Study: 1 in 4 UberEATS drivers taste the food they're delivering

Study: 1 in 4 UberEATS drivers taste the food they’re delivering

The convenience that delivery food services such as UberEATS and DoorDash offer is undeniable. Gone are the days of spending extra time waiting in line and walking to and back from the restaurant. We now get to enjoy a bit more of our time without a sweat.

However, with the latest results from a survey, relying on a driver to deliver your food untouched may not be a safe bet.

US Foods conducted the study in May 2019. The participants in the survey were 1,518 American adults — including 500 delivery drivers.

The results showed about 28 percent of drivers admitted to taking food from deliveries, which people place through apps like Uber Eats and DoorDash. Furthermore, more than half of the respondents said they were tempted by the smell of the food they’re delivering.

“We’re sorry to report that sometimes, impulse gets the best of deliverers, and they violate their sacred duty by taking some of the food!” said the researchers in the study.

An UberEATS driver, Neftaly Gonzalez, says that the findings of the study did not shock him. “I’ve seen people grab a couple of fries off the top, take some, and then kind of roll the bag up,” the driver said. “People just don’t know how to control themselves.”

That moment when an UberEATS driver was caught eating the customer’s chips

In fact, a video of a cheeky UberEATS driver went viral last year for doing the same thing. The video showed the driver eating the customer’s chips while he waited for the unsuspecting customer to get to the door.

Get this: the driver literally ate a chip right in front of the customer’s door! Talk about confidence.

Subsequently, the victim shared the footage to Hot Breakfast radio host Eddie McGuire, with whom he was friends with. On the program, McGuire claimed that he suspects delivery driver often left his meals ‘feeling a little light’.

But what’s even more interesting is the fact that official UberEATS policy technically allows this!

In the statement, it said that if a driver makes reasonable effort to contact a customer but is unable to complete the delivery, they should “discard” the food. And by “discard”, that either means to throw away or to dump it down your tummy.

Call it ridiculous, if you will, but depending on a stranger’s conscience is gambling. You never know, your UberEATS driver might purposefully knock so softly you never hear them, and then accidentally dial the wrong number, and they can throw up their hands, cry, “O well I tried”, and shovel your dinner into their face.

Unless you’re willing to take a bet that your next UberEATS driver isn’t part of the evil 28%. But until tamper-proof seals on food-deliveries aren’t a thing yet, I will have to fetch the meals myself.