That’s a question more and more folks are asking, as their dining dollars buy them less and less each month. And they consider down-grading their food choices. How much could you save if you deleted your delivery service apps?
It’s all smiles in this staged advertising photo for the Door Dash food delivery service.
But you and the resto are paying big premiums for the privilege…
It’s almost too easy too just pick up your phone and o0rder your next meal via a delivery app. You choose and pay seamlessly, in minutes (second, if you’re a pro). And the stuff comes to your door half an hour later. But you may be paying much more than you thought for that convenience. And the restos you patronize may be getting ripped off, too…
What you DON’T see…
There are many shadowy things going on in the background when you place a delivery order. And many of them are racking up ridiculous profits for the delivery services.
Commissions
You know that you, as a user, pay a fee for delivery of each food order via UBER, Grubhub or other services. But did you know the restos you patronize also pay a ‘commission’? That’s a fee for the privilege of being listed on the delivery service’s ordering website. Commissions can be as much as 20 or 30 percent calculated on the menu price of your order.
You’re not paying these commissions directly. But the restos have to jack up their prices to cover that cost. And that passes the cost on to you.
Like a country club
Delivery services charge ‘initiation’ fees to the restos they serve. Just like a posh country club. They also force restos to help pay for service-wide promotions that are supposed to benefit all the players. That’s not unlike the contract provisions for Fast Food franchisees who pay into promotion ‘funds’ used to buy regional and national advertising. But it’s just another cost the restos are going to try to pass on to you.
Blistering tips
If you’re a delivery fan, you’ll know that delivery drivers have been ramping up the pressure on you to tip, and tip more. What was once a starter job, or a fill-in gig between real jobs is now seen by many delivery drivers as a ‘career’. And they expect to be paid in line with workers in other industries.
When their employer refuses to pay them a ‘living wage’, the drivers just naturally shift the burden to you. In some places, the drivers have banded together to black-ball customers who don’t tip up to their arbitrary standards.
Yes, it’s blackmail. Or, rather, a hostage situation – with your food getting cold as negotiations drag on. But it’s not strictly illegal. And the delivery services aren’t motivated to crack down on the practice, because it’s not affecting their bottom lines.
Ghost restos
Every week, more and more ‘ghost’ restos open their vitual doors. These are commercial kitchen operations that have no dining room. Most have no actual public exposure. They’re just virtual ‘identities’ in online directories of eateries which don’t really exist. Your food is picked up directly from the kitchen, but comes to you looking just like a real resto order.
However… The ghost restos don’t have the same high overheads that real eateries do. No dining room, no signage or costly street-front real estate. No service staff. But they charge about the same for their food as real restos. And that gives them a very real and – depending on your point of view – unfair advantage.
On the other hand, ghost operations can only exist if delivery services are there to ‘fulfill’ orders.
Over a barrel
The delivery services have the restos over a proverbial barrel. Restos can’t hope to compete without delivery service affiliations in the ‘convenience age’. But you can help yourself and the restos you love by bypassing the delivery services.
When you do the math, you’ll discover you’re often paying twice as much or more for your delivery ‘deal’ as the same order would have cost if just got off your duff and picked it up.
That may seem like a tough proposition for downtown city dwellers who don’t have cars actually boils down to a simple reality. If you have a bike, or the resto is close enough to walk to, you can save yourself a bucket of cash. And you save the resto, as well. Not to mention, regular exercise hath its own blessed virtues…
My take
Bottom line: If you delete your delivery account(s), you can eat better for less.
There’s another dimension to picking up rather than ordering through a delivery service. You get to ‘put a face’ on the folks who make your food. And they can put a face on you. They’ll love you even more because you’re a real person to them. And you’ll qualify for all the ‘soft’ benefits ‘regulars’ are accorded. In the broader sense, that’s all part of building a community…
~ Maggie J.