It’s no longer a matter of ‘should’ you delete your food delivery app(s). It’s now really a matter of ‘could you?’ Folks who picked up the delivery habit during the COVID crisis – and younger-gen diners – appear to be addicted to delivery…
How would your life change if you deleted your food delivery service app(s)?
We asked, in a regular post this past week, if it was time for us all to delete our food delivery service app(s). After a logical, objective analysis of the question, the answer was clear: You betcha!
Financial madness
After the numbers were crunched – and all the surcharges, fees and other delivery-bill add-ons were considered – it became irrefutable that food delivery services just don’t make sense in this day and age, when millions of folks are struggling just to afford enough decent food. Not to mention that inflation hasn’t stopped. It’s just increasing at a slightly slower rate.
I might go as far as to suggest that using food delivery services intensively is a recipe for disaster. For most of us, anyway.
Disclaimer…
I have no food delivery apps. I’ve never had any. I am old school to the point that some younger ac-quaintances consider me a crabby old fossil. About some things, anyway. And food delivery services, as a class, are one.
The breakdown
When you add up all the fees, services, surcharges premiums and other disguised charges both visi-ble and hidden on your delivery bill, the picture looks positively shocking. In some cases – especially when you order only a small meal, or a few specific items, the add-ons can total more than the actual base cost of the food being delivered.
You may argue that you live downtown, and don’t have a car to pay for and maintain. So you have the money to support a delivery habit. You may say you live in a food desert, and there are no grocery stores within walking distance.
Have you actually added up how much you pay for delivery? Have you taken a serious look at how much you could save just by taking a taxi to a grocery store to shop once a week, compared to order-ing in every day? You could even share the cost of the cab with a friend or neighbour…
How’s your health?
If you rely overwhelmingly on delivery service orders to fulfill your overall nutrition requirement… Remember, a majority of restaurant food – especially Fast Food – falls into the processed or ultra-processed category. Not to mention being a primary vector for excess sugar, salt and fat in your diet.
A healthy diet is all the more important if you live a sedentary life – and get a minimum of daily phy-sical activity. Even if you did eat the same amount of take-out food as you do delivery, you’d still be getting exercise by going out and picking it up.
Random thought: Many urban food delivery ‘drivers’ actually ride bikes… Why couldn’t you?
Enough!
Okay. I’m starting to rant. But you get the picture. There’s no insurmountable reason most of us – who have them – couldn’t delete their food delivery service apps(s) right this minute.
And may of those folks just might end up healthier, as well as living longer, as a result.
My questions to you:
Given the undeniable evidence… Could you stop ordering delivery?
If you could… would you?
How would your life change if you abandoned your food delivery habit?
What’s more important to you? The convenience of f0od delivery or your health and longevity?
Muse on that…
~ Maggie J.