Free Republic

A 21-year-old Amazon driver was arrested in Castro Valley, California, charged with attacking a 67-year-old woman during a dispute, reportedly about “white privilege.” The Amazon delivery driver, Itzel Ramirez, unleashed an onslaught of punches to the back of the victim’s head and face after an argument. “I believe the Amazon driver said something about ‘your white privilege,’ and my tenant said, ‘You don’t need to be a bitch about it,’ turned around and walked away,” said apartment complex owner Doug Smith . The landlord added the victim was too shaken up to talk to the media about the incident, which...

For a long time, the only foods that were “delivery foods” were pizza and American Chinese food. While American Chinese food delivery was largely taken on by independent restaurateurs, pizza delivery was backed by large companies like Domino’s, Pizza Hut and Papa John’s. Or, as we like to call them… ‘big pizza.’ Take a look at the history of these companies, and you’ll find that they depended on technology at every stage to make delivery timely and efficient. Before big pizza got into the delivery game in the ’80s, pies were wrapped in blankets and driven to customers in cars....

The past year has definitely been tough on mail carriers in some areas. It’s bad enough that they have to visit so many homes every day, wondering if they’re going to contract the plague. But in some of the nation’s larger cities, they are also contending with mounting crime rates and assaults on postal workers. In the Edison Park neighborhood of Chicago, it appears that all of this pressure has finally become too much. CBS News in Chicago is reporting that some residents of that part of town haven’t gotten any mail delivered in up to two weeks. And when...

New bills passed Wednesday in the New York City Council will cap delivery fees charged by services like Grubhub and prohibit other charges, a move lawmakers say will help struggling businesses as the city fights the coronavirus. Under the changes, delivery apps will be prohibited from charging restaurants more than 15% per delivery order and more than a 5% fee on other service. These third-party services could face civil fines of up to $1,000 a day per restaurant, if they violate the new laws, officials said. Another bill passed Wednesday prohibits the services from charging restaurants for phone calls made...

Santa Cruz city officials are placing a limit on commissions charged by third-party food delivery companies. City Manager Martin Bernal signed an executive order Monday establishing a temporary limit of 15% on fees. The order will take effect on April 16. Officials said due to the shelter-in-place order, many people are using third-party applications and websites to place food orders. "Our restaurants who have been able to adapt to a takeout and delivery model have done so at a high cost," said Bonnie Lipscomb, who is the city's director of economic development. "This order should help relieve some of the...

A roundup of Texas joints and meat suppliers that can send you smoked meat as well as meat for you to smoke yourself.If there's ever been a time to get a whole smoked brisket delivered to your door, now is that time. Photograph by Daniel Vaughn Securing a solid supply of barbecue can be a struggle these days. Your local barbecue joint or nearby favorite might be temporarily closed. Many of the Texas joints offering takeout will drop off your order curbside, but it’s understandable if you still feel uneasy about leaving home to get it. Or maybe you have...

If you’ve been using Instacart to do your grocery shopping during coronavirus isolation, you may have to look elsewhere next week: Instacart workers have announced that they are going on a massive nationwide strike starting Monday. Per Vice, beginning March 30, workers will refuse to accept orders until Instacart concedes to a list of terms regarding coronavirus safety and sick leave. Instacart shoppers, who are braving stores amid stay-at-home orders and often delivering food to sick people in quarantine, have been hailed as “household heroes” by the company during the crisis. Last week, Instacart said it was hiring an additional...

You got that box from Amazon, so satisfied that you didn't have to schlep to the store and mingle with the germy people there who might have COVID-19. Now what the heck do you do with the box? Should you touch it? Do you need to gown-up to handle it? How long does coronavirus live on cardboard, anyway? Yesterday when the Amazon delivery person set the box on my porch I thought wait, I keep hearing that the COVID-19 virus can last on surfaces for hours. So I donned my purple nitrile gloves, which I keep around the house and...

I have seen some morphing a bit over the last 48 hours. Amazon Prime is no longer prime, nor do they have stock. Walmart has stock quicker but it must be inside purchase. Looks to be the battle as to what you need now. Interesting to see this play out.

This winter semester, more UW-Madison students are bundled up inside, counting on app-based delivery robots to feed their appetites. The maker Starship launched a fleet of thirty self-navigating campus food carriers in November. Since then, Peter Testory, the university’s director of dining, said orders have jumped more than 700 percent. Testory said there’s also a correlation between bad winter weather and service use. When the order comes in with a “ding,” dining staff prepare the food at a campus kitchen. Runners or, oftentimes, kitchen managers take the food to the delivery bots parked outside. Once runners close the lids, the...

