 (in store) pizza was listed on doordash at $14.25 and I paid $17.30 in app with the Chase CSP discount. I guess not everyone has the card, but IMO it’s financially irresponsible not to. Note that this restaurant is a 20 minute drive each way. Even if I worked minimum wage ($15/hr in CA) it would have cost me a lot more ($10 time + $5 gas!) to pick it up myself.
- dawnerd 4y ago
  A lot of people surprisingly. People all the time late night ordering Taco Bell.
  - bombcar 4y ago
    Not around here. For some reason they went to 7am to 7 pm hours because of short staffing - breakfast tacos must be big business.
- kelnos 4y ago
  > it would have cost me a lot more ($10 time + $5 gas!) to pick it up myself. Can we stop doing this? Our free time has zero monetary value. Every minute of our lives is not billable, and it's disingenuous to frame it that way. Sure, avoiding 40 minutes of driving time might be worth $10 to you (it is to me, too), but... just say that, maybe? And I agree with you in general that the grandparent's example was maybe not the common case. Sure, sometimes people get late-night munchies and make a small delivery order to Taco Bell, but I would hope that most orders are at least for a single, full, lunch- or dinner-sized meal, and will often be for multiple people. Delivery is still certainly more expensive than going into the store, but not having to deal with driving somewhere to pick it up also has value to many.
  - pcthrowaway 4y ago
    If you're a contractor and set your own hours, the relationship is pretty clear. You could spend 30 minutes to pick something up, or that same 30 minutes has a value of half your hourly rate (minus taxes). Why would you be opposed to anyone doing the calculus on how to best utilize their time?
tomcam 4y ago
Wherever you’re living, stay there! I haven’t seen prices like that at my local McDonald’s for years

shyn3 4y ago

UberEats in Canada inflates the regular menu price as well.

scarface_74 4y ago

But guess how much money I can save by not having a car?

krisroadruck 4y ago
None. If you live in a city that has enough stuff nearby or public transit sufficient to be considered "walkable" your housing costs are 2-3x higher than they would be otherwise and your taxes are probably higher as well. Far more than the cost of a car.
- scarface_74 4y ago
  You keep forgetting other scenarios - someone who works remotely and can just take Uber when he needs to go somewhere during the weekend. In fact, my son started working at a pizza place before he had his driver's license. It was cheaper to pay Uber $350 a month than his current car note + car insurance. Just to give you a hint about "affordability", we paid $335K in 2016 to have our house built - 3100 square feet - in the "good school system" in the burbs of a major metropolitan area.
  - mrguyorama 4y ago
    $350 a month would cover a $22ish thousand car loan. I know the used car market is a bit absurd right now but I think you're being a bit excessive
    - bombcar 4y ago
      The era of kids driving old hand-me-down cars is over. Now at 16 you need a $85k SUV or why even bother!
      - scarface_74 4y ago
        Well, seeing that my (step)son is six foot 3 and couldn't even fit in my car at the time -- a Chevy Sonic -- that wasn't an option. Also car insurance for a teenage male ain't cheap... https://www.valuepenguin.com/18-year-old-car-insurance https://www.valuepenguin.com/18-year-old-car-insurance Not to mention that the old car needs maintenance and repairs.
    - scarface_74 4y ago
      You're forgetting about how much car insurance is for an 18 year old male. Car insurance alone is $200+/month for a new driver. https://www.valuepenguin.com/18-year-old-car-insurance https://www.valuepenguin.com/18-year-old-car-insurance. It's slightly cheaper bundled with a parent's insurance.
      - 4y ago
horsawlarway 4y ago
You say this like it's either/or.... which is dishonest. I have no car, but between grocery delivery and an e-bike, why would I want to continue paying an exorbitant tax to get shitty, cold food two hours after I order it? Basically - you having a car or not has zero (zilch, nada, nothing) to do with the insane markup these companies charge. And if the difference in you having a car or not really was doordash... jeez man. Go re-evaluate your life.
- scarface_74 4y ago
  Yes my difference between spending money on the average price of car + car insurance + gas + maintenance and using Uber for the weekend and a delivery service for the week is great. I bet you live in a higher cost of living area and not in the cheaper burbs to be able to take an e-bike everywhere.
  - horsawlarway 4y ago
    You keep conflating the type of wholesale delivery services talked about here (doordash/uber/grubhub/etc) with delivery in general. I have no problem calling a restaurant and ordering delivery. Or ordering groceries for delivery. Neither of those delivery services is charging me a 50%+ markup to get food from them. And the quality of the food is generally much higher. Doordash and Uber are charging me a 50%+ markup. Basically - I have no problem with you preferring delivery instead of a car (hell - I made a similar choice and take public transit and bike when delivery doesn't work) I'm saying that's unrelated to the fact that you're getting swindled by these companies. If you're coming out ahead by using doordash, imagine how much money you could save if you literally just called the same fucking restaurant and ordered delivery directly. ---- As for your bet... I live in SW Atlanta. For comparison - cost of living in Atlanta is almost exactly the national average (101.8%), and the south side of the city is MUCH cheaper (I paid less than you for our house, slightly smaller at ~2200 sqft, but we got nearly a full acre of land)
    - scarface_74 4y ago
      I happen to live in North Atlanta off of 400. Most restaurants don't have there own delivery service. If these companies aren't making money, how are they "swindling" anyone?

