I have a friend who said it impacted her town when they got mail delivery to the house instead of having to pick it up at the post office. Sure it was more convenient, but people used to chat together at the post office and that connection was lost. On a different note, many of the seniors I know, including my 90 year old mother, get home grocery delivery. It is safer for them to not drive anymore, they don't have to go out in the rain or snow, and they have acesss to fresh food so they can still live independently and cook their own meals. Convenience is a double edged sword.
+ a close familial structure where the younger generation takes care of things like groceries for the older generation is also a more social version than at-home grocery deliveries, but family structure is slowly disintegrating either way.
@M4rkeritaville Yep or now get mad at boundaries when we tell them "hey don't force my child to cuddle or kiss you, they have bodily autonomy" and suddenly you're blocking them from seeing their grandchild (apparently) and they won't talk to you anymore (even though they claim to want to see their grandkids)
@@W0Rd0n32sTre3T Absolutely. Big stores outpriced all the small corner stores that made daily necessities easily accesible then sold us the solution to not being able to go 5 minutes to the next store. Same with easily accesible doctors and other necessities.
I come from a small town too, and the problem with "buying local" is that local shops don't produce goods anymore. They are just resellers, just like amazon, selling the same cheap china-made crap, but for 3 times the price so the shop owner can afford to vacation down south every winter. That doesn't help "support local economy" one bit because they just send your hard earned money over seas to buy that cheap labour crap, just like any other reseller trying for a quick (cheap) buck. Bottom line: -If your local businesses are producing things locally, please, make an effort to support them and help retain the local talented/skilled workers you have, as well as support the local economy. -If they are just resellers, then it's fair game where you buy the product from, because it's all the same cheap foreign crap anyway and your money ends up in the same foreign pockets in the end.
@@WuffskyArtswhen you ask them about their products and they either don’t know the process or they explain it in a way that is just “I get it, I hold it in my shop, I slap my brand on it, and then I sell it”. Now, this makes sense for a lot of products, but if the product you bought from them feels cheap and you can find the same exact thing online for a way lower price then boom, there is your answer
While I agree that much of what is being sold isn't produced locally and that selling locally produced goods would be better, having those shops in my town has made the town itself more vibrant. My town used to be rundown and no one knew of it and now people in the area know it. There are also more jobs for teens in those stores, which is different from when I was a kid. Of course, the gentrification has its problems (it's driven up housing prices, making it difficult for those who grew up there to buy there), so it continues to be complicated.
If my spouse and I could pull a boomer lifestyle where we collectively only work 40 hours to take care of a family of 4, we wouldn't feel so exhausted and resort to paying for conveniences. I hate it.
Boomers when they were raising children had 1 house phone, not a phone for every family member. Rarely had home computers or dial up which is now high speed/wifi internet. Many had one car per family. Many didn't have access to credit cards. They saved or had 1 credit card per household or layaway to afford things like Christmas and appliances. They wrote and balanced check books not credit cards. Some of these are luxuries that people feel entitled to. I had a friend with a $800 I phone and plan, but couldn't afford an $11 Uber and had to walk home in the middle of the night.
@@YahsLoveisEnoughthat’s because the technology wasn’t there . If smartphones were around then boomers would have wanted access to them . Particularly as functioning in society in the West basically requires you to have one
Phones and internet are a necessity unfortunately and the way phone companies work, getting a new phone makes more sense then paying the same amount with no new phone... It's dumb tho. And usually you aren't paying for the phone upfront. @@YahsLoveisEnough
This can also be a story about city/urban design that is hostile to people's mobility, which can increase reliance on delivery services and rideshare apps.
I love this video but please take into account: There were people before (mostly women) doing the convenience work for the family. Fe my aunt was always working full time as a boomer, but my grandma was cooking for her, her husband and her daughter.
@ I want to say : we are not the first generation to use convenience services. We are the first to pay for it. And obviously (esp in the us) not enough.
This! Converting unpaid labour to paid labour can decrease inequality. Bashing "lazy millenials" for going out for latte and avocado toast is often a front for trying to push women back into the kitchen to do the cooking and entertaining for free. (Not something I see TFD doing here.) If everyone, including the men, pitches in equally not just with effort in the moment but also by learning to cook well, learning to accomodate multiple preferences and allergies and learning how to plan and prepare parties, I do think that would be amazing, but will this happen in 2024?
@@aquamar1003we’re not even the first to pay. The milkman is a trope for a reason, you used to have milk delivered. The grocer would go around middle class houses taking orders and then delivering them later that day, same with the butcher. Household employees such as maids and cooks. More than 1.3 million people were in domestic service in England in the Edwardian period. More than there were farmers. More than there were coal miners. We are only the third generation (as a millennial) where human labour is more expensive than goods. We’re really just going back to the historical norm.
I think that the real issue is that the gig-style jobs aren’t paying a reasonable amount of money… being a maid was generally a job for a young woman (in Edwardian times as someone mentioned), being a milkman paid enough to sustain a person’s wages, etc. These gig workers are not young or inexperienced, and they only pay “well” if you overwork yourself, and still don’t offer any real benefits. It’s a bunch of jobs where people willing to spend the money are offloading the social responsibility onto others who don’t have that luxury (similar to what happens with cheap clothes made in china or Bangladesh). I would almost go as far as to say that this type of work increases inequality.
