BY MAX MCAULIFF, STAFF WRITER
As my roommates and I decided McDonald’s was what we wanted to eat for dinner Sunday, I opened DoorDash to place an order. We were watching football and didn’t want to miss any of the action, which is why we decided to use DoorDash. After sorting through the options and narrowing them down, my roommate handed my phone back so I could proceed to pay. My jaw dropped to the floor as I was about to hit proceed. The number staring back at me was preposterous.
After food, DoorDash fees and DoorDash driver tip, our total came to $80. While I will admit we were starving and ordered a lot of food, none of us were prepared to spend that much money. We instead decided to hop in the car and drive to McDonald’s.
While our orders changed slightly, every price at Mcdonald’s was significantly cheaper than it was had we ordered it through the DoorDash app. This made me wonder what it would have taken to stay at our townhouse and pay $80 for food that we could have gotten cheaper in person. At what point does the cost of something outweigh its convenience?
Another app similar to DoorDash that makes grocery shopping easy is Instacart. While I cannot attest to how much Instacart inflates their prices, it probably costs more money to have groceries delivered than to go shopping.
These companies are not selling products. DoorDash does not sell McDonald’s and Instacart does not sell groceries. Both companies sell something Americans cannot live without, convenience.
I will be the first to admit I have frequently taken full advantage of DoorDash in the past. On many occasions, I have decided that the convenience of being able to order food and have it delivered without moving from my seat on the couch outweighs the cost of picking it up. Companies such as DoorDash and Instacart know that Americans will choose the route that is most convenient for them, and they capitalize on it.
However, it is unfair for these companies to take advantage of the laziness of Americans. While it is both a good business model and ethically sound, it feels unfair and cheap. Charging a customer three dollars more for McNuggets simply because they do not want to get off their couch takes advantage of that inherent laziness in all of us.
Taking advantage of laziness has proven to be a working business model for both DoorDash and Instacart in the short run. Whether both companies can sustain their success of selling convenience, in the long run, remains to be seen.
If consumers want to stop paying high prices for convenience, they’ll need to get off the couch and venture off to McDonald’s themselves.