apalmer 4y ago

This to me is what killed delivery as a service. It doesn’t work even when they are charging what works out to be double the salary the restaurant pays its own delivery people. And it works out for no one, restaurant, driver, even the delivery as a service providers since they are all hemorrhaging money. It’s a fake industry held up by VC money.

Nextgrid 4y ago
Even the VCs ultimately don't make a profit on it. I think the only winners here are the employees of the delivery companies who get paid hefty salaries to work on a guaranteed failure.
- bombcar 4y ago
  The VCs could make money if everyone became dependent on it, they drove the actual delivery restaurants out of the market, and then jacked prices. But I don’t see Dominos dropping delivery.
  - Nextgrid 4y ago
    Only one company must win for this to work. If they compete (and use their respective VC’s money to subsidise orders) then they all lose.
- slotrans 4y ago
  The early VCs make money as long as they can sell their stake to a different set of VCs in a later round. The later VCs make money if the thing IPOs before the universe proves it can never be profitable (as with Uber).
propogandist 4y ago
most of the VCs dumped these POS companies onto retail investors by going public personally I would to like to see their share prices go to zero

NavinF 4y ago

Who would be dumb enough to pay $20.46 for that? I looked at my most recent receipt for something more realistic: A $12 (in store) pizza was listed on doordash at $14.25 and I paid $17.30 in app with the Chase CSP discount. I guess not everyone has the card, but IMO it’s financially irresponsible not to. Note that this restaurant is a 20 minute drive each way. Even if I worked minimum wage ($15/hr in CA) it would have cost me a lot more ($10 time + $5 gas!) to pick it up myself.

dawnerd 4y ago
A lot of people surprisingly. People all the time late night ordering Taco Bell.
- bombcar 4y ago
  Not around here. For some reason they went to 7am to 7 pm hours because of short staffing - breakfast tacos must be big business.
kelnos 4y ago
> it would have cost me a lot more ($10 time + $5 gas!) to pick it up myself. Can we stop doing this? Our free time has zero monetary value. Every minute of our lives is not billable, and it's disingenuous to frame it that way. Sure, avoiding 40 minutes of driving time might be worth $10 to you (it is to me, too), but... just say that, maybe? And I agree with you in general that the grandparent's example was maybe not the common case. Sure, sometimes people get late-night munchies and make a small delivery order to Taco Bell, but I would hope that most orders are at least for a single, full, lunch- or dinner-sized meal, and will often be for multiple people. Delivery is still certainly more expensive than going into the store, but not having to deal with driving somewhere to pick it up also has value to many.
- pcthrowaway 4y ago
  If you're a contractor and set your own hours, the relationship is pretty clear. You could spend 30 minutes to pick something up, or that same 30 minutes has a value of half your hourly rate (minus taxes). Why would you be opposed to anyone doing the calculus on how to best utilize their time?

tomcam 4y ago

Wherever you’re living, stay there! I haven’t seen prices like that at my local McDonald’s for years