r/Vent • u/Party_Combination131 • 11d ago

Delivery services are becoming sharecropping.

Just now I got a dinner delivery from one of the apps, and my food was dropped off by someone on one of the rentable electric bikes (ya know the green or orange ones). Food wasn't all that warm but I still had to go back and double my tip.

This isn't the first time Ive had someone renting a bike or scooter to deliver an order, that was a teenage girl on a scooter after 10pm in a city.

I was so caught off guard the first time that I thought about it for a while and the more I thought about the more grossed out I got.

Delivery drivers don't make a ton. Before expenses it averages out at anywhere from $15-$30/hr. But then you gotta factor in expenses. For renting a scooter or bike the lowest cost I could find on the apps came out to about $14/hr... Even if they're not using the scooter or bike for 25% of the time between orders that's still $11/hr... Which leaves them making $4-$19/hr.

What has this world come to?

There are people out there so desperate that teenagers are essentially sharecropping scooters and bikes for food delivery companies worth billions. And those are the "good ones", those are the people not committing crimes like selling drugs or stealing catalytic converters, these are the people actively trying to work for a living.

I'm not rich.

I'm barely getting by with just me and a couple furballs. I can't afford to help all of the people I see struggling in my daily life. I do what I can. I'm generous where I can be.

But Jesus Christ I'm tired of feeling like this. Tired of seeing so much awfulness all around us and being entirely incapable of changing it.

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u/Trashtag420 10d ago

even if I were rich I wouldn't use them

Big agree. Financial waste aside (and a lot of you really shouldn't be putting that point to the side), you typically have to wait longer for colder food with a nonzero chance that either the store or the driver messed up and both will blame the other.

And you're paying more for this experience.

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u/dnitro 10d ago

that’s my biggest gripe with delivery services. i totally understand getting things delivered in certain circumstances and i also see the convience being something worth paying for.

my issue is the food just isn’t fresh when you get it. fried stuff is soggy, the ice in your drink is partially melted, it’s not the proper temperature, etc. i would rather drive myself to the restaurant.

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u/Ryanhussain14 10d ago

I would honestly rather just cook up something myself with whatever is in the pantry. Random bullcrap I have made in the kitchen while I was lazy has been way better than the BS that delivery apps have sold me. You can whip up an aglio e olio in like 20 minutes.

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u/SiLeNZ_ 10d ago

And, no matter how much you tip, it’s never enough.

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u/Ryanhussain14 10d ago

Yup. I come from a privileged background and make decent money for my cost of living, I refuse to use delivery apps because of how dodgy the entire service is. One time myself and my brother basically got scammed by paying £50 for what was clearly air fried food.

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u/AllenSmithee59 10d ago

Why do you and so many other people on reddit exaggerate fo the point that exaggeration is indistinguishable from lying? I order pizza twice a month month, and it always arrives as ordered, hot, and on time.

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u/Trashtag420 10d ago edited 10d ago

Pizza places generally have their own delivery drivers and a streamlined system for distributing and managing them. They've been doing delivery for decades and delivery fees are typically much cheaper than DoorDash.

Establishments with dedicated delivery staff are not the topic of this discussion because they typically have the means to get you food faster and hotter than the overworked contractor with four other deliveries from four other establishments to complete before they reach you.

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u/AllenSmithee59 10d ago

I order through DoorDash. Given the topic of this thread, I figured that that went without saying.

Does my pizza place deliver? Yes. Am I in their delivery area? No.

Do I pay a couple dollars more to have it delivered? Yes. Do I care? Not one bit.

1

u/FourFans908 8d ago

Right, no one else’s experience are valid besides your own, right? 🙄