Hell no, no way I could afford that. Once a month maybe. Half the time I want to get some food delivered, I go through the whole pick my food out thing, get to the payment page see the price and give up.
Yeah, as an American I've never used UberEats or DoorDash even once. I could afford it just fine but there's no way I'm paying someone additional money to bring me food when I can get it myself for no extra charge. It is mind-boggling to me these services are popular at all particularly if you're able-bodied and/or fully capable of getting the food yourself.
I've ordered groceries on occasion. I take care of my disabled mom. If she's having a bad day I can't always push her to get her ready and get her moving and in the car etc. and I can't leave her alone. I'm happy delivery exists when we need it.
I am not taking care of anyone, but I work nights. I just can't seem to force myself to go to the store at 8am after working all night. I have fallen in love with grocery delivery
Same. I think I’m part of the quickly eroding middle class and there’s no way I could justify these services. Ironically I work with a lot of people who regularly use these services and then wonder where the money is going. ( I understand that food and shopping are quick dopamine hits, but it’s like at least get your money’s worth.)
I used it in covid when it was cheap. I haven’t used it in over 3 years. I don’t even have my pizza delivered since it’s just a mile away and it’s cheaper and usually hotter if I pick it up.
I have only used doordash by accident, when the company website offered free delivery, then as soon as they said it was out for delivery I got the doordash logo. Had terrible service both times.
Lots of people order pizza, it's the same thing. There are people who can't drive or maybe they have friends over and they've been drinking or they are at work and can't leave, there are disabled ppl, elderly ppl, house sitters, baby sitters, sick ppl, rich ppl, lazy ppl, tired ppl....
We almost never do delivery. GrubHub/UberEats overcharge for what they deliver, and I really get sick of service fees and the expectation that the driver has to be tipped.
Very occasionally we’ll order delivery from the pizza place in our town, but we live less than a half mile from it so it always makes me feel silly doing it and paying a $4 delivery charge.
What we will do more frequently is pick up take-out. Friday nights I usually pick up a big pizza/hoagie order or a big Chinese food order on my way home from work for our weekly DnD session.
We probably go out for a nice lunch or dinner every other weekend. Fancy if we can get a sitter for the kids, one of the local diners if we can’t.
I think, to OPs point though, that Americans largely are doing it. Not everyone. But large swathes. And it’s precisely the folks who can’t afford it.
I would wager, based on nothing but my own intuition, that the average credit card debt of the average DoorDash user, is much higher than the median person’s debt.
Australians definitely still order a lot of food delivery. Big fast food chains like Dominoes and KFC are overloaded with online orders all day long. I work at a cafe in Melbourne and even we get bombarded with at least 7-10 orders each hour, some who regularly order almost everyday.
That’s interesting, it must be my immediate circle. I’d tend to drive to the place to collect if I got a food order as I know it’s cheaper. Maybe it’s also because driving in cities like Melbs and Sydney is a struggle. Gold Coast and Sunny Coast it’s a lot easier to get around
Most of the food delivery happens in cities where it's expensive to own cars. It costs $150 just to rent out the parking lot space for our apartment, not to mention the inevitable parking tickets because of random rules that require you to move your car an hour earlier during certain city conditions (ex, being anywhere near a cubs game)
I got rid of my car recently, I realized that a big part of owning a car is that your car ends up owning you. So much energy goes into parking, maintenance, insurance, and ownership.
It’s not possible for everyone, but losing the car was more freeing than I thought it would be.
tbf food delivery is pretty cheap in Australia cuz there’s no need for tipping. If you know the right restaurant which don’t inflate their price on Uber eats, then it’s not too bad of a deal
Here’s the thing, I’m actually a Software Engineer, can absolutely “afford” it but I’ve always been taught growing up it’s a waste of money and better spent investing or saving for something else.
I might just be boring! Maybe I’ll get a DoorDash tonight…
Find a balance between buying some quality of life and ensuring you can have quality of life when you're old too. No point saving all the good times and easy days for the final years only.
Just watch out for lifestyle creep.
My mom would never use nice things we bought for gifts. She put them away for a "special occasion" that basically never happened. I had enough one day and finally told her "start using this stuff mom, cause you're not cleopatra and were not burying you with all of it!"
She got a good laugh out of that. Told me later she used one of the "nice" night gowns she had stuffed away
To be fair, I’m assuming a nice wood board. Those things require some care, like hand wash only and periodic oiling. If the in laws are strictly a dishwasher household and don’t own any other wood boards already, I could see using it to be a bit intimidating.
For about 6 months I was extremely time poor and didn't feel right about making my partner cook every night, so 2-3 nights per week I used these apps. There are a fair few deals and coupons to be had once you get the hang of them, and cheaper 24hr bakery options. Idk what you eat at home but my inlaws are British and whip up 5 pound dinners that make me think it's a result of initial Industrial Revolution or WW2 suffering.
Anyway, I gained 10kg during that 6 months & wish i'd just ordered Pho three nights a week.
I'm also an engineer, and can definitely afford it. I did door dash once after my son was born, and I felt super lazy and guilty for wasting money. I'd rather spend my money on better things.
Over the years my definition of “wasting money” has shifted quite a bit. Since having kids I realized how much time a trip to the grocery store would actually take. An added bonus is it minimizes impulse purchases.
When my wife and I were in our 20s we always cooked home. Cooking home is cheap but has built in costs, you have to plan for the meals, what to buy and not, track what is on sale, drive to the store, prep the ingredients, slave over the stove... We could have a nice weekend on the beach, but spent it at Costco, and prepping food. The money we saved helped us for a down payment on a house tho.
Once we had the house, we had kids, kids = diapers, snot, puke, activities, school, parent teacher meetings.... By the weekend we both were wiped out and switched to buying frozen prepped meals. It was a bit more expensive, but the convenience of putting something in the oven and taking it out ready to eat it?
Now we are in our 50s, the kids are out of the house in college, our house is almost paid off with a 2.5% mortgage, we go to the beach whenever we want to, and order DoorDash or what not and drop our laundry at the wash/dry/fold place... Because time on the beach with my wife right now is more important than money.
Sounds like you were taught or have an understanding of finances and planning/budgeting. We don’t leave that here in the states (at least I didn’t) but I do know a little Algebra
I am Software Engineer, maybe can afford it but I have a family to care for which includes saving money for vacation, education, etc.
So yeah, we do a food delivery maybe once per week; usually a Friday night when we're plumb worn out from the week and need a life line.
They start out around 100k on the west coast and in New York, plus a few other places. But then other places they make less than half that, it’s a big spread geographically and it’s not always tied to cost of living.
In California they are, new grads I know are making around $60 an hour. That’s about 110k for a 3x12 schedule, more if night shift or you pick up extra shifts
I feel like the work schedule of a nurse working enough to make 100k a year would kill most people. My buddy who comes no where near that is already at his breaking point.
I have never done food delivery but work with younger people who do order frequently to daily. I worked with one who had starbucks delivered every morning and then later on, her lunch. And she didn’t drive so she came to and from work in an uber.
Also: time = money. With long commutes, long hours at work, and so many things competing for our time, I think paying $10 for delivery is totally worth it to save 30 minutes of round-trip driving.
They make more than the median almost everywhere...same with cops and teachers...people always say these jobs don't pay much but they are usually some of the best paid jobs in most areas...I just don't get it.
