Why do people complain about DoorDash when it's a completely optional service?

Many people stop using it (like me), they just don’t flock to social media to announce that they’ve stopped using it

I mean, luxury or not, you’re going to get complaints when prices go up and service goes down.

My problem is that dd has completely replaced in house delivery for most restaurants.

Before dd, I could call up a restaurant, place an order, and they had an employee whose job it was to deliver the food. They worked for the restaurant, so if I had any problems I could resolve it by talking to the driver. They also tended to deliver faster because they're not trying to see what order will give the best tip, not driving around to other restaurants, etc. Additionally, in house delivery was cheaper because there was no dd markup

That option is gone now, so if I want delivery, I have to use a delivery app

I just wish there was an easier way to quickly compare a restaurant’s listed DD prices and their actual prices at the restaurant. If they overcharge on DD at all, I order from someone else or go pick it up myself.

One of the things DoorDash does sometimes is intercept direct online ordering. So, you think you're ordering straight from the restaurant and intend to pick it up yourself, but you're still stuck paying an extra ~30% or so in DD fees. And then if you try to cancel it, the restaurant can't help you because you technically never ordered through them, and of course, there's no way to contact DD. It's incredibly scummy.

Here's another perspective. Even if I don't use Doordash, it still impacts us all.

Dashers illegally park, throw on hazards, and block traffic, causing accidents. And law enforcement won't actually catch enough of them to matter, even if they were interested in cracking down on this behavior from the drivers.

Doordash crushes small businesses, which are forced to maintain a doordash presence (wasn't there some hooplah about Doordash just listing restaurant's menus without consent?).

Our food in the restaurant now competes with doordash orders, slowing service and decreasing quality.

Obviously these aren't all the worst thing in the world, but the reality is it impacts us all.

I don't use DD or any delivery service anymore because of the cost but what annoyed me the most was going to pick up food in Downtown San Jose and seeing a bunch of drivers just waiting in their cars, taking up spaces and just looking at their phones and smoking cigarettes between orders, not giving a shit that they are taking up valuable parking spots.

And then when I would find a parking spot, the same delivery drivers had no qualms parking illegally and blocking me from leaving. 4th street and San Carlos was by far the worst.

A lot of it sure feels like, "Why does this value add that requires time and labor from others cost me more money???" That part is nuts to me. I can definitely get on board with complaints about the costs not being transparent, though.

You're complaining about complainers

This is like saying “Why do people complain about cars when they can just walk?”

Its because if you pay for a service, you want good service.

Agreed. Don’t get me wrong, I expect a service to be good when I pay for it, but that’s why I generally don’t use DoorDash. The job pays trash, so drivers need orders to line up properly in order to come out ahead, and a lot can go wrong at different levels, making accountability difficult. Using it and expecting things to work out right every time is like going to WalMart and wondering why it sucks.

Agreed, then don’t use it then. Same people would move next to an airport then bitch about the noise.

I don’t get why people on Reddit get so worked up about it either way. I use it sometimes if there’s a coupon or nice discount available I also understand it’s incredibly convenient for some people to use, I don’t care either way.

Because people are paying for the service through marked up prices and numerous fees, and still getting poor service. The latest excuse by the company (low tips = cold food) is just a cop out by the company to shift the burden of properly paying the drivers from DD to you

Well as someone who likes to go and sit down and eat an my favorite places, it has raised the cost of their menu items because some places need additional infrastructure and now have to pay DD(and whatever other delivery service's) fees.

It might be optional for the customer, but for some businesses it was a new cost they were forced to incur without seriously harming their customer service reputation.

Also the people who work for DD are usually not the most polite when I experience them in person, for some reason they seem entitled to skip lines and blurt out whatever they want in the middle of other people trying to order or get something.

The company has a crappy model. Tips should be after service.

Q. Why do people complain about people complaining, when complaining is completely optional.

A. People like complaining, even if it's just about other people complaining.

p.s. the degrees of meta in this comment is not lost on me. ☺️

I don't use it often because I do view it as a luxury convenience. But, when I do use it, I expect to get what I am paying for.

It's ridiculous to pay those markups to get cold, soggy, food. and an hour or more late, to boot. If I need to pay more for warm food delivered in a timely manner, then charge that...but make sure it is actually provided.

LOL, because they do dirty shit like charge more for items in the app than they cost in the store. Don't have a problem with paying a delivery fee, but that fucker is going to be a known fact before ordering. Finding out later that nope you paid more fees than you know is B.S. Stopped me from using DD/UE.

Switched to local places that deliver.

DoorDash ruined delivery made delivery much more expensive than it used to be, and also hurt quality.

Yes, delivery is more widespread, now and you can basically get any restaurant delivered.

