wae said:All-in, the $8 burrito cost her more than $20. To save a 10 minute round-trip walk on a very pleasant autumn day. I just don't get it.
The only situation that I really see that as being a worthwhile service is in a business context where you really are buying time.
The only times I've done it are kind of a hybrid of what you're describing. I was having an absolutely stellar day outside playing in the sun and the little pool with my kids and didn't want to stop to make dinner or go buy food. (They would have to dry off, get dressed, etc) so I ordered some greek food delivered. Oh man, that guy walking up and handing us a bag of food while we were in the shade under a canopy shooting water guns at each other.. worth 500% of the $20 or so extra we spent.
For a regular meal, forgeddaboutit.
dculberson said:
wae said:All-in, the $8 burrito cost her more than $20. To save a 10 minute round-trip walk on a very pleasant autumn day. I just don't get it.
The only situation that I really see that as being a worthwhile service is in a business context where you really are buying time.
The only times I've done it are kind of a hybrid of what you're describing. I was having an absolutely stellar day outside playing in the sun and the little pool with my kids and didn't want to stop to make dinner or go buy food. (They would have to dry off, get dressed, etc) so I ordered some greek food delivered. Oh man, that guy walking up and handing us a bag of food while we were in the shade under a canopy shooting water guns at each other.. worth 500% of the $20 or so extra we spent.
For a regular meal, forgeddaboutit.
recently the kids and I were staying at a hotel and one night we ordered dominoes pizza to the pool, because we were in the pool.
Similar reaction but from everyone else around "dang why didn't I think of that!"
SVreX (Forum Supporter) said:
Restaurants pay a 30% commission to Uber. But fast food restaurant profits are only 6-9% on average. (McDonalds tops the list at 20% profit margin). So, restaurants are selling at a loss when they allow subcontracted delivery services. They can't survive that way, so they change their online prices.
THEN customer pays Uber a 15% delivery charge, plus a small delivery fee if it is under $10.
It's not actually deceptive. It's open and honest. Online price from the restaurant is more than in person, AND there is a delivery fee.
Uber is making a killing, but the person to blame is actually the customer. They don't want to make a trip to the restaurant on the corner. There IS a cost, even if the customer THINKS it's free.
When we insist on free stuff, we just pay in alternative ways.
Who thinks it's free? When I order something through Postmates, it explicitly shows the surcharge, delivery fees, etc. I know I'm paying more, I'm paying for the convenience. Much like how a gallon of milk at the gas station is more expensive than at a grocery store. It's convenient.
Where do you guys live that everything is a 10 minute drive? One of my favorite restaurants in OKC would be a 40 minute round trip and it's still in the same quadrant (NW, NE, SE, SW) as my house.
People are willing to pay for convenience. I don't see the problem with that. If a restaurant, driver, company, etc, isn't making enough money to be profitable doing X, well then don't do X.
Antihero (Forum Supporter) said:
Paul_VR6 (Forum Supporter) said:
It's almost like the gig economy is pretty crappy.
If you look at it as a replacement for a job like SVreX says, it is absolutely bad.
But if you look at it as a source of income that requires no real specialized tools, no real training, no problematic hiring hoops to jump thru and no physical labor....it's great.
A lot of the complaints had to do with miles on their car and gas money. You drive to work anyway so the money is pretty much spent regardless. A whole day of driving was 40miles for me....and I drove a 00 explorer with 220k miles on it at the time, no real loss there. 40 miles was about 2.5 gallons which worked out to about $8.
I might have some screenshots from when I did it and a breakdown if anyone is interested
Right.
But the IRS is currently allowing $.56 per mile. All those miles they drive make money for them.
I drive 50,000 miles per year for my company in my personal pickup truck. That's a $28,000 tax deduction. You won't hear me complain.
I know nothing about Uber Eats, but I do find it odd that Elton John is now their pitchman for TV ads.
Having done door Dash for the last year, I will make the following comments.
I had three surgeries in 2020. When I was unable to do anything else, DoorDash gave me $1000 to $1200 a week. It got me out of the house moving around but nothing strenuous which is what the doctor ordered.
it's crazy how a lot of people order a drink and a sandwich and pay $15-$20 to get it delivered down the street. I thank them for being crazy. Based on what some of the homes look like that I've delivered to they should definitely be saving their money.
