More people are ordering food directly to their homes than ever before because almost every restaurant in America has been ordered closed by their states government due to the Coronavirus, but how well are meals monitored?
Food delivery apps are becoming increasingly popular, even in suburban areas of the U.S. But is convenience worth it if delivery drivers are sampling diners’ dinners?
A recent survey, which was commissioned and conducted by restaurant food supplier and distributor US Foods, asked both consumers and delivery workers about their “habits and pain points” when it comes to ordering and delivering meals.
The responses revealed some unique insight as to how long people will actually wait to get their food, attitudes toward tipping and more. Unfortunately, it also revealed some unsettling information. For example, out of nearly 500 delivery workers surveyed, more 25% said they’d munched on food from an order. Yikes.
Apparently the temptation of a delicious meal is just too hard to resist — especially when it’s not yours.
To conduct the survey, US Foods surveyed 1,518 American adults who said that they have used food delivery apps. Respondents’ ages ranged from 18-77, with a median age of 31. They also surveyed 497 American adults who “identified as having worked as a deliverer for at least one food delivery app.” Those respondents had a median age of 30.
US Foods found that the average American has two food delivery apps on their smartphone, from which they order about three times a month. The most popular apps included Uber Eats, Grubhub, DoorDash and Postmates — all of which are third-party delivery services that partner with restaurants and grocery stores to bring food to peoples’ homes.
Emails to Uber Eats, Grubhub and Doordash regarding the study were not immediately returned.
On Wednesday, a Postmates spokesperson provided the following statement to TODAY: “At Postmates, nothing is more important to us than the safety and wellbeing of our entire community, which is why we require each person who completes a delivery using Postmates to expressly agree that all food and goods delivered will arrive in a tamper free form and in compliance with all applicable food health and safety laws.
“While reports of food tampering represent less than 0.06% of cases reported to our Trust & Safety team, we take any report of health safety violations very seriously, which is why we have built trust & security into our product design and network operations from day one; have specific policies and community standards in place to prevent tampering; investigate all reported order irregularities; take prompt action against any accounts suspected of tampering with orders; and work with any impacted customers to ensure a prompt resolution of any issues they report. We’re also engaged in active discussions with lawmakers and other stakeholders to develop a regulatory framework for the safety of food delivery.”
According to the study, 28% admitted to taking a bit of your order, that’s a little more than 1/4.
You can read more from our friends at Today.