However, before DoorDash, businesses had their own dedicated delivery drivers. There was nobody else to blame if your food got there cold / messed up. If you tipped the driver, the driver got the tip. The driver got a base wage. The business was incentivized to keep the cost of delivery as small as possible.

Now, with DoorDash and other gig services, your delivery quality is completely random. If your food arrives partially eaten, you can't blame the restaurant and DoorDash don't give a fuck. The delivery drivers are of entirely random quality, often doing other gigs, and there's really fuck-all you can do about it because you don't get to pick only a 5-star rated driver when you check out. And you put in a tip before the service is ever delivered!

And no, it's not entirely optional. I ordered a pizza delivered, then got a text that "your pizza is being delivered by our partner, DoorDash". Fuuuuuuuuuck.

I don’t get this reasoning. You aren’t allowed to complain about something unless it’s a complete necessity? I don’t need a bunch of candy but I find a hair inside my wrapped candy uh yeah I’m gonna complain about it. If it’s something you paid for and you have a crummy experience it’s well within your rights to whine. No one has to read your rant. I will though it sucks when it’s cold. You shouldn’t have to microwave a burrito you paid a hefty surcharge to be delivered fresh.

Because you pay money for food and the drivers steal it. That's a legitimate complaint.

DD is no different that Visa and Mastercard. By design it is inflationary. Restaurant prices have factored in 2-3% credit card transaction costs in their prices. Similarly now restaurants have started pricing in DoorDash transaction costs in their delivery prices. So you we paying 20-30% more to order delivery. Now on top of that DoorDash is charging fees and asking you to tip their driver.

If DoorDash and similar apps have their way, eventually they will force restaurants to not have two different prices. Similar to how Visa/Mastercard discourages merchants from charging a % transaction fee for paying with card and rather wants merchants to advertise same rates and is OK with offering a cash discount.

People that work for doordash and complain about it, why do they still work for them?

Why do people complaint at all?

• You can easily be a hermit and not deal with anyone

I love how it’s only been 30 minutes and not a single person here has answered why they can’t go get their food themselves.

Long story short, y’all know OP is right, you’re just making excuses.

“ because we paid for it and we want it to be good” is not a good reason to keep paying for it. If your toothpaste tastes like shit would you keep buying the same brand?

No one really complains bout DoorDash and the service offering

the controversy is up front tip and/or non-tip up front as a way to get different level of services. That is a legitiment level of concern that access to same services have to be bought

Don't complain about my complaints!!

People can’t complain about optional services?

Restaurant fees… eat at home. Bad drivers on the road… take public transit instead. Don’t like living in California… who’s forcing you to live here, move to another state!

Most things people complain about are luxuries tbh. There are almost always worse but reasonable alternatives that are dismissed.

I haven't complained about DD online, but if I did it would be about their failures to do what they are supposed to, not the overall idea of the service. Just a few days ago they failed to send one of the meals (from a group order). This happens far too often, actually. If we were in a restaurant we could correct it at the table, but once it's delivered all you can do is get your money back and someone has to scramble for something to eat, because they won't correct it by delivering the missing meal. They really, REALLY need to emphasize to the restaurants the need to get the orders triple checked before they go out.

Just seems like we love to complain about things we have 100% control over. I just don't get it.

Proceeds to write an essay complaining about people. Shut up lol

Trashy people use trashy services.

People complain because they're fucking lazy and don't think they should pay a premium for being lazy. That's it.

Who are these "people"?

I've neither used DoorDash nor complained about it.

It causes a lot of problems even if you choose not to use it. Uber and similar gig work apps are exploiting the hell out of their workers. They are only able to exist because labor law in the US is very weak, and their “innovation” is just that they’ve figured out a way to avoid paying their employees at a normal rate. These services crush small business. If they don’t sign up they’re screwed, and if they do sign up they’re forced to make these orders and have a huge chunk of the profit taken away (and lose out on the tips). The drivers themselves are forced to illegally park and cause lots of unsafe traffic conditions. There’s tons of problems with these services, and they don’t go away because some of personally chose not to use them. On top of that, A lot of these services are basically filling in a gap because the US has awfully designed communities— you should be able to easily feed yourself by walking a minute or two to a local restaurant, but that’s just not an option for the vast majority of people because of how we’ve zoned the country.

Because it has societal impact. These companies (gig economy) get massive venture capital. They enter the market with money losing pricing and cannibalize all competitors and then hike up prices after the monopoly is established and insurmountable barriers to entry have been built. Then service sucks for everyone. And it means we can’t have nice things.

Becuse it’s one of the services that tech has made worse.

“What would happen if we paid delivery drivers nothing and pretended it was innovative?”

