I haven't used DoorDash/UberEats/etc. since early in the pandemic, but what you describe isn't unlike what I experienced then, either. It has always been significantly cheaper, the food warmer, and the arrival of food shorter, to go and pick the food myself via direct interaction with the restaurant (either by me calling in, or using their online ordering system). These services may have felt convenient to an extent, but that convenience also came with the feeling that - pardon my French - I was being fucked.
Obviously the point is to save time by not going there. It’s not like it’s a big secret that it’s cheaper to get it yourself. It’s also huge if you have kids since loading them in the car and making them wait at a restaurant is a pain.
>Obviously the point is to save time by not going there.
A benefit that was, in my experience, significantly outweighed by all of the other negatives with the experience (higher prices, mismatched or missing items from menu, dogshit customer service, cold food upon arrival, items missing from order upon arrival, etc.). In point of fact, that it would take 90+ minutes to have to wait for my food when I'm hungry (I had the unique experience of watching my driver on DoorDash's app and saw him drive by my house with my food to go to other stops further away from me one time, and he didn't make it back to me for another 45 minutes) didn't actually feel like it saved time - the more time passes, the hungrier I get, which only encourages frustration with the process.
Directly contacting a restaurant and picking up from them, in my experience, almost always results in a 10-25 minute block of time for the food to be ready depending on the restaurant, in my experience. With these apps, it's far, far longer and never consistent, and to your point about kids, if my kids are hungry, waiting for some driver to futz around for an hour only to show up without the one thing my oldest wanted most is only going to make the situation worse.
>It’s also huge if you have kids since loading them in the car and making them wait at a restaurant is a pain.
Anecdotally, I'm also a parent (3yo and 1yo) and don't really experience this issue. I time my restaurant pickups accordingly, and I've never had to wait around with my kids for our takeout - it's always ready to go as soon as we arrive, and I can check the order either right in the restaurant or in the parking lot in order to rectify any errors with it immediately. My kiddos (again, anecdotally) also enjoy going to restaurants to eat out and usually do well waiting when we're there, or if we're in a long line for fast food, or whatever - but at least in those instances I can usually guesstimate with decent accuracy how long the wait will take relative to how patient or impatient my kids seem at the time, and decide whether or not to proceed accordingly - delivery apps don't give you that flexibility, they're just an overpriced coin toss in that regard.
But I do recognize that our experience here is our own and likely doesn't match what other parents experience.
For me, it was usually still cheaper to go pick it up myself even after I factored in the cost of my time (and I don't price myself cheap.) Doordash would regularly double the cost of an order for two people.
