Thread by @SecretGamerGrrl

So the thing I find shocking with the various... things where you load up a website to have some random gig economy person go pick you up something at a fast food place or whatever is they don't just take an obscenely huge cut, they take a ton of different obscenely huge cuts at

every step and I think everyone involved sees how much they're being gouged they figure that must be it.

The last time I tried to use one, I just had no food at all, so I'm like, where's a good fast food deal? And found something where normally you go to the drivethrough and you

get like 4 little bits of chicken for like, I dunno, $2.50-$4? Anyway here the price is like, double that. And I just got curious and pulled up the menu online and yeah, the price of everything is double, so OK, you're paying the full price to both the food place and the company.

So whatever, I'll pay that. And then the whole thing doubles again, because oh, that was before we worked in the driver's fee. Which isn't really reasonable, but I live in the middle of nowhere. Barely in anyone's delivery range, so, OK. And then all this is before the tip, which

is like, 20% at a bare minimum. And like, I always try to tip pretty generously, but I kind of always heard it's like, 10% if you're a scumbag but not quite enough of a scumbag to not tip, 15% baseline, 20% if you want to be a big tipper, anything more than that if you want to

just go "wow this is seriously one of the best meals I ever had in my life and this place is awesome and thank you for even being open during a pandemic." So that all gets totally up and somehow it... doubles again. And suddenly I am paying like $45 for 4 little chicken nuggets.

And that's like, OK fuck you. It would literally be cheaper for me to get a cab to take me down there to just order at the window myself at that point, I'm just gonna starve tonight.

But THEN it turns out that like, basically none of that money is going to the driver. The driver

is just kinda getting that meager little tip. And apparently if you set the tip real high some of these still give that baseline 20% tip and pocket the rest on their end? And like the whole delivery fee goes to... the company that's not actually doing any driving.

AND STILL MORE

Because OK I'm paying literally double for the food itself before things start ballooning, but apparently, a lot of the actual restaurants have this weird contract deal where because this delivery service gives them the value of selling food to so many people who otherwise can't

be bothered to make the trips, they talk them into discounts on the orders themselves. To the point where they sometimes barely break even on the food I'm buying.

So now I'm paying $40 and like, $4 is going to the driver, $2 is going to the restaurant, and $36 is going to this

random leach who isn't actually doing a single damn thing except keeping a simple form website paid for. And yeah some of that is earmarked as "taxes" but I feel like odds are real good they're cooking the hell out of those books.

And like, alternatively, I can pay $12 and get

an entire large pizza, that'll feed me for a day and a half, from a local business, where every cent goes to some member to the family who runs it.

Oh and that's not even getting into the weird crap where a bunch of gig drivers don't even own their cars and get into these weird

commission deals with other sketchy weirdos where they need to make some quota in this all or nothing system and it's straight up abusive sex work conditions, but I guess that's not explicitly on the food websites.

Kinda makes me want to get a car and set up a website or just a

twitter and be like, "OK, so every Sunday, 6 PM, I'm gonna drive to Taco Bell. If anyone lives in the area I marked on this map, and you want anything from Taco Bell that day, message me by 5. Have cash. Have at least SOME tip for me. Don't make me wait."

I guess it doesn't have

to be Taco Bell specifically because all the places are right across from each other, but you get the idea. Just, simple grassroots food runs. Violet's heading out, anyone want a burrito or anything? Cool. Feels like a way more viable business model. Other people please steal it.