Talk about convenience culture as a single parent. I have only one adult in my household but I am expected to perform the responsibilities of two parents. If I save time shopping for clothes online that gives me more time to clean my house, cook dinner, and interact with my child. That’s a win in my book.
Yes ! You are doing a good job , being a two parent household is hard enough, I’m behind single parents doing what they need to do to function , don’t let anyone shame you for using convenience!
How exactly are you expected to perform the responsibilities of two parents may I ask? America has tons of single parents raising children, I think the assumption that all homes have two parents went out with the early 2000's. You're expected to perform the responsibilities of a parent raising their child, not expected to do two people's job. My mom raised 5 on her own while working, with little to no help from family aside from the first couple years of my brothers life. Shopping: Get the kids in a group, something that's done twice a year at the bargain stores. Hand me downs for the younger kids as we grew into shoes etc. Cooking: Big weekend prep, once a child is over 4 they can help. By 9 I was making all my meals aside from big Sunday dinners Cleaning, Chores etc: Again, split between parent and children Transport: Public, Carpooling, etc Are you *really* saving time browsing these convenience sites? Getting sucked into doomscrolling, ads, dopamine drain etc? How old is your child? Cleaning and cooking are great times to interact with your kid, grocery shopping and getting clothes together in store as well. Not trying to be dismissive, just genuinely confused as to where the large struggle is coming from, one parent, one child, one home, unless you're working multiple jobs or something.
@@Nonyah123 that's really harsh because we don't know the reality of her situation. She might be working multiple jobs because being single is definitely a huge drain on finances, they call it the single tax. And how is working 40 hours not draining enough as well as getting groceries, making a meal plan, doing the chores, bathing, sleeping a minimal amount, and starting again? We also do not know if she has a commute that drains her time, or a morning routine with her child that drains time? It's also possible she's doing blue collar work, where she doesn't get to sit on her butt all day, then comes home to do chores, make dinner, and situate her child for bed. Not a lot of time after working 8 hours with an unpaid lunch and an average commute. You're looking at 5 hrs. of time in the evening to get anything done. Just because your mom did it (mind you with 5 kids who had to do so much of their own stuff), doesn't mean everyone else does! It is a struggle.
In the 1950s, Betty Crocker came out with a cake mix. All you had to do was add water and stick the cake in the oven. It didn't sell well and when the company did focus groups, they found that housewives wouldn't buy the cake because of guilt. Betty Crocker added eggs and milk to the recipe on the box and suddenly the cake mix sold well again. Betty Crocker's focus groups found that female consumers felt an obligation to work hard baking a cake from scratch in order to please their husbands and guests. That obligation is bullshit - so make sure you don't take the anti-convenience too far. If there truly isn't any harm caused by the convenience, we shouldn't make our lives harder than they have to be. There is enough pressure on women to be perfect already.
I agree with your sentiment that we shouldn't be putting more pressure on women to be perfect, nor should we shun "convenience". I think some people might forget the good things about convenience. What about the sick or elderly or the stay-at-home moms with young children that really appreciate conveniences such as the home delivery of essentials like food, medicine and diapers? There are truckers that drive those same essentials to the stores for our convenience. What's the difference if it's put on another truck and driven right to our doors so that we don't have to waste hours of our time getting it in person? Where does it end? If people really want to shun "convenience" why don't they give up all of their appliances? Why not live off grid with no power or Internet? Why not sell their cars and walk everywhere? All of these things are modern conveniences, which we should feel grateful for.
I have never succeeded in baking a cake from scratch. What I get is 9” round 1/2 inch thick doorstops. What a waste of time and ingredients….I’ll take a box cake mix, doctored or plain, any time!
When i moved out from my parent’s home and started living alone I came up with making «emergency cake jars»- mixed flour, cinnamon,sugar and baking powder in little jars just enough for a cake or 6 muffins - in case of an unplanned friend visit, which happened often . Then somebody told me that «cake mix» was a thing…still don’t get the idea- it takes like 5 minutes to mix.
As someone wi does a gig job occasionally, I appreciate the fact that i can expect more business in bad weather. Chelsea is a bit obnoxious to pretend she can speak for everyone because of the one testimonial she recorded. 🙄
@@faithli2131nowadays virtually all takeout delivery drivers choose when they work. They make their own schedule. If they’re delivering takeout in the rain it’s completely their choice.
2:35 the quote on roughly 37% of all workers using gig work as the primary income is misleading. Go look up that survey. It surveyed ~1000 people that were already gig workers. Roughly 37% of gig workers use gig work as a primary source of income, not 37% of all workers.
@@cesargalvan9808 1000% agree that these apps and corps are terrible for humanity and the world. However even if their message is good, they should not be using misleading research or communication. That weakens their argument and allows those who disagree to point out these flaws. It can call more of their research into question as well. This was misleading because they said "roughly 37% of all workers using gig work as the primary income" but they only surveyed gig workers so as Bobby said what they actually found was "roughly 37% of *Gig Workers* using gig work as the primary income". If they had surveyed employed people and 37% of all the workers used gig work as the primary income, then they could say the original quote above. Although I also don't love that surveys of ~1000 ppl can be applied to a state or country level, but it is unfortunately the general standard for most surveys.
