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The rise of food delivery
Convenience comes at a price to everything
Back in the 90s, we used to order food and then go and pick it up. I’m not quite sure why, especially since the Indian restaurant where we picked it up from was about 20 minutes away, possibly more. Perhaps it was an excuse to get out of the house, or maybe it’s because there was often a beer needed to wait that extra five minutes because it wasn’t quite ready.
Eventually, my parents finally accepted that delivery drivers do exist, and funnily enough that happened when we moved to a new curry house just an 8-minute drive away.
How little did we know back then.
Now if you see someone on a bicycle or a motorbike, there’s quite a high chance they’re delivering food somewhere. Covid ignited this trend, as restaurants had to switch their modus operandi in order to survive. Delivery jobs suddenly offered all those in the gig economy a new gig, and those who had just been laid off, something else to try out.
But at what cost?
Money changes everything
Depending on how much you ordered, delivery used to be free of charge. Those working in the restaurant would be the delivery drivers, or for certain chains they would hire drivers specifically for the job.