ADULTS WILLING TO PAY MORE FOR CONVENIENCE
Survey says nearly half of Americans use services summoned from smartphones
How much are Americans spending to get others to deliver our food, clean our houses and drive us from Point A to Point B? The good news for upstart providers of such services and the “gig workers” they employ: $177 a billion a year on conveniences we can summon from our smartphones, a new survey says.
Nearly half of American adults, or 46 percent, use services such as Lyft, Grubhub and more, according to Finder, a comparison website that says its mission is to help people make better decisions. Food-delivery services including UberEats, DoorDash and Caviar are the most popular. These services deliver food that’s prepared and ready to eat. They’re used by 45 percent
of Americans and gobble up the bulk of spending on such services, an average of $63 a month. That’s $7 billion a month, according to the survey. Californians use food delivery the most, with 31 percent of those surveyed
doing so, Finder said Wednesday.
Subscription services are next, with about 44 percent of Americans signed up. They spend an average of $15 a month on services such as Hello Fresh, which delivers food its buyers must cook themselves; BarkBox, which delivers dog treats; and Rent the Runway, which lets people rent clothes.
Then, 43 percent of Americans use each of the rest of the top 5 services: pet services (an average $19 a month), repair and cleaning services ($17), and car services ($22).
Men outspend women on all such conveniences. Men fork over 50 percent more on food delivery ($77) and 200 percent more on subscription services ($24). They also spend 100 percent more than women on pet services ($26), repair and cleaning ($24) and car services ($28).
Full-time workers outspend retired workers on food delivery, with the former spending an average of $115 a month and the latter $7 a month.
As for age, Generation Y
spends the most on all such services, an average of $41 a month. They’re followed
by baby boomers, who spend $20 a month, and Generation X, who spend an average of $13 a month.
The survey also broke down spending by marital and employment status. It appears those who are married
or in domestic partnerships aren’t cooking much: They spend $101 a month on food delivery, about double the spending on such services by those who are divorced, triple that of single people and about seven
times as much as those who are divorced or separated.
Finder’s survey of 2,020 Americans was conducted in June.