I do this with uber eats, i still occasionally get it but I have to log in on my browser and go through the whole login flow + 2FA process, I can't just mindlessly open it
I don't even know what people buy from Amazon, lol. I had to buy a 16 foot Display Port cable that I couldn't find at the local best buy. But basically 99% of my shopping is at the local grocery and hardware store, lol.
I'm reading a lot of negative comments here so I just wanna chime in and say I really appreciate how candid this video is about the responsibility that we as individuals have to each other and, yes, the way our invidual consumer choices (IN ADDITION TO THE EXISTING STRUCTURES WHICH NEED MORE REGULATION!!!) contribute to making things worse for EVERYONE. I think Chelsea and TFD have earned a lot of goodwill over the years assuring uys that we live in broken systems and that a lot of things aren't our fault- and I think they've earned the right to tell us like it is every now and then. wonderful video
'convenience culture is killing us here is an ad for convenience investment' ...i know sponsorships are just a thing you have do deal with, but damn that whiplash x.x
Interesting video but thought it would be related to the infantilization trends rather than just being a focus on the state of the gig economy. Would be interested in a video on that
Its amazing to me that we are suffering from a loneliness epidemic, but people are doing everything in their power to not have to leave their house and interact with other people. I totally understand that sometimes you just can't be bothered or don't have the time to go grocery shopping, or to cook a meal. But those times should be the exception, not the norm. (Obviously not referring to people with disabilities or other valid reasons to rely on convenience services). By running my own errands, I've been able to make connections with people. The local butcher knows me on a first name basis. I run into people I know at the grocery store. Instead of buying a book on my kindle, I go to my library and have met many new people there. Its such a small thing, but its a way to build community. And lets not forget that a driving factor of our overspending and overconsumption is the fact that we no longer have community. While I know that these services can be lifesaving for some people, I'm a firm believer that the blatant overuse of them is terrible for not only our financial health, but our mental and social health as well.
THIS!!!! I feel exactly the same way. I take care of a middle aged quadriplegic woman, and these apps have been amazing for her (and other disabled people) to have a sense of independence she never knew was possible. I remember once her daughter was coming home from college and my client was in tears that she could provide her with a warm meal, groceries in the fridge, and other little goodies without having to deal with the pain and inconvenience of going out as a fully paralyzed woman. On the flip side, her early 20s son is able bodied, gets everything delivered to the house, doesn’t go out, and is morosely depressed. I don’t want to shame him (that’s truly not my intention), but he is the pinnacle of what TFD is talking about in this video. He’s the sweetest kid, so kind and caring but he is so so deeply lonely and I can’t pretend it’s not heavily influenced by convenience culture TLDR: these apps can be amazing or terrible depending on how you use them
@@Sophia-ks9yu Hear me out here... Her able bodied, young, healthy son could be helping her out with errands. Helping to take care of his less capable mother. You know, the way it was done for generations before.
The last time I used Instacart it was a week after my grandfather's death and the day before his funeral. I was an absolute mess. My grandpa was my dad, more or less; bio-dad was abusive. The Instacart shopper couldn't find milk in Wisconsin, somehow, so I had to go out anyway. I had a nervous breakdown in the middle of the dairy aisle, but I got my milk. And I've never used Instacart again. So, thanks for scarring me for life, heartless corporation! I only used it three times before that when I/relatives had COVID and I'll never use a similar service again.
@@fireandiron4181 And in "generations before" the elderly and infirm were left to die. Your average son isn't a qualified nurse. And caretaking is a full time job. Who's paying the bills?
I do think rideshare apps greatly improved on the taxi model, at least for consumers. I remember our crew missing a flight out LaGuardia once after a work event, because every cab we wasted time flagging down refused to drive to the airport from Manhattan. Also, the number of times I was wildly overcharged for a cab ride because a driver knew I was unfamiliar with the area and took me on a very "scenic route." I love knowing how much my ride is going to cost me BEFORE I get in the car, not after I've arrived at my destination and am frantically trying to scrape together cash for a trip that should have been $20, but was now closer to $30. In my opinion, that industry needed to be shaken up.
That was the initial promise, and while it improved certain things (like more taxis have their own apps now and there is no need to call anymore), they didn't really improve service as a whole. Uber has publicly admitted the app would detect if the user's phone was low on battery and apply a surge just because they can, because if your phone is about to die you cannot compare with other providers or call a taxi... They blamed AI for this, but it's not the only dubious thing they do. When I have to use it for my work, when I open the app there is always a car available 3 minutes away, however, once you actually book your ride, they cannot find a driver... Suddenly those 3 minutes became 20 and there is still no driver available... However, if you book with priority, one driver magically appears.
Also when it comes to safety - not that you're guaranteed a safe driver, but that you can share your ride with your SO or your parents, and flag if there's something unsafe in the car, like no seatbelts or if the driver is driving recklessly. Or even if you forget something in their car, it's so much easier to get it back.
I would also point out as a user of for example walmart plus and ordering food once a week, this is not a convenience purchase for me but a money saver. I do not own a car. While I can afford to own a car, auto insurance, maintenance, parking, and fuel costs, I have estimated to be around $200-300 a month. I can bike wherever I need to be(college), so these are the only things I need a car for. compared to that with the "convenience purchasing" I spend ~$50 a month. that's a huge difference. not even accounting for the initial purchase of a vehicle. So some of this also boils down to car culture.
