Are Food Delivery Services Still Worth It in 2022?

furyou on 12/08/2022 - 10:16
Last edited 16/08/2022 - 10:50 by 1 other user

I have deliveroo, doordash accounts. When it started I thought it was pretty cool, like $5 to not go pick it up yourself.

Nowadays, I've found every item on menu is 50c-$2 more than in store for most restaurants. The delivery is up, to get you to buy their pass. But even with pass, they add a new 10% Service fee.

For a $70 order in store, I'm now paying about $90 delivered. I would very much drive 5min to pick up for $20.

Every now and then you get the 10% off GCs, which kinda covers the Service fee not the rest. Then sometimes promos where having a GC balance makes you ineligible (doordash)

What do you think? Are the golden days gone? Are there other good ways to use these?

I'm looking at the Deliveroo 20% cashback. I think it may let me break even, but I still have 150 on account not used yet because I keep end up going to pick up to save $.

ETA: Seems DD have unlimited fees but DR at least cap it at $4. And half on DR pass. So possibly some restaurants will be worthwhile on DR pass depending on the markup. I'm giving DD the boot tho, $25 extra per dinner order.

Food & Grocery Food Delivery

Comments

    • hayne on 14/08/2022 - 01:55
      +2

      @Mx2: in fact, there really isn't big money to be made - these services are pretty much unprofitable (https://www.thenationalnews.com/business/2022/03/17/delivero…). So yeah, you're pretty much on the money.

      And no, I'm not feeling sorry for Ubereats or Deliveroo that they can't turn a profit - at some point either consumers will decide it's not worth it, restaurants will get tired off being shafted, some of these food delivery services will consolidate and finally be able to achieve economies of scale (which they've failed to do so far) - or if none of these things happen perhaps the whole business model will fall over.

  • Poor Ass on 13/08/2022 - 19:00
    -1

    The Uber Eats free delivery around lunch time couple of years ago that refreshes every 5 min with different stores was gold. Now everything is inflated on these food delivery services

    • SlavOz on 13/08/2022 - 19:07

      I still see free delivery on some services. At my last job, there was Grilled about 10km away, for some reason they had free delivery most days. I almost felt bad ordering it.

      • Poor Ass on 13/08/2022 - 19:38

        I think they have like spend limits

        Back when they had what I was talking about I could buy like $2.50 corn chips delivered free or even cutlery if you wanted

  • Willy Beamish on 13/08/2022 - 19:18
    +1

    They were never worth it to begin with from a customer side and the restaurant side.

    They continue to pile on fees while taking an exorbitant cut from the restaurant not at all proportionate to the service they offer.

  • daft009 on 13/08/2022 - 20:18
    -1

    I usually pick up now if close enough.
    Otherwise quite a few will take phone orders and deliver themselves directly which I do sometimes. Then I don't mind paying $5 for delivery.. Going to the restaurant directly

  • oneone001 on 13/08/2022 - 21:20
    -1

    from the perspective of a side income- delivery driver..$5 for few min drive to restaurant..a few min wait at the restaurant, few min to the delivery location…add some car costs and sometimes the mental pressure of parking in a paid section without paying …xD come upto generous $16-20 per hour.25 if you are lucky….rush hours wait times are even crazier.

    I have no complaints whether u guys prefer paying less or not…I just want to put this out there because the extra delivery fee is not pocketed by the drivers or the restaurants..welp the restaurants fixed it by surcharges..and the delivery drivers fixed it by double timing the deliveries like doordash and uber eats together..which is why service sucks

    ask the delivery companies to bump up the payment and have a transparent distance travelled by the drivers,wait times and how much they are getting from your orders…if you guys feel ethical much…
    the enemy are not the drivers and restaurants but the ones that pitted the customers against them !
    If the companies wont fix the pay proportion,…i feel it is rather better to bump up the delivery price to properly pay the drivers and ensure better service. sadly…the other option is bringing in the tipping culture pushed by these corps.

  • Bluto Mindpretzel on 13/08/2022 - 22:03

    With the advent of mandatory service fees, definitely no. That's pushing us towards a US style tipping system which I am not going to support.

    • Tony-Abbott on 13/08/2022 - 23:21

      The service fees are not for the driver or store - it's for the 'tech' provider to provide the ordering service.

  • ChickenTalon on 13/08/2022 - 22:39

    Almost never use now. A year ago we would quite often, but the prices on items have gone way beyond what you pay in store, plus the service and delivery fees.

    The small independent providers all have markups 40-70% on everything. Add in the fees and you’re looking at $30 extra on a family order. We just go and pick it up now.

