According to recent research from Circuit for Teams, the average American places nearly 55 food delivery orders a year, spending almost $1,850 in the process. The same research found that delivery fees, service fees and tips make up roughly 36% of food delivery costs, which boils down to an average of $654 per customer, per year.
Delivery fees certainly are not going to go down for food-delivery companies such as Uber Eats — not while they face a slowdown in demand due to inflation. So what’s a restaurant food-loving customer to do, especially when going out to eat (again, because of inflation) is so exorbitantly expensive?
“Timing is key when it comes to delivery charges,” said Paul Kushner, CEO of MyBartender who has been in the food industry since 1997. “Much like Uber’s transportation app, there are timing factors that can increase the delivery fees. You will save money on fees if you order during high volume times of day — when more drivers are available — and when the weather is nice. Delivery fees are higher to accommodate inclement weather, so ordering a burger in a snowstorm can be a costly endeavor.”
“The further the food, the higher the fee,” Kushner said. “Generally speaking, if you are in midtown but you’re ordering from a downtown restaurant, your fees will be higher than ordering from within a few miles of your location. That’s why the ‘sweet spot’ with apps like Uber Eats is to order from places that are just a little too far to walk to, but not so far away that your order will take an hour or so to arrive.”
Consider the Premium Service
“I am not endorsed by Uber, but I will say if you order takeout multiple times a month and you pay more than $10 in fees monthly, just bite the bullet and subscribe to their premium service,” Kushner said. “For most restaurants it eliminates the delivery fee entirely, so the savings pay for themselves pretty quickly. There are also discounts that apply to their rideshare service, so that may be an extra incentive to invest in a premium subscription, too.”
Avoid the Priority Fees
“There’s now an option where customers can pay an additional fee to get their food delivered first,” Kushner said. “This means you could avoid your driver making a stop to pick up someone else’s order along the way, delaying your food and letting it go cold. While this can be a worthwhile delivery fee for special occasions, I think you’re better off saving the money and reheating your food in the oven if possible. If you have food that will melt or go soggy, maybe splurge the extra few dollars.”
Pick It Up Yourself
“If you are within walking distance of the restaurant, you can avoid delivery fees entirely by selecting the ‘pick up order’ option,” Kushner said. “Just make sure you select the correct restaurant if they have multiple locations, as you’d hate to show up and have no food ready to go home with you.”
For example, order an entree at a local restaurant, and then add dessert from a nearby ice cream shop to go with your meal — without paying an additional delivery fee. Skip the fees with Pickup – Opt in for Pickup to save on delivery and service fees, skip the line, and pick up your order as soon as it's ready.
For example, order an entree at a local restaurant, and then add dessert from a nearby ice cream shop to go with your meal — without paying an additional delivery fee. Skip the fees with Pickup – Opt in for Pickup to save on delivery and service fees, skip the line, and pick up your order as soon as it's ready.
Conversely, Grubhub offered the best bottom-line prices for large orders. In every instance when the food costs topped $75, Grubhub was either the cheapest or essentially tied with Uber Eats, and both Uber Eats and Grubhub were cheaper than DoorDash.
Menu prices are almost always more expensive than ordering directly from restaurants. Then there are the line-item fees that appear on the receipt. There's the delivery fee, but also the frustratingly generic “service fee” that could cover anything from keeping the apps' servers up to paying their drivers.
Instacart stands out as the food delivery service that offers the highest pay to its workers, topping the list of food delivery services. Following Instacart, Amazon Flex, Uber Eats, Postmates, Shipt, Favor, GoPuff, and DoorDash are among the top companies that compensate their delivery personnel generously.
Uber Eats and Postmates are great options for people who want the most food options and the fastest delivery and don't mind paying for it. Uber bought Postmates in 2020.
This fee is intended to help the third-party cover the costs associated with delivering your order, such as fuel, vehicle maintenance, and driver compensation. And that's completely normal.
What is cheaper: Uber Eats, Grubhub or DoorDash? DoorDash is nearly $10 cheaper than Grubhub and about $6 cheaper than Uber Eats, making it the least expensive option.
"It depends on how big your order is — good tips are at least 15%," said a DoorDasher who declined to share his name. That means the woman who tipped $5 on her $20 DoorDash order — which is a 25% gratuity — actually gave quite a good tip, drivers said. "A $5 tip on a $20 order? That's not bad at all.
The delivery fee is dynamically calculated using the distance between pickup and dropoff. Deliveries within 5 miles incur a base rate of $9.75. For deliveries beyond 5 miles, the fee is an additional $0.75 per mile up to a maximum of 15 miles.
Tins, and dried foods such as pasta, rice, noodles and oats should feature heavily on your shelves. Replace fresh fish, veg and fruit with frozen. Choosing frozen salmon rather than fresh, as in these salmon and pesto parcels, can save you over 55 percent.
One of the easiest ways to save money while grocery shopping is to create a grocery list before heading to the store. Start your grocery list by taking an audit of your fridge, freezer, and pantry. By doing this, you can see if you already have anything at home that you can use in your weekly meal plan.
While grocery shopping turned out to be a hair cheaper than even the cheapest meal kits, it's nearly even. If you consider the time and energy you save by forgoing long trips to the supermarket, meal kits might present the better value.
Introduction: My name is Jeremiah Abshire, I am a outstanding, kind, clever, hilarious, curious, hilarious, outstanding person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
We notice you're using an ad blocker
Without advertising income, we can't keep making this site awesome for you.
