Filed under: Advertising, Apathy, Attitude & Aptitude, Brand, Brand Suicide, Content, Context, Food, Marketing, Marketing Fail
Uber.
The unicorn.
The Silicon Valley dream.
The blueprint for disruptor business.
That is if you turn a blind eye to all the shady shit they have done.
But it’s fair to say, since they got rid of Travis – the founder – and replaced him with Dara, as CEO, things have got a lot better for the delivery company.
Oh, I know they see themselves as pioneers of urban mobility, but then WeWork saw themselves as a tech company and all they really did was lease office space.
That said, Uber have a much more sustainable model than WeWork.
People need to get places and people want food delivered – and boy, are Uber exploiting that.
Especially the latter.
Oh don’t get me wrong … I find it super useful, but when you look into how they charge, you realise they’re eating everyone’s lunch while you’re paying for it.
Stuff, a NZ media outlet, recently did a study on the premium charged by Uber vs going to the restaurant direct.
Now you would expect to pay more having an item delivered – but some of these percentages are massive. Up to 30% more. But then, when you see how much Uber charge them to just be on their site – ignoring the fact that without them, they wouldn’t even have a business – it starts to make sense.
Mind you, when you then see all the other ways Uber profit from delivering your burger and chips – as stated on their website – it starts to leave the nastiest taste in your mouth.
Delivery Fee: The delivery fee varies based on things like your location, the merchant you’re ordering from, and the availability of delivery people. The delivery fee is displayed at the top of the merchant’s menu.
Service fee: This fee is 10% of your order value, with a minimum of $1 and a maximum of $4. If a promotion or discount applies to your order, the service fee will be calculated based on your order value either before or after the promotion or discount is applied, depending on the type of promotion or discount. The service fee will be shown to you at checkout before you place your order.
Wrong delivery address fee (when included): This fee is charged when the address is changed after the order has been placed
Busy area fee (when included): In times of high demand – such as during bad weather or peak times, you may be asked to pay the busy area fee to your restaurant when you place an order. This fee is designed to keep the Uber Eats experience reliable and to help ensure you have a wide selection of your favourite local restaurants and stores.
Priority fee (when selected): Choose to opt-in to have your order delivered directly to you. This option means if the delivery person is dropping off more than one order, yours will be the first delivered.
Now of course Uber aren’t the only ones doing this, but maybe they’re the only ones who don’t give a shit. No doubt they’ll say they are simply an intermediary and cannot be held responsible for the wellbeing and representation of the restaurants they work with – a similar argument to why they didn’t want to be held responsible for employee benefits for their Uber drivers – but when you see a photo like this from them …
… you have to wonder if they care about the wellbeing of the restaurants they deal with.
Or just plain standards.
Yes, I appreciate this will be programatic output.
Yes, I appreciate you get a lot of food from Sun Tasty BBQ.
But for a brand spending untold millions on celebs to promote their brand, it seems when it comes to promoting the actual businesses who they rely on for a business – and the business rely on them for customers – it appears they don’t give a shit.
Which, as a friend of mine recently told me, is the sort of behaviour you would expect from a pyramid scheme or religious cult rather than a food delivery service.
Or as another mate sai …
“Watch out for those who don’t care about the people they work with”.