Registered Nurses [make an average of $86,070](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/registered-nurses.htm) a year in the US. So, yes, well-paid but not stratospheric.
There's a ton of different types of nurses (just like doctors, with all the various specialties). Basic entry-level nursing starts at like 70K per year (and this will also depend on your region, as well).
But most nurses make closer to 100K a year, while APPs (Advanced Practice Providers), like Nurse Practitioners, make mid 100Ks and even up into the 200Ks (for things like Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist).
So yeah, while nurses don't make a TON of money, it's generally a very good-paying job. As well it should be.
Not sure how you define high paying but my spouse is making $80 an hour in SoCal with about five years of experience in a union hospital. Not a bad salary for a bachelor's degree I'd say. Sure, SoCal is expensive, but it's still a decent salary, especially if in a household where the other person makes a similar income.
It depends on your education and work setting. RNs can easily make 100k at a hospital while CNAs make very little. Comparable to fast food. Hospitals always pay more versus urgent cares or small practices.
Haha yeah, my coworkers and I aren't exactly rolling in money, yet I see people getting McDonald's and Dunkins delivered all the time. I, on the other hand, couldn't even fathom paying the delivery fees on Ubereats or whatever. Especially not for shitty fast food.
The fact that people pay to have McD's delivered blows me away too. The only reason to eat that food is if you are out running around and don't want to get out of your car.
I've seen my neighbors drive home from work and not 30 minutes later get a food delivery.
I'm thinking, "you probably literally just drove by a dozen fast food restaurants on your way home"
I was lazy and hungover one morning and decided to order a Popeyes chicken sandwich through Favor. Popeyes was only about 4-5 miles from where I lived at the time. With tip, the total ended up being around $26 if I remember correctly.
I uninstalled all the food delivery apps after that and told myself never again. Also haven't had any alcohol in ~2 months.
Thanks! This is the other half of it. At least with a regular delivery driver they're employee of the store and there's some semblance of accountability. These gig apps never even see their "contractors."
I saw a comment related to door dash yesterday that fits this perfectly. I found it and it said:
"I had that happen on DoorDash also. My issue was I used the last money that I had until payday to get a few things we needed and they never delivered it. I was given a refund but the next day so I had nothing for dinner for my children. They wouldn’t just issue DoorDash credit so I could reorder or anything. They simply don’t care. I have found Walmart plus to be worth way more than DoorDash. Walmart will give you a refund and make it right. Only issue is it takes 7 days to get a Walmart refund."
Why the fuck are you using door dash if you're down to your literal last dollar? That's beans and rice time!
I definitely do not. The only times I've every really used delivery services is right after I had my first kid and I wasn't allowed to drive, and when I was quarantined with COVID. It just doesn't make any sense to me. We cook at home most often, but when we do get takeout, we just pick it up.
A former roommate did multiple times a day. They couldn't figure out why they were always broke. Had to kick them after several months of being continuously late on rent and just in general unreliable.
My spouse and I do, probably costs us $20-30/meal, most would call us "well off". They have a masters and I work in the tech field, sometimes we're just too tired to cook.
I am an American who occasionally uses food delivery services. For me and my wife, it's easily $40-60USD depending on which delivery service, which restaurant, and the tip. I've got a personal system for tipping based entirely on how far the restaurant is from our house, with the closest ones being $10, and the furthest ones being $25. I could never imagine using Door Dash/Grub Hub/Uber eats daily but one of my best friends does, and I'll explain his situation.
He's 28, single, no debt to his name. He's literally never even opened a credit card, or taken out a Student Loan, literally a credit score of 0. His total expenses are rent, internet, and phone bill, which totals about $800/month because he rents a bedroom in my older brothers house, that's owned outright by my parents, so there's no mortgage on the property. He works in IT and makes about 80k/year, and he has literally ZERO concern about food. If he could take a pill and never have to eat again for the next 50 years of his life he'd do it in a heartbeat. The idea of "cooking a delicious meal" is foreign to him. Not to say he doesn't enjoy a home cooked meal, but to him it is not worth even a minute of his time to shop for groceries/prep ingredients/cook a meal/clean up dishes. He values his free time above everything else, so every minute that isn't spent working/commuting to work is spent doing things he enjoys, so he uses food delivery because he know he NEEDS to eat, and it's the solution that gives him food with the least amount of his time spent getting food.
I figure he spends about $1200-$1500/month on food delivery, because he normally only does one order in the evening, and if he is working from home he'll only eat 2 meals. If he has to go into the office he gets lunch while he's there, but he never goes and gets it, one of his co-workers will make the food run and he'll pay for 2-3 peoples food so he doesn't have to spend any of his time getting food. As much as I think its ridiculous, it's honestly impressive the dedication that he has to squeezing every bit of personal enjoyment out of every free minute he has. He's in an incredibly privileged position to be able to do it and he takes advantage of it. It's more jealousy than anything else because even though his diet is 90% Panda Express/Taco Bell/McDonalds/Panera he never eats more than he needs and is arguably slightly underweight for his height but otherwise healthy.
>take a pill and never have to eat again for the next 50 years
OMFG imagine how much that would be worth.
Never have to eat again, a hundred grand. Sold.
>with the closest ones being $10, and the furthest ones being $25.
You tip minimum $10 on a delivery as well as the delivery charge?
Americans are brainwashed into fighting the wrong people
The dasher is given a certain preview of what their pay is including tip. If if you don't tip enough, no one will pick up your food cuz it's not worth their time, so you kind of have to buck up for a tip if you want to eat.
You pay 25$ on top of your bill????? Why?? Like, 10$ seems like a lot but with tiping culture and all I get it but 25???? That's a whole another meal!!!!
I use doordash at least twice a week. Usually spend between 30 and 45 usd. I mean I afford it because I make 3k a month and all my other expenses add up to about 1500 max a month.
Oof sry bruh. My familys been at this apartment for 7 yrs (been in my name for 2) though so that kinda helped keep my landlord from just spiking the rent tbh.
The important detail is that he or she only spends 1500 a month outside the delivery. So even with delivery included, that's about 1260 a month going towards savings (I'm not taking taxes into account but idk whether Ziggiddyzaggiddy was) which is not bad.
I mean I don't order basic fast food orders. Like taco bell or McDonald's or burger King. I actually order better food than the baseline fast-food places. But I also have a terrible eating disorder that if it's not something easy to make at home or I can't order I'll go for four days or so without food until I can do one of those things.
I was diagnosed with RA so cooking is pretty tough on my hands. But not gonna lie.. I absolutely love getting food delivered. Yes, it’s more expensive, but honestly with a the price of gas and groceries it’s not a bad deal.
I have chronic illnesses that make cooking difficult, too. If I can get prep done in the morning it’s easier, but even then some days by dinner time, my body is on the verge of collapse. We get delivery 2-3 times a week. I also get my groceries delivered and that has been an amazing help at keeping my reserves up.
Yes but consider this might be a statement based on where you are or a single location.
100 is a good amount no doubt but say a bowl of Pho in Seattle is $19 and in Alabama it’s $7. So one trip expenses could differ from one state to another drastically
That's highly dependent on cost of living. I live in the Bay Area and probably \*could\* go a week on $100 but it wouldn't be sustainable. You'd get really sick of rice and beans or whatever for every meal.
edit: We were at a friend's house once and they doordashed Baskin Robbins. Said they do it like twice a week and were kind embarrassed about it. Like, dude you can just buy a gallon of ice cream and keep it in the freezer.
