Fast food: Mcdonald’s tests delivery service.
Company is latest to team up with Postmates service
New York — On the same day Mcdonald’s said it would begin testing delivery in New York this week, an order placed for two cheeseburgers, two large fries and a vanilla shake took about a half-hour to arrive at The Associated Press headquarters.
The whipped cream on the shake was a little melted, and an order of apple slices was missing. But the burgers and fries were warm.
The bill came to $23.32, including tip — nearly double the cost if a reporter had walked around the corner to the nearest Mcdonald’s to pick up the food.
The world’s biggest burger chain said Monday that it was starting the test and teaming up with Postmates, a service that is also working with Chipotle and Starbucks. It’s the latest sign that fastfood chains are eager to figure out ways to feed customer demands for greater convenience.
Already, Burger King has offered delivery in select regions since 2012. Others are experimenting with quicker takeout: Taco Bell lets customers order and pay in advance on its mobile app, and Starbucks said it plans to offer mo- bile pay-ahead later this year.
For fast-food chains, working with Postmates is a way to move into delivery by tapping into an existing network. Postmates says it has a “fleet” of 10,000 delivery people who work as independent contractors.
Its partnership with fast-food companies is a bit odd, since Postmates offers delivery from a wide array of restaurants. That means people could already get some Mcdonald’s, Starbucks and other food delivered in the two dozen major metropolitan areas where Postmates operates.
By officially linking up with Postmates, however, companies can exert greater control over the process, said Holger Luedorf, head of business development at Postmates.
With Chipotle, for instance, the delivery fee is capped at $7.99 and the chain’s menu is optimized for the Postmates app.
Postmates’ delivery fees range from $5 to $20, depending on the distance. There’s also a 9% service fee, and the tip.
Mcdonald’s said the test with Postmates in New York City includes 88 restaurants.
Here’s how two Postmates deliveries of Mcdonald’s in New York City went:
The AP placed orders on two separate days: one for breakfast, one for lunch.
After searching for Mcdonald’s, the app and website gave locations within several blocks from the AP office, but the one that is closest wasn’t on the list.
Confirmation emails for each order said the deliveries would take up to an hour, but both arrived in about a halfhour. Afterward, Postmates sent prompts to select tip amounts and rate the delivery person. It also offered to reimburse the cost of the missing apples.
For a Mcdonald’s roughly three blocks away in New York City, the delivery fee for the order of burgers, fries and a shake in the late afternoon came to $5.50.
However, an attempt to order an Egg Mcmuffin at 7 a.m. resulted in an $11 delivery fee.
There was no explanation for the doubled fee on the website, but a notification on the app said “blitz pricing” was in effect. About 20 minutes later, the delivery fee came back down to $5.50.
The 9% service fee is fixed. The tip options of 10%, 15% or 20% are calculated based on the total cost of the order, including the delivery fee.
Add it up, and a $12.79 order ended up costing $23.32, including a 20% tip. Another order that would have cost $3.80 in the store ended up costing $11.57, including tip.