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All she wanted was a burger and some nuggets from McDonald's. But imagine this woman's shock when her GrabFood order from the fast food restaurant's Yishun outlet came up to an excess of $1,203. "Laugh my a** out. What?" TikTok user Cowsmoker said in a video shared on Friday (Nov 4), while showing that her small order fee for her order was around $1,185. A small order fee applies to orders less than the minimum order value set by the restaurant, according to Grab. Fortunately, Cowsmoker chose to see the funnier side to this incident. "They think I what? Elon...

A customer says that she tipped $4 on a $17 UberEats order and couldn't get a driver to pick it up in a now-viral TikTok, sparking debate about tipping expectations on delivery apps. In the video posted by TikToker Syd (@stillpoorandhungry) on Oct. 10, she references the viral "table of shame" of UberEats orders that never get picked up due to a low or missing tip. "I ordered my food a really long time ago, and it still doesn't have a driver, so I'm worried that it will end up on that shelf of bad tippers," she says in the...

MSNBC “Morning Joe” co-host Mika Brzezinski on Monday reacted to the 78,000 pounds of baby formula that was delivered to Indiana from Europe in an effort to help with the nationwide shortage. According to White House National Economic Council director Brian Deese, the supply was only 15% of the amount needed.

Frustrated customers, devastated restaurants, and more: What you need to know about this week’s food delivery catastropheThe offer was simple: Using the code “FREELUNCH,” Grubhub customers in the New York metropolitan area could take $15 off orders placed on Tuesday between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. (They were still required to pay taxes, fees, and optional tips.) Naturally, a discounted lunch during a period of nationwide inflation and rising food costs was an enticing prospect; as BuzzFeed reported, order volume peaked at 6,000 per minute during those three hours. But almost immediately, it turned into a nightmare: All over Twitter...

The Biden administration has finalized a contract with a test manufacturer to begin to provide Americans with 500 million free COVID-19 tests, Fox News has confirmed. The Department of Defense, in coordination with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, awarded the $51.6 million contract to Goldbelt Security, LLC, located in Newport News, Virginia, for delivery of over-the-counter COVID-19 test kits. According to the Defense Department, the procurement was funded through the American Rescue Plan Act, which supplies medical resources to different parts of the nation.

Delivery times for chips jumped in December, signaling the semiconductor shortage is worsening into the new year, according to research by Susquehanna Financial Group. On average, lead times increased six days to approximately 25.8 weeks last month compared with November. This is the longest wait time since the firm began monitoring the data in 2017. As a refresher, lead time is the gap between when a semiconductor is ordered and delivered. An increase would suggest chip shortages are persisting, and declines would indicate easing. “The rate of lead time expansion has been choppy, but picked up again in December,” Susquehanna...

Cardinal Health will test the use of drones to expedite its delivery of medications and inhalers to pharmacies, The Wall Street Journal reported. Six details: The pharmaceutical distributor partnered with medical product delivery company Zipline International, which will operate the drones. The pilot program will begin in 2022 outside Charlotte, N.C., pending approval from the Federal Aviation Administration. The drones, which look like miniature planes, will be about 6 feet from head to tail and will have 11-foot wingspans, according to the Journal. They will fly 300 to 400 feet above ground and use parachutes to drop shipments into landing...

A Bloomberg report details how artificial intelligence systems employed by Amazon have hired and fired contract drivers. Called "Flex," Amazon uses AI to determine how many drivers are needed for deliveries. The app, installed on drivers' smartphones, measures whether they delivered packages on time and followed customers' special requests. If a driver misses the mark, they are subjected to an automatic firing. That's exactly what happened to Stephen Normandin, 63, an Army veteran who Flex recently fired. He said algorithms tracked his every move as he delivered packages around the Phoenix Metropolitan Area. Normandin said Amazon unfairly punished him for...

Starting Monday, robots are making deliveries along South Congress and downtown under the supervision of the Austin Transportation Department... Robots will roll through Austin starting Monday making food deliveries in the South Congress area and throughout downtown. Austin Transportation Department officials say the company behind the robots, Refraction AI, will launch a fleet of 10 robots. ATD officials add the robots will travel in the bike lane unless there is not one. Then, they will travel on the main road. The robots will be monitored by a person who will travel along with the robot. Officials said it is required...

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...