Food Delivery Charges

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vinsanity
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Food Delivery Charges

Post by vinsanity »

I literally don't understand food delivery charges. Like, if you own a Dominos why is there a non-tip delivery fee? I mean, there's a bigger and much wider labor issue at play with all of this but I don't understand "delivery fees".

Would you have a "waiting fee" for a person who brings it to you or manages the register? No. So a "delivery fee" is literally just a fee the company charges to make more extra money for no reason? I understand how and why they can do it and I'm not talking about uber eats or doordash. I mean a pizza place that has a cashier and offers delivery that charges you an extra $5 for the opportunity to also pay a tip to the underpaid delivery driver. GTFO here.

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haltz
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Re: Food Delivery Charges

Post by haltz »

Presumably the pizza place or whatever pays a mileage reimbursement and some sort of base hourly to delivery drivers and it's not like you can have just one person working a single point of sale like a register, you have to staff to go to multiple locations at once. Not to mention that staffing these [expletive] jobs is so competitive now that these people might not be as underpaid as you think.

As a customer you're paying a convenience markup, just like you would at a full service restaurant. Buying the ingredients and cooking it yourself is always the cheapest option.

Then there's also the fact that they simply do it because they can. Demand is such that convenience fees have gone up quite a bit over the last few years.

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vinsanity
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Re: Food Delivery Charges

Post by vinsanity »

haltz wrote:
June 5 22, 5:51 pm
Presumably the pizza place or whatever pays a mileage reimbursement and some sort of base hourly to delivery drivers
Hadn't considered that! That's a good point and a good enough reason for me to justify the $5 "delivery charge".

My only beef then is they always put in parentheticals that it doesn't go to drivers? If they called it a fuel fee (for the driver) or whatever, it'd bug me less. But I thought the higher hourly rate (plus tips) went to the fuel cost and companies did not reimburse drivers?

Anyways, I know they can and I know it's a convenience fee but I at least like being able to have a plausible explanation.

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CardsofSTL
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Re: Food Delivery Charges

Post by CardsofSTL »

I hate all the add on fees. Just build it into the cost of the food and set the price so you know what you are paying when you are ordering.

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MrCrowesGarden
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Re: Food Delivery Charges

Post by MrCrowesGarden »

CardsofSTL wrote:
June 6 22, 8:42 am
I hate all the add on fees. Just build it into the cost of the food and set the price so you know what you are paying when you are ordering.
And get rid of tipping culture!

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TGantz
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Re: Food Delivery Charges

Post by TGantz »

haltz wrote:
June 5 22, 5:51 pm
Presumably the pizza place or whatever pays a mileage reimbursement and some sort of base hourly to delivery drivers and it's not like you can have just one person working a single point of sale like a register, you have to staff to go to multiple locations at once. Not to mention that staffing these [expletive] jobs is so competitive now that these people might not be as underpaid as you think.

As a customer you're paying a convenience markup, just like you would at a full service restaurant. Buying the ingredients and cooking it yourself is always the cheapest option.

Then there's also the fact that they simply do it because they can. Demand is such that convenience fees have gone up quite a bit over the last few years.
I don't appreciate your reasonable explanation when I came to get in on a rant.

I haaaaaaate delivery. It goes against every fiber of my being. Self reliance, financial prudent, work ethic, trying to improve health, etc. Except Fridays. I don't care about my principles on Fridays. Sometimes Mondays. And special occasions on Saturdays. Occasionally on Wednesdays to get through the week. Sometimes we don't have a lot of time so we order delivery on Tuesdays. But that's it.

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haltz
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Re: Food Delivery Charges

Post by haltz »

vinsanity wrote:
June 6 22, 8:22 am
haltz wrote:
June 5 22, 5:51 pm
Presumably the pizza place or whatever pays a mileage reimbursement and some sort of base hourly to delivery drivers
Hadn't considered that! That's a good point and a good enough reason for me to justify the $5 "delivery charge".

My only beef then is they always put in parentheticals that it doesn't go to drivers? If they called it a fuel fee (for the driver) or whatever, it'd bug me less. But I thought the higher hourly rate (plus tips) went to the fuel cost and companies did not reimburse drivers?
I looked at a local Domino's ad and they definitely reimburse fuel cost. I'm sure the reasoning behind the parenthetical is because you'd assume it goes to the driver and that would discourage tipping making even less people want the job.

There's a minimum wage for tipped employees that varies between $5-15 depending on where you are in the US.

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vinsanity
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Re: Food Delivery Charges

Post by vinsanity »

haltz wrote:
June 6 22, 10:19 pm
There's a minimum wage for tipped employees that varies between $5-15 depending on where you are in the US.
First part I know of first hand; tipped employees have a minimum wage but the employer is required to cover their wage to the minimum if not met. Anyways; the fuel reimbursement wasn't an angle I'd considered and explains. I don't mind paying it but I hate getting taken advantage of and sometimes those feels that way once the tip is added. Thus the rant.

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