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this post was submitted on 16 Jul 2025
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Fuck Cars
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Of all the modern capitalistic irritations (to put it mildly), this one I really detest. And not least because of how ridiculously popular it is, wtf people? I watch folks I know, who can barely afford the food itself in the first place, then inflate the price by like 40%, just to eat the already (very!) mediocre food...cold. Solely so that they don't have to leave the house. Just completely unhinged from my POV, and honestly produces almost a sense of alienation in me, I find it so bizarre.
Disclaimer though - I will acknowledge both that I happily enjoy various different foolish things myself, so the point about glass houses is worth my keeping in mind, and also there are some great reasons to use it (limited mobility for one, as another user pointed out).
But sheesh folks. Restaurants largely hate it from my understanding, the drivers doing it hate it (cuz the job - oh excuse me, the preferred exploitation-hiding euphemism is "gig" - is utter shit, a literal minor improvement over straight up homelessness), the environment hates it, the wear-and-tear on a likely broke person's vehicle and the wear-and-tear on already struggling infrastructure...I mean what the fuckity fuck, seriously. How is this so popular, we're all insane and just conveniencing our way to oblivion. SMgoddamnH.
Aside from the aforementioned reasonable uses (largely edge cases, let's be honest), there is precisely one group of people who truly benefit in any serious way from this amazingly destructive nonsense - and wouldn't you know it, it's the exact same group fucking us in every other way! Weird!
Sorry. This one really gets me.
I have a ton of people around me that do it, and yep, they're mostly renters who talk about wanting to own but it being unaffordable (we're in a LCOL state), can't do things with their friends because they're broke. I'm not cheap by nature but paying delivery fees to avoid a 10 minute round trip, that would do me good because I'd be out and active for a second - just no. Then I start thinking about how much I really don't need to drive to severely overpay for low quality food that'll harm most parts of my body, and I usually cook something instead out of relatively whole foods which costs 3/4 as much and won't leave me feeling guilt.
I can't confess to being quite as wholesome as you (well, at least your food decision-making lol) but you're on top of it, ya love to see it. I have, though, been making much more thoughtful choices about how much factory farmed meat I consume. Getting it down pretty low these days, but it helps that I have an Indian spot nearby with vegetarian food at least as satisfying as any meat-based dish. Malai kofta, unnnnfff.
Side note - since parts of this thread run the risk of shaming poor folks for "bad" financial decisions - I'm not going there (and I don't think you were either, you sound compassionate to me). It's a problem to a degree of course, but also being super (often hopelessly?) poor really screws up the brain. Speaking from experience. Scarcity, even self-imposed, can sometimes take me to some dark places, most notably back to personality traits that I developed in those days that I have done tremendous work to repair. Our systems are deranged and nonsensical, not our poor.
My friends definitely think I’m weird cause I don’t use food delivery, but I see it from a germ perspective too. None of those drivers are certified food handler and their car is likely not a safe environment. I keep my cars spotless, but based on everyone’s car I’ve ever been in I’m the minority in that.
Every other point you made I agree with too, but man I just don’t see how people don’t also recognize that your food is travelling in someone else’s potential garbage. Just to save you from what? Getting up and grabbing some food yourself?
Yet another "wtf, y'all?", good point. I can't personally say that grosses me out, but I tend to be in the minority on that sort of topic myself, so I totally see what you're saying. Aint no health inspector checking these vehicles (true of traditional delivery too I suppose).
And I mean...sometimes the drivers straight up eat some food, which is awful from the standpoint of your POV, but also just... truly hilarious to me.
The need this came out of COVID and a lack of people wanting to go out. It's was a decent way to keep business open who would otherwise have to lay off all their staff. Once COVID ended, I assumed it would go away. However, money talks.
My wife was just saying how she thiks GPS is soon going to have a VIP tier to give you the best routes and the longer routes go to the people who don't pay (but still have their data harvested).
That is a good point (re: COVID) that I had lost along the way, thanks. Those services did do good during that time, you're right. I'm not so sure about the GPS thing, but hey, I never thought we'd see half the ugly shit we're seeing these days, so why not?