@@churchofmarcus Car payments, even on used cars now, usually start at the absolute lowest around $350, but are more commonly $500 to $600, and that's for very low end, basic models with no frills. Owning a car is outrageously expensive and the car culture in this country is another reason many have to order delivery. I share one car with my partner, and when he is at work, I have to order delivery because he works 12 hour shifts and doesn't leave work until most places are closed, and I have no way to get my groceries otherwise during his work schedule. Many, many, many people are in this same boat. Villainizing convenience, a demand that will ALWAYS BE THERE, is outrageous when the reason people rely on these conveniences isn't a moral failing, but how our system is poorly set up. Moralizing people trying to make their lives easier, when the problem isn't them to begin with, only points out privledges and biases that may have, that others don't. In order to shop for yourself, you need a car in the majority of the country that isn't a metro city. You need money for gas, car insurance, car maintenance. You need to have a job that allows you the working hours to go personally shopping for all the things you need. You need to have good health that allows you to physically work 40+ hours a week, and still do everything else that convenience apps take care of for people. Moralizing anything when it comes to working is why people feel guilty when they aren't constantly being productive. It's a terrible, harmful mindset. I'm all for being aware of the struggles of gig work, and tipping accordingly if you use these services, but the real issue isn't really being addressed here.
@@MattWalters123 It really depends on where you live. Where I am now that would be fine, but I've also lived places where the closest "grocery" store was a dollar general, and the nearest real grocery store was not within bikable distance. Even if you really wanted to push yourself, you'd be biking down roads with high-speeds and no sidewalks.
I don't know the cost of gas where you live, but you might even be underestimating. I spend about $150 a month on car insurance, and at least $140 on gas. I also drive a shitty old car so unexpected repairs pop up at least once a year, which can range from hundreds to over a thousand dollars. To be fair, I don't have a car payment, so that helps a lot. But you are right that owning a car would be way, way more expensive
Has anyone pointed out the obvious, here? It shouldn't be about getting rid of convenience services, which help so many people, including myself. Instead of doing the Boomer trope of "I walked to school in 10 feet of snow, and so should you", we should be making tighter regulations and requirements for how businesses treat their people and pay them properly. We are a service economy; thanks to technology, this is the case. We're not going backwards in time to where working in dangerous factories is the norm and doing everything by hand is the "only way". Force businesses to pay and treat their people well; our service economy will continue, and as much as people apparently hate it, what do you think "services" are? This includes a lot of convenience services, many which became necessary during the COVID pandemic. I'm not into shaming people for using a service, when the root of the actual problem is the greedy corporations who don't pay their people enough and treat them like shit. If the employees of these "gig" jobs were paid well and treated properly, the only excuse you would have is that things should be done "the hard way", which IMO, is incredibly subjective and silly. I normally love your videos, but this one was way off base for me.
Everything in our lives is filled with conveniences and things that we outsource to other people. Most people don't grow or raise their own food, make their own clothes or build their own house. We rely on a vast network of people that work hard in order for us to eat, be clothed and have a roof over our heads with plumbing, heat and cooling. Those are all "conveniences", but people may have lost sight of that. If that were taken into account, then the entire world is full of adult toddlers.
yeah, i'm with you on this one. too much of the video felt very 'nobody wants to work today'. i think what it comes down to is that people feel uncomfortable with working conditions for people who provide these services, and instead of deciding to try and improve those conditions they're more comfortable just eliminating the jobs altogether - even though a massive amount of Americans would lose significant chunks of their income if this happened. and also, like you said, there's a lot of moral value placed on doing work for works sake, which makes people even more inclined to think the answer is that everyone should just stop being a big baby - or adult toddler - and stop using the services.
@@neriah9969 I’m with you, but the reality *is* underpaid and overworked people, and I DO think we need to moralize the ethics of utilizing that if you don’t really need to. We’ve already un-moralized buying from absolutely heinous overseas companies, and doing it here will make things worse for everyone. Like we aren’t safe from the gig economy in basically any job that doesn’t require a doctorate - we should be *extremely* cautious about buying in to a system like this
It is being tried in Seattle. It is deeply unpopular with many gig workers. Largely, because the fees get passed onto the consumer, they don't want to pay what the labor involved is worth.
I think its a problem to assume entitlement when you are just viewing statistics about people ordering. There are a LOT more disabled people now than there were in 2019 who have difficulty getting out in bad weather too. When I bring this up, I often get comments like "well this isnt about disabled people." Which is a huge problem in itself. Disabled people are 20-25% of the population. It doesn't just mean wheelchair users. Let's focus on the problem, which is the system. Individuals often don't have great choices anymore.
100% this. When my vertigo flares up, I often can't drive or walk. Food and meal delivery is often the only way I can eat when my partner is away at work during a flare up.
People always bring up disabled people when this topic comes up but...the vast majority of people don't order ubereats because they need to. They want taco bell at 2 in the morning because they have a craving they must give in to/have food addiction.