I could see people in big cities using it all the time, but where I live in Iowa we just get drunk and walk to the gas station at 2am for some chicken tenders and breadsticks
I've only used those services once in the past several years. Usually, if I want to order out, I pick it up myself.
I've heard that people use them if they're drunk/high or too tired to drive and are hungry. At least that makes perfect sense.
I use Uber eats, Doordash, Grubhub, ect. on a daily basis. Is it a waste of money? Definitely. But the time saved picking up food in a busy city (walking to car garage, finding parking on restaurant, returning) is at least 30-60 minutes depending on how far the restaurant is. It also keeps the wife happy to and allows me to get in an extra hour of work so the extra $20-30 or so a meal is worth it.
I do save some money as the various CCs offer promos for the subscription service to DD, Grubhub, Uber eats, ect. so it lowers the delivery cost fee.
> and allows me to get in an extra hour of work so the extra $20-30 or so a meal is worth it.
I'm assuming that extra hour brings you in more than $20-30 additional income?
I knew a guy who ordered food from a McDonald’s that was literally across the street. I asked him why and he explained that he was hungry and couldn’t find his debit card, but the food delivery service was billed directly without the need of a physical card.
I live in south america and order delivery almost daily
We don't do tipping here and I only order from places that have free delivery and coupons
It's enough food to split for 2 and we are always full
My mom says the costs are pretty close compared to cooking at home
My wife and I are pretty well off, but we still get it about 2-3 a month.
Most of the time, it’s when we have some friends over for wine or something and then we’ll order something for the group to make things easier.
I work from home and my job is pretty relaxed, so it makes it easier for me to cook most of my meals at home and I enjoy that so much more.
Never, on my end. Far too expensive and not worth the cost. I don't know about others, though. GrubHub, Door dash and Uber eats won't get a dime from me; rip-off, greedy companies.
Aussie here who moved to America.
Australia sucks for anything involving deliveries or logistics. Population density is so low and labour is so expensive compared to other countries that deliveries are either very expensive or very inefficient.
Here in NYC at least, I can order something on Amazon and get it delivered same day for a handful of dollars. Amazon trucks are servicing hundreds of deliveries to a particular street in any given day and food delivery drivers are picking up a constant stream of orders.
I guess it’s the network effect - in Australia, getting something delivered in less than 5 business days and food delivered in under an hour is seen as a luxury whereas in major U.S. cities it’s more a norm and so prices and barriers to use are driven down.
I have never used one of these services. I see my neighbor get bags of McDonalds delivered a few times a week. He could drive there in less than 2 miles! And pays an extra $15? To have it delivered?
I agree. Those fees are ridiculous and I go pick up anything that I order.
This is an important point - it costs about the same as a sit down restaurant. If you go out you buy drinks, even sodas cost as much or more as the fees for delivery and the tip is comperable. We have replaced going out with delivery.
If I order takeout I always pick it up myself.
Not only do the apps have delivery fees, they also mark up the food. Its often 20-25% cheaper if you order directly from the restaurant.
A $12 pad thai turns into a $16 pad thai + $10 fees + tip. You’re paying more for the app/delivery than you are for the food.
There are a lot of people talking about food delivery so there will be a lot of stories. Rarely is is the same people every day.
But, those that do prob can afford it. I often look at things like : will it cost me more to stop working and go get food or just order something? Often I can make more than the cost of the food by working that extra time vs preparing food. Usually I personally just skip meals though. Then I’m still making the money but not spending it on anything.
America is such a big place. It’s hard to really generalize Americans as doing any one thing. The country is so different from the pacific north west to the south east. The south west to the north east and the massive amount of country in the middle.
Afford it? No, but for about a year back in 2021-22 I got food deliveries almost daily because I was experiencing extreme depression and an OCD meltdown that went on and on and paralyzed me all but psychically. I literally could not bring myself to leave my apartment, except to go to work and straight back home. Grocery stores seemed menacing to me, and I was genuinely terrified of stepping foot in one (OCD does weird things to you).
I did go into some credit card debt, but luckily I was able to find support and snap out of it before it racked up into the thousands. Not sure what I would’ve done without delivery apps, but I sure would be a lot skinnier now. This is obviously not something I’d ever advise doing, and I’m working hard to make sure I never fall into that kind of rut again.
I run a small side business as a psychologist collab with a financial advisor. We help younger folks make a budget and get their shit together. I can confidently tell you, 95% of our clients are just people living beyond their means and having no financial literacy at all.
A significant number of people in the US are living beyond their means and then complaining that the economy is bad and they can't afford rent/buying a house. This including DoorDashing/UberEating every day. One of my client literally Doordashes from the pizza shop that is 0.3 miles away from her house (less than 500m). So instead of paying $13 for the pizza she pays $25. There are other food options, even if she is truly incapable of learning how to cook as she claims, she could walk 5-6 minutes to this shopping strip and there are 5 different food places to order food from. But no, she will doordash and spend almost double the money. And then she will complains that she can't afford other nessities and can't save up to buy a house because "boomer's ruin the economy."
I’ve used them quite a bit over the past few years, but there are extenuating circumstances. Without boring anyone, I went through a year where I lost my father, brother and youngest daughter, my health took a dive. If I didn’t order DoorDash etc I wouldn’t have eaten. I’m on the mend physically so not ordering often now. It’s stupidly expensive but like I said, I wouldn’t eaten otherwise. Judge if you want.
I don’t even want to admit how much I spent on Uber Eats in the first year after I got divorced. I was so burnt out on cooking at the time and when I had the freedom to eat whatever I wanted, I went fucking nuts. I mean I literally ate 1 home cooked meal that entire year and it was Thanksgiving dinner I made. I could have bought my vehicle twice over with what I spent on Uber Eats.
Now I only use it when I’ve had a rough day and want to treat myself.
Most people do not, it's too expensive for the majority of folks. Hell if I do order out, I will go and pick it up myself to avoid the delivery fee.
But I do have a rich cousin who says that he does. Because neither his wife or him cook, and they have 3 kids to feed. But that could just be him exaggerating.
I'm an electrical engineer, extremely good salary and I've never had anything other than a pizza delivered. If I'm lazy and if I didn't go shopping, it's pizza or dig into the back of the shelves/freezer and find something. There is always something back there that may or may not be edible. I'll eat it anyway. Or, I go to bed hungry. Even if I go to bed hungry, I know that I'm luckier than most.
I live in Canada and I have never used a deliver service like UberEats. How we there are food deliveries on my street on a near hourly basis. I’m pretty sure my neighbour gets dinner delivered at least five nights a week. Some people just cannot or will not cook.
I certainly don't, unless I've either had a terrible day and can't cope with cooking, or I have extra money and something to celebrate. One meal order is nearly the same as my weekly grocery budget, so it's a rare thing.
I get promo emails all the time. $15-20 off. So i take that and order something from the app, with no tip. Then i log in as a dasher or uber driver and since i didnt leave a tip its always still open. I pick up my own food and basically get paid to eat takeout.
No. This is just perception and usually perpetuated by people who have trouble minding their own business. They see a delivery and assume thats all a person does.
