DoorDasher sparks outrage with photo of online orders at McDonald’s: ‘An automatic minimum tip added to all orders would fix this’
DoorDash has been one of the most important (and convenient) inventions of the modern age. It has made it easy to type your food craving into a search bar and have your food delivered in a short period, but it’s also made a major issue for food waste.
One Reddit user and DoorDasher took to the r/doordash_drivers forum to show the sheer amount of wasted food at one McDonald’s. The photo shared on the forum shows nine bags of food sitting on the countertop, waiting to be delivered.
“Just Lookit All These Poor, Neglected Orders at McDonald’s Right Now! Heck, I’ll take and deliver them all, gimme!!” The user wrote in the title.
Food waste is a pervasive issue in the U.S. Close to 80 million tons of food, or a third of the nation’s food supply, is wasted every year. The trashed food goes to landfills, where it releases planet-warming methane gas. Meanwhile, the plastic trash from the food accumulates and contaminates the surrounding environment. What a McShame.
The DoorDash system works by users putting in their orders to then be picked up by a delivery driver and brought to them. However, that doesn’t always mean there are DoorDashers to pick up the orders. If there is no incentive, such as little base pay and tips, there is the chance that these orders will sit on the countertop until someone accepts the order.
This isn’t just a problem at one McDonald’s, either. Other DoorDashers have taken to the internet to share photos of the amount of wasted food that stems from a failed delivery system.
In the comment section, one user indicated the likely reason all those meals were sitting on the counter was that there wasn’t enough payoff to justify the trip for a DoorDasher. The distance to deliver the items may have been too high or negated by the cost of the gasoline to drive there.
Other users provided suggestions for how the DoorDash system needs to be fixed, to both curb food waste and ensure an equitable system for DoorDashers. “A waste of food but not waste for McDonald’s, they get paid regardless or they wouldn’t be making them up when they suspect no one will ever pick them up,” they wrote. “An automatic minimum tip added to all orders would fix this for DD, not sure why they haven’t done it yet since this is costing them money.”
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