this post was submitted on 27 Aug 2023
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Voting with your wallet doesn't work when there aren't any alternatives. If all the services are bilking people, then there's no choice but to stop using an entire type of service. There's a similar argument in American tipping culture: you can just vote with your wallet by not going out to eat.
But that's austerity measures and those have been shown definitively to NOT work. People won't give up most of life's pleasures and conveniences unless they have to. No one wants to deprive themselves of most of society's benefits. And they shouldn't have to. There should be laws regulating how companies charge and introduce fees and what they can charge for to prevent abuse and industry-wide abuse.
Yes there is an alternative, you don't use delivery services. It is just a big dumb waste of money.
I pick up all my own food, have never used any of the 3rd party food delivery ripoffs
Tbf, not everyone has a car. I mean, cooking ramen at home and saving up for a car would be a better use of your money, but then people like whoever replies to this that are ideologically opposed to cars would rather have someone else with a car deliver it so they can disconnect themselves from that reality.
Fwiw I also always pick up, I was a delivery driver for 10yr, I can take one more run (to myself).
I've been grocery shopping on a bicycle.
My round trip was 24 miles.
Holy fuck I'm glad I have a car now.
If you're buying ramen you're wasting your money. Cook food at home with actual food.
I don't have a car and I cook just fine at home.
Edit. If your only options for food is ordering or ramen... Idk what to tell you. You're in for a rough life ahead of you.
"Ramen" while being a specific food is also colloquially used to refer to "inexpensive food" as a package of ramen is about 10 cents. The above comment was not an advertisement for "Maruchan® Brand Instant Ramen Noodles available in many delicious flavours."
And bananas are $10.
Ramen hasn't been 10 cents in decades.
Maruchan Ramen Chicken, Pack of 24, for $7.36 on Amazon. That’s literally $0.30/pack (or $0.10/oz). https://a.co/d/gr4Ft9F
Just throwing out there that ramen is indeed dirt cheap still.
You're stuck on details that don't matter. Ramen is not worth buying no matter how cheap it is.
But whatever. I give up. Be annoying.
I see you don't know what "self-awareness" means.
If you lost your secondary argument that you brought up for no reason, maybe just stop replying instead of being an obnoxious shit?
Have you had your meds today? Feeling better?
I'm a bit confused why everyone is dogpiling on you. You claimed that Ramen hasn't been 10 cents in decades and he comes back with a source that it is, in fact, 3 times more expensive. Given their own source, you were right.
Thank you, I appreciate it.
It's the hive mind voting effect. Once someone gets downvoted enough in a thread any response they have going forward will also be downvoted.
Nah, I downvoted you because you are being obnoxious.
They told you from the get-go that “Ramen” while being a specific food is also colloquially used to refer to “inexpensive food” and Specific amounts don’t really matter.
But here you are, stuck on details that don’t matter insisting that $0.10 a pack of ramen matters to this discussion, then calling everyone "idiots", "annoying", and "are arguing about dumb shit"- even though you were the one who came in arguing about dirt cheap trash food not being exactly as dirt cheap as first claimed it was.
Given your continued astounding lack of awareness, too, I take it you missed your meds.
I wish I was you when I was 16
They came back and verified WarmSoda's claim, and WarmSoda responded with:
So that's why there are downvotes. Hardly "dogpiling" at these tiny numbers. It's not about the claim, or the fact that $0.30 a pack is still dirt cheap, as they said, it's the fact that WarmSoda is being obnoxious and name calling because they aren't being praised for their observation.
I'm not sure what you're talking about, nobody verified WarmSoda's claim. They doubled down that the price is still 10 cents by changing the units to oz. and everyone ate it up. WarmSoda backed off because this is a truly stupid argument, but I'm still baffled on how Nate Cox was able to get away with that mental gymnastics. I guess I can get away with selling a car to you guys claiming it only costs a dollar (per oz.)! Come on, its a really good deal, you're not going to get a car for a dollar anywhere else!!!
uh, ok, bud. If you are here to flip flop your arguments on a whim just to pick a fight about what no one was talking about, go ahead. You can join blocksville with obnoxious name-calling guy 👍
Please feel free to point out any inconsistencies. However, there isn't any between those two statements. Here's the definition of verify for you: "to prove that something exists or is true, or to make certain that something is correct."