@@ganasde65 I don't know if you are a parent. But while it is good that women have jobs and financial independence, the job of a homemaker is long hours. Homemade food is fresh groceries and time to cook. Many do not have this time any more.
I have to say I chuckle when I think of the negativity around the new age conveniences, when back in the day people could have literally all of their staples delivered to their homes on a daily or near daily basis (milkman anyone?).
Yup! It reminds me of every older person who has ever done the whole "You kids are so lazy! I used to walk 2 miles in 10 feet of snow everyday to school!" Like, we have serious issues facing us as a country. People having access to convenience apps is the last thing on my radar, unless we want to approach this from a "fuck these corporations, make them pay and treat their people ethically" viewpoint. I'm all on board for that. But when you start tying morality to convenience, I immediately know you're being ridiculous.
Look, if you say fuck it I want to pay 30 dollars for 10 dollars worth of food that's fine. But most people know they really can't afford it, do it anyway and rationalize it by pretending it's actually cheaper to get doordash than it is to learn to cook and plan like an adult.
True. Mostly because in the case of my neighborhood, the mother stayed home with the kids and didn't have access to a car. We also had a fruit and vegetable truck that used to come by. All the kids loved the vendor - such a wonderful man.
True, but a big difference is that those services were sustainable and less bad for the environment. Glass milk bottles were reused. They were also good jobs with benefits and labor unions. They were also members of the community-people knew the milkman (some people knew the milkman VERY well, lol!). Actually, the milkman is a great example of all of the things Chelsea is advocating for in this video: ethical convenience.
@@midorisour2844 Can confirm. My father was a milkman in the '80s. Every milkman had the same route, and they knew what people would need. It was also a pretty laid-back job, and he'd have coffee breaks at people's houses. Neighbors would meet almost daily when the milkman came. So it was very much a community thing.
I watch “the financial audit” show a lot. Many of the guests order from door dash or Uber eats multiple times a week. When asked why they say that they “need to eat”. It’s a very strange way to live. Often they spend hundreds or even thousands on these each month.
That’s my favorite podcast!! You read my mind because I was JUST thinking about that. Since watching Caleb hammer, I’ve saved $200-300 a month from cutting out food delivery. That podcast is like a splash of cold water on our faces omg
I really don't like how overly rude and disrespectful Caleb is (but I understand that it's part of the show), but it is pretty wild to see just how much his guests will insist that their only options are to either order takeout/food delivery or starve. 😅
@sparkymularkey6970 that's my girlfriend and it is infuriating. So we either have to order or I have to cook. It's constantly I'm craving this or that, but when it's why dont we cook this? "Oh I'll just starve" even if I'll put something together for myself because there is food in the house. I often get food just so she'll eat something. And then she barely eats leftovers ?! It definitely feels like dating a toddler, but I'm the jerk to say "I'm not youre parent" or "You're an adult, these are adult responsibilities." Does it make me feel better that it is an epidemic? Idk...
The absolute peril of doing DoorDash in inclement weather is real. I did that for a winter or two in Chicago because undeniably the business is a lot better in those conditions. Then I spun out and almost got hit by a pickup truck trying to take an exit off Lake Shore Drive. At that moment I decided I needed to get tf out of that game.
Some of these conveniences are really good for people with disabilities. Making them affordable for people that really do need things delivered for them. It’s complicated.
Or people who work fulltime jobs. Idk about you all, but working fulltime, cooking and keeping the house clean is for me impossible. I was in a constant state of burnout before I started outsourcing some parts of my weekly tasks.
@@Ashina12345 I empathize as I also work full time and have an all-around busy schedule, but we shouldn't be demanding for services that ultimately cannot be this cheap without an exploitative business model to continue existing. Rather we should be advocating for the root cause to change and force companies to implement for example a four day workweek (as a start), which would provide people with full time jobs with more free time to take care of their own shit and not feel like it's eating up any free time they have left after working, often overtime. The same is true for people with disabilities: Why are they not getting help in a different form? Why are they getting so little benefits that they cannot afford "convenience" at its real price (for them a necessity really) without offloading the cost to gig workers? It's capitalism's divide and conquer strategy working when really the working class and people with disabilites are on the same side and that is not the side of capital.
@@BS-xs7jb i don't see her demanding. i see her using what is available. and you can be lobbying for change (which is expensive - better get to fundraising!!) while our friend up there is utilizing the convenience services available to her. it's not mutually exclusive. i hope you understand that. and why are disabled people not getting help in a different form? well, because that's socialism, which makes 33% of the country incredibly fearful. if it costs you money to do your gig work job, then dont' do the gig work job. it's pretty simple.
@@meowiestwoAgree with you. And it's not even just socialism that keeps disabled people from relying on others to do this for them. I have a disability that makes grocery shopping incredibly difficult although not impossible. But I'm also relatively young and highly value my independence. Between the option of relying on friends or family to do shopping for me or dealing with the physical ramifications, I 100% would choose to do it myself as I used to have to do. People also take for granted that sometimes you need something in a pinch and it's not ideal to have to wait for someone to do it for you if they don't have time to help right away. Grocery delivery and pickup has been a huge quality of life improvement for me. Should the delivery providers be compensated better? For sure, but same goes for the employees at the grocery store and I'm not going to start growing all of my food in protest.