Because it used to not have inflated prices on menu items, additional taxes, etc. It doesn't feel fair to users to change the conditions once you're hooked on a service.

It also doesn't mean that doordash was good before, they used to steal driver's tip and probably had many other issues.

Because they're too lazy to switch apps, let alone to do their own work

There are like eight competitors in SF, and all but one of them are good. (Fuck you, Uber Eats. You're actually worse than DoorDash.)

Go try GrubHub, Seamless, Caviar, or Postmates some time. Better experience and cheaper.

Because entitlement and virtue signaling is strong here in the Bay Area.

The same people who will proclaim how people should get a living wage get upset over that they have to tip on delivery service, something that's very common and goes back at least till the 80s when pizza delivery was becoming common.

Why do people complain about inflation when they expect everything to be delivered to their door by servants? (more broadly, not just food)

Hey listen, I know that this isn’t the point of your post. But fck pg&e.

OK first off, don't come here telling people what they can or can't be upset about. Secondly, food delivery was not always a "luxury". It used to be a normal part of city life that was almost essential for a lot of busy people. That was before Tech decided they could "disrupt" it and by disrupt I mean turn it into an overly expensive luxury.

because people like to complain, this is just human nature

"why do people have opinions on the products and the services that they use"

Huh, it's a real mystery.

Why are you complaining about people complaining? You could just not listen

You work for DoorDash or something?

why do you care?

The people who virtue signal by stating proudly how they'd just never use DD is a very very small and loud minority on reddit and the internet. People who want it will pay for it. Many people happily pay the "inflated" costs for the convenience fully understanding the drawbacks. That's why the company exists. That's why drivers exists. My parents did doordash during covid and it kept their lights on. Someone is ordering all the time, trust.

Stated intention vs observed behavior.

This is a classic psychology / economic area.

I very much agree with you OP. I also don’t understand why people complain on Reddit because their hand delivered fast food meal for one was too expensive.

It doesn’t make sense to use DD to have them deliver you one small portion of food.

When you’re ordering $200 of food for 10-15 people and there are $10 in fees or whatever, it makes a lot more sense.

Because people don't understand the difference between a contractor-labor two/three sided marketplace vs an employee powered direct service, and the different legal dynamics in place around how little the market maker (DD) can proscribe how the job is executed by the delivery person.

DoorDash is eBay not Amazon.

Technically DD doesn't provide any service, John the self employed courier who picked up your order provides the service. If you don't like his service there's only so much DD can do.

DD is the software powered marketplace that organizes your order, takes payment, transfers it to the restaurant and matches you with a self employed delivery person. They actually do a really good job doing that.

Fully agree with OP. I find the cost of door dash eye popping considering we are on the middle of a city where it's possible to pay so much less for great food considering availability of fresh ingredients etc. But if you can pay for instant gratification on that level with hugely varied results then ok.

It’s more about not getting what you paid for. It’s fair to complain about it (let others know about poor services. At some point you fire them.

I don't complain. I just don't use it anymore.

I mean yeah. Doordash in currentyear is an idiot tax

I dont interact with anyone who complains about doordash the way youre describing, but i would enjoy ripping on them endlessly for it

They are sad angry people that want free delivery for absolutely no reason lol

a) Becuase they have driven up prices for those who dine in, to pay for the DD margin.

b) Because they have destroyed the 'restaurant delivery model' by forcing the platform.

​

They AREN'T your buddy, buddy.

So we should only complain about PG&E, the government, and other people's driving?

Why do people post the most inane things on r/bayarea? Who cares

Why support a business when its employees do not receive the benefits as the rest of Door Dash's employees?

Tony Xu worth 2.8 billion$$$

because they are idiots

Did we forget it's a completely optional, luxury service?

For the people(including myself) who started using Doordash on the first day, I couldn't forget it was a completely cheap and enjoyable service. It gets worse and complaints are expected.

Beyond this simple reasoning, the story that Doordash tells those investors is not providing some butler service. The story is to make it accessible to everyone by technology. The story failed and it deserves complaints.

I think it’s perhaps a correlation of people who sit all day at a computer or phone and do Reddit and people who sit all day and order doordash…perhaps that’s why a self selecting audience has many complaints

You can say that about lot of things in our first world country. But isn’t that what the corporations want us to think to any sort of service?

Entitlement.

and yet you participate in society. curious

Because people complain about everything. It's much easier to complain about things than to actually do something about it.

It’s impossible in our area to get restaurants that do their own delivery 😩 if we find some though would totally do that to support them. Some nights we are too tired to cook or drive out to pick up food. I tried really hard to find some non app way for food delivery and it’s lacking here.