There are times when it makes sense to have it ordered as people have mentioned here. Catered orders is one of them. If I was doing a big project at home I don't want to stop I'd probably order a pizza we have a delivered.
Long waits at restaurants is pretty frustrating. Big problem is many restaurants don't realize they can adjust their pick up times for orders taken on the door Dash app.
It's amazing how many people expect you to hop in your car wait at a restaurant for the food, deliver it using your car at three dollars a gallon gas and offer you no tip whatsoever for the service. Of course I never take these orders, so it gets passed around until DoorDash adds more money to make it more profitable. And the customer complains because their sandwich is soggy and cold.
Streetwiseguy said:
Any of the restaurant owners I have talked to about it say it costs them a fair amount of money out of pocket. It's possible they just don't want to bump their price to cover off the cost.
I generally try to search out the website or phone number of the actual restaurant and buy direct, then pick up.
There is something about Doordash and the like that just bothers me.
1: Learn to cook.
2: Put down your game controller and go out for supper.
3: Learn to be a cheap prick like me.
Re-reading this, I feel I need to clarify that it's far less a complaint about
Door Dash, and far more a "How the hell can you justify wasting this money? Now get the hell off my lawn."
I also understand that if everybody lived like me, there would be a horrifying economic depression.
rustybugkiller said:
It's amazing how many people expect you to hop in your car wait at a restaurant for the food, deliver it using your car at three dollars a gallon gas and offer you no tip whatsoever for the service.
I bet there could be a long, angry thread about that idea, too. However, that would probably get political, and then there would be some patio-worthy comments, and then the thread would get locked.
I used DoorDash maybe 3 times in a real pinch... as in, 12 hours into an 18 hour day, in charge of 30 volunteers who are counting on me, I have to eat before I pass out kind of days, but I remember one time getting two Jersey Mikes subs and two sodas, and after fees and tip it was $50 and change. I had enough at that point and figured I would rather pass out than pay that kind of premium on food.
In reply to Streetwiseguy :
No intention of causing an issue. Just an observation and opinion.
Streetwiseguy said:
Streetwiseguy said:
Any of the restaurant owners I have talked to about it say it costs them a fair amount of money out of pocket. It's possible they just don't want to bump their price to cover off the cost.
I generally try to search out the website or phone number of the actual restaurant and buy direct, then pick up.
There is something about Doordash and the like that just bothers me.
1: Learn to cook.
2: Put down your game controller and go out for supper.
3: Learn to be a cheap prick like me.
Re-reading this, I feel I need to clarify that it's far less a complaint about
Door Dash, and far more a "How the hell can you justify wasting this money? Now get the hell off my lawn."
I also understand that if everybody lived like me, there would be a horrifying economic depression.
Many people would likely say "How can you justify wasting this money" when it comes to our love of cars.
Different people have different priorities.
In reply to rustybugkiller :
I should have added a 
at the end...
In reply to Streetwiseguy :
Your good! I probably should have as well
SVreX (Forum Supporter) said:
Restaurants pay a 30% commission to Uber. But fast food restaurant profits are only 6-9% on average. (McDonalds tops the list at 20% profit margin). So, restaurants are selling at a loss when they allow subcontracted delivery services. They can't survive that way, so they change their online prices.
THEN customer pays Uber a 15% delivery charge, plus a small delivery fee if it is under $10.
It's not actually deceptive. It's open and honest. Online price from the restaurant is more than in person, AND there is a delivery fee.
Uber is making a killing, but the person to blame is actually the customer. They don't want to make a trip to the restaurant on the corner. There IS a cost, even if the customer THINKS it's free.
When we insist on free stuff, we just pay in alternative ways.
How is it Open and Honest when they tell you the delivery charge is only $X but actually they are upcharging you on EVERY ITEM you order and making you think the restaurant is charging that amount?
In reply to z31maniac :
The only thing I see is a problem is that the costs are not clearly disclosed. They are worded in a way to make you think it's $x when it fact it is $XX.
In reply to carguy123 :
Uber is not up charging you.
The restaurant is upcharging to try to cover the costs they pay to Uber.
Yes. It's honest. Uber is charging exactly what they said they would- 15% of what the restaurant charged.
