Seamless, DoorDash, And Supermarkets: The Ups & Downs of Food Delivery for the Customer & Food Deliverer.

 

So while I am here in the middle of one of the major upheavals of world just living my life I have found out a lot about myself. One of them is that I have become spoiled. Yep, these are the facts of my life right now! Yes, I have been living slightly above the Poverty line in the last three years and that did factor into me spoiling myself. But long after I left my job and started on Unemployment I have become quite accustom; (look at me and all the fancy words), to some of the finer things in life. Crazy, I know!

It was just a downhill slalom from there when it came to food ordering. It started pretty average. A Pizza there, an order of Chinese Food here, Sushi, sushi, everywhere. Then I just had to have Breakfast sent to me! What's life without a little order of French Toast? Did I gain weight? Are there Pigeons in Prospect Park?

So began my journey into Food being brought to me on an almost daily bases via Seamless, DoorDash, Target, etc.

Of course I tried to do everything within my power to stay within my budget. Buy local, go out only if I had to and of course wear a mask! But my stress levels went up every time I had to poke my head out the door and try cooking everyday with nothing but Ground Beef and/or Stewed Chicken with a choice of sides like Rice, Potatoes, or Spinach. (Not gonna lie I am not to mad at the idea of Spinach. Just everyday tho'?)

But look up at all the choices online and all of a sudden you have Steak, Shrimp, Salmon, Mussels, Mixed Greens, Microgreens, Fresh Baked Goods, and Tuna. Not gonna lie I could get cheaper things like Fried Chicken, Hamburgers, Fries, and other high salt, high calories, foods that would fill me. I have in the past. Only these are common everyday food I usually indulge in and it has a lovely way of backfiring on me with pinpoint accuracy. But my bad food choice aside there is something about ordering from a restaurant that usually couldn't afford on you best days and having it delivery to your doorstep.

There are over 2 Million Seamless User in  Cities all over the United States & the city of  London, England. DoorDash delivers to just about that if not more. Target is a Superstore that delivers food to homes in the U.S delivers from 1,500 stores. That's a lot of food at the fingertips of a lot of people and with that much access you'd been thinking this is the best time in the worst of circumstances. Yes and no. Let me explain.

The Upside

The is no washing up unless you bousie. Everything is packed in sealed Containers except for the drinks which are covered in the best of that restaurants ability. So from Delivery person to you to your table is a snap.

There are 26,784 Restaurants available to choose from at Seamless. DoorDash has 390,000.There isn't a genre of tastes you can't get. Everything from Armenian to Indian Cuisine, from Italian to all the American favorites. Whatever National Supermarket chain you have near you will deliver at a time of your choosing. You want Bread? What kind? Steak? What cut? Scroll thru Online, click and boom on your doorstep!

So with so many Choices and so many Online sites I am beginning to think that I'm not the only one that is Spoiled out here!

But spoiled is the word here. So here is...

The Downside 

Did I fail to mention the weight gain? Ya, I was always pushing it on a good day with my bad eating habits but with the availability of so much food and bad sedentary habits even on a good day with some exercise I was getting bigger. Of course I was not the only one. About 61% of Americans have had gain a subsqential amount of weight. According to the Website Healthline.Com with information from APA survey; 2 in 5 of the 3,000 adults surveyed gained more weight than they intended over the last year, at an average of 29 pounds per person. Ten percent said they gained more than 50 pounds.

Yep, people we are rolling and bouncing along trying to survive the toughest Pandemic in the history of the World and as we are counting our lucky stars that Covid had not cursed us only to have to worry about our old enemy Obesity. 

But wait there's more while we're so worried about our health there is the Economy to consider. This convenience at a flexible price adds up and not just to the Consumer who according to gobankingrates.com pay on average $70 dollars a week. While they mention only Millennials just thinking how much the over 30 set spends on meals for week with the probable addition of kids added to the mix is astonishing. No there is an additional cost no one really thinks about. The cost for the Gig worker aka the Delivery person.

Remember that these Delivery Workers were deem to be Essential workers by the time the Pandemic hit. Which meant that they were out and about in the streets making sure that our food was delivered fresh to our doorstep. This means that as the Nation in the US was debating on whether or not mask were useful those hard working Men and Women were out there with nothing but Bandanas and prayer. So often did I hear of these guys getting the shittyer end of the stick that I more than once cringed at the thought of only tipping them 15%!

Most workers are either out of work Restaurant employees, Young Entrepreneurial Gig Workers, or Immigrants. The bulk of the work force lately has been recently unemployed Immigrants who are just trying to make a living and as some may already know were trying to do so on minimum wage salaries before the pandemic. So this is a very dangerous step down from their previous income. Immigrants in the workforce in New York City were barley making ends meet are now expected to do so by earning tips from these Food Delivery Apps.

They receive no Workers Compensation, No Health Benefits, barely any safety net at all. Unless you count Public Assistance. Added to that is the current Pandemic with the associate dangers to these workers. Some App Companies worried about bad PR have offered to promise to pay workers up to two weeks of pay if a worker presents proof of having Covid. Mind you according to Wilfred Chan from the Guardian.Com ; "Workers who have tried requesting say the process is a nightmare." Mind you this has been ongoing for a year. Yet my Delivery people come to my doorstop wishing me a good evening and thanking me? No peeps, Thank You!

In conclusion we New Yorkers are living in one of the most amazing city in the World and also the most terrifying! Jeez if I felt like a spoiled prima donna before I did some research for this story I know now that I am a very lucky person and should feel very grateful on so many levels. As I am trying to not get on any soap box here I'll try to be objective here. Most people don't take into consideration that there food doesn't just magically show up in their Supermarkets and/or bang straight on their doorstop. It takes a ton of professionals to get it right and an army of hard workers to get it there. Even then there are variables that can totally mean the difference between getting what you want and/or not getting your order right at all. So all we can do is have patience, grace, and empathy for all the people who do everything they can in these hard times. Oh and not be such spoiled brats. 😉

More Info.

https://www.gobankingrates.com/saving-money/food/how-much-americans-spending-takeout-during-pandemic/

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/03/food-courier-coronavirus-pandemic-new-york

Healthline.Com/