Is “delivery fee” just entirely a cash grab?

r/

I’ve never understood delivery fee. Like that fee is specifically for the act of the delivery, so then why does that delivery fee not all go to the person actually delivering it? The store or whatever gets more money for doing the exact same amount of work and now you gotta pay a tip on top of that delivery fee that the person delivering should be getting in the first place. What am I missing? It’s so normalized to me it just seems weird and just another way to squeeze out extra dollars from people

Edit: People acting like I have any knowledge in how a business is run… Obviously I don’t, and this is not a completely original thought so it seems odd to me the amount of people that think this is somehow the dumbest question they’ve ever seen, when I feel like it’s pretty straightforward “why do delivery drivers not get fully compensated for the act of delivering the food” or maybe they do. I don’t know, that’s why I’m asking. I’m also more so asking why tipping is expected and you will get scolded for no tipping/tipping low when you are already paying extra for the service from that person.

Comments

  1. Bandro Avatar

    Like every other service sold by a business, you pay the business and business pays the employee.

  2. egyptiantouristt Avatar

    You’re the customer, the place you order from is the supplier, and the delivery driver is the middle man, and the middle man always makes a couple bucks

  3. GFrohman Avatar

    Obviously a lot of it is pure greed, but there is some logic to it.

    When an employee is at a restaurant, they can be doing multiple things at once – proofing dough, assembling pizzas, cooking others all at once.

    When an employee is on the road driving to deliver your pizza…that’s all they are doing. A delivery driver is objectively less efficient than a worker in the kitchen, so they want to incentivize you to come pick the pizza up.

    Also need to factor in the additional insurance associated with an employee driver.

  4. No-Pollution9916 Avatar

    You’re not missing anything it’s basically a middleman tax. The delivery fee usually goes to the company to cover “operational costs,” which is code for “we want a bigger slice without doing extra work.” The driver still relies on tips so it ends up feeling like you’re double-paying for the same service.

  5. tolgren Avatar

    It’s literally paying my hourly wage, yes.

    The tip is just a nice bonus you give me for your lack of interest in picking up your food yourself.

    If you don’t want to pay either AND want to get better coupons, you’re welcome to come into the store.

  6. Suka_Blyad_ Avatar

    You’re asking for the store to make you your food, so you pay for the service of then making that food, but you don’t want to get that food, so you need to pay for the service of having that food delivered to you

    That means the restaurant has to employ somebody(or multiple people) who’s only job is to do deliveries, meaning their costs to operate go up

    Who don you think is biting the bullet on that increased operating cost? Cause it sure as shit isnt the business

    Or you can use a service like doordash that also charge a delivery fee, and they provide the service of being the convenient middle man of a bunch of restaurants and delivery drivers, that in itself is a service that requires people who are both not delivery drivers and also delivery drivers, both of which need to be paid, hence delivery fees

  7. Soulinx Avatar

    I stayed at the Marriott in downtown Des Moines. Room service has a $5 delivery fee.

  8. justaheatattack Avatar

    the student has become the master.

  9. thewarriorpoet23 Avatar

    The delivery fee covers (depending on the business) employee wages, Van/truck rental and fuel (and maintenance etc), tolls, vehicle insurance and registration etc, and all of that sort of thing. There won’t be many businesses that are making any real profit from the delivery fee. I am involved in running a delivery service and we don’t really make any profit from it when you take everything into account. If you deal with a company that does ‘free’ deliveries the cost is covered by the price of the goods (which will be a little more expensive)

  10. HopeSubstantial Avatar

    Luckily Im from country where there are no tips.
    However delivery free here comes from the fact that the restaurant must support a delivery system in first place.

    They could not use expensive delivery car and not have someone to spend their working time delivering food.
    But when restaurant offers a delivery, they use delivery fee to maintain car and the extra work delivery takes.

  11. HardLobster Avatar

    If the drivers use their own vehicle, it normally goes to the driver to compensate for wear and tear on their personal vehicle. If it’s a business that uses their own vehicles, it’s to pay for maintenance and gas for the business vehicle…

  12. just-another-gringo Avatar

    Small restaurant owner here. The delivery fee pays for a variety of things. It pays for auto insurance for the 3 vehicles we use for delivery, maintenance on the vehicles (replacing tires, wipers, oil changes, etc), gasoline, and shipping materials (to-go dishes, insulated bags to retain heat, napkins, and prepackaged condiments). Anything that is left over goes into a savings account with a high interest rate so that I am able to buy a replacement vehicle or pay for major repairs.

    I’d like to be able to get rid the the delivery fee as it would definitely help drum up business but the cold hard truth is that without it I simply can’t afford to offer home delivery AND I refuse to work with middle man services such as DoorDash because their rates are ridiculous and I don’t want people that I haven’t personally vetted delivering my product and representing my business.

