UNITED STATES—What is too much for you when it comes to paying for a particular good or service? This comes with those delivery services in particular connected to receiving food or groceries. The food is perhaps the big one people have been chatting about a lot. I mean when you can get a pizza for $5, but if you have it delivered via Uber Eats or DoorDash it becomes almost $15 or more based on what you tip.
There are a lot of Americans who do it and they are ok with it. My thinking is that if you have the money then why not do it. However, not all Americans can afford to do so, and it raises the question about finances and our inability to get up and do things. Recently, I had to go out of town and I had to make a trip to the local mall to get an item.
Someone told me to just take an Uber to the mall, but the mall was not far, maybe a 10-to-15 minute walk. So guess what, I walked. It was a great walk by the way. It was a cool and crisp morning, a nice breeze and just allowed me to clear my mind and get some good exercise at the same time. Another argument was just getting food delivered to the hotel. Why? Tell me why? It was all about convenience for so many individuals, but you had plenty of restaurants and food options within a 2-3 minute walk.
Absolutely not, I’m not paying more for Uber Eats, Door Dash or Grubhub when the restaurant is right there. Get up, get out and go to the place. I totally get the necessity for those who are NOT able to be mobile and they have things delivered to the home, but if you can move, dammit move already. It feels like we are getting lazier by the minute.
Hell, even shopping, and I’m referring directly to retail shopping can be delivered to your home via Uber or DoorDash. You’ll pay for it as it relates to the delivery and service fees that are tacked on. For all those Americans that think the extra $5 or $10 for each delivery doesn’t matter, start adding up all the fees you pay and what you could be saving if you choose to do it yourself.
At the time you utilize that delivery service it doesn’t matter too much, but when you get a moment to reflect on your finances and what was spent, you start thinking, “Damn, that $10 that $15 could have been used for this or that.” You don’t consider what you’re lost until it is already gone and it is too late at that point. Even with the grocery delivery service that has grown in popularity, mainly as a result of the pandemic.
Now, I’m not using Instacart or some of these other grocery delivery services because I’m NOT a fan of a random person doing grocery shopping for me, even if it is convenient. One thing I will say about groceries is that no one shops the way that you may shop for food. Some people will do it quickly without thinking, while others (if you actually utilize the workers at the establishment to do your shopping, might take a bit of care with your items). Do you have to pay for it? In most cases, yes, but some of the retailers if you spend a certain amount, you will receive a discount or get the delivery fee waived fully.
The point of this column is to address the notion that not only are we paying more for convenience, but we are getting to a point where our drive to do things that were once the norm has become second nature. We are moving less, we are doing less and that is a problem, especially in an economy where you have the stock market tanking recently and money in such flux, each penny counts America.
