I'm a millenial. I kind of use those services. Not really.

2 years ago I moved into my apartment. I would come home, and see a bag of food delivery in the lobby.

So I would go up to my apartment, think nothing of it.

Then I'd take out my trash at 6am, and see it still sitting there. One day I checked the tag. Delivered 8pm the day day before.

It kept happening. Different apartments, delivery anywhere between 3pm and 10pm. I'd come home from work at 1am, and it still would be there.

Eventually I just started checking the tag, and if it's been more than 2 hours, fuck it. Free dinner for me!

I still don't get why these delivery drivers won't deliver to the apartment door, always leaving food in the lobby. I also don't get why the customers who paid for their food don't come get it.

Either way, roughly once every 2 weeks, I have free dinner.

Seems to be unpopular to admit in this post, but I use food delivery apps. Yes, the fees are ridiculous, but I can afford it. I don't do it every day, but I do at least once a week.

I hate cooking and I hate dishes. It's never pleasant. No, I can't personally make something at home "better than most takeouts". If you can, good for you. It's not for me and I'm lucky that I am able to get takeout.

Honestly, I don't know how in the world one human is able to keep up with working 40 hours a week, cook, dishes, laundry, clean, etc. It's all too much for me. Hell, the state of my laundry has been insane the last several weeks.

Exactly this. I know millennials that use third party food delivery services for convenience, but I have not and will not. It is predatory, the drivers do not make a living wage with benefits. It also costs too much and the food arrives lukewarm and soggy.

I enjoy eating out now and then, but I can get my ass into a car or walk to a restaurant to pick up my order myself. It is better and cheaper to DIY your own delivery.

Jumping on the "not knowing any millennials who do uses door dash every day/often" train, but also acknowledging that I cant possibly know every single person in the world.

Even tho the fact that people often use these services always bemused me, I cant pass the fact that these services are still thriving and there seems no end to their popularity.

It's Platform Capitalism.

You insert yourself as a convenient middle-man then jack up the rents once enough people move on to your platform to trigger network effects.

Enshittify until basically no one but a few execs and investors are profiting.

And to any engineers who think they're on the winning team: look at the gig workers you help exploit. That's the future of your vocation.

Maybe not 'fixing' a problem, but they certainly vastly improved on the existing service aspect of food delivery. Which is the aspect I care about.

Buy from places that have their own delivery service

Figuring out which local restaurant does and doesn't currently deliver (which would change on a daily basis) was one of the main problems. Restaurant can still have their own delivery drivers but having a central place to look up who is currently (in-real time) delivering and what is a big improvement. Also I don't want to call or talk to people, so every restaurant would need it's own system to take online orders. Doesn't seem realistic.

Actually walk or drive or public transport to the restaurant and eat out

Brilliant. You can also cut down on commute/travel time and cost by just staying home. Or fix your depression by stop being sad! Big brain.

For reals. Why does my passion for good food make me feel old instead of just a healthy habit that most people could partake in despite their age

I don’t know what’s up with my fellow millennials in the comments. I do order food once or twice a week.

How?? I suppose I did this like a decade ago, but ever since I learned to cook / budget, it seems untenable.

Cooking your own food is much more fun

Until you have to clean the dishes.

How is this shitting on? Cooking for yourself and your family is chad as fuck.

Sometimes, I just want to be a potato and wallow in self misery while someone brings me kebab and makes my life instantly better.

I don't have to do nothing while waiting for delivery. I have to cook to...cook. Sometimes I don't want to cook, and I usually have something quicker if that's the case, but your false equivalency doesn't help your argument.