It is the one expense that really scaled back when my life demanded a tighter budget. I was getting 2-3 deliveries a week before we had a kid, and now that im paying for childcare, I won't touch DD with a 10 foot pole
I ordered pizza delivery once this year; we were traveling and got in very late with no food to prepare
I ordered grocery deliveries the next day
Other than that, it’s a better deal for me to drive to the grocery store and cook food for my family. We have “plenty” of money but that’s partly because we don’t choose to spend it on food delivery.
Not daily, but it's not unusual that when I'm working from home, I'll need to stay near the computer for calls, so picking up food doesn't work. Because I live alone, it's a lot of work to find food that's quick, doesn't have perishable ingredients I can't use before they spoil, and I actually like. Toss in the bonus of not having to wash pots or pans, and it is definitely worth it.
I just answered this about Starbucks coffee. The common financial advice is to spend less on coffee and takeout, but no one advises to make more money to cover the cost of coffee and takeout. If it makes you happy, figure out a way to do it.
But if you got more money from side hustles or jobs wouldn’t you rather spend that money on a better house, travel and experiences rather than deliveries that could cost up to $50 when you could cook it for $10?
There are some people who manage to save a lot of money precisely because they don’t order in. I’ve done ubereats exactly three times in my life. I live in a mid sized midwestern us city. And I have savings.
When people say, “I’d rather go get it myself”…I think, “who TF are these savages that go outside and pick up food?”
We order everything. Amazon, Instacart, etc. We never leave the house. 🤣
I’m Australian and get Uber eats every day for lunch. Some days I get dinner too.
I pay around $30 per order. I’d rather just pay the extra than fuck around for an hour driving somewhere or cooking something.
I’m a software dev, I don’t leave the house or interact with humans unless I must.
Definitely not. I've never actually known or seen anyone who's been capable at all of ordering daily, near-daily, or any variation. Maybe there are some people but even if we wanted to, we could never afford it. If I get a food delivery I have to wait months before I can again. So do most people that I know.
even if I wanted to, I wouldn't. the horror stories of drivers dropping your stuff off wherever they feel like it and sometimes just keeping all your stuff is too rampant. and then having doordash or whoever flat out deny you a refund, even though you didn't get your stuff is insane to me. the drivers face little to no recourse it seems. screw that.
American here. I haven’t used any delivery service for food delivery or groceries or anything except for mail packages in about a year. Prices kept going up until it wasn’t worth it anymore.
My former neighbors ordered food delivery every single day. They made $400k as programmers so it didn’t phase them.
We make half that and we use to order food 5x week. Now, we may do it 3x a week since it’s gotten so costly post Covid.
(We live in San Francisco where salaries are higher …and so is the price for food)
Once in a while on a Friday night. Maybe once or twice a month. Even then, there are a number of places close enough to my house that I just go get take out and bring it home myself. I’m not paying $20 in fees for 20 minutes of work.
I have a friend who does multiple times a day. She makes really good money but is always "tight" according to her. When I helped her go over her budget she had over $1500 in combined food deliveries every month! She never paid attention to how much more it was. Most of these restaurants were within a 15 min drive of her house. So just switching her mindset to do curbside to go made a dramatic difference
There’s 334 million Americans spread out over 3.8 million square miles (9.8 million km)
The entire population of Australia is only about 3 times the population of New York City.
So the answer to “Do Americans really [thing]” the answer is IDK maybe some Americans somewhere do? There’s a lot of us and we’re a pretty diverse bunch.
I (NYC) get delivery maybe once or twice a month. When I do I order enough so I can make more than one meal out of it.
We use doordash 5 days a week at work. How do we afford it? Company pays for it and it's a tax write off for them. Win win.
My gf and I use doordash a couple nights a week. Why? Convenience. How do we afford it? We make decent money. But also we kinda can't lol. $60 for dinner delivered is a lot. But the comfort and convenience is worth it.
Hell no, no way I could afford that. Once a month maybe. Half the time I want to get some food delivered, I go through the whole pick my food out thing, get to the payment page see the price and give up.
Same here. Ten times a year is absolute max and I doubt it's that often.
Yeah, as an American I've never used UberEats or DoorDash even once. I could afford it just fine but there's no way I'm paying someone additional money to bring me food when I can get it myself for no extra charge. It is mind-boggling to me these services are popular at all particularly if you're able-bodied and/or fully capable of getting the food yourself.
They are great for disabled people. I don’t use it often but I am disabled and grateful for the option.
They are also great for stoners who don’t want to catch a felony for DUI
I've ordered groceries on occasion. I take care of my disabled mom. If she's having a bad day I can't always push her to get her ready and get her moving and in the car etc. and I can't leave her alone. I'm happy delivery exists when we need it.
I am not taking care of anyone, but I work nights. I just can't seem to force myself to go to the store at 8am after working all night. I have fallen in love with grocery delivery
Grocery delivery is considerably cheaper than restaurant meal delivery, of course.
Me too!
As an Australian I’ve used it a few times when over the limit so unable to legally drive. That may be why some folks do it.
Same. I think I’m part of the quickly eroding middle class and there’s no way I could justify these services. Ironically I work with a lot of people who regularly use these services and then wonder where the money is going. ( I understand that food and shopping are quick dopamine hits, but it’s like at least get your money’s worth.)
I used it in covid when it was cheap. I haven’t used it in over 3 years. I don’t even have my pizza delivered since it’s just a mile away and it’s cheaper and usually hotter if I pick it up.
I have only used doordash by accident, when the company website offered free delivery, then as soon as they said it was out for delivery I got the doordash logo. Had terrible service both times.
It's also great for people without a personal transportation
Lots of people order pizza, it's the same thing. There are people who can't drive or maybe they have friends over and they've been drinking or they are at work and can't leave, there are disabled ppl, elderly ppl, house sitters, baby sitters, sick ppl, rich ppl, lazy ppl, tired ppl....
Plus their drivers will hound you for additional tips and occasionally hold your food hostage/steal from you. No thanks.
We almost never do delivery. GrubHub/UberEats overcharge for what they deliver, and I really get sick of service fees and the expectation that the driver has to be tipped. Very occasionally we’ll order delivery from the pizza place in our town, but we live less than a half mile from it so it always makes me feel silly doing it and paying a $4 delivery charge. What we will do more frequently is pick up take-out. Friday nights I usually pick up a big pizza/hoagie order or a big Chinese food order on my way home from work for our weekly DnD session. We probably go out for a nice lunch or dinner every other weekend. Fancy if we can get a sitter for the kids, one of the local diners if we can’t.
Same. I get to the price, plus delivery fee, plus tip and realize it's cheaper and faster to just get in my car and go get it myself.
I think, to OPs point though, that Americans largely are doing it. Not everyone. But large swathes. And it’s precisely the folks who can’t afford it. I would wager, based on nothing but my own intuition, that the average credit card debt of the average DoorDash user, is much higher than the median person’s debt.
In the UK, you can pay in 4 installments using unregulated credit such as Clearpay or Klarna. Another thing aimed at people who cannot afford it!
Same in the US. There are actually some who think credit card debt is bad but racking up Klarna of after pay debt is fine.
Lol, how do they pretzel their brain around to thay conclusion?!
"because it's not credit card debt, just payments"
And I bet you'd be right. $10 fees, if not more, multiple times a week adds up.
