The crazy tipping "culture" is forcing people to order out. State the price, pay your staff adequately and serve them well. They will return. It's that simple.
I definitely see a steady stream of Dashers come into the coffee shops I work out of... I'm still sort of shocked at how many people use these services, given how expensive they are: "More than half of adults under 45 use delivery at least once a week, and 13 percent use it once a day. Five percent use it multiple times a day. But the delivery boom isn’t confined to young people or to urbanites: About one in eight Baby Boomers uses delivery once a week, and so does about one in five rural dwellers."
I think delivery is horrible - it strains the infrastructure with these couriers dashing about, most of whom are paid terribly and have little prospects or job safety.
These middlemen delivery companies are abusive and rent-seeking, contributing very little to the product but taking an immense share of the profits.
It also destroys every restaurant's natural advantage of closeness - if you run a pizzeria and your food is not horrible, you can naturally expect people from about 2 city blocks over to eat there - now, they're competing with every pizzeria in the city.
Going to a popular restaurant that accepts app delivery orders (or a grocery store in a neighborhood where people prefer to pay for delivery) is an objectively bad experience. The kitchen or checkout line is backed up with delivery orders, there are a bunch of delivery drivers double-parked or loitering near the front, and due not to any moral failing but rather what must be a crushing grind, the drivers are for the most part rushed and inconsiderate of the staff or other customers.
The class of people who order delivery regularly are generally trading the short-term reward of convenient food for way more money than makes sense, too little of that money benefits the class of people who do the delivering, and as the article points out, it is essentially harming the business it's being ordered from.
I would love to see more restaurants and stores declining to support this kind of system. While there may be some marginal profit now, in the long run the race to the bottom is going to mean fewer sustainable businesses.
At the very least, I make an effort to pick up food in person these days. Saves me a lot of money, is better for the restaurant, and since it's not my livelihood I can just show up a bit early, park properly, and hang around, ensuring that the food will be as fresh as possible when I get home and avoiding any rush.
The animosity I sometimes see between the restaurant staff and the delivery drivers can be really uncomfortable. It's not shocking, they have competing incentives and I think there's a pretty stark class/culture divide, but it's unfortunate when a system like this pits workers against each other that are just both trying to do their job as best they can.
Billions of dollars are being burned to keep taxis for burritos alive, along with any restaurants that fight it. For better or worse, it's hard to bet against human nature when we're offering making something easier.
Of course, cost pressures are insane on delivery drivers, delivery middlemen to make money, and restaurants to cut COGS. It's probably no accident there's videos like [1] about how every restaurant tastes the same when supplied by Sysco (national distributor versus buying fresh/local, which means higher prices...)
IMO, delivery is also killing peoples' finances [2]. I know multiple people who not well-off but effectively no longer cook and only eat premade delivered food. The lack of impulse control turns them into whales not for a gacha game, but for DoorDash.
The transformation of all news and opinion into a steady stream of Everything Is Bad is something that I think we'll enjoy reading about half a century from now.
My experience is that everything is fine and better than ever. We went to a nice restaurant this last week, we ordered on Door dash for game night, I picked up from a chain (Zareen's) when I went down to the South Bay, and we will go to a restaurant we've been to many times that's across the street this week.
All of these experiences have been good. I know it is traditional in this genre of media to fire up a litany of complaint (the food isn't meant to be X, the delivery drivers aren't paid enough, etc. etc.) but I'm happy with the food I paid for and the delivery drivers are glad they've got the job.
There is a religious chanting aspect to the way people keep talking about things in the world. "Outrage culture in the media is ruining the world" while simultaneously subscribing to that. Take a critical look at yourselves.
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[ 2.3 ms ] story [ 53.7 ms ] threadThese middlemen delivery companies are abusive and rent-seeking, contributing very little to the product but taking an immense share of the profits.
It also destroys every restaurant's natural advantage of closeness - if you run a pizzeria and your food is not horrible, you can naturally expect people from about 2 city blocks over to eat there - now, they're competing with every pizzeria in the city.
The class of people who order delivery regularly are generally trading the short-term reward of convenient food for way more money than makes sense, too little of that money benefits the class of people who do the delivering, and as the article points out, it is essentially harming the business it's being ordered from.
I would love to see more restaurants and stores declining to support this kind of system. While there may be some marginal profit now, in the long run the race to the bottom is going to mean fewer sustainable businesses.
The animosity I sometimes see between the restaurant staff and the delivery drivers can be really uncomfortable. It's not shocking, they have competing incentives and I think there's a pretty stark class/culture divide, but it's unfortunate when a system like this pits workers against each other that are just both trying to do their job as best they can.
Of course, cost pressures are insane on delivery drivers, delivery middlemen to make money, and restaurants to cut COGS. It's probably no accident there's videos like [1] about how every restaurant tastes the same when supplied by Sysco (national distributor versus buying fresh/local, which means higher prices...)
IMO, delivery is also killing peoples' finances [2]. I know multiple people who not well-off but effectively no longer cook and only eat premade delivered food. The lack of impulse control turns them into whales not for a gacha game, but for DoorDash.
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXXQTzQXRFc
[2] https://www.theglobeandmail.com/investing/personal-finance/a...
I don't know if much literature is out there, but there's plenty of online discussions about this phenomenon.
My experience is that everything is fine and better than ever. We went to a nice restaurant this last week, we ordered on Door dash for game night, I picked up from a chain (Zareen's) when I went down to the South Bay, and we will go to a restaurant we've been to many times that's across the street this week.
All of these experiences have been good. I know it is traditional in this genre of media to fire up a litany of complaint (the food isn't meant to be X, the delivery drivers aren't paid enough, etc. etc.) but I'm happy with the food I paid for and the delivery drivers are glad they've got the job.
There is a religious chanting aspect to the way people keep talking about things in the world. "Outrage culture in the media is ruining the world" while simultaneously subscribing to that. Take a critical look at yourselves.