I could make fresh nachos if that’s the case!
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I ordered grocery delivery today via Uber Eats. Total cost for the following after discounts and credits with $19.22. If I had instead purchased these items at lowest price of Costco + Walmart, I estimate cost would have been $31 – 61% higher. Had I purchased the same items at the supermarket from which I ordered delivery, cost would have been $41 – 113% higher.
In addition to the direct price savings, I also saved on gas + wear on car, as well as saved a good amount of my time. I was able to shop for groceries while at meeting for work. I also bought in my opinion higher quality items. I much prefer the quality of supermarket rotisserie chicken to Walmart/Costco. I also prefer supermarket frozen vegetables, and to a lesser extent some of other listed items.
2 x Rotisserie Chicken
3 x 1lb Frozen Broccoli Florets
1lb Frozen Stir Fry Vegetables
1lb Frozen Mixed Vegetables
2lb Brown Rice
1lb Navy Beans
1lb Great Northern Beans
1lb Dry Roasted Peanuts
1/2 Gallon Fat Free Milk
1 Gallon Distilled Water
2 x Poweraid Zero
2x Bananas
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No cookies or ice cream???
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I selectively chose the items on Uber Eats that either will not be steeply discounted in near future at supermarket or I need ASAP. Ice cream is one of those items that tends to be steeply discounted.
My supermarket is having a $5 Friday deal on Tillamook ice cream tomorrow with $2.50 each. Sticker price is $7 each. With this steep a discount in store, it makes sense to buy ice cream in store instead of via Uber Eats. I plan to pick up two 1.5 quart containers while at the plaza for other things tomorrow, most likely German Chocolate Cake and Marionberry Pie.
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And how much did the person doing all this for you get paid, including tip? That sounds frankly exploitative.
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When they offer discounts, Uber eats it, not the driver. I believe drivers get paid around $2.50 an order plus tip.
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It’s my understanding that Uber Eats drivers see a particular order and estimated earnings for that order come up on the app. They have the choice to either accept or reject that order. The amount of estimated earnings varies on a number of factors such as how many miles of driving and required shopping time, supply and demand at that particular time, size of order, and tip. In my area, nearby orders are often combined by app. Having a dependence on so many factors makes it difficult to give a specific number, but average is often not much above CA minimum wage. However, under CA prop 22, there is a minimum payment of 120% minimum wage or $19.20 per hour + $0.34 per mile driven.
My experience is drivers will almost immediately accept my orders, so whatever they are paying, drivers in my area seem willing to accept offers for that rate.
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But they don’t know if you will tip them. I think that’s one of the biggest issues with Uber exploiting drivers: for car service there was no tip originally, and even now that’s generally something that is optional and you add afterwards in the app, you don’t give cash to the driver. Whereas food delivery has traditionally come with the expectation of a meaningful cash tip for the driver on delivery. Because it is app-based, Uber makes it easy to stiff the driver.
So how much of that $19.22 was your tip?
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A young relative of mine was driving Uber Eats for a while between jobs.
There is a bit of a paradox (according to him). In the restaurant world, the nicer the place, the more generous the tip. You have a good meal at a white table cloth restaurant; the food is great, the ambiance is beautiful, people are tipping 18, 20, 22% off the already high tab because overall, there is “value” in the experience.
In the Uber world, the more expensive the restaurant, the chintzier the tip. There is NO ambiance. You’re eating at the kitchen counter out of a foam container. So you already think the food is over-priced, but if you’ve got a yen for the sushi at a particular place, you’re running up your tab on the food. And not on the tip. Because there are no edgy floral arrangements of beautiful table settings- even from a high end restaurant delivery. It’s just food in a takeout box. So the higher the tab, the lower the tip-- both nominally and as a percentage of the total.
it is a very tough way to pay the rent.
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Two nephews tried uber-eats driving for a VERY short while to bake a few extra $$ spending money. They stopped after a very few deliveries, deciding it just wasn’t worth their time & effort.
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It’s my understanding that the tip is included in estimated earnings, so a driver gets some idea how much tip is included in the order when a simple order has a high/low estimated earnings. It can be more complicated for group orders. Along the same lines, this leads to orders with higher tips being prioritized and likely to filled more quickly.
I vary my tip based on the particular order. If there is something complicated, such as a text discussion about substitutes, I might give a larger tip. If the driver structures the order so I get items free or get a higher priced and/or more preferred substitute at no additional cost, I’ll likely give a larger tip. Similarly, if the driver does something wrong, I might give a lower tip.
In this particular order, the driver did get something wrong or at least appeared to ignore my notes about how to select items, so I gave a tip of ~$5, which was is a high % of $19.22, but a relatively low % of sticker price prior to discounts.
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How can it be “included in estimated earnings” if you only decided on the amount afterwards, based on the driver getting something wrong?
You can tip at time of order, after an order, or both. You can also edit tip during/after order. Only the at time of order is included in estimated earnings, which I expect is the more common option since the order page sets a default tip for you. It’s more steps/effort to change tip or tip after.
I’ve heard from Uber Eats drivers about people selecting a very high tip during order to get their order prioritized or done with extras, then editing tip to a low value after.
Tillamook anything is a good use of money!
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I find that rotisserie chicken is much cheaper and a heck of a lot more nutritious than getting takeout. Our local HEB has a “natural” version without hormones or artificial additives. I would love to be 18 again where I can eat anything and be thin…but those days are gone. 
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