  • AMLagonda on 13/08/2022 - 23:35
    +1

    Oh a lot of people use Uber eats, insane amount, the driver are flat out busy.

    I dont get it, as a small business owner thats never ordered food online I dont get why people would order over inflated cold food, there are no winners.

    The drivers get very little and restaurants get charged 30%

    • Tyrx on 14/08/2022 - 01:20
      -1

      It's because delivery services direct from restaurants are more expensive (minimum orders, surcharges, high delivery fees) or not available. That's not really surprising though - ubereats orders are basically subsidised through VC funding and the company hasn't turned a profit, and I don't see how they could without significant fee increases. Consumers are the ones winning.

  • Aerith-Waifu on 14/08/2022 - 01:44
    +3

    I do a bit of food delivery to get some extra income, I can tell you its just totally not worth it, I have people who orders delivery within 500m from the restaurants all the time and they have a car parked at the front and pay 30% more for the food, and also pays service fees as well as delivery fees. I normally get around $6 - $8 for 10mins of my work if they live within 1kms. If they get up and go get the food themselves they would saved heaps each week, my calculation is if they actually go out and buy it themselves they can save every 4th meal free.

    Strange thing is the poorer the suburb, the more the delivery, the richer the suburbs, the lesser the delivery. If you go to a place called Byford in Perth you be surprised how much work you can pick up anytime of the day. Also Morley is the same, heaps heaps of delivery. I am now average $36 an hour doing delivery now because I only take orders within a certain distance.

    I personally only ever use food delivery if I have a $20 off or something.

    Dont let food delivery become a habit, as it costs a lot more money in the long run.

    • THICKnSLOW on 14/08/2022 - 11:13

      Do you find you deliver from the same restaurant most times?

  • love2buy on 14/08/2022 - 06:49

    There will be a day when delivery would be fast and cheap delivered by drones to your door but unfortunately it wouldn't be any time soon.

  • MrThing on 14/08/2022 - 08:07

    plenty of lazy people out there (like my sister), these services will always be in demand

    and as the inner city becomes more built up and cars are a luxury in these areas, well again demand will remain

  • Pratty on 14/08/2022 - 08:14
    +4

    I’ve stopped using them. Can’t stomach the price rises of items and fees. Doesn’t make financial sense even for the convenience. Was an avid user in the past.

  • lonewolf on 14/08/2022 - 09:16
    +2

    When they first started, i think they had a place especially with specials or discounts. but with the delivery fees up, the extra triple tax service fee and how their menu items are sometimes a lot more than in store (one store was about 80% extra for some of the mains compared to in store). Even with discount codes etc and cashback, it may just come close to being ok but really not that worth it anymore.

  • THICKnSLOW on 14/08/2022 - 11:09

    Would food delivery gig drivers make more money by sticking to one restaurant these days, rather than a variety? Cut out the middleman whose taking their cut.

    I'd support that.

    • furyou on 14/08/2022 - 20:41

      food delivery gig drivers used to work for one restaurant
      the restaurant would charge delivery, but max $15 or so
      now it's costing more when drivers are doing way more at once

  • whitfords on 14/08/2022 - 12:04

    I still use food delivery services, but usually only if ordering for multiple people, or if there’s a really good promo on, or if my credit card has some cash back offer.

  • gooddealmate on 14/08/2022 - 12:28
    +2

    Our local Chinese takeaway had a deal running on Deliveroo for 25% off, it was still more expensive than picking it up and buying directly, and that was before the service charges.

    It's a rip off.

    • nuttapillar on 15/08/2022 - 02:28
      -3

      Of course it will be more expensive than picking it up yourself. Do you expect them to do it for free?

      • BanannaMan on 15/08/2022 - 11:41
        +2

        He was sharing his experience, a lot of people actually thing they're getting a good deal with those 25% / 2for1 deals

        • nuttapillar on 16/08/2022 - 23:13
          -1

          Should I share my experience that the sky is blue, and that trees are made of wood?

  • xmeister2k2 on 14/08/2022 - 13:42
    +1

    Maybe because they want to make some money, or at least try to lose less?

    All the freebies, cashbacks, incentives etc. were attempts to increase market share/customer aquisition. They would never last forever.

    Food delivery companies were probably one of the few that benefited from the pandemic, but now reality has set in.

    DoorDash is down 60% on share price from a year ago, almost 75% from their highs.

