> If Grubhub actually took a stand and showed they not only did not do this sort of behavior, I would actually use it, and I would pay the premium for delivery (to make sure the restaurant makes money and the driver makes money).
You may well faithfully adhere to this promise, but the reality is, most people simply don't know (and it would be generous for me to assume they would care even if they DID know).
So much of the GH/DD/UE model is reducing friction to drive transactions. Click button, throw some amount of money at the company, receive product. Just like Amazon.
Having to stay abreast of the news, the competitive landscape, the various companies' business practices, and then factor that all in when making an online transaction, is probably too much to ask of a consumer when the entire point of the service is not having to know or care too much about the details.
You could even argue one of the features of these services is abstracting away things that people don't WANT to know about- Tipping policies, labor practices, what the parking is like at the restaurant, how pleasant the staff is to deal with, how the owner's doing today, etc.
I'm with you- I almost never order anything delivery, I pick up my own orders on the rare occasion I takeout, etc. This whole delivery gig economy thing makes me pretty uncomfortable. But we're a rare breed. (and I'm not claiming to be better than most people; I order far too much from Amazon than I'd like to admit).
You may well faithfully adhere to this promise, but the reality is, most people simply don't know (and it would be generous for me to assume they would care even if they DID know).
So much of the GH/DD/UE model is reducing friction to drive transactions. Click button, throw some amount of money at the company, receive product. Just like Amazon.
Having to stay abreast of the news, the competitive landscape, the various companies' business practices, and then factor that all in when making an online transaction, is probably too much to ask of a consumer when the entire point of the service is not having to know or care too much about the details.
You could even argue one of the features of these services is abstracting away things that people don't WANT to know about- Tipping policies, labor practices, what the parking is like at the restaurant, how pleasant the staff is to deal with, how the owner's doing today, etc.
I'm with you- I almost never order anything delivery, I pick up my own orders on the rare occasion I takeout, etc. This whole delivery gig economy thing makes me pretty uncomfortable. But we're a rare breed. (and I'm not claiming to be better than most people; I order far too much from Amazon than I'd like to admit).