And the restaurant has different prices for online orders and walk-ins.
Where is the dishonest part?
Its not clearly visible, but that's different.
This recently came to the small town I live in, a few people I know tryed it but there's not enough volume of orders to keep people busy. I'm too cheap to pay the 3 dollar fee to have pizza delivered because everything's within 3 miles of my home, I'll never understand the love of these services
SVreX (Forum Supporter) said:
Antihero (Forum Supporter) said:
Paul_VR6 (Forum Supporter) said:
It's almost like the gig economy is pretty crappy.
If you look at it as a replacement for a job like SVreX says, it is absolutely bad.
But if you look at it as a source of income that requires no real specialized tools, no real training, no problematic hiring hoops to jump thru and no physical labor....it's great.
A lot of the complaints had to do with miles on their car and gas money. You drive to work anyway so the money is pretty much spent regardless. A whole day of driving was 40miles for me....and I drove a 00 explorer with 220k miles on it at the time, no real loss there. 40 miles was about 2.5 gallons which worked out to about $8.
I might have some screenshots from when I did it and a breakdown if anyone is interested
Right.
But the IRS is currently allowing $.56 per mile. All those miles they drive make money for them.
I drive 50,000 miles per year for my company in my personal pickup truck. That's a $28,000 tax deduction. You won't hear me complain.
From what I remember most people don't even get a 1099 from Uber so the mileage might not even be written off. I can't remember the actual reason why but I remember it being athing.
I don't think I got one but I also didn't do a stupendous amount of it. There were about 3 weeks that it was cold but not snowing that I figured why not make money.
I tried to get others to do it but the gas money was a huge detriment. I used to tell them that they sound gas money to get to work but still....it was somehow worse.
And depreciation too. I get it if it's still nice low mileage car but nothing is making the $500 Hyundai worth any less and you can make that $500 in about 2 days if you hustle
SVreX (Forum Supporter) said:
In reply to carguy123 :
Uber is not up charging you.
The restaurant is upcharging to try to cover the costs they pay to Uber.
Yes. It's honest. Uber is charging exactly what they said they would- 15% of what the restaurant charged.
And the restaurant has different prices for online orders and walk-ins.
Where is the dishonest part?
Its not clearly visible, but that's different.
Actually Uber is upcharging you. They've put together clone web links that make you think you are going to the restaurant's link and Uber is charging a higher price than the restaurant PLUS they are charging the restaurant another large percentage on top of that.
And Uber is also quoting delivery charges that are bogus and that is on top of the extra they charge you for the food.
In reply to Antihero (Forum Supporter) :
A 1099 is not required to claim mileage for business usage. The only thing the IRS requires is a daily log showing business and personal miles driven.
Edit: I can't imagine why Uber would not send a 1099. That would mean they'd have to pay the taxes on the money their drivers earned. That would be nuts.
In reply to carguy123 :
I've never heard any suggestion that Uber is building clone websites.
Link?
wae
UberDork
9/29/21 6:25 a.m.
In reply to SVreX (Forum Supporter) :
I found the article that I read that talked about that. It's a little bit old, so hopefully they've stopped this by now, but it was Grubhub creating similiar-sounding websites: https://www.theverge.com/2019/6/28/19154220/grubhub-seamless-fake-restaurant-domain-names-commission-fees
SVreX (Forum Supporter) said:
In reply to Antihero (Forum Supporter) :
A 1099 is not required to claim mileage for business usage. The only thing the IRS requires is a daily log showing business and personal miles driven.
Edit: I can't imagine why Uber would not send a 1099. That would mean they'd have to pay the taxes on the money their drivers earned. That would be nuts.
Its something that was mentioned a bit on a Uber forum at the time.
I agree it's crazy but apparently it happened.
In reply to SVreX (Forum Supporter) :
In reply to wae :
That article says they no longer do that (in 2019).
It also does not say they are listing false higher prices. It says they were creating portals which enable them to charge a higher commission in accordance with their contract. In other words, they will spend the money to market your business, and they get a better commission when they generate new business for you that you would not otherwise have.
That's very similar to what many commissioned sales companies do, and fundraising organizations for non-profits.
I'm not a fan of this, but that's not the same thing as listing higher prices. Listing higher prices would be fraud.