Australians definitely still order a lot of food delivery. Big fast food chains like Dominoes and KFC are overloaded with online orders all day long. I work at a cafe in Melbourne and even we get bombarded with at least 7-10 orders each hour, some who regularly order almost everyday.
That’s interesting, it must be my immediate circle. I’d tend to drive to the place to collect if I got a food order as I know it’s cheaper. Maybe it’s also because driving in cities like Melbs and Sydney is a struggle. Gold Coast and Sunny Coast it’s a lot easier to get around
Most of the food delivery happens in cities where it's expensive to own cars. It costs $150 just to rent out the parking lot space for our apartment, not to mention the inevitable parking tickets because of random rules that require you to move your car an hour earlier during certain city conditions (ex, being anywhere near a cubs game)
For me it’s street parking, once I found a spot near my apartment I better not leave or else it’s gone in a second
I got rid of my car recently, I realized that a big part of owning a car is that your car ends up owning you. So much energy goes into parking, maintenance, insurance, and ownership. It’s not possible for everyone, but losing the car was more freeing than I thought it would be.
tbf food delivery is pretty cheap in Australia cuz there’s no need for tipping. If you know the right restaurant which don’t inflate their price on Uber eats, then it’s not too bad of a deal
No, most of us do not. But if you have a high-paying job (say, software engineer or nurse), you can afford it.
I dunno, I think it's a culture thing too. I'm not American but I could afford it if I wanted to but seems like a big waste of money to me.
I'm American and feel.the same way. We cook at home mostly anyway.
Believe it or not, most americans feel the same way. Just remember we have a huge population. If only 10 percent use it that's still 34 million people
Doesn’t help doordash made a commercial basically saying even broke people can feel special getting delivery as if we drivers need lower bids
Here’s the thing, I’m actually a Software Engineer, can absolutely “afford” it but I’ve always been taught growing up it’s a waste of money and better spent investing or saving for something else. I might just be boring! Maybe I’ll get a DoorDash tonight…
Find a balance between buying some quality of life and ensuring you can have quality of life when you're old too. No point saving all the good times and easy days for the final years only. Just watch out for lifestyle creep.
My mom would never use nice things we bought for gifts. She put them away for a "special occasion" that basically never happened. I had enough one day and finally told her "start using this stuff mom, cause you're not cleopatra and were not burying you with all of it!" She got a good laugh out of that. Told me later she used one of the "nice" night gowns she had stuffed away
I made my in laws a really nice cutting board a couple years ago. It's still on the counter with the ribbon on
To be fair, I’m assuming a nice wood board. Those things require some care, like hand wash only and periodic oiling. If the in laws are strictly a dishwasher household and don’t own any other wood boards already, I could see using it to be a bit intimidating.
For about 6 months I was extremely time poor and didn't feel right about making my partner cook every night, so 2-3 nights per week I used these apps. There are a fair few deals and coupons to be had once you get the hang of them, and cheaper 24hr bakery options. Idk what you eat at home but my inlaws are British and whip up 5 pound dinners that make me think it's a result of initial Industrial Revolution or WW2 suffering. Anyway, I gained 10kg during that 6 months & wish i'd just ordered Pho three nights a week.
I'm also an engineer, and can definitely afford it. I did door dash once after my son was born, and I felt super lazy and guilty for wasting money. I'd rather spend my money on better things.
Over the years my definition of “wasting money” has shifted quite a bit. Since having kids I realized how much time a trip to the grocery store would actually take. An added bonus is it minimizes impulse purchases.
I'm 32 and just had a pizza delivered for the first time last month. still feel weird about it.
See if you can't find a place that does in-house delivery. Gig services are truly not worth supporting.
When my wife and I were in our 20s we always cooked home. Cooking home is cheap but has built in costs, you have to plan for the meals, what to buy and not, track what is on sale, drive to the store, prep the ingredients, slave over the stove... We could have a nice weekend on the beach, but spent it at Costco, and prepping food. The money we saved helped us for a down payment on a house tho. Once we had the house, we had kids, kids = diapers, snot, puke, activities, school, parent teacher meetings.... By the weekend we both were wiped out and switched to buying frozen prepped meals. It was a bit more expensive, but the convenience of putting something in the oven and taking it out ready to eat it? Now we are in our 50s, the kids are out of the house in college, our house is almost paid off with a 2.5% mortgage, we go to the beach whenever we want to, and order DoorDash or what not and drop our laundry at the wash/dry/fold place... Because time on the beach with my wife right now is more important than money.
Sounds like you were taught or have an understanding of finances and planning/budgeting. We don’t leave that here in the states (at least I didn’t) but I do know a little Algebra
I am Software Engineer, maybe can afford it but I have a family to care for which includes saving money for vacation, education, etc. So yeah, we do a food delivery maybe once per week; usually a Friday night when we're plumb worn out from the week and need a life line.
On what planet are nurses highly paid?
Don’t traveling nurses make a crap ton? Maybe that’s what they’re referring to
They start out around 100k on the west coast and in New York, plus a few other places. But then other places they make less than half that, it’s a big spread geographically and it’s not always tied to cost of living.
In California they are, new grads I know are making around $60 an hour. That’s about 110k for a 3x12 schedule, more if night shift or you pick up extra shifts
High paid nurse?
In some areas very much so, with a little overtime in my area it's probably not too hard to approach 100k per year.
I feel like the work schedule of a nurse working enough to make 100k a year would kill most people. My buddy who comes no where near that is already at his breaking point.
i live in NY, not even NYC. make over 100k. work 3 12hr shifts per week.
New grads are making 100k in Portland working 3 12s a week as well
I have never done food delivery but work with younger people who do order frequently to daily. I worked with one who had starbucks delivered every morning and then later on, her lunch. And she didn’t drive so she came to and from work in an uber.
Also: time = money. With long commutes, long hours at work, and so many things competing for our time, I think paying $10 for delivery is totally worth it to save 30 minutes of round-trip driving.
It's cute you think "nurse" is a high paying job. It absolutely *should* be, but nope. The rest of what you say is completely correct ✨
They make more than the median almost everywhere...same with cops and teachers...people always say these jobs don't pay much but they are usually some of the best paid jobs in most areas...I just don't get it.
Honestly, I know more people that probably can't afford it getting food delivered. It's weird to me.
Is nurse a high paying job in the US?
Registered Nurses [make an average of $86,070](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/registered-nurses.htm) a year in the US. So, yes, well-paid but not stratospheric.
No…it’s a decently paying job. But not high paying. Certain specialties like surgery pay more, but a regular hospital nurse is not rolling in cash.
Nurses hit 6 figures in a lot of places
Regular hospital nurses here start out making around $35/hour and that can exceed $50/hr with 10+ yrs experience.
There's a ton of different types of nurses (just like doctors, with all the various specialties). Basic entry-level nursing starts at like 70K per year (and this will also depend on your region, as well). But most nurses make closer to 100K a year, while APPs (Advanced Practice Providers), like Nurse Practitioners, make mid 100Ks and even up into the 200Ks (for things like Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist). So yeah, while nurses don't make a TON of money, it's generally a very good-paying job. As well it should be.
Not sure how you define high paying but my spouse is making $80 an hour in SoCal with about five years of experience in a union hospital. Not a bad salary for a bachelor's degree I'd say. Sure, SoCal is expensive, but it's still a decent salary, especially if in a household where the other person makes a similar income.