  13. StalkMeNowCrazyLady Avatar

    The real cash grabs is when delivery apps just straight up charge more for items that the restaurant does. Something that may cost $10 in the restaurant is often listen for $12 on Uber eats/door dash/etc.

  14. _aaronroni_ Avatar

    I can tell you, for pizza at least, it’s usually one or a combination of the following paid to the driver per delivery, a flat rate, a mileage/gas compensation, a percentage of total sales. As for the restaurants, a lot actually goes into their systems specifically for delivery and that costs them money. Insurance is also a factor so it makes sense they would pass that on to the customer.

  15. MathematicianOne3645 Avatar

    How do you think the delivery guy gets paid

  16. AddictedToRugs Avatar

    >then why does that delivery fee not all go to the person actually delivering it?

    The same reason the cost of a movie theater ticket doesn’t all go to the movie theater employee.  It’s a fee for a service being provided.  Providing services is one way in which businesses make money.

  17. winslowsoren Avatar

    You pay for a system to organize available delivery worker, in the past business hire worker of their own, but it is not very flexible, with centralized platforms it is easier(more flexible with working hours)

  18. ShoddyIntrovert32 Avatar

    If you don’t like the delivery fee, then go and get it yourself. Stop complaining about a fee that is used to employ the delivery driver, delivering the things you ordered.

  19. SavingsSquare2649 Avatar

    No business does anything for free, including arranging for a delivery to take place

  20. Strung_Out_Advocate Avatar

    What about the case of electricity? Supposedly delivery of my electricity is going up 30% in June because PJM says it has to. Is this something that can be remedied?

  21. arianaperry Avatar

    Lmao It’s the same thing as working at a retail job. The business is the one making the money, the delivery person is the employee and still earning their wage, their job is to deliver, just like a waitress or a cashier

  22. jackof47trades Avatar

    All fees are a “cash grab.” All prices for everything are a cash grab. For-profit businesses are a cash grab.

    It’s literally the point of commerce is to get enough revenue to cover your costs and hopefully make a decent margin.

  23. centaur_unicorn23 Avatar

    Y’all are giving OP a lot of sass for asking in a “safe” place

  24. asspatsandsuperchats Avatar

    Have you ever posted a letter?

  25. bungojot Avatar

    > doing the exact same amount of work

    They’re not though? If you pick it up, there’s no fee.

    If you want it delivered, that’s a person that needs to be paid to provide the extra service you requested. So yes, there’s an extra fee for the extra service.

  26. moedexter1988 Avatar

    Delivery fee makes a bit more sense compared to service fee, now THAT is a cash grab.

  27. RunningPirate Avatar

    30 years ago, I was a truck driver. At the time the owners calculated that the truck cost $60/hr to run based on loan payments, insurance, maintenance, my salary, etc…

  28. inorite234 Avatar

    Before grubhub, you paid a delivery fee because the restaurant hired a driver and had to pay them to deliver you your food.

    These days services like grubhub/ubereats, etc have out those drivers out of business and made them all contractors under their thumbs. They now charge you a: Delivery Fee, a Service Fee, a membership fee? And the restaurant sometimes even charges you more because you ordered via ubereats.

    Yeah, those delivery apps charge the restaurants to offer their services so that sometimes pass that cost on to you.

    Delivery apps are a rip off. Next time, call the restaurant directly and ask if they deliver, or just cut out the apps and pick it up yourself.

  29. Flagrath Avatar

    It normally does, judging by the fact that this delivery fee costs different amounts weather I want first or second class postage etc.

  30. Carlpanzram1916 Avatar

    You have to hire someone to deliver the products. You have to buy, fuel and service a delivery truck. You have to pay vehicle insurance on that truck. Payroll taxes and benefits for the employee. Liability insurance in case the delivery guy gets hurt. There’s quite a few costs besides simply paying a delivery guy.

  31. PoopDick420ShitCock Avatar

    Yes, it’s a cash grab. Not only does the store keep the delivery fee, but the driver gets paid less while on delivery.

  32. HailFredonia Avatar

    Yes.
    I was a porter at a car dealership in high school and the service manager admitted that they had an upcharge they called an NCF, “nuisance customer fee,” which was $100-250 they tacked on if you were a pain in the ass to deal with. Apparently it was very very rare that anyone questioned that item on the invoice and the manager usually used it to buy lunches for the department.

  33. OvenActive Avatar

    If the business has their own delivery person, the delivery fee is to make up for the time they are paying the delivery person when they are not making deliveries.

    If you are using UberEats, DoorDash, etc, then the money goes towards the company to reimburse them. Basically look at it like you are paying a fee to use the app.

  34. thegamerdoggo Avatar

    You are an interesting little men, your name is fuck Tampa bay so I wanted to go see some context, so I went to the profile to find complaining or something and all there is are photos of the moon and Saturn for 3 years, this is the first time you’ve said anything in 3 years that hasn’t had anything to do with space