  • MrKnowItAll on 14/08/2022 - 17:24

    My wife and I were both over the limit the other night at 1am and had a real hunger for some chicky nuggies. Sure we could walk there, but it's a 30 minute walk through Gosnells which even in daylight isn't safe. This journey would take you through some desolate, dark bushland.. oh and it was raining. None of which we found too appealing. In this case, doordash was our knight in shining armour, bringing us our nuggies in a really short amount of time.

    It's just a shame that McDonalds stuffed it up and gave us stale nuggets and neither of us were drunk enough not to care either so it was just a disappointing experience.

  • drfuzzy on 14/08/2022 - 18:09

    A better question is if they were ever worth it.

  • Tleyx on 14/08/2022 - 19:48

    All I wish is the pricing structure was more transparent.

    Menu prices then a per km fee, and maybe a flagfall fee as otherwise next door wouldn't be profitable.

    It's going to cost to deliver a meal of course, these people thinking it should only be a few dollars more than walking in are insane , but the total service fees should be more transparent

    • furyou on 14/08/2022 - 20:39

      Restaurants used to deliver too. They had a fee. So we know how much delivery costs.
      Food delivery companies are taking these and making scales of economy. Should it cost a lot more than restaurants doing it themselves?

      • p3nf0ld on 14/08/2022 - 22:48

        Yes. Think about it.
        You have to pay for the delivery company and their infrastructure, you have to pay for someone collect the order and then you have to pay for someone to deliver the order.
        To give you an idea on restaurants, Dominoes have a big economy of scale & just added a 6% delivery fee in addition to the usual $8-10 delivery cost.

      • Tleyx on 14/08/2022 - 22:58

        Restaurants doing it themselves used to subsidize as well. Thats not transparent either

  • digitalbath on 14/08/2022 - 19:54
    -3

    It’s worth it to people who are willing to pay for it.
    Just like every other bloody service and item you need to pay for.

    These questions are stupid.

  • BartholemewH on 14/08/2022 - 21:43

    I've never used one of these services to get something delivered so I'd guess personally, no, but they never were.

  • Chmmr on 14/08/2022 - 22:00
    +1

    Multiple issues for me
    - They do multiple deliveries of food in different directions. Watched my food go up to the left direction while I'm in the right direction. Hence it was cold when it arrived.
    - Price rises in the food itself, instead of one set delivery fee, plus the delivery fee.
    - Had complaints and the restaurant told me to contact the delivery company, and the delivery company told me to contact the restaurant. Neither accepted responsibility.

  • BobLim on 14/08/2022 - 22:31
    +1

    They were and are very rarely worth it, and the sooner people stop using them, the sooner the scooter and illegal electric bicycle riders can stop cruising along the footpaths and jumping queues of people trying to personally pick up their orders because app orders apparently outrank everyone else for some reason

    • Hangryuman on 15/08/2022 - 08:05
      +1

      yesterday I was walking through a narrow 120cm wide walkway beside a moving tram with a hat on and my head down against a strong headwind

      I was just about to move slightly left to the centre of the walkway when at the last fraction of a second I saw a speeding electric food delivery bicycle a metre away coming towards me at about 20kph

      I reflexively raised my arm to wave in his face as he sped past me about 15cm away, and screamed out 'J… C… !' as I jumped back, then turned and shouted 'F… You !!!' at full roar at the rapidly receding bike which was already 5 metres away by the time I could turn - the Chinese male turned and looked - saw I didn't have a weapon, and continued on his merry way - busy, busy, you know, rush, rush to make money !!

      Had I moved a half-second before I would have been impacted around hip level by the handlebar of the speeding heavy bicycle and probably incurred life-damaging permanent hip fracture injury - and he would have been uninsured, and probably gone 'no English'

      so yeah - all fun and games until someone's loved one gets killed …

      • skittlebrau on 15/08/2022 - 11:13
        -3

        the Chinese male turned and looked - saw I didn't have a weapon, and continued on his merry way - busy, busy, you know, rush, rush to make money !!

        he would have been uninsured, and probably gone 'no English'

        I'm all for better enforcement of rules about cycling dangerously and have plenty of gripes about bad behaviour from gig economy workers, but these types of racist comments are not necessary.

        • Hangryuman on 16/08/2022 - 15:59
          -2

          you forgot to call out the other racist comments like 'Our local Chinese takeaway had a deal running on Deliveroo for 25% off, it was still more expensive than picking it up and buying directly, and that was before the service charges. It's a rip off.' ;-)

  • nephilim on 14/08/2022 - 22:37

    When I had covid, I got a daily Jumbo Latte from local store for 11.50, $6 + 4 delivery + 1.50 fee.

