3 ms·

Or just go pick up your own take-out food. Like do these customers not have working cars or even bicycles? I understand that there are customers who are stuck a

by nradov 8mo ago

Or just go pick up your own take-out food. Like do these customers not have working cars or even bicycles? I understand that there are customers who are stuck at home due to disability or caregiver responsibilities but those are a tiny niche. I've seen able-bodied young people spending a fortune on delivery services, which is just stupid.

suriya-ganesh 8mo ago
I recently moved out of new york to new jersey. don't have a car. my options now are either buy a car, pay insurance, maintenance etc. north $1,500/mo for the convenience of going to the grocery store or, get a subscription for all these services ~ $200/mo. and save myself the time spent back and forth doing grocery shopping. I cook 90% of my food. not all solutions involve owning a car.
- nradov 8mo ago
  You can't afford a bike?
- FireBeyond 8mo ago
  > my options now are either buy a car, pay insurance, maintenance etc. north $1,500/mo for the convenience Huh? Decent car payment at $300-500/month, insurance at $200/month, and I'm wondering what $1,000/month of car "maintenance" looks like, considering $250/month will get you a full tank of a gas a week.
  - suriya-ganesh 8mo ago
    parking is another $200. not to mention the tolls. my point is, ~$1500 is grocery for a month for us. why would i spend that much on just a car?
XorNot 8mo ago
Delivery services are more efficient then having the same customer base all drive to the restaurant. Unless it's in walking distance, one driver can service many people using a lot less resources.
- nradov 8mo ago
  So what? Regardless of mythical "efficiency" calculations, consumers are wasting actual dollars on conveniences that they can't really afford.
  - ghaff 8mo ago
    This whole thread is somewhat hilarious. It's full of reasons why expensive food deliveries are really the only reasonable option.
    - nradov 8mo ago
      I guess we all starved to death 20 years ago when there were no smartphone food delivery apps.
      - ghaff 8mo ago
        Lots of us got pizzas delivered now and then especially in college and, if you lived somewhere like NYC, maybe Chinese. But this idea that you'd starve without food delivery in general is simply odd.
        XorNot 8mo ago
        Who is saying people would starve? Holy strawman batman! But if people are going to get judgy about food delivery then they can rather put the effort in to explore why they feel that way. But there's nothing efficient about hundreds of people making short distance car trips to restaurants, which is what was proposed as an alternative that is somehow "better". And when you factor US style urban construction in, it's pretty likely a lot of people also don't have walkable access to local outlets anyway.
  - XorNot 8mo ago
    The original comment was lamenting people not buying their own cars and driving to pickup food. Which is again, incredibly inefficient on every possible level and actually pretty damn expensive.
craftkiller 8mo ago
> not have working cars or even bicycles Yes. I live in NYC so I don't have a car because we have the subway, street parking is a nightmare, and paid parking is $500-$1000/month. I don't have a bicycle because it would either waste _significant_ space in my apartment, or I'd have to leave it outside where it would be promptly stolen (regardless of locks). If I decided against having my bike stolen, I'd have to carry it up and down narrow interior stairs every time I wanted to use it since I live in a walk-up. I also am not a fan of needing to find a place to store the bicycle at my destination. Whereas if I just take the subway then I am completely liberated: I can go anywhere, stay as long as I want, change my plans on a whim, and never fret about whether or not my bike has been stolen or if there will be a place to store and/or lock my bicycle. Assuming everyone has cars or bicycles is a very suburban mindset. None of the people that I know in this city have a car, and the people I know with bicycles are the kinds of people who take cycling very seriously. Most people have neither. The downside is food: If I go pick up food then I am limited to a very small radius from my apartment, lest my food get cold on the walk back. There's only ~3 restaurants I order from within a 15 minute walk radius of my apartment, and for those restaurants I walk. Delivery people can cover much greater distances within reasonable food freshness times, significantly increasing the variety of restaurants available to me.
- FpUser 8mo ago
  >"Assuming everyone has cars or bicycles is a very suburban mindset." I live int Toronto which is hardly suburban. It is however choke full of bike-share. Go outside, walk a bit and grab a bicycle. NY obviously does not care.
  - craftkiller 8mo ago
    I don't use the bike share (citibike) because the fee for a "lost" bicycle is $1,200. I saw enough stories online of people who thought they returned the bicycle but it didn't actually lock the bicycle to the stand, and then ended up with a $1,200 fee. I'm not taking on that kind of liability to grab some shawarma. Also NYC needs more bike lanes.
    - 8mo ago
1over137 8mo ago
> I've seen able-bodied young people spending a fortune on delivery services Because they can do it from the smartphone, and they only know how to live via their phone.

