The Number One Reason You Should Never Order Food Delivery Again

If you ordered delivery for dinner and found out that the Pizza Hut driver had scarfed down one of your breadsticks, would you be upset? That's just one of the questions US Foods asked consumers in a survey about food delivery (the overwhelming response was that it was unacceptable), but more revealing was the fact that a full 28 percent of delivery drivers surveyed said they have eaten food from an order before.

As a consumer this is definitely alarming. After all, when you're shelling out big bucks for delivery, tips, and tax, let alone the cost of your food, you don't want your Thai restaurant delivery showing up a spring roll short. And if you order delivery three times a month, like the average person surveyed, you're definitely taking a chance that the person bringing your food is going to sample it. It doesn't seem like the smartest gamble. At that point it makes more sense to pick up the food yourself and save the extra money. So what gives?

A whopping 54 percent of delivery drivers surveyed said that they're often tempted by the smell of the food that they're carting around town. A hearty meal before work could probably solve that problem, but a lot of delivery drivers have to work long hours in order to make a living. In fact, pretty much every delivery service out there has come under criticism for how they compensate their workers — DoorDash, Postmates, GrubHub, and Uber Eats have all been sued for wage theft in the past, while Amazon Flex, Instacart, and DoorDash have come under scrutiny for using customers' tips to compensate their drivers' base salary (via Grubstreet). 

One writer for The New York Times said that making more than minimum wage as a delivery person "requires the physical daring of a bullfighter and the cognitive reflexes of a day trader," which perhaps doesn't leave a lot of room for stopping between deliveries for a snack.

Paying drivers more would likely mean that they could work less hours, giving them the time and money they need during the day to feed themselves so they're not tempted to eat your dinner. Either way, we're going to think twice the next time we order delivery for dinner. Those 85 percent surveyed that said they'd like restaurants to use tamper-evident labels just might be on to something.