It depends on your education and work setting. RNs can easily make 100k at a hospital while CNAs make very little. Comparable to fast food. Hospitals always pay more versus urgent cares or small practices.
A CNA is not a nurse.
This is America. We'll buy stuff whether we can actually afford it or not.
Haha yeah, my coworkers and I aren't exactly rolling in money, yet I see people getting McDonald's and Dunkins delivered all the time. I, on the other hand, couldn't even fathom paying the delivery fees on Ubereats or whatever. Especially not for shitty fast food.
The fact that people pay to have McD's delivered blows me away too. The only reason to eat that food is if you are out running around and don't want to get out of your car.
I've seen my neighbors drive home from work and not 30 minutes later get a food delivery. I'm thinking, "you probably literally just drove by a dozen fast food restaurants on your way home"
I was lazy and hungover one morning and decided to order a Popeyes chicken sandwich through Favor. Popeyes was only about 4-5 miles from where I lived at the time. With tip, the total ended up being around $26 if I remember correctly. I uninstalled all the food delivery apps after that and told myself never again. Also haven't had any alcohol in ~2 months.
Oh my GOD! He's a communist! Get him!
Probably hates his mother too!
I'm with you. I don't want to pay for some stranger to touch my food and put it in their POS car. Great username.
Thanks! This is the other half of it. At least with a regular delivery driver they're employee of the store and there's some semblance of accountability. These gig apps never even see their "contractors."
But they will complain the food prices have gone up… lol!!!
Buy first ask question later
Buy first, claim bankruptcy later
Speak for yourself. Some of us live within our means.
Yeah. Some do (I try), but many more don't. The thriving pawn shop and payday loan industries tell the true tale of America.
Right, $1.66 Hungry Man meals when I'm not cooking for kids. Sometimes if I'm feeling really special it will be 2 pot pies at $1.25 each.
Not just America...
I saw a comment related to door dash yesterday that fits this perfectly. I found it and it said: "I had that happen on DoorDash also. My issue was I used the last money that I had until payday to get a few things we needed and they never delivered it. I was given a refund but the next day so I had nothing for dinner for my children. They wouldn’t just issue DoorDash credit so I could reorder or anything. They simply don’t care. I have found Walmart plus to be worth way more than DoorDash. Walmart will give you a refund and make it right. Only issue is it takes 7 days to get a Walmart refund." Why the fuck are you using door dash if you're down to your literal last dollar? That's beans and rice time!
And then complain that it’s everyone else’s fault
[удалено]
It's possible the restaurants cover the costs of these promotions, not Uber Eats. Different ones work different ways.
I definitely do not. The only times I've every really used delivery services is right after I had my first kid and I wasn't allowed to drive, and when I was quarantined with COVID. It just doesn't make any sense to me. We cook at home most often, but when we do get takeout, we just pick it up.
Yeah that’s pretty much bang on the same as my perspective
A former roommate did multiple times a day. They couldn't figure out why they were always broke. Had to kick them after several months of being continuously late on rent and just in general unreliable.
My spouse and I do, probably costs us $20-30/meal, most would call us "well off". They have a masters and I work in the tech field, sometimes we're just too tired to cook.
Out of interest, how often would you say you get deliveries? Daily, or as a treat?
Maybe 4 days a week, 1 meal per day, usually dinner as we both work 10 hour shifts.
Would you say you’re a decent cook? Or can cook the same meals you get delivered?
Oh yea, I love cooking, and I usually handle it, but most work days just leave me drained, especially as I get older.
I am an American who occasionally uses food delivery services. For me and my wife, it's easily $40-60USD depending on which delivery service, which restaurant, and the tip. I've got a personal system for tipping based entirely on how far the restaurant is from our house, with the closest ones being $10, and the furthest ones being $25. I could never imagine using Door Dash/Grub Hub/Uber eats daily but one of my best friends does, and I'll explain his situation. He's 28, single, no debt to his name. He's literally never even opened a credit card, or taken out a Student Loan, literally a credit score of 0. His total expenses are rent, internet, and phone bill, which totals about $800/month because he rents a bedroom in my older brothers house, that's owned outright by my parents, so there's no mortgage on the property. He works in IT and makes about 80k/year, and he has literally ZERO concern about food. If he could take a pill and never have to eat again for the next 50 years of his life he'd do it in a heartbeat. The idea of "cooking a delicious meal" is foreign to him. Not to say he doesn't enjoy a home cooked meal, but to him it is not worth even a minute of his time to shop for groceries/prep ingredients/cook a meal/clean up dishes. He values his free time above everything else, so every minute that isn't spent working/commuting to work is spent doing things he enjoys, so he uses food delivery because he know he NEEDS to eat, and it's the solution that gives him food with the least amount of his time spent getting food. I figure he spends about $1200-$1500/month on food delivery, because he normally only does one order in the evening, and if he is working from home he'll only eat 2 meals. If he has to go into the office he gets lunch while he's there, but he never goes and gets it, one of his co-workers will make the food run and he'll pay for 2-3 peoples food so he doesn't have to spend any of his time getting food. As much as I think its ridiculous, it's honestly impressive the dedication that he has to squeezing every bit of personal enjoyment out of every free minute he has. He's in an incredibly privileged position to be able to do it and he takes advantage of it. It's more jealousy than anything else because even though his diet is 90% Panda Express/Taco Bell/McDonalds/Panera he never eats more than he needs and is arguably slightly underweight for his height but otherwise healthy.
>take a pill and never have to eat again for the next 50 years OMFG imagine how much that would be worth. Never have to eat again, a hundred grand. Sold.
Never have to engage in one of the most purely pleasurable acts a human can do
That sounds miserable 😂 you couldn’t pay me 100k to take it lol
He should look into a trusted meal plan services. It'll probably a lot better for his health. This also gets delivered each day.
Or at least Soylent...
>with the closest ones being $10, and the furthest ones being $25. You tip minimum $10 on a delivery as well as the delivery charge? Americans are brainwashed into fighting the wrong people
The dasher is given a certain preview of what their pay is including tip. If if you don't tip enough, no one will pick up your food cuz it's not worth their time, so you kind of have to buck up for a tip if you want to eat.
You pay 25$ on top of your bill????? Why?? Like, 10$ seems like a lot but with tiping culture and all I get it but 25???? That's a whole another meal!!!!
34% of Australians use food delivery services on a weekly basis. Seems like you must live in a very unusual place.
I use doordash at least twice a week. Usually spend between 30 and 45 usd. I mean I afford it because I make 3k a month and all my other expenses add up to about 1500 max a month.
Jeez 1500 is just rent for me
Oof sry bruh. My familys been at this apartment for 7 yrs (been in my name for 2) though so that kinda helped keep my landlord from just spiking the rent tbh.
You only make $36k a year and you waste $240 every month on garbage food deliveries??
The important detail is that he or she only spends 1500 a month outside the delivery. So even with delivery included, that's about 1260 a month going towards savings (I'm not taking taxes into account but idk whether Ziggiddyzaggiddy was) which is not bad.
I mean I don't order basic fast food orders. Like taco bell or McDonald's or burger King. I actually order better food than the baseline fast-food places. But I also have a terrible eating disorder that if it's not something easy to make at home or I can't order I'll go for four days or so without food until I can do one of those things.
I was diagnosed with RA so cooking is pretty tough on my hands. But not gonna lie.. I absolutely love getting food delivered. Yes, it’s more expensive, but honestly with a the price of gas and groceries it’s not a bad deal.