by nradov 8mo ago

suriya-ganesh 8mo ago

I recently moved out of new york to new jersey. don't have a car. my options now are either buy a car, pay insurance, maintenance etc. north $1,500/mo for the convenience of going to the grocery store or, get a subscription for all these services ~ $200/mo. and save myself the time spent back and forth doing grocery shopping. I cook 90% of my food. not all solutions involve owning a car.

nradov 8mo ago
You can't afford a bike?
FireBeyond 8mo ago
> my options now are either buy a car, pay insurance, maintenance etc. north $1,500/mo for the convenience Huh? Decent car payment at $300-500/month, insurance at $200/month, and I'm wondering what $1,000/month of car "maintenance" looks like, considering $250/month will get you a full tank of a gas a week.
- suriya-ganesh 8mo ago
  parking is another $200. not to mention the tolls. my point is, ~$1500 is grocery for a month for us. why would i spend that much on just a car?

XorNot 8mo ago

Delivery services are more efficient then having the same customer base all drive to the restaurant. Unless it's in walking distance, one driver can service many people using a lot less resources.

nradov 8mo ago
So what? Regardless of mythical "efficiency" calculations, consumers are wasting actual dollars on conveniences that they can't really afford.
- ghaff 8mo ago
  This whole thread is somewhat hilarious. It's full of reasons why expensive food deliveries are really the only reasonable option.
  - nradov 8mo ago
    I guess we all starved to death 20 years ago when there were no smartphone food delivery apps.
    - ghaff 8mo ago
      Lots of us got pizzas delivered now and then especially in college and, if you lived somewhere like NYC, maybe Chinese. But this idea that you'd starve without food delivery in general is simply odd.
      - XorNot 8mo ago
        Who is saying people would starve? Holy strawman batman! But if people are going to get judgy about food delivery then they can rather put the effort in to explore why they feel that way. But there's nothing efficient about hundreds of people making short distance car trips to restaurants, which is what was proposed as an alternative that is somehow "better". And when you factor US style urban construction in, it's pretty likely a lot of people also don't have walkable access to local outlets anyway.
- XorNot 8mo ago
  The original comment was lamenting people not buying their own cars and driving to pickup food. Which is again, incredibly inefficient on every possible level and actually pretty damn expensive.

craftkiller 8mo ago

> not have working cars or even bicycles Yes. I live in NYC so I don't have a car because we have the subway, street parking is a nightmare, and paid parking is $500-$1000/month. I don't have a bicycle because it would either waste _significant_ space in my apartment, or I'd have to leave it outside where it would be promptly stolen (regardless of locks). If I decided against having my bike stolen, I'd have to carry it up and down narrow interior stairs every time I wanted to use it since I live in a walk-up. I also am not a fan of needing to find a place to store the bicycle at my destination. Whereas if I just take the subway then I am completely liberated: I can go anywhere, stay as long as I want, change my plans on a whim, and never fret about whether or not my bike has been stolen or if there will be a place to store and/or lock my bicycle. Assuming everyone has cars or bicycles is a very suburban mindset. None of the people that I know in this city have a car, and the people I know with bicycles are the kinds of people who take cycling very seriously. Most people have neither. The downside is food: If I go pick up food then I am limited to a very small radius from my apartment, lest my food get cold on the walk back. There's only ~3 restaurants I order from within a 15 minute walk radius of my apartment, and for those restaurants I walk. Delivery people can cover much greater distances within reasonable food freshness times, significantly increasing the variety of restaurants available to me.

FpUser 8mo ago
>"Assuming everyone has cars or bicycles is a very suburban mindset." I live int Toronto which is hardly suburban. It is however choke full of bike-share. Go outside, walk a bit and grab a bicycle. NY obviously does not care.
- craftkiller 8mo ago
  I don't use the bike share (citibike) because the fee for a "lost" bicycle is $1,200. I saw enough stories online of people who thought they returned the bicycle but it didn't actually lock the bicycle to the stand, and then ended up with a $1,200 fee. I'm not taking on that kind of liability to grab some shawarma. Also NYC needs more bike lanes.
  - 8mo ago

1over137 8mo ago

> I've seen able-bodied young people spending a fortune on delivery services Because they can do it from the smartphone, and they only know how to live via their phone.