They're around 30 cents. Specific amounts don't really matter.
I'll check when I get to the store today, but "decades" is definitely wrong, unless you mean the 8packs (I was talking about singles). Or you're getting the yakisobas or cup noods that cost more than the packs, or sapporo ichiban which I have to go to a special store for as it is an import and that is about $1.50 a pack (but that chow mein is worth it, that shit is so good.) Bananas are cool too.
Wait, did I put a gun to your head and force you to eat ramen and I missed it? Tf are we doing here lmao this is the dumbest "debate" I've ever had. I'll say again "the ramen was a metaphor my dude, it ain't that deep."
The really good noodles are far more than 10 cents a pack of course, but if you can afford it the dollar-a-pack ones are much better. It's still a dollar for a meal pretty much, so not bad.
I recommend the Mi Goreng noodles by Indomie if you want really good ones. They make halal ramen in Indonesia that beats everybody else or at least ties evenly with Sapporo Ichiban and Nongshim. You can get a 30-pack for $20 to $30 online
The Mi Goreng is good for sure. I like the Saporro Ichiban Chow Mein too!
It doesn't matter. You guys are all being idiots and arguing about dumb shit.
If you don't know how to cook food for yourself I highly recommend learning today. Eggs for example are cheaper and cook in less time than ramen.
Ahem
No u.
That's great. My time is worth less than theses crazy prices and I work better if I get something to eat and this is faster than getting the very limited and terrible food at work. Do I feel like the prices are insane? Yep. But it's a value call and since there isn't another option that allows for good quality food quickly, they get my money. This didn't used to exist and that sucked, so maybe we are just undervaluing how great this is. Would be greater not paying $60 for lunch though, so yeah, I'm gonna keep paying and grumbling about it at the same time. I really hope drone services take off soon and have better pricing.
Using drones would be cheaper, but the delivery companies won't be passing those savings on to you. They've already shown that people are willing to pay the prices they charge now. They'll just absorb the savings for themselves.
How much do you weight sir
What does how much they weigh have to do with literally anything
I've never met a skinny person using these delivery craps.
Nobody ever died if they had to wait a bit until their next meal
Chances are if you aren't in college anymore most people you meet are overweight.
😂 The drones carry the food to the people, not the other way around.
And you think restaurant staff is not exploited?
Good for you?
People not ordering food en masse would hurt small businesses the most. Plus there's a huge benefit to using an app to order food, which is why they're so popular. If the system were controlled by the restaurants and interoperable via an open API, we'd at least see some transparency.
The problem is exactly what OP stated: These things are owned by a small number of players, who can exercises control of the market from all sides. They've created a chokepoint where they can extract rents without needing to provide value in return.
But you can vote with your wallet and not use the third party delivery app. Order from the place directly or call and order for pickup depending on the venue. Almost any resteraunt will let you call and order for pickup (that's already what Uber/GrubHub/etc. do then charge you the fee for the convenience), and they'll prefer that over the app because they get 100% of the money you pay for that meal
I get that boycotts don't work, but who the fuck is still paying double/triple instead of picking it up themselves on their way home or just driving out to get it - I haven't ordered third party delivery since the pandemic since there's no way I can justify the stupid high cost.
I recently started delivering with DoorDash to add some cushion to my budget and this week I had someone buy a single two pound bag of spaghetti noodles from Safeway.
I got laid $6.75 for the delivery after tip (DoorDash paid me $4.75 and the customer gave me a $2 tip). The noodles cost 3.84 at Safeway, and $4.18 on the app, and Safeway is a zero dollar delivery fee shopping experience.
As far as I can tell, it cost DoorDash a dollar or two for me to make that delivery, and/or the customer paid a lot more than $6.75 for the noodles for it to make sense for DoorDash to take.
It was a sort of surreal experience.
"Voting with your wallet doesn't work when there aren't any alternatives."
Just cook your own food.
Yep, and that's why my family do not go out to eat anymore. Getting costly.