I’d like to ad a different perspective. My partner and I both work fulltime and we have two school aged kids. Making use of online grocery shopping, meal delivery once a week, clothes/errand shopping online, etc, is a necesity to sustain this model. If these services are not in place you run the risk of pushing back women into the home at the expense of their career and financial independence. I see these services as facilitating emancipation of women. However this should not come at the expense of workers, fair waged are key and I support that whole heartitly.
It's kind of a parallel to how (white middle-class) women fully entered the workforce. Great for their financial emancipation, but overall wages went down as a result of the workforce almost doubling. Wages shouldn't have gone down. It's true that they did, but that wasn't women's fault and shouldn't be used as an argument for them to leave the workforce again (as it sometimes is in certain circles). It always comes back to the corporations. Individual (consumer) guilt isn't the answer. Now, how do we get corporations to act right?
@@francookie9353 i mean, women have always been in the work force? like poor women and women of color were still in the work force even when the "middle class" white lifestyle pushed women back into the home en masse after ww2
Kudos to you for being able to use convenience to your advantage. But that’s the key really- you use it to your advantage whereas others let it take advantage of their already shallow pockets that they work too hard to sustain. A lot of people honestly shouldn’t have credit cards and should do cash stuffing. They go online, get advertised to, and lose sight of the mission, get super sidetracked. These convenience services are really nice when used properly. Throw everything in your target cart during lunch, pay, drop by and pick up after work. Way faster than shopping in store, and you got exactly what you needed and not more (hopefully).
There has to be come part of this that is about not just convenience but pleasure. Like wanting a more elaborate meal every night. The reality is you could make a huge pot of lentil or chicken soup, rice and veggies, and eat it with bread every day for a week, and it would serve your nutritional needs, be quicker over all, save money and save the planet. But that is "boring" and hence why "adult toddler".
Real talk, I think some of the reasons convenience culture and over consumption are so prevalent is because we’re all so stressed and burnt out. For me, I tend to order tons of door dash (can’t drive and the area is dangerous and unwalkable 😢) whenever I’m either having problems at grad school or am otherwise overworked. I can only imagine how much worse it would be for people with full time jobs. It’s just that when things aren’t going well, I don’t have the mental bandwidth to enjoy my non spending activities like piano or following a book or tv show so I just end up over consuming (stress eating or shopping). I think that addressing this burnout is important because fun fact: one of the early symptoms of burnout is decreased empathy.
I was the same way as you until recently. Its really hard to pull yourself out of that, but when you do it feels amazing. The thing that really helped me, funnily enough, was video games, cause I could own them for a one time fee and spend hours on them, getting my dopamine fix from winning/killing a boss/etc. instead of just buying or eating. Maybe you could try to find a low effort hobby like that? Lack of hobbies is one of the big reasons a lot of people end up feeling burnout cause they feel like they have nothing to escape from stress with.
Yes it’s not an individual problem, but a systemic societal problem built into our capitalistic economic structures. People being forced to work longer and harder and resort to convenience as a break which hurts the bottom class. Only benefits the people at the top. It will take a lot of change across levels to create systems that work better for most people
I worked for doordash for almost a year in San Francisco, getting between $10-$33 an hour. All depends on the time of day. I could sit in my car for over an hour waiting for an order, not getting paid. If i did get a good shift of $33 an hour for a few hours, it doesnt account for gas (around $5-6 a gallon), car maintenance, or taxes you still have to pay.
I’m neurodivergent and work a stressful job in stem. After work I’m totally exhausted and am not able to handle going into the sensory environment of the grocery store and interacting with people. Grocery delivery has been life changing - I am much more healthy as a result.
@@lenainternet They suffered through the pain of living day to day (if passing), or got put into psych wards if not passing (which were not anywhere near ethical). Hope that helps
Imagine your ancestors defending themselves from giant mega-fauna predator with sticks and rocks, seeing you not be able to handle walking into a store where all the food is laid out for you to have your choice from. I mean seriously, can we stop glorifying the excuses?
@@fireandiron4181imagine your ancestor trying to do the job that the OP does. Guarantee they will never be able to do it. Humans have lost physicality in place of the ability to think about 500 different things in a minute.
Convenience apps are a direct results of North America's terrible urban design. In other countries these apps aren't nearly as successful because people hop on the metro instead of taking an uber and pick up groceries/takeout on the way home instead of ordering on doordash. I have literally never in my life done either.
I live in America and only began this month bc I’m in a metro area but am disabled. I hate even using the apps, I extra hate paying a huge fee that doesn’t pay the driver more, I despise not being able to give a tip at times when I have decent drivers.
I'm in the UK and what you say only works if you live in a big city/very urban area. Most people do not. The nearest bus stop is 15 minutes on foot down a steep "farm road" (can't take the car, the path is too narrow). When I'm looking to eat dinner around 9-10 PM, I imagine there might be two buses an hour, possibly just one. I could walk a little further and get a meal from the local chip shop, but within that closer distance, there's only garbage food. But you know what I do? I buy groceries and cook my own meals every single day. I'm a Millennial. I like cooking. Even when I worked a 14 hour day at the lab during my PhD, I'd still cook my own dinner (usually something quick if it was that late).
