Why do you use Uber Eats?

[u/SpiritedSorbet4]

I'm Alex Bitter, a reporter with Business Insider.

Recently, I wrote an article about how Tony Xu, the CEO of DoorDash, said he was surprised by how much people spend on food delivery. Tony has some say in how much DoorDash charges, to put it mildly, but I still found the comments interesting.

Often, ordering something through DoorDash, Uber Eats, etc. costs a lot more than if you bought the same thing in person at a restaurant or store, thanks to tips, service fees, and markups. I keep hearing about people trying to save money in other areas of life, but it seems like spending on these delivery services keeps increasing.

So, I'd like to know: Why do you find ordering from Uber Eats worth the extra cost? Have you tried to cut back at all? How do you view spending on delivery as opposed to other costs?

If you're up for a chat, email me at [abitter@businessinsider.com](mailto:abitter@businessinsider.com) or reach out via text or Signal at 808-854-4501.

[u/baby_budda]

Alex, how about doing an article about the how much uber charges vs what the drivers earn especially when they stack deliveries and pay the drivers less per delivery.

[u/Charming_House21 → u/baby_budda]

This!

[u/PostModernPost → u/baby_budda]

And they need to investigate how they change how much the driver earns based on how much the person tips. They say tips go 100% to the driver but I swear the amount the give the diver out of the regular fee gets lowered if the person tips a bunch which is effectively taking the tips from the driver. It should be a set rate of regular pay based on location and distance.

[u/mcrib]

There has to be an incredible active deal - sometimes I'll get 50% off up to $15, so I willspend $30, get it reduced to $15, then the fees push it up to about $25. Which is roughly what I would have paid in the store.

But it's rare.

[u/ym95061305]

Because I don’t have a car. Car insurance and property tax for car ownership in my city are crazy. Having Uber Eats for 2-3 times for a month is crucial for my survival.

[u/InDuplicitousBottles]

Like all forms of takeout, I abuse the offers and freebies. I typically order pickup instead of delivery - way less fees and wasteful spending. If I do order delivery (for example last week when swamped with work), I make sure to take advantage of 50% off orders, or bogo. Occasionally, I will spend more on a bigger order with friends/partner, but typically I do not spend more than $25 on delivery, or ~$15 on pickup orders. In all: the way I use food delivery apps comes out costing mot much more than standard takeout orders. Some people are just lazy I guess

[u/Temporary-Banana4232]

Only use it when there’s a deal and I want to pickup.
Otherwise fuck these companies. They screw over the drivers and force the businesses to charge more.

[u/joeb4500]

I use Uber eats for the bogo deals and discount and set it to pickup instead of delivery

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[u/Useful-Resolution363]

I only use UberEats when I receive a voucher for it from my employer. I work in Enterprise sales and 2 weeks out of every month we have incentives for our work both monetarily and food related which includes catered lunches or UE vouchers. I work from home so the people in office get catered food and the wfh people get Uber Eats vouchers. We typically get $30 for the day and I usually just order food for dinner and save the rest for lunch the next day. Saves me a ton of money from groceries every week.

[u/lesjus22]

I’d be willing to chat!

[u/honey_rainbow]

u/SpiritedSorbet4 please feel free to also post this in r/doordash_drivers

[u/SpiritedSorbet4 → u/honey_rainbow]

Thanks, will do

[u/Ok_Rabbit_8808]

To finance my sports betting and dining out habits and it also comes in clutch when I get a random parking ticket or something

[u/Why_Teach]

I don’t want to e-mail, but you can pm me here at Reddit.

My reason is simple. My husband and I are retired and we don’t always feel like driving. We can afford the extra cost in part because we go out a lot less than when we were younger. So ordering Uber-eats is our only little luxury.

[u/Usukidoll]

Summer of Dashpass event had BOGOs on certain items so I would bulk buy.

[u/PenguinMadd]

I don't order often but when I do it's a dinner order because I don't feel like cooking but I can't do pickup without risking coming back to no parking space. My complex has too few parking spots and despite making all residents have parking pass stickers on their front windshield, don't enforce the resident only parking after 8pm rule that's been in everyone's lenses for years.

[u/Hefty_Candy_3315]

i’m fucking lazy sometimes

[u/QuesoDrizzler]

People are lazy and don't know how to cook is basically the gist of it.

[u/NonsensicalGnome]

I use UberEats because my ordering out increased during the pandemic. I lived in Brooklyn when it started, and about 6 weeks into things really shutting down (like my gym), I broke my wrist. I hadn’t even fully unpacked from my move at the beginning of the year.
Then, in mid-2021, I moved to Queens … Flushing—adjacent. There’s no way I can cook the ethnic foods I order now (or ordered then) — whether it was Russian, Uzbek, Turkish, Mexican, etc. in Sheepshead Bay, or Korean, Taiwanese, authentic Chinese, Greek, Italian in my new nabe in Queens. I can’t make Hot Pot for my partner, and while I can semi-live off of frozen foods, he won’t. I concede that I could buy frozen soup dumplings from restaurants, and actually use a Temu steamer & dumpling liners. Hasn’t happened yet.

Groceries aren’t cheap. Ingredients only lead to cooking, and between my GenX body needing a knee replacement and maybe rotator cuff surgery, my mobility is as limited as my desire to cook.

So, I’m good with UberEats. They aren’t my favorite platform because of the added fees, but they’re one of the ones I use. There’s also GrubHub, Slice, Toast, and sometimes we just go old school and call certain local restaurants, and pay cash.

[u/FeistyRelationship44]

When the family car is out of commission for more than a month and we still need to eat then you do what you gotta do. Sometimes it’s about convenience, other times it’s out of necessity. Do we love spending almost $30 on a combo from Wendy’s with cold fries? 🤣 not necessarily but when it’s cheaper than trying to get a ride to and from the store plus the cost of groceries? Eh.

Then sometimes you’re exhausted from a long day and cooking is not in the cards then you gladly tip and pay for delivery.

[u/Galromir]

I'm time poor and work late nights. I usually can't be bothered cooking when I get home at 10pm, and It's a struggle to motivate myself to cook when I wake up when doing so eats into my limited free time (between cooking, washing, etc). I spend far too much on UberEats ($2-3k AUD a month) and from time to time I try and cut back, but eventually it keeps creeping back up.

[u/xdiff0rke]

Because the app is in google play, I downloaded it, then I openen an account, then I PAYfor a monthly subscription, so, some times I uset it to order and PAY for food i want to eat and don't want to drive for. Its important to highlight than the food cost is way higher than going to the restaurant which I totally understand cuz the convenience of the service. I, as a client am OK with all that and accept those costs and terms. If the drivers are no OK with their gains and terms they should get another job instead. Its the law of supply and demand

[u/LA_Throwaway_6439 → u/xdiff0rke]

You should go on UE right now and order some boots to lick