  • kaleidoscope on 14/08/2022 - 23:18

    Pretty much dead to me. Just using it to discover places nearby and if any worthwhile offers and that’s it.

    Couple days ago ordered takeout dinner from local restaurant. Uber/DD - $62 pickup/ $66 delivered. Direct website order - $47 pickup 😂

  • Empharand on 15/08/2022 - 00:02

    Food delivery services are ideal for the wealthy that couldn't care less about spending $50+ on a meal or two, people that can't drive, people wanting a feed at a drink-up/party when you're too intoxicated to drive and those isolating from COVID.

    I would use food delivery services years ago when they would dish out (No pun intended) free credits and when Uber Eats had the feature where you could order around 5pm - 7pm and not pay a delivery fee regardless of minimum spend (Can't 100% remember what it was called but it has like a 10 minute timer).

    I personally feel sorry for food delivery drivers trying to make a living, they make like $3-4 per delivery, minus fuel, minus car insurance, wear and tear on their vehicle etc and having to put up with waiting 10+ minutes for the food order during peak hour (5pm - 8pm) which cuts into their time to be able to do more deliveries and then having to put up with people claiming that their food wasn't delivered, food was cold, food was thrown around inside the bag etc to score free food while the driver gets penalised.

  • nuttapillar on 15/08/2022 - 02:27
    +1

    They've never been worth it, IMO.

  • Hangryuman on 15/08/2022 - 07:43
    -7

    I've never used meal delivery because I have an excellent cook at home, have been disgusted by the TV reveal of what food looks like after a 20 minute trip across town, don’t want to eat tepid food, hate speeding delivery bikes illegally riding on public footpaths, and we are retired with plenty of time to stroll to our choice of favourite restaurants

    so if I try to summarise comments here, why people use the services seems to be -

    • busy [presume paid work or unpaid work looking after kids and family]
    • drunk/stoned/shouldn't drive or don't have a car, or too far and too long to wait, or don't want to go out in the cold/wind/rain
    • think it's cool to have meals delivered when they're unlikely to know how to or want to cook for themselves
    • can't be bothered and don't mind tepid food that doesn't taste as good as fresh and hot
    • want to feel rich or luxury by spending money and aren't paying attention to saving or budgeting
    • want to impress geek friends with 'look - one tap for my special order from Dominoes'
    • feel it might not be safe to go out at night so would rather have a foreign stranger bring food to your door
    • gee-man on 15/08/2022 - 08:02

      Tell me you’re out of touch without saying you’re out of touch.

      • Hangryuman on 15/08/2022 - 08:08
        -3

        are you woke yet ?

        oh - thought of another reason - I loathe the TV ads of people 'enjoying their luxury lives at home' playing ping pong or whatever, who when a delivery person arrives having risked their life driving across town in all kinds of weather brings them a bag of food, they snatch it from their hands without a word of thanks, as if ignoring and being rude to service providers somehow makes you feel rich ?

        no - it makes you a rude selfish nasty person akin to a narcissistic sociopath who's damaging to society - and THAT'S what's being promoted on the TV ads - using celebrities (I dunno - Katy Perry ?)

        • gee-man on 15/08/2022 - 10:30
          +1

          Boomer used ‘woke’ - its super ineffective!

  • labyrinthinecities on 15/08/2022 - 11:20

    I find them "worth it" in a pinch - they were very useful when I was down with the spicy cough and isolating for example. Also useful if you don't own a car, have mobility issues, etc. Actually, awhile ago I was looking up reviews of a place I was thinking of ordering food from and got really annoyed at the snide "well if you'd stop being lazy and drive out yourself" the owner gave a to a bad review. Maybe it takes 10-15 minutes by car but it's 40 minutes by bus.

    Anyways, personally, other than fringe circumstances, I'll try to avoid using the delivery services as it's better for me to leave the house instead of being a hermit, food is fresher/still hot, and it's cheaper, even with rising fuel prices.

    Other reasons I try to avoid is that the business model is really exploitative towards delivery drivers.

  • PurchaseAnxiety on 15/08/2022 - 12:14

    Was chatting with my wife about this last night after realising it had been months since we used one. The consensus we came to is that they are not worth it for us anymore. The fees and higher prices have become absurd. It also feels like every time there's an issue of some sort that requires either chasing up the delivery service and/or restaurant, which is always a pain. The choice of food where we live is pretty crazy, which seems like a pro but we've found it to be a con. There's literally hundreds of options and it's become an ordeal trying to settle on something, especially with a lot of vendors setting up multiple online delivery shopfronts. Not to mention that you need to compare multiple apps to see whether the menu prices are consistent and who has the cheaper fees. Finally, it just enabled us to be lazy (we didn't need any help in that area!).