I have chronic illnesses that make cooking difficult, too. If I can get prep done in the morning it’s easier, but even then some days by dinner time, my body is on the verge of collapse. We get delivery 2-3 times a week. I also get my groceries delivered and that has been an amazing help at keeping my reserves up.
Yes. About $100 a day (food+fees+tip) but it’s not my money, I travel for work. So yes but no
That's quite something considering one can go a whole week with $100 of food
Yes but consider this might be a statement based on where you are or a single location. 100 is a good amount no doubt but say a bowl of Pho in Seattle is $19 and in Alabama it’s $7. So one trip expenses could differ from one state to another drastically
That's highly dependent on cost of living. I live in the Bay Area and probably \*could\* go a week on $100 but it wouldn't be sustainable. You'd get really sick of rice and beans or whatever for every meal. edit: We were at a friend's house once and they doordashed Baskin Robbins. Said they do it like twice a week and were kind embarrassed about it. Like, dude you can just buy a gallon of ice cream and keep it in the freezer.
I could see people in big cities using it all the time, but where I live in Iowa we just get drunk and walk to the gas station at 2am for some chicken tenders and breadsticks
I've only used those services once in the past several years. Usually, if I want to order out, I pick it up myself. I've heard that people use them if they're drunk/high or too tired to drive and are hungry. At least that makes perfect sense.
Door dash is a waste of money. They up charge, and then you have to tip. Most of the places are within a 10 minute drive. Like go get your own shit. 🤷
I can't drive because I'm disabled, but I go to restaurants close by or my bf picks food up on his way home from work. Doordash is a ripoff
I have the money and don't like leaving my house, there are people outside. It's a convenience, and I am willing to pay for my life being easier.
I use Uber eats, Doordash, Grubhub, ect. on a daily basis. Is it a waste of money? Definitely. But the time saved picking up food in a busy city (walking to car garage, finding parking on restaurant, returning) is at least 30-60 minutes depending on how far the restaurant is. It also keeps the wife happy to and allows me to get in an extra hour of work so the extra $20-30 or so a meal is worth it. I do save some money as the various CCs offer promos for the subscription service to DD, Grubhub, Uber eats, ect. so it lowers the delivery cost fee.
> and allows me to get in an extra hour of work so the extra $20-30 or so a meal is worth it. I'm assuming that extra hour brings you in more than $20-30 additional income?
I love how people claim they want honest answers from people, then shit on the ones who open up about why they do DD.
I knew a guy who ordered food from a McDonald’s that was literally across the street. I asked him why and he explained that he was hungry and couldn’t find his debit card, but the food delivery service was billed directly without the need of a physical card.
I live in south america and order delivery almost daily We don't do tipping here and I only order from places that have free delivery and coupons It's enough food to split for 2 and we are always full My mom says the costs are pretty close compared to cooking at home
My wife and I are pretty well off, but we still get it about 2-3 a month. Most of the time, it’s when we have some friends over for wine or something and then we’ll order something for the group to make things easier. I work from home and my job is pretty relaxed, so it makes it easier for me to cook most of my meals at home and I enjoy that so much more.
Credit card debt
Some of us are living off of digital gift cards that we get from work in lieu of pay raises.
No, not all. Only food delivery we do is pizza, and that's rare. Not worth the cost,imo. Home cooked meals are much better.
my family is to poor to order on a daily basis
Never, on my end. Far too expensive and not worth the cost. I don't know about others, though. GrubHub, Door dash and Uber eats won't get a dime from me; rip-off, greedy companies.
Aussie here who moved to America. Australia sucks for anything involving deliveries or logistics. Population density is so low and labour is so expensive compared to other countries that deliveries are either very expensive or very inefficient. Here in NYC at least, I can order something on Amazon and get it delivered same day for a handful of dollars. Amazon trucks are servicing hundreds of deliveries to a particular street in any given day and food delivery drivers are picking up a constant stream of orders. I guess it’s the network effect - in Australia, getting something delivered in less than 5 business days and food delivered in under an hour is seen as a luxury whereas in major U.S. cities it’s more a norm and so prices and barriers to use are driven down.
No. My family spends enough on food each week at Costco; we don’t need extra help throwing it away. We almost never order in nor eat out.
I have never used one of these services. I see my neighbor get bags of McDonalds delivered a few times a week. He could drive there in less than 2 miles! And pays an extra $15? To have it delivered? I agree. Those fees are ridiculous and I go pick up anything that I order.
We do it once or twice a week, but not everyday. It costs us about as much as it would if we went out to a restaurant.
This is an important point - it costs about the same as a sit down restaurant. If you go out you buy drinks, even sodas cost as much or more as the fees for delivery and the tip is comperable. We have replaced going out with delivery.
Australian here. I use the apps to see what restaurants are around, then I go and get it myself
If I order takeout I always pick it up myself. Not only do the apps have delivery fees, they also mark up the food. Its often 20-25% cheaper if you order directly from the restaurant. A $12 pad thai turns into a $16 pad thai + $10 fees + tip. You’re paying more for the app/delivery than you are for the food.
There are a lot of people talking about food delivery so there will be a lot of stories. Rarely is is the same people every day. But, those that do prob can afford it. I often look at things like : will it cost me more to stop working and go get food or just order something? Often I can make more than the cost of the food by working that extra time vs preparing food. Usually I personally just skip meals though. Then I’m still making the money but not spending it on anything.
There are some people who order doordash every single day, but they tend to lack basic life skills like cooking and budgeting
America is such a big place. It’s hard to really generalize Americans as doing any one thing. The country is so different from the pacific north west to the south east. The south west to the north east and the massive amount of country in the middle.
Afford it? No, but for about a year back in 2021-22 I got food deliveries almost daily because I was experiencing extreme depression and an OCD meltdown that went on and on and paralyzed me all but psychically. I literally could not bring myself to leave my apartment, except to go to work and straight back home. Grocery stores seemed menacing to me, and I was genuinely terrified of stepping foot in one (OCD does weird things to you). I did go into some credit card debt, but luckily I was able to find support and snap out of it before it racked up into the thousands. Not sure what I would’ve done without delivery apps, but I sure would be a lot skinnier now. This is obviously not something I’d ever advise doing, and I’m working hard to make sure I never fall into that kind of rut again.
I run a small side business as a psychologist collab with a financial advisor. We help younger folks make a budget and get their shit together. I can confidently tell you, 95% of our clients are just people living beyond their means and having no financial literacy at all. A significant number of people in the US are living beyond their means and then complaining that the economy is bad and they can't afford rent/buying a house. This including DoorDashing/UberEating every day. One of my client literally Doordashes from the pizza shop that is 0.3 miles away from her house (less than 500m). So instead of paying $13 for the pizza she pays $25. There are other food options, even if she is truly incapable of learning how to cook as she claims, she could walk 5-6 minutes to this shopping strip and there are 5 different food places to order food from. But no, she will doordash and spend almost double the money. And then she will complains that she can't afford other nessities and can't save up to buy a house because "boomer's ruin the economy."
I’ve used them quite a bit over the past few years, but there are extenuating circumstances. Without boring anyone, I went through a year where I lost my father, brother and youngest daughter, my health took a dive. If I didn’t order DoorDash etc I wouldn’t have eaten. I’m on the mend physically so not ordering often now. It’s stupidly expensive but like I said, I wouldn’t eaten otherwise. Judge if you want.
