If you’re like most of our readers, you’re likely in charge of some important organization, possibly the ruling regent of a country, the CEO of a major corporation, or a general behind a military coup. As such, you likely have expendable food tasters on payroll to insure your safety. Well, good news! You’re likely getting those services for free a little more than a quarter of the times you order out!
Yes, according to a recent study from massive foodservice distributor US Foods, a surprising 28 percent of delivery drivers admitted to taking food from a customer’s order, and since that’s only the ones who admitted it on the survey, I wouldn’t be shocked to find the actual number is a bit higher.
Interestingly, the percentage of customers who suspect that drivers have been snacking on their food is only 21 percent, but I bet that number will increase now that this report is out.
The methods the drivers may use to snag some of your food weren’t specified, but it’s likely that most are simply grabbing some fries or onion rings, maybe a clandestine gulp of soup or chili, or, perhaps slurping out about 40 percent of the interior of your burrito via naturally-occurring gaps in the tortilla covering and a tongue rolled into a suction-tube.
You can look at this as theft of food or free food-tasting services; I’m a glass half-full kind of guy, so I choose the latter, even though I’m pretty sure it was the delivery person that made my glass only half-full in the first place.
If you’re curious, this was the survey’s methodology:
Methodology: From May 9 - 13, 2019, we surveyed 1,518 American adults who have used food delivery apps, including UberEats, Grubhub, DoorDash and Postmates. Respondents’ ages ranged from 18 - 77, with a median age of 31. Additionally, from May 9 - 11, 2019, we surveyed 497 American adults who identified as having worked as a deliverer for at least one food delivery app. Respondents’ ages ranged from 21 - 63, with a median age of 30.
It seems that most (85 percent) customers would like tamper-proof packaging to help deal with this issue. Maybe that’s not the worst idea.