I have to say that it does upset me a bit. Even more so the groceries delivery stuff. I just think of all those extra car/bike journeys.
I appreciate that for many people it is a god send as they may have difficulty leaving the house or whatever, and it's great that the service exists for them, but on principle I would never use Uber eats to deliver me a pack of crisps or whatever other frivolous shit I see packed up on the counters of my local Sainsbury's.
Am I just hugely out of touch here? Roast me if I'm wrong.
Yeah, I really don't have issues with those services (apart from the way their drivers and warehouse staff are treated).
That's more efficient. Less waste, more efficient packing, less vehicle miles, less space used for huge great supermarkets. Uber eats and the like represent the exact opposite of that principle. Parceling things into ever smaller units of "convenience" to extract the maximum amount of rent from a customer. More journeys, more packaging, more waste.
I don't even know how those apps got popular. They practically double the price of your order and there's no guarantee it will be hot or complete. I'm disabled and I'll still make my way going to whatever place versus going through an app. The only reason I can think of is time saving (like getting it delivered to you at work so you don't waste your break).
I used them during covid, not specifically to avoid the virus (because I know it just passes the risk along), but because I was in the beginning of my transition in an unfriendly state so did not want to undo all of my work to boymode and at the time I was more financially stable so I could afford it. Always tipped well too.
For the average situation it doesn't make alot of sense.
I just think of all those extra car/bike journeys.
if the worker ever combine any trips it's better than those people driving themselves. multi-stops are marginally more likely than you might expect because people usually work multiple gig apps, but nobody knows the actual data and it's definitely worse than a socialist version of the same service.
I fucking hate it, but there are items which I used to buy at the local grocery before the pandemic which are no longer available anywhere except.. Amazon Fresh. So, if I want to have the food that I want to eat, I have to buy it from Amazon and have it delivered (either to my house, or to a Whole Foods which then requires driving to pick it up and spending the extra fuel anyway, so might as well get it delivered all the way without the extra stop). I can't even find a way to buy and ship directly from the manufacturers, I've tried and they generally don't sell to individuals.
The grocery situation in the US was already depressing as fuck before Amazon monopolized a bunch of products; every grocery chain is owned by one of like 5 giant corporations, and they just rename the stores in different regions so people don't notice and think they are able to "shop around".
I agree, then again I live practically next door to a grocery store, so I'd never even consider getting them delivered
I also do look down on the people who use these services to order meals like every day, it just seems like a massive waste of both money and packaging materials, plus the employees oops, I mean contractors are being paid and treated like garbage.
You’re right, I am one of those people that sometimes has problems leaving the house. Mostly anxiety, but also sometimes laziness. I’m fortunate that I can afford the convenience, and I tip well to make it worth it for the people working the gig economy jobs that would be out there anyway. I try to limit the stupid orders, but love getting groceries delivered, I really have trouble in the food stores.
"going outside is eugenics" is actually kind of true but like not to this extent and not in any other sane period of time without a virus we just let go around killing disabled people
ugh I hate risking my health & welfare by leaving the house, thank god there's some economically marginalized person of color I can get to take on that burden instead of me
I walked past a 711 on the way to work at 7am and there were delivery riders picking shit up from the store. What the fuck are you ordering from 711 at 7am???