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nicole_2025

Have YOU tried Door Dash? Uber Eats? Grubhub?

last year

My husband was listening to his young coworker bemoan his inlaws that live with him. They get home from work, tired, worn out and hungry. Every night, they order from Door Dash.


I'd order grocery delivery and cook a meal before I'd order a whole meal delivered.


Have YOU tried one of these delivery services?


How do you determine the tip? By the distance they drive? The price of the meal? Is there a time limit on how long they have to bring it to you?

Comments (35)

  • last year

    Heck no. Way too expensive after they add on the fees and such. I'm not that lazy that I won't stop and pick something up on the way home from work if I really need to or want to.

    nicole thanked porkchop_z5b_MI
  • last year

    No.

    nicole thanked dadoes
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  • last year

    Never for me as well. I read an article several years ago where something like 20-25% of "dashers" admitted to sampling the food they were delivering.

    nicole thanked jrb451
  • last year

    No. I have no need for them, so I can't answer your specifics. Grocery stores and restaurants and fast food are all nearby. If I was hungry and tired, I can always find something in the fridge or freezer, be it crackers and cheese or canned soup, Im fine.

    nicole thanked hobbitmom
  • last year
    last modified: last year

    Guidlelines Ive seen suggest tipping as you would a server, including overtipping for low cost meals. It makes about as much sense as our restaurant tipping guidlelines (take that as you will) but I’d say delivering to my doorstep takes more effort than walking it over to my table.

    I don’t like the pre-tip model (which can affect if/who/how your order is handled. And I don’t like cold food or even the risi of it. So as long as I’m able, my take-out food will be taken out - by ME!

    nicole thanked foodonastump
  • last year
    last modified: last year

    Only once and never-ever-again! Over priced and cold food. I hate to cook and I will cook anything before that.

    nicole thanked Sherry8aNorthAL
  • last year
    last modified: last year

    I've never used them but have been at houses where food was delivered. Obviously the quality depends a lot on the quality of the restaurant where the food originated and how far away that place is. It's frequently been cold or has slopped in the containers. DD has received pizzas upside down in the boxes. Thank goodness tipping isn't expected here.

    nicole thanked floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
  • last year

    I have never used them and probably never will since within five minutes of my house are countless places I could get my own food.

    nicole thanked lily316
  • last year
    last modified: last year

    DD often sends us special treats or dinners using apps. Not really different then getting an order from a restaurant that delivers.

    I think the one she uses has a different name. It has a list of local places, like a bagel shop, and then she orders from their menu.

    These were for Father’s Day


    For him, bacon egg and cheese

    me, lox and cream cheese.

    nicole thanked eld6161
  • last year

    Yes. Every now and then. We find it quite satisfactory.

    Having food delivered is not to have an elegant meal. It's not of use if one is "out and about and can easily stop for something". It's also not for "I can always prepare something myself". It's also not for people who don't regularly get takeout food.

    It's for casual food, hopefully from places one likes to use on a takeout basis. But for whatever reason. at that particular time, going to pick it up isn't convenient or is something no one wants to do.

    If there's take out food from a particular place you want to have but going to get it is an obstacle, then it can be delivered. It's nothing more than that.

    My credit card gives me the equivalent of premium customer status with one of the services and of the two delivery charges it imposes , one is waived and the other is reduced about 80%. You enter how much of a tip you want to give when placing the order, nothing is preset. At one time, the service I use allowed after the fact tip adjusting, I'm not sure if it still does.

    It's very convenient. We probably do our own takeout pickups 90% of the time but there's a time and place for using a delivery service.


    nicole thanked Elmer J Fudd
  • last year

    " How do you determine the tip? By the distance they drive? The price of the meal? Is there a time limit on how long they have to bring it to you? "

    Sorry, I missed Nicole's other questions

    The tip is entered as a percentage of the food charge, like a restaurant. Do I factor in distance - mostly not. Is there a time limit? No, but it usually doesn't take that long. The app of the service I use provides an order status (in process, waiting for pickup, enroute) and then a map showing with a moving dot showing the location of the driver from restaurant to delivery location. If there's a rush (which is not a good idea, you should order well in advance of when you want it), you can pay a few extra bucks for expedited service.