@@billiemunchen urbanity is sort of implied when talking about convenience apps since most of them don't operate out in the countryside anyway. I lived in a rural area until not too long ago and there was maybe one kebap/pizza shop you order from if the owners nephew happened to be around to run deliveries that day. So as you said, rural people just make their own food anyway.
we used doordash a lot during covid but almost never now that it’s like $100 per order. now we just use the app to organize our order and then call the restaurant, order directly from them and go pick it up because it’s way cheaper lol
Idk. Thinking about delivery and calling it “toddler” … milk 🥛 used to be delivered, ice 🧊 used to be delivered. And although we don’t it by its original name the convenience store was well … convenient? At least more so than the previous generation. On the flipside, much of the workforce didn’t and doesn’t aspire to be a gig worker. It’s not their job of choice.
You have a lot of excellent points in this video, and you have a lot of nuanced pushback in the comments, especially about the definition of entitlement, disability and convenience, and gender disparity of household tasks. I would also like to add that a lot of these convenience businesses begin as a demand for reform in industries that frequently take advantage of the average consumer. I remember taking taxis as a teenager and feeling either unsafe around a taxi driver driving recklessly, road raging, or just plain creepy. I would also never end up paying the rate that was displayed on their dash. It was always hiked up by a lot, and what is a 19 year old single woman going to do, argue about it? Ultimately, we need laws to protect these folks working in these services, but let's not demonize them completely. We need reform across the board.
I’m getting a lot of these types of videos in my feed right now - and I agree with wha she is saying about the parasitic nature of convenience spending whole heartedly - But I topic I don’t see often is that the generations before the millennials had tons of convenience for white men propped up the guaranteed free (or almost free) labor of women and minorities. Wealthy men have never gone grocery shopping.
As a woman, although this may be true, I don't think a reasonable response to this is to take out the shortcomings on men on people of a lower class than ourselves. We are effectively utilizing the same power dynamics as men by doing this, so hardly have a leg to stand on
Air bnb is great for groups of 3 or more, especially in areas where cooking some of your meals at home helps offset the cost of the trip itself. Or when we want to go on a trip with our 3 dogs. But over the last couple of years if it's just for myself or me and one person, hotels all the way!
Also handy for parents with young children. My kids are too young to have their own hotel room which means if we want to stay in a hotel it usually means sleeping all in the same room. Which means their bedtime (8pm) has to become our bedtime too. Have an air B&B and they have their own room so they can go to bed and we can stay up in the living room etc..
Groups of people are a problem in residential neighborhoods. Multiple cars all over the street. Unsupervised kids and dogs running around. And the expectation that there's no responsibility to be civil to the neighbors because you don't live there and will be gone in a few days. My quality of life where I live has suffered greatly so that someone else can travel or visit an area more conveniently.
Grocery shopping is a weekly ritual for me and my husband. We go together, mostly to make sure that neither of us makes an impulse buy without getting confirmation, but also because we can discuss and meal plan in real time. I think it scratches my primal hunter-gatherer itch.
I really hate these apps. I have spent more time when using them because of the number of wrong orders on food delivery, or terrible produce from the grocery apps. I end up having to drive to re-order the food or return the produce. I certainly don't blame the drivers or pickers knowing that they are underpaid and overworked. Now I just do everything myself, including cooking. It took me a while to figure out how to do time management because of my ADHD and my depression, but I discovered that if I spend my Sunday shopping in the morning, making my food for the week including baking two loaves of bread, cleaning and doing laundry, I have a ton of time the rest of the week, and I've been eating healthier and spending WAY less money.
If all that's keeping people "connected" with their community are chores that force them into public places, society has a bigger problem than convenience services.
Yeah. I don't get my community by in person shopping. It's a big ask to try to do that when retail companies have trained their other customers to be obstacles at best and ticking time bombs at worst. I do not want to community with that.
@@opierroleo yeah, working together on a shared task with your neighbor is not the same thing as going alone to the grocery store and maybe chatting with the cashier for 3 minutes. Tiny connections with strangers are great! But if that's your only connection with the community around you, that seems like a sign of major isolation.
This also has to do with grocery store culture. I have nothing to say to a grocery store clerk about the exchange that is taking place because they aren't actually stakeholders in what I'm buying, but at a farmer's market it's a totally different world.
Best and easiest thing I did was start writing down any discretionary spend in my phone notes section. Everything. That way I can keep track of how much I am spending and modify.
Former delivery driver here, if you don't order because of the weather. I don't work. I don't make money. I know the risks I am taking but that's part of the job. Just give a good tip. That's the one time a %20 minimum tip should be a expected. Sadly people often don't tip better and the worst tippers are the doctors living in their multimillion dollar homes ordering a $200 takeout order... Those make me mad. I never got mad about regulars who were on disability who didn't tip because I get it and I'm willing to take the hit for them. But the rich people... Ughhhh makes me angry. Minimum $5 courtesy tip starting off. If they go above and beyond. Do more if you can. Also as a former delivery driver I am sick of the dashers who only want high tips, the tip is for a job well done. Not to incentivize them to doing their jobs!!! Makes me so irate seeing the entitlement of some of these new drivers. Ps I worked for an OG delivery company before doordash, ubereats, or skip the dishes was ever a thing.
This. The one big perk of delivering is that people can take or leave any particular delivery. Nobody is forced to go out in the bad weather, unlike a regular job.
