You are stuck at home and craving your favorite dish from the nearby Mexican place. You know you shouldn’t risk leaving your house, so what do you do? Grab your phone and use one of several apps to order food quickly and easily, and have it come right to your door.
Before COVID-19 struck, the main use of apps like Grubhub and Doordash was to look up a restaurant before you went, like 90% of people do. But now so many people are relying on delivered food and ordering using Grubhub, among other apps, and that’s not necessarily good. According to ABC News, many restaurant owners are fed up with the delivery service.
What’s the issue with delivery apps?
Grubhub is probably the most well-known delivery app. It searches for restaurants in your area and allows you to order from any of them. Delivery fees vary and are usually set by the stores. During the COVID-19 crisis, Grubhub has offered contact-free delivery to its users. However, the restaurant owners the app partners with have not been so lucky.
Grubhub takes a 30% commission on every order, doesn’t allow for delivery driver tips, and is often slow to pay owners back what they are due. Some restaurant owns can’t even reach a real person at Grubhub to set their direct payment accounts with. GrubHub has also, in the past, incorrectly charged owners for phonecalls.
Grubhub did set up an initiative to help local restaurants, but there is a caveat. Any participating restaurant must pay the total cost of the discount as well as pay for the pre-discount processing fee for orders.
Doordash has been significantly easier on its restaurant partners, cutting their usual fees by 50% through the end of May. However, many have criticized DoorDash for waiting so long to cut fees when it should’ve happened a month ago, according to New York Eater.
What can you do?
In response to these issues NYC, Chicago, San Francisco, and other cities are discussing putting restrictions on how much the apps can take as commission. NYC, according to the New York Post, wants to cap the apps at 10% while San Fransico has already put a 15% cap in place.
Neither Grubhub nor DoorDash has commented on the possible changes in their commission fees.
While delivery may be more popular than ever, delivery apps are not. Instead of ordering through apps, pick up your phone and call your favorite restaurant personally. You can order most of your favorite meals, like a South Philly cheesesteak or a New York City slice of pizza, without paying the commission fees and instead support your favorite restaurants directly. In addition, you can also order food to pick up directly from the restaurant, either over the phone or online. This is another excellent way to get your favorite meal quickly and conveniently without paying any delivery fees.
When you’re ordering through delivery apps, there are so many hidden costs involved that consumers aren’t aware of that take a toll on your wallet and away from the restaurants that do all the hard work. The caps on these additional charges will ensure that restaurants won’t be taken advantage of, and customers will still get the convenience of delivery services without paying outrageous fees.
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