Let the Food Delivery War Begin

Wealth Daily ^ | August 13, 2019 | Monica Savaglia

[2ndDivisionVet]

This past weekend was really relaxing for me. I chose to stay home rather than doing my usual errand runs or making any social plans. I stayed in and read a book, and then I watched a couple movies I hadn’t seen in a while. Those kinds of weekends are crucial for me. Those weekends recharge me for the workweek ahead. I’m sure you don’t mind having a relaxing weekend once in a while, if your schedule allows it.

While I was sitting home this past Saturday night, I was getting hungry. I didn’t eat dinner yet, but the idea of going out of my apartment to go get something to eat seemed like too much work. I admit it — I was very lazy. I was lazy, and I was also getting really hungry, so I picked up my phone and opened up the Uber Eats app. The last time I used the app, I realized that it conveniently lists the restaurants that don’t have a delivery fee. If you’ve used food delivery apps before, you know the delivery fee is sometimes make or break. Trying to justify the $4.99 delivery for food that's going to cost less than $10 is usually my deciding factor.

I remembered that Uber Eats offered this option on its platform, so I opened up the app and began swiping to choose my dinner. It took about a minute for me to complete my order — it took longer to decide what I wanted.

Within 30 minutes, the food was delivered to my apartment, and the only work I had to do was choose the food I wanted and walk down to the front door.

[Responsibility2nd]

She needs to know something.

30% of that food she has delivered? Already tasted.

[Luke21]

If that’s true, her little ad is bogus, and the temptation of modern day people not to eat fresh food is expecting a lot. It shouldn’t be, but I’ll back they snack up on all deliveries.

[FLT-bird]

Learn to cook. Its not that hard. Its a lot cheaper and a lot healthier. You can watch your movie while you’re doing it. Just hit the pause button and go check on it every so often.

[2ndDivisionVet]

It’s harder if you’re wheelchair-bound. Not impossible, but much more difficult, hazardous and time-consuming.

[Sarcasm Factory]

Following business fads is one of my little hobbies. I've long subscribed to a variety of business publications such as Businessweek and Forbes. For whatever it's worth, I'm getting the strong feeling that the potential of the superficially substantial food-delivery niche is inherently limited. The few nominal winners of a vicious market war will still suffer from the unavoidably tight margins of the restaurant industry and increasingly frustrated customers who resent high fees and shady referral practices. IMHO, it's frankly another display of the madness that can afflict venture capitalists, angel investors, and institutional managers in search of attractive yields for their retirement funds.

Meh. If you want free advice that's worth every penny you paid for it, stay away from food-delivery companies unless you're comfortable with high-risk stock trading. Don't say you haven't been warned.

P.S. Oh, right — feel free to take advantage while you can of the loss-leader deals offered by these companies. Just make sure to use a temporary, easily closed credit-card number to avoid inexplicable difficulties with cancelling your subscriptions. ^^;

[Dilbert San Diego]

Learn to cook?? That might be beyond the frame of reference, for some people.

Sarcasm

[livius]

Okay, so maybe she didn’t want to cook? Paying people - who probably have pretty low skills - to deliver food is actually a good thing. It’s a start for them, and it also helps people who may have other skills but are in school (and actually paying for it!) or just need more income. I don’t see the problem here or any reason to criticize her.

[Responsibility2nd]

Speaking of Business fads...

WHO? Who in their right mind ever thought the country needed or even wanted Cupcake Shops?

And Food Trucks? Sure. Spend $50,000 for a truck so you can sell ten dollar plates to people who want to stand outside in the heat and eat their lunch?

[Sarcasm Factory]

Premium cupcakes were surely a fleeting fad. But food trucks aren't. They typically offer the inestimable advantage of serving fast, tasty meals right next to a workplace for hourly employees who don't have to spend 40 percent or more of their hour-long, unpaid lunch breaks simply leaving the factory or whatever, traveling to a nearby restaurant, waiting in line to be served, actually eating, and then traveling back to their workplaces in time not to be docked or outright fired for lateness.

Yeah, sure, these folks could bring their own cold lunches, but a fair number of them nonetheless prefer hot meals and cold beverages on demand even in the summer. The free market responds to their desires. ^^;

WHO? Who in their right mind ever thought the country needed or even wanted Cupcake Shops?

And Food Trucks? Sure. Spend $50,000 for a truck so you can sell ten dollar plates to people who want to stand outside in the heat and eat their lunch?

[Chickensoup]

WHO? Who in their right mind ever thought the country needed or even wanted Cupcake Shops?

++++++++++++++

the same people who brought you cookie stores and pretzels shops.

[Dilbert San Diego]

Who in their right mind thought we needed these businesses?

I think of it as the market at work. If it turns out these places don’t do enough business they won’t stay in business.

These were business ideas that people had, then decided to try to make a going concern business.

[catnipman]

unfortunately, “Uber Eats” doesn’t exactly mean what most people think it does ...

[catnipman]

“Learn to cook. Its not that hard. Its a lot cheaper and a lot healthier. You can watch your movie while you’re doing it. Just hit the pause button and go check on it every so often.”

plus i find cooking to be very satisfying and a lot of fun ... i particularly like to show off by inviting close friends over for meals ...

[deport]

One or two will be coming to your neighborhood ....

Uber Eats.... Grub Hub..... Deal Dash... and more