    Does the food arrive less than piping hot? Sometimes, no more or less than it would if you picked it up yourself. That's what a microwave or oven on low are for. Sometimes what we get doesn't need to be piping hot - Middle Eastern finger food, salads, etc.

    nicole thanked Elmer J Fudd
  • last year

    Never. Those services are for lazy people which I am not.

    nicole thanked LoneJack Zn 6a, KC
  • last year

    Did you walk or bicycle to work, or do you now as a retiree do so to go grocery shopping? Cars are for lazy people

    nicole thanked Elmer J Fudd
  • last year

    I fully admit to being occasionally lazy. There's a wonderful Chinese restaurant that's about a 10 minute drive from our house. Most of the time we order ahead and then go and pick it up. But a few times a year neither of us feels like going out, so we have it delivered. Like Elmer, we put it on a credit card that takes care of a lot of the extra fees, and I always tip generously. Other than having to heat up soup occasionally if it's being delivered in the dead of winter, the food is always nice and hot.

  • last year

    If the shoe fits wear it Elmer. Yes, I'm calling you lazy.

    nicole thanked LoneJack Zn 6a, KC
  • last year

    I live in NYC where ordering in is very common. So much so that we don't have to use these terrible app services that rip off the drivers, take a chunk of change away from the restaurants, and cost a fortune while lining the pockets of Silicon Valley SOBs.


    We call the restaurant and place the order on the phone, they have someone ride a bike over with it. They are always grateful when we don't go through the app. We tip very generously as we do for everything because we can afford to. 25% minimum though often 30 - 50%.


    I don't think ordering out is lazy. It is just a different way of doing things. To each their own. Some of the food we get is home cooked amazing meals from Mom and Pop Dominican restaurants. I love supporting them.


    I do think these apps are insanely expensive and I don't see how people with minimum or average incomes can afford to use it. When we are out of town we rarely order take out because the app costs are so high. We can afford to do it but it churns my stomach to use them.

    nicole thanked Kendrah
  • last year

    No, I haven’t.

    I’d sooner whip something up at home.

    Better yet, I’d just go out for a nice meal.


    nicole thanked roxsolid
  • last year
    last modified: last year

    WAY BACK in ~ 1970,I was sick at home — a 5-floor walk up apartment. Nothing to eat and I was nauseated but also hungry and had the thought that something like flat gingerale and chicken noodle soup with toast or saltines would make me feel better. I called around to grocery markets. No one delivered. I was feeling ill,hungry and desperate. My roommate was at work when not at her boyfriend's dorm.

    I managed to talked a small market owner and his son into delivering me the gingerale, soup and crackers by telling them I would give them a $50 tip. They were at my door within 30 minutes. I survived. In today’s dollars, I wonder how much that $50* tip would be. I was feeling so ill. It was worth it to me at the time.

    You can probably understand that I now keep tinned chicken soup in my pantry. No ginger ale, but a kind spouse.

    * Apparently $418 today per the inflation calculator at calculator.net. Yikes.

    nicole thanked petalique
  • last year

    " I’d sooner whip something up at home.

    Better yet, I’d just go out for a nice meal."


    You maybe missed my comment - getting take out food, whether one picks it up or has it delivered, is not for these circumstances you've describe.


    nicole thanked Elmer J Fudd
  • last year

    Elmer, I didn’t miss your comment.

    I gave my comment as you gave yours. I’m allowed.

    You’re sounding a little hangry, I must say!

    nicole thanked roxsolid
  • last year

    Not at all. Going to get take out or having it delivered are usually done when someone doesn't want to go out or whip something up.

    They're alternative choices, not substitutes.

    nicole thanked Elmer J Fudd
  • last year

    " Those services are for lazy people which I am not. " and

    " If the shoe fits wear it Elmer. Yes, I'm calling you lazy. "

    Lone jack, you've said you live is a less populated or maybe even rural area. Such services may not be available or satisfactory.

    Those would be reasons to not have used such services. There's no need for you to shade the truth.

    nicole thanked Elmer J Fudd
  • last year

    Nicole I have not used the companies you named, but have had pizza delivered from time to time.

    nicole thanked lucillle
  • last year

    Delivery services are out-of-the-question for me, unless I was housebound with no vehicle. All the fast food outfits and several restaurants that do take-out are within 3-1/3 miles of my house. Closest are Pizza Hut, Little Caesars, and Subway being 1-1/3 miles. The furthest distance to the other side of town is 4-1/4 miles.

    nicole thanked dadoes
  • last year

    Our pizza places will deliver everything else they make, in addition to pizza. So we have done, although now that I think about it, we haven’t ordered delivery in 25 years.

