Free Republic

When food delivery “superapps” started operations in Indonesia, users started putting on weight – and that’s not an entirely bad thing. So argue the authors of a University of Bonn Center for Development Research paper [PDF] published this month. Titled “Impact of Super Apps on the Nutrition Transition in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Evidence from Indonesia”, the paper considers health data from Indonesia covering the years 2015 to 2018 – a time that coincides with widespread the widespread adoption of “superapps” Grab and Gojek. The authors found that the debut of food delivery apps saw an increase in body mass...

CNBC just reported the following:https://www.cnbc.com/2024/12/04/amazon-sued-by-dc-ag-over-excluding-areas-from-prime-delivery.htmlAmazon sued by DC attorney general for allegedly excluding neighborhoods from Prime deliveryDecember 4, 2024Washington, D.C.’s attorney general sued Amazonon Wednesday, accusing the company of covertly depriving residents in certain ZIP codes in the nation’s capital from access to Prime’s high-speed delivery.The lawsuit from AG Brian Schwalb alleges that, since 2022, Amazon has “secretly excluded” two “historically underserved” D.C. ZIP codes from its expedited delivery service while charging Prime members living there the full subscription price. Amazon’s Prime membership program costs $139 a year and includes perks like two-day shipping and access to streaming content.“Amazon is...

Good news: Your package has been delivered. Bad news: It isn’t on your porch, under the mailboxes or in a package room, if you have one. Unfortunately, your package might have been stolen by a porch pirate, like an estimated 120.5 million last year in the United States, according to a study by SafeWise. More people shopping online during the holiday season means more packages — and an increased risk of theft. This year, holiday spending is expected to reach a record high of $902 per person, with 57 percent of adults opting to shop online, according to a survey...

Experts urge consumers to keep an eye on packages they never orderedThe U.S. Postal Service has warned about the scam in the past, which uses unexpected gifts delivered to a doorstep to lure victims. Brushing scams are an emerging threat to unsuspecting consumers as Black Friday shopping begins. The first type of the scam begins when fraudsters gain information such as a name and home address. From there, scammers will set up an Amazon account with the victim’s information and send a package to the targeted person’s home with no return address. “Once you have signed to confirm receipt of...

BOMBSHELL - the United States Postal Service recently changed the delivery method of absentee mail-in ballots! They are hiding the evidence of absentee mail-in ballot fraud - by not allowing the evidence to be created in the first place. Here's how and what changed: You can't get the absentee mail-in vote ballot images from the USPS because they are not sending them to the central sorting facilities! Normally, you mail a letter to someone or a bill goes out, it goes to your local post office, then it gets to a central sorting facility. Wisconsin for example has six: Madison,...

"...just pretend you got a tip like you pretend you're a girl..."

Migrants in the District of Columbia are driving unregistered mopeds and motorcycles, making food deliveries on popular apps, such as Uber Eats and DoorDash—violating both companies’ terms of use in the process. In April, The Daily Signal launched an investigation into the unprecedented rise in motorcycle and moped traffic in Washington, D.C. The news outlet uncovered that drivers, many of whom entered the country illegally over the past four years, were operating unregistered motorized vehicles in broad daylight, facing no consequences for those actions. Following The Daily Signal’s reporting, D.C. police launched Operation Ride Right to clamp down on these...

HOUSTON – A Houston woman is in custody after firing a weapon towards a food delivery driver after a dispute from an order. On Friday, police say Jalyn Searcy-Williams, 24, ordered alcohol on DoorDash, but the driver refused to leave it at the location because the original purchaser was not present. In response, Searcy-Williams fired a gun at him. Deputies responded to the 12500 block of May Laurel Dr. after a nearby resident reported hearing the gunfire. Searcy-Williams was arrested and charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. According to Constable Mark Herman, her bond has not been set...

Ukraine will reportedly need to wait up to an additional half year before receiving the F-16 fighter jets promised to the war-torn country from the Kingdom of Denmark, according to the Danish defence ministry. President Volodymyr Zelensky, who has long lobbied Western powers for American-made F-16 warplanes, will apparently need to wait longer until the first jets are handed over, with the Danish Ministry of Defense announcing on Saturday that the first delivery F-16 jets will be delayed by at least six months.

