I hope that the result of this new wave of concern is forcing the delivery apps to display the total fees they are charging the restaurant.
I think that businesses have all kinds of expenses and that they’re in business to abstract that away and offer me dish X for $Y at place P and time T. I’m not inclined to care about their bank fees, advertising costs, health care costs, or SEO strategy.
I know that a restaurant in an upscale mall is paying more for rent. I know the minimum staff costs depending on the city they’re in (minimum wage).
What I don’t like is that these companies will flaunt “No delivery fee!” And then in the cart you see a $5 “service fee”. Okay, what’s the difference? Who is actually getting that money? Is any of it going to the driver? The restaurant? All of these factors would help me decide which platform to use, which restaurant to order from, and how to tip.
With regard to ingredients we can likely guess ~60-70% discount over supermarket prices.
In any case this has been a business model for centuries and people have a decent idea of how it works. With delivery apps the economics aren’t well understood by end users, moreover users don’t fully understand the impact they have in the restaurants they want to support.
It’s a bit like the Trolley problem where you only agonize about the latest decision, and not what happened before you came on the scene.
One is that people are obtaining the delivery service and are billed through a third party. There is a reasonable expectation to know how much of that money is going to the intended recipient.
The second is that this is something new and very few people have any concept of what it is costing the business. While they may not know the particulars, they have a general idea of how much rent, labour, food, and credit card fees cost since they have been part of business planning for a third time.
I also hope that a third factor is starting to come into play: an understanding of the barriers to creating businesses and the costs of operating. It will, hopefully, help consumers make conscious decisions of how they interact with small businesses to make them more viable.
But more I think people want their money to support the businesses that are making the food. Restaurants are very difficult businesses, and people that like them want to support them vs the VC backed startups.
It’s not much more extreme from what your comment said to say if you value a burger $10 it doesn’t matter if the $10 went to someone who involuntarily coerced the restaurant and $0 went to the restaurant. What is the name for workers who do work without pay?
Most people have some sense of moral rightness in their supply chain when an injustice is visible. That is why the apps hide their exorbitant fees.
If I'm the customer: yes. If I'm the restaurant: no, I would not agree to give out food if I'm getting paid zero.
> What is the name for workers who do work without pay?
Same thing if I'm the worker, it doesn't matter if the pay is $10 - $9 deduction or $1 - $0 deduction, in both case it really is $1. I then decide whether it worth my effort to do it for $1.
Well of you enjoy that restaurant you shouldn't be ok with it, because with price margins like you describe, that restaurant's not going to exist for very long.
No one else is going to object if you consider whether a wallet vote is pretty blatantly encouraging and rewarding exploitive behavior.
It’s very hard to pretend the relationship is not exploitative.
Limited scope? Sure, its for my benefit and my convinience.
That's only true in a vacuum though. There's so much more variable that makes it absurd to happen, except if we live in some kind of tv show.
Let say Uber eat charge too much and it kill their customer, will they keep doing it? Why would they? Theses customers are the one bringiner them this cash.
Why would no competitor see that and decide to charge 1% less? That would be absurd for the restaurant not to consider that one instead. That strategy would be incredibly easy to apply locally too.
Let's not forget that restaurant still can have their own delivery drivers too, like in the article we are talking about right now. That also means that you will have to pay for the marketing too that the delivery service provided for you beforehands... but that's normal business.
My point is if restaurant A sell burger for $1+$9 fee, restaurant B sell burger for $9+$1 fee, I would judge the quality of these 2 the same way.
Just because restaurant A burger cost $1 (for the restaurant), doesn't mean I have to judge them lightly.