    I haven’t ordered through door dash or uber eats, but I can absolutely see why someone would. My young adult cousins were in town, staying at a hotel, without a car, and ordered in (GrubHub). My parents certainly could have, being somewhat homebound. My garage door was broken and we couldn’t open it (something in a track was bent) so if we didn’t already have the crockpot going, it might have been nice to order delivery. And if I were coming home from work, utterly exhausted, and no store or restaurant was on the way? Yeah, I just might order in. But as a general practice? No.

    A friend’s son was driving for Door Dash, and made good money.

    nicole thanked bpath
  • last year

    No. I live in an area too remote for those sorts of delivery services to be available. Regular Uber (or taxis) doesn't even work here.

    nicole thanked gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
  • last year

    Nope, when we eat food from the outside, we go outside.

    nicole thanked vgkg Z-7 Va
  • last year

    Not for delivery. Lots of local places around us use doordash as their ordering app for both delivery and takeout, and I will order through them for me or SO to pick up. I live too far away from any of them for delivery and all of the services charge extra fees to bring it to my job because of all the extra headache it is to deliver it there, as its a secure facility and its a HUGE pain to get in if you do not work there. But even the pizza places have been charging that for years before such services were even conceived of. So i have never used them.


    Not saying that I would not. I think that if I lived alone and closer to the area where they deliver, there would for sure be those times when cooking wasn't gonna happen and neither is me getting dressed to go out in public. But I would not order anything that would be disgusting if cold and hard to reheat back to its original glory, like fried things.


    Door dash every single night IS very lazy, IMO. And ridiculous. You would think with portion sizes served these days, those invading in-laws would at least have leftovers! I get being tired and all, but every night?

    nicole thanked amylou321
  • last year
    last modified: last year

    Lone jack, you've said you live is a less populated or maybe even rural area. Such services may not be available or satisfactory.

    Yes Emer, I live in a rural area and no delivery services will come out here. But I wouldn't use them even if they did.

    Before I retired I worked in downtown KC and never used these services to bring me lunch. I usually brought my lunch from home and if not I would more often drive to a nearby restaurant and dine in.

    nicole thanked LoneJack Zn 6a, KC
  • last year

    I love it for those nights you don't feel like going out, but also don't want to make anything nice yourself. Some nights like that oatmeal, soup, or salad are fine. Other times I want something more substantial....while I sit in sweatpants and chill. For me it is a once or twice a month occasion.

    nicole thanked Ally De
  • last year

    I'm amazed the inlaws don't cook the meals as a thankyou for staying with their children. I would.

    We don't have delivery services in the small rural town where we live, but hen we are staying at our place in the city, we still have never used a delivery service. If we have take away food we always collect it ourselves to avoid the food arriving almost stone cold as it did when DH's work colleagues ordered Uber Eats. Sometimes when it has been hammering down with rain it's been a passing thought, but there's canned soup in the pantry and eggs in the fridge for those occasions.

    Another objection I have to delivery services is that in conversation with a restaurant owner we were told that the service takes a good chunk of the price of the meal, so that unless the restaurant raises its prices to a level that would discourage custom, they make very little profit on their food. As a result, many smaller restaurants don't subscribe to delivery services.

    nicole thanked colleenoz
  • last year

    I also live in a very rural area, so it would not be available here, but it isn't something I would do. I very seldom eat out any more either. I cook every day...and it is something I do with scarcely a thought. I also would never order my groceries. I don't mind grocery shopping..in fact, I enjoy it, and I am picky about picking out my own meat and produce especially.




    nicole thanked marilyn_c
  • last year

    DH used Uber Eats for lunches for a couple of months when he was down with a herniated disk. Really saved me from the extra effort of making sure he had food as I was leaving for work each morning. That was the only time we used it, but it was really helpful during that stressful time.

    nicole thanked ljwrar
  • last year

    We don’t, mainly because we live in a true mountain community with no street lights and meandering narrow roads and long unlit driveways. Even during the day repair people and visitors get lost. And then, there’s the fact that pretty much all these restaurants are in the town down the mountain from us. But, I do think that it’s uncalled for to make rude comments about other’s answers. Please be kind and avoid these verbal brawls. Please!

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