Devilry of the delivery
It’s easy to get hooked on home delivery services but are we being conned by this convenience when it comes to booze?
It’s the devilry of delivery. From Uber Eats to Menulog to Doordash, we’re being conned by convenience. And I should know, because I’m a food delivery service sinner. Every week, our family feed falls apart come Friday.
When the clock strikes 6pm, it’s like a fast food draw as my husband and I race to whip out an iphone and place an order – my choice is Grill’d, his is Thai.
But really, everyone wins when no one cooks.
The problem is when this process is repeated on Saturday night. And then Sunday. Look, it’s not easy living within the cheap delivery zone of Nobby’s Beach eateries.
While I’m all for supporting our local restaurants and cafes, it’s a bit of an issue when it comes at the cost of your family budget.
I know I only have myself (and my husband) to blame, but there is more at stake here than just the blowout of our bottom line.
Speaking of which, we’ve vowed to tighten our belts when it comes to our addiction to food delivery so that we can, well, tighten our belts.
After all, study after study has confirmed the frequency of eating food from outside of the home (even if eaten inside the home) is positively associated with a high body mass index.
But it’s also doing damage to our local businesses.
Not only are these delivery services taking a large slice from customers in terms of fees and subscriptions, but also restaurants in terms of charges to use the app and percentages of sales.
Meanwhile, research conducted in the US shows when an order goes wrong – for example, the driver takes too long and the food goes cold, the driver does not pick up all of the food – it’s the restaurant which suffers the negative rating.
Further, the delivery service may soon engage in direct competition with the meal provider.
“Some delivery providers are planning to eventually launch their own food brands. They intend to use data collected over the years through their restaurant clients, having a clear idea of who to target and how. This will bring them into direct competition with their own clients,” says Mariangela Giuliani, editor of Collectiv Food.
But the real devil of delivery does not come from food, but from the demon drink. And perhaps the most chilling warning comes from Janine Elliott, manager of Gold Coast Detox and Rehab Services.
“The hours of alcohol purchase have changed a lot, and that is very much to do with the introduction of delivery services,” she says.
“It’s created an environment where someone can escape the judgement of visiting the bottle shop, or escape the necessity of needing to sober up to drive to the bottle shop, or to even practice hygiene in order to walk inside the shop.
“Some of the clients we end up treating here for alcohol addiction, they have been locked in and surviving on Uber Eats for food and drink, they don’t leave their home or apartment.
“There have been situations where we have had to retrieve them from their residence because they haven’t left for months and months.”
Her comments are corroborated by new research conducted by the University of New South Wales which shows that online alcohol purchasing and home delivery has increased in recent years, accelerated by the onset of the pandemic.
The study also shows these services are extending at-home binges and leading to hazardous behaviour. It’s become such an issue that the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education (FARE) recently called for Australia-wide bans on rapid delivery of alcohol within two hours of online purchase.
In a submission to the NSW review into same-day delivery, FARE CEO Michael Thorn said the burgeoning online sales and delivery market has outstripped Australia’s inadequate system of alcohol regulation, creating significant risks for younger Australians.
Those risks include inadequate age verification as well as poor regulation of delivery standards.
For example, responsible service of alcohol (RSA) training is not required for most alcohol delivery drivers, despite being mandatory for anyone involved in the service of alcohol in all bottle shops across Australia. Look, as someone who is borderline addicted to home delivery for dinner, I can appreciate that saying no to these services can be difficult.
Which is exactly why sometimes we just need to withdraw the option altogether.
It’s created an environment where someone can escape the judgement of visiting the bottle shop
GOLD COAST DETOX AND REHAB SERVICES MANAGER JANINE ELLIOTT