Clown World: Entitled Delivery Driver Holds Woman's Groceries Hostage Over Tip

Concerned New Yorkers and industry leaders are warning that the giant “green” delivery e-bikes currently being planned by the city’s Department of Transportation (DOT) will kill cyclists and crowd bike lanes. “If this passes, there is no doubt this will end in dead cyclists,” community member Joel Gelb warned at a public hearing last week regarding New York City’s DOT proposal, according to a report by W42ST. In an effort to cut carbon emissions, the NYC’s DOT is planning to bring 500-pound, four-wheeled cargo bikes — that can be up to 48 inches wide and will have a maximum speed...

A mugger possibly posing as a UPS delivery man beat a woman with a weighted sock and robbed her of $25 inside the elevator of a Manhattan building over the weekend, police said Sunday. The 26-year-old victim was getting off the lift in the building at East 27th Street and Third Avenue in Kips Bay at around noon on Saturday when the creep pulled her back in and beat her “multiple times” in the back of the head with what cops described as “a sock filled with an unknown object.” He then grabbed the small amount of cash from her...

Australia announced Monday it will deploy an E-7A Wedgetail surveillance aircraft to help ensure the uninterrupted flow of military and humanitarian aid into Ukraine. The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) asset will be based in Germany. The early warning and control asset will help protect multinational logistics hubs but won’t enter the war-torn nation’s airspace. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the deployment will include up to 100 crew and support personnel from Australia, adding to previous contributions to the war zone from Canberra including lethal munitions, weaponry, and fighting vehicles.

The average American household is now spending $3,631 on takeout food every year - but there is one area where residents spend far above the national average. People living in the District of Columbia typically spend $6,241 a year on takeout - or $120 a week per household - according to a new study by Betway. Hawaii residents came in second, with the average home forking out $4,647 per year, followed by Maine in third with a typical spend of $4,499, Vermont with $4,443 and New Hampshire with $4,402. Oklahoma is the state where people are spending the least, with...

Amazon.com ...... is offering U.S. customers $10 to pick up a purchase rather than have it shipped to a home address, as the e-commerce giant joins other retailers in racing to slash costs for home delivery and returns amid slack consumer demand. ........................................................................................................................ "We offer customers a variety of ways to get their packages, inclusive of delivery and pickup options. The $10 Amazon Pickup promotion isn't new," the company said in a statement. Amazon did not say for how long this or similar pickup promotions have been in use.

High altitude balloons, like the one China has floated over mountain state military bases this week, are considered a key “delivery platform” for secret nuclear strikes on America’s electric grid, according to intelligence officials.Spy balloons, used by Japan to drop bombs during World War II, are now far more sophisticated, can fly at up to 200,000 feet, evade detection and carry a small nuclear bomb that if exploded in the atmosphere would shutdown the grid and wipe out electronics in a many-state-wide area.The threat of balloon launched electromagnetic pulse attacks was warned about by a congressional EMP commission and inside...

'So you have a car? Come get it next time.'A customer posted security camera footage of a Domino’s delivery driver asking them for a tip as they handed them a pizza in a now-viral TikTok, angering some people in the comments. In the video posted by TikToker X (@user626366461) on Dec. 11, the Domino’s worker asks for a tip and when the person doesn’t immediately offer one, points out that the customer has a car. She then tells them to “drive” to get their pizza. The customer explains to the driver that delivery is more for her “convenience” and...

There was meth-od to this Florida man’s madness. Jason Hardy will spend 10 years in prison after getting caught trying to mail meth to himself. He pleaded guilty and received his sentence Monday, the Justice Department said in a press release. Hardy put his real Florida address on the package and used his real name, real phone number and real email address in conversations with the U.S. Postal Service, the feds said. According to investigators, Hardy was plotting to send 18 pounds of meth from California to Florida, and he even flew out to the West Coast to coordinate delivery....

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...