    All of that combined meant that we were not only paying a massive lazy tax, but it was also usually the more difficult option. It just got to a point where picking a nearby local place and going there ourselves (revolutionary idea, I know) was both the cheaper and easier option. If we can't be bothered doing that, then we obviously don't want it that badly.

  • AG_ACT on 15/08/2022 - 13:12
    +1

    Can't say I've ordered from these services, but I have delivered for UberEats, and whilst it's not so bad if you get one delivery after the other, but otherwise, it plain sucks. E.g. You can spend almost an hour waiting for someone's food at a store, go out in the rain, get in the car, drive, find the house, (by this time you could have spent close to an hour) and then when you finally find a dry space to leave the food, the customer will come out, abuse you for taking an hour to get their food to them, and leave a bad review. There is a silver lining though, you get paid almost $10-15 dollars for what was originally supposed to be a $7 delivery.

    You do get other sides of the coin of course where there are drivers who are on all three apps, don't go from the store to the customers place, and instead go wherever the next pickup is, but I'm not sure how many there were.

  • ItchyBallsack on 15/08/2022 - 13:30
    +1

    I just started working for Uber eats about a months ago for some extra income, it’s useful for people who just want the convenience and is willing to pay for it.

    I need this extra income so I can stop HODLing and buy a 3090ti graphic card for my gaming pc and without making the wife mad. :)

  • cuteseal on 15/08/2022 - 14:55
    +1

    I noticed that some restaurants have done away with their take away menu and now refer people to their ubereats platform for prices.
    So basically you pay the same jacked up prices even if you are standing in their store (without the delivery fee obviously).

    Case in point - my son and I walked in to Supreme Leader/Noodle box the other night for some fried chicken. 2 small meals with 2 drinks ended up being $42! And we picked it up ourselves! So much for cheap Chinese takeaway…

  • infinite on 15/08/2022 - 17:21
    +1

    No.

  • Drakesy on 15/08/2022 - 18:33
    +1

    didnt think they were worth it to start with

  • gerrys on 15/08/2022 - 18:52

    I used it when I got the Covid and in isolation. So yeah, quite helpful for me.

  • PrettyBrokeTBH on 16/08/2022 - 08:53

    It's funny how they used to be much better, and I could never fathom getting the local domino's or indian/chinese delivered. Now they've stayed very close to the same but uber eats etc. has random fees for everything - i've started to get the former more if I need to get delivery.

  • skillet on 16/08/2022 - 09:26
    +1

    When they started off with investors money there were plenty of 'deals' for the consumers. For other companies this is usually called advertising fees. Now that the moneypit has run dry they are basically fighting to see which company will last longest and the one that do is the winner. There come a point where the lazy people will wake up and stop paying these stupid ridiculous fees when you can make much healthier food at home.

  • surg3on on 16/08/2022 - 10:25

    If I want my food to arrive expensive late and cold I order via one of those apps.

  • caitsith01 on 16/08/2022 - 13:12
    +1

    I would rather pay the restaurant directly for delivery. Problem is, very, very few of them understand that I don't want to phone them, I don't want to go through some saga on a shitty website, I just want to be able to go: click, click, click, done and then my food comes. One or two places I buy from use Restoplus which is fantastic - the restaurant does the delivery but ordering and payment are handled professionally.

  • cnrmlj on 16/08/2022 - 14:49
    +1

    I've never been a fan. Would rather order and pickup or order and eat in rather than brining the mess back to my house. Occasionally if there is an Amex or other cashback promotion i might use one. We also used them a bit when we were in isolation in January for a week with a bout of the rona.

  • [Deactivated] on 16/08/2022 - 15:58
    +1

    Only for the offers, or if you're too f&^ked to order directly.

    Case in point : ordered chinese recently via a app, cost $85. Worked out if i ordered it directly, it would have cost $66, a $19 saving.

  • congo on 16/08/2022 - 17:24
    +1

    Some delivery service actually make losses most years.
    Yes you do pay 20% more for delivery service, but they do have a lot of expenses, which you pay for.
    I normally get gift cards discounted, so I end up only pay extra 10%.
    It is worth it for me because
    1. Time is money
    2. Petrol is expensive

  • lamparnon77 on 24/08/2022 - 13:32

    They are extremely expensive and not worth it. I only ever use them when I can't drive for whatever reason

  • CRS34 on 18/09/2022 - 02:24

    ive never had a positive experience with food delivery. Food is always cold, or it gets delivered to the wrong house.

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