We take these popular food delivery services for a test drive and speak to people who use them to find out what’s good about them, and what’s not.
Which do you prefer? Post about your experiences in the comments below.
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Interesting article.
It looks like these operators are doing to the food service industry exactly what the likes of Trivago have done to the accommodation industry but with the addition of “slave labour” delivery drivers.
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It would be interesting to compare more expensive and complex fare from established restaurants in the blind testing. How does the cost stack up when compared with dining in? How does the quality and look of the meal compare with dining in? How far away will an establishment deliver?
It seems an expensive way to order everyday take away from around the corner. Australian style Chinese, Indian or Thai travels well in plastic containers. As does the average pizza in a box and garlic bread.
Interesting to note Uber Eats charges delivery drivers more (35% commission) if they use a bicycle compared with a car or motor bike! Uber must dislike bike riders? That’s a great reveal Choice and one more reason to consider if it is the sort of business that deserves our consideration, or not!
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I actively avoid them, and have never used any of these delivery services to my knowledge. On rare occasions we order food delivered, we buy from restaurants that deliver to our suburb.
To my mind, these delivery services not a sustainable business model biting the hand(s) that feeds them, taking such a large commissions from the eatery, and the courier. Once the novelty wears off, the the establishments using the service & the courier numbers will diminish unless the apps drop their commissions considerably.
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A friend that does bicycle deliveries told me that many who started out using a bicycle have upgraded to a motor scooter or motorcycle, without updating their vehicle type with Uber. This is skewing the data, and telling Uber that some “bicyclists” are incredibly quick, and the rest are operating at bicycle speeds. 
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These ‘services’ don’t seem to operate much in regional or remote areas - something I am thankful for. My perception prior to reading the article was bad, it’s now worse - parasites that prey on laziness feels like the summary 
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That’s a lot of takeaway
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Just as well Foodora was not included in the survey.
it would seem some people have no appetite to cook
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We’ve updated our delivery apps comparison for 2019, plus some commentary on the Foodora situation and other concerns with food delivery services.
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I have never used any if these…we prefer to eat out to get the smells, ambience and service of an eat in food outlet (mainly restaurants). It is also good not having to do the washing up, especially if the meals shared with many others.
The only delivery service used in the past was of a local pizza outlet, too many years ago to remember when.
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I’d rather get Youfoodz (a very expensive way to get a feed, one is never enough) or Lite’n’Easy, or even boxed meals from the supermarket, if I dont want to cook. I have used EatNow which is a Menulog service, and it has not been very satisfactory. The food has often been cold or badly cooked, and this from restaurants I have bought from in the past which I thought were pretty good. I dont know if they are just no good anymore, because I dont buy from them or eat in at them, these days. Twice now I have received a notification that a particular restaurant (the same one on both occasions) cannot supply my order… and the notification comes at the time the order is supposed to be at my door. Pathetic.
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An article regarding how the food delivery operators are destroying the restaurant industry.
Personally I believe that the restaurants are entitled to be paid what they would receive if a customer bought a takeaway order, and the delivery service would be entitled to charge an additional amount for the convenience and cost saved by lazy consumers.
If only we had a consumer protection agency to regulate this fiasco.
Oops. I forget we have the useless, oops, fearless ACCC.
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They do charge the customer as well. Our local fish and chip shop has to pay 30% of the order value to Uber and the orderer pays as well but it may only be a fraction of what the food business had to pay:
"Meal prices in Australia are fully inclusive of GST (Good and Services Tax) and the GST is included in Meal Fare shown in Tools. Your receipt for each order shows how much GST the Meal Fare includes.
The total cost of your Uber Eats order will also include the delivery fee."
So I agree that the food business should get the full or almost full monetary benefit for what they supplied and the customer should wear the cost of convenience. What we may find though is if it becomes mostly online ordering through Uber etc that prices may rise sharply across the board for all food outlets to cover the cost of paying the delivery businesses. This would end up being to no ones’ benefit other than the delivery companies, who already get rich off the backs of consumers and their habits.
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If only we had a regulator with a pair.
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They do have a pair just politically shrunk.
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My nephew works for a kebab outlet and they gave up on Uber eats because of the high commissions, but also because they were finding an increasingly number of customers were complaining to Uber Eats and then getting their meal free (I understand that the outlet didn’t receive any payment when Uber decided that the meal cost should be reimbursed).
My nephew and the business owner thinks that it is becoming a scam that more and more people are complaining…the more that complain, the more likely the customer gets a free meal due to profiling of the business and then more find out, so more and more scam a free meal when the free meal is shared. The other problem they had is they have no control over the food once it leaves the shop front.
There are online forums about Uber Eat gaming the system to get free meals.
Looks like the ACCC might be on the case…
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I’ve had some bad experiences with Uber eats.
Food arriving cold. Food arriving WAY over (an 1.5 hours after order placed).
For me though the most disappointing experience was when I received a promo code from Uber eats. I used the code within the prescribed period and conditions, yet they refused to accept it.
I contacted Uber eats whom stated it wasn’t for me despite providing evidence it was to my email and had my name on it.
They then blocked my responses.
Can’t imagine how many people are affected by these practises
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Not us. We wouldn’t touch them or their ilk with a barge pole.