You may soon be getting your groceries delivered to you by a car with no driver. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) just approved an exemption for the autonomous vehicle startup Nuro to deploy 5,000 driverless electric delivery vehicles. The exemption is for Nuro's R2 delivery vehicle, which is the company's second-generation self-driving vehicle. It is designed only to carry packages, so there won't be any passengers inside. Nuro wrote in a blog post that the company is excited about this development. "We custom-designed R2 to enrich local commerce with last-mile delivery of consumer products, groceries, and hot food...

There's only so many boxes that can be delivered in a day. Warehouse space is nearly full, with vacancy near an all-time low. Streets are crammed with delivery vans blocking traffic. City curbs are increasingly a turf war between delivery drivers and everyone else. Even grocery store aisles can feel crowded — at least, when staff for delivery services are scouring the shelves. Americans are demanding more deliveries, and as a result, many of the things needed for delivery are becoming scarce. And with many companies pushing to meet that demand, industry experts say the U.S. faces a problem —...

US restaurants are opening WITHOUT dining rooms because so many customers are ordering food through delivery and pickup apps US restaurants are REMOVING their dining rooms because so many customers are ordering food through delivery and pickup apps A Chopt Salad opened in New York on Tuesday without tables or cash registers Customers can order and prepay online with the option for delivery or pickup Chick-fil-A Inc has similar sites in Nashville and Louisville More restaurants are turning to these so-called dark, virtual or ghost kitchens Restaurants are doing away with dining rooms as consumers increasingly order food deliveries through...

Many restaurants are catering to online delivery sites likes Grubhub, DoorDash and Uber Eats and not allowing customers to eat in-house NEW YORK (AP) — Frato’s Pizza looks like a typical family restaurant, with its black-and-white checkered floor and red chairs. But in the kitchen, the cooks are whipping up dishes for four other restaurants at the same time. There is, of course, the gourmet pizza that patrons have come to expect from Frato’s when they walk through the door. But there are also spicy chicken gyros for Halal Kitchen, barbecue chicken tenders for Tenderlicious, salmon grilled cheese for Cheesy...

To help reduce its climate impact, Amazon is taking some of its first steps in replacing its delivery trucks with electric alternatives. The tech giant announced Thursday that it is ordering 100,000 electric delivery trucks from Michigan-based Rivian, which will manufacture its vehicles at a factory in downstate Normal. The Amazon order is the largest Rivian has received to date, and the company says it expects to begin deploying its trucks to Amazon in 2021. Amazon said the commitment is part of the company’s goal to use fully renewable energy by 2030 and become carbon neutral by 2040. Amazon’s “Climate...

(WSET) -- Ever wondered if a delivery driver took a bite of your food while on delivery? A new study says your fears might be real. A new study done by US Food shows the habits of both customers and delivery drivers. The study shows 28 percent of delivery drivers have taken food from a customer's order. 54 percent of delivery drivers polled also said they are often tempted by the smell of the food they deliver to customers. The US Food study also shows that 17 percent of customers complained their food was not warm or fresh, and 16...

FULL TITLE: DoorDash dismisses delivery driver who allegedly ate customer's barbecue ribs, dropped off food with bite marks ============================================================= A man in Pennsylvania is accusing his delivery driver of speeding off with a bellyful of barbecue. Chris Payton, of York County, claims he ordered six ribs from a local barbecue restaurant via DoorDash, only to discover that the driver had helped herself to two of the ribs, and some waffle fries, before dropping them off.

Amazon is hiring its own fleet of full-time drivers to deliver packages to Prime customers. Amazon will manage these drivers directly, meaning the company will set their wages, provide them delivery vehicles, and schedule their routes. Amazon has previously relied on delivery services provided by UPS, FedEx, and the US Postal Service, as well as contractors employed through its Flex delivery program and third-party courier companies it calls delivery service partners. At a recent Amazon training for the new program, drivers were told the company "didn't want people peeing in bottles," a source told Business Insider. Amazon is launching a...

Larry Page has his flying cars. Sergey Brin shall have an airship. Brin, the Google co-founder, has secretly been building a massive airship inside of Hangar 2 at the NASA Ames Research Center, according to four people with knowledge of the project. It's unclear whether the craft, which looks like a zeppelin, is a hobby or something Brin hopes to turn into a business. "Sorry, I don't have anything to say about this topic right now," Brin wrote in an email. The people familiar with the project said Brin has long been fascinated by airships. His interest in the crafts...

Leading parcel service company Express Parcel Service LLC is on the spree to expand operations by increasing shipping locations across the US. The company is also expanding its network of remote shipping agents through new hires with the goal to extend better and more affordable shipping service to customers. “We are excited to announce that we have recently embarked on an expansion stretch, both in terms of our shipping locations and shipping agents. Our efforts in ensuring the most trusted and economical delivery have impressed private investors and a lot of them have supported us with robust funding of late....