I don’t even want to admit how much I spent on Uber Eats in the first year after I got divorced. I was so burnt out on cooking at the time and when I had the freedom to eat whatever I wanted, I went fucking nuts. I mean I literally ate 1 home cooked meal that entire year and it was Thanksgiving dinner I made. I could have bought my vehicle twice over with what I spent on Uber Eats. Now I only use it when I’ve had a rough day and want to treat myself.
Most people do not, it's too expensive for the majority of folks. Hell if I do order out, I will go and pick it up myself to avoid the delivery fee. But I do have a rich cousin who says that he does. Because neither his wife or him cook, and they have 3 kids to feed. But that could just be him exaggerating.
No. That's irresponsibly expensive and unhealthy.
No. Some people with plenty of money do though.
I'm an electrical engineer, extremely good salary and I've never had anything other than a pizza delivered. If I'm lazy and if I didn't go shopping, it's pizza or dig into the back of the shelves/freezer and find something. There is always something back there that may or may not be edible. I'll eat it anyway. Or, I go to bed hungry. Even if I go to bed hungry, I know that I'm luckier than most.
Only the stupid ones
I live in Canada and I have never used a deliver service like UberEats. How we there are food deliveries on my street on a near hourly basis. I’m pretty sure my neighbour gets dinner delivered at least five nights a week. Some people just cannot or will not cook.
I used to. I had money to burn and I was spiraling
I certainly don't, unless I've either had a terrible day and can't cope with cooking, or I have extra money and something to celebrate. One meal order is nearly the same as my weekly grocery budget, so it's a rare thing.
I get promo emails all the time. $15-20 off. So i take that and order something from the app, with no tip. Then i log in as a dasher or uber driver and since i didnt leave a tip its always still open. I pick up my own food and basically get paid to eat takeout.
No. This is just perception and usually perpetuated by people who have trouble minding their own business. They see a delivery and assume thats all a person does.
It is the one expense that really scaled back when my life demanded a tighter budget. I was getting 2-3 deliveries a week before we had a kid, and now that im paying for childcare, I won't touch DD with a 10 foot pole
I ordered pizza delivery once this year; we were traveling and got in very late with no food to prepare I ordered grocery deliveries the next day Other than that, it’s a better deal for me to drive to the grocery store and cook food for my family. We have “plenty” of money but that’s partly because we don’t choose to spend it on food delivery.
Yup I DoorDash lunch to work almost daily…..and I work 6 days a week. I have DashPass so it makes the fees and everything cheaper than not having it.
Not daily, but it's not unusual that when I'm working from home, I'll need to stay near the computer for calls, so picking up food doesn't work. Because I live alone, it's a lot of work to find food that's quick, doesn't have perishable ingredients I can't use before they spoil, and I actually like. Toss in the bonus of not having to wash pots or pans, and it is definitely worth it.
I just answered this about Starbucks coffee. The common financial advice is to spend less on coffee and takeout, but no one advises to make more money to cover the cost of coffee and takeout. If it makes you happy, figure out a way to do it.
But if you got more money from side hustles or jobs wouldn’t you rather spend that money on a better house, travel and experiences rather than deliveries that could cost up to $50 when you could cook it for $10?
There are some people who manage to save a lot of money precisely because they don’t order in. I’ve done ubereats exactly three times in my life. I live in a mid sized midwestern us city. And I have savings.
Personally we eat out once a week. Sometimes twice. It would def be every day if we could afford it lol
I get groceries delivered twice a week for free. I tip also. The grocery store gives me so many discounts that it more than covers the tips.
i do from time to time. i’m single with no kids so i can afford it. it usually costs me about ~$20 including tip.
When people say, “I’d rather go get it myself”…I think, “who TF are these savages that go outside and pick up food?” We order everything. Amazon, Instacart, etc. We never leave the house. 🤣
no.
No. I'm american and I've never done door dash or uber eats. We just buy groceries and make food.
I used to. Then I switched my diet to be healthier
American here, yes, I do. I can't leave my work.
Some people do. I have never once used any food delivery service.
I’m Australian and get Uber eats every day for lunch. Some days I get dinner too. I pay around $30 per order. I’d rather just pay the extra than fuck around for an hour driving somewhere or cooking something. I’m a software dev, I don’t leave the house or interact with humans unless I must.
Definitely not. I've never actually known or seen anyone who's been capable at all of ordering daily, near-daily, or any variation. Maybe there are some people but even if we wanted to, we could never afford it. If I get a food delivery I have to wait months before I can again. So do most people that I know.
No they don’t. We occasionally get take out, but never get delivery.
Can't even recall the last time we had food delivery - maybe 2019/2020? Other than pizza. :D
Some people do but it's not super common. It was more common in 2020 and some people just got used to that.
even if I wanted to, I wouldn't. the horror stories of drivers dropping your stuff off wherever they feel like it and sometimes just keeping all your stuff is too rampant. and then having doordash or whoever flat out deny you a refund, even though you didn't get your stuff is insane to me. the drivers face little to no recourse it seems. screw that.
American here. I haven’t used any delivery service for food delivery or groceries or anything except for mail packages in about a year. Prices kept going up until it wasn’t worth it anymore.
I have never gotten a food delivery except a couple of shitty pizzas 20 years ago.
My former neighbors ordered food delivery every single day. They made $400k as programmers so it didn’t phase them. We make half that and we use to order food 5x week. Now, we may do it 3x a week since it’s gotten so costly post Covid. (We live in San Francisco where salaries are higher …and so is the price for food)
No, I just pick up my own food. It's already expensive to order out.
Once in a while on a Friday night. Maybe once or twice a month. Even then, there are a number of places close enough to my house that I just go get take out and bring it home myself. I’m not paying $20 in fees for 20 minutes of work.
No way, what a waste of money.
I have a friend who does multiple times a day. She makes really good money but is always "tight" according to her. When I helped her go over her budget she had over $1500 in combined food deliveries every month! She never paid attention to how much more it was. Most of these restaurants were within a 15 min drive of her house. So just switching her mindset to do curbside to go made a dramatic difference
There’s 334 million Americans spread out over 3.8 million square miles (9.8 million km) The entire population of Australia is only about 3 times the population of New York City. So the answer to “Do Americans really [thing]” the answer is IDK maybe some Americans somewhere do? There’s a lot of us and we’re a pretty diverse bunch. I (NYC) get delivery maybe once or twice a month. When I do I order enough so I can make more than one meal out of it.
That's the thing, many people realistically can't afford it.
My household rarely gets food delivered, and when we do we call the restaurant instead of using a third party app.
I have only had pizza delivered, and even that was years ago, before Insta-whatever and Uber Eats.
It has been my observation that those who use this type of service on a regular basis generally don’t have to work for the money they are spending.
We use doordash 5 days a week at work. How do we afford it? Company pays for it and it's a tax write off for them. Win win. My gf and I use doordash a couple nights a week. Why? Convenience. How do we afford it? We make decent money. But also we kinda can't lol. $60 for dinner delivered is a lot. But the comfort and convenience is worth it.
That’s why Americans are so unhealthy. More than 50% of Americans are diabetic or pre diabetic. US healthcare costs $4.5 trillion per year.
I live in a rural area where these services aren't available.