What I hate about online shopping is you can physicality get more than I can locally. I go to brick and mortar and cannot find what I'm looking for but amazon has something much closer. You have to make the ethical call that you will get something less desirable to avoid the mega company.
That's what I've noticed most of the time too. I live in a large city too but multiple times I spent hours looking for things that I ended up having to get online anyway.
@@stretchkitty21 I'll go to like 3-5 stores to find something and then have to order online anyways. I prefer at least trying but it's crazy how hard it is to find things in person now
I grew up before online shopping. I like alternative fashion but there was nothing like that for sale in my city. I'd have to either use the one mail-order catalog which obviously had a limited selection, or travel to the nearest bigger city just for one or two small shops or go to our major national cities, but I couldn't afford what they sold anyways. I just learned to make my own clothes. Since my mid 20s I buy most of my clothes and house stuff secondhand. You don't have the same kind of options but in some ways you have more options as you can find stuff from literally the 60s onwards. You can also be content or happy with the stuff that IS for sale near you, but I get that that might be hard when you have millions of options online.
@@erinnlinn6036What are you looking for that you can't find in a handful of shops? Are you looking for a specific variety/style of the item (a specific design dress), or the item category just isn't for sale near you at all (spare parts for vintage cars or whatever)?
Thank you for what you've said regarding free shipping. I'm a little Etsy seller and I'm under high pressure from both Etsy and buyers to offer free shipping, which isn't a cost I can just eat, as a one-woman operation.
All you have to do is add it to the price of your items and then check the free shipping box when listing. Tada, suddenly you have free shipping and can afford to have it.
@demonic.lionfish Thanks for explaining it to me like I'm five. 👍But why should I have to lie to my customers tho? And honestly, that would double the price of my smaller items. No thanks.
@@itme999 that's more of a psychology question and above my pay grade, but I can commiserate about it because I also sell stuff online and it's dumb how big of a difference seeing "free shipping" makes on the sales figures. I know the reason I tend to gravitate towards those listings is because I live in Oregon and have gotten very used to no sales tax, so the process of buying online aligning with the process of buying in person (i.e no additional charge at checkout) is just what my brain vastly prefers at this point.
@@itme999 a nice middle ground that may work for you is a service like pirate ship or simply sending everything USPS Media rate. *Shrug* I'm guilty of using both. Media rate is far cheaper, but it does take a fucking long time to get where it's going.
@@itme999 Telling you like your five? What the--as a customer myself, free shipping to me is everything. Because the price doesn't change and shipping costs usually jump scare me. It is a tactic that doesn't harm people. Then you just tell this person to f off. Okay lady this person shouldn't have wasted their time on you.
On Airbnb - it was originally founded as a way for people to make money renting spare rooms for short term rentals, not for full houses. You stayed with a family and experience the local culture, etc. like in the commercials. It was not intended to be a business, and guests and hosts were more connected. I don't remember there being any "horror stories" until it changed to be more separate.
No, that was only how they "disrupted" the market to keep prices low for the consumer and without spending a single dollar on an initial investment in real-state, but in fact that already existed (and still exists) and it's called couch-surfing.
I haven't ordered food delivery since January 2024. I enjoy doing freezer meal prepping which means each week, I don't have to stress over what to eat that week. Instead, I can shop from my freezer and avoid having that urge to run out and grab take-out or do delivery. I have taken the stress away from deciding as I technically plan far ahead every time I fill my freezer with a new batch of cooked meals.
I wish we could quit amazon and Walmart, but we live in a rural area and there's not a nonmajor grocery store we would actually be able to afford food at. It's kind of a vicious cycle when you have kids and make less than the median wage. I can definitely see why people want things cheaper, it's because their own labor has been exploited. I work for a grocery store (Safeway), and my husband a smaller local, restaurant chain. As mentioned in the video, there isn't money in grocery or restaurants, so owners or even major companies cannot pay workers adequate wages, which cycles back through to people like us having to find the best deal we can, searching high and low between the major brands or at grocery stores like Fred Meyer (Kroger), Safeway, or Winco. Either way, we cannot support small businesses consistently like we would love to. We do support small businesses, but not as much as we would like! As far as supporting small businesses recently, I have changed my prescription to a local pharmacy/drug store, and we've bought cute things (one Christmas present) and candy from them. I guess this is an example of an inconvenience that became something more pleasant such as interacting with pharmacists, and the cashier at the little shop! We also went to a local farm and paid to go to a pumpkin patch (as well as buying pumpkins), as well as bought stuff in their store. There's also a pizza place in town we go to occasionally that only has two locations so I can consider it a small business! Maybe what we need to do as a society is figure out ways to go to small businesses with our discretionary funding instead of going to chain restaurant or shopping on amazon.
Honestly I usually get my groceries delivered to my house but today I went to the store at 5pm and it was hell. So crowded, so many people everywhere blocking the aisles, chatting in the middle of the aisle, walking super slow. I literally couldn’t stand it, it gave me anxiety. I’m sticking to delivery service and I’m grateful for it.
I really think that the companies have made the in person experience intolerable and made susceptible customers dumb and rude intentionally in order to push online shopping.
The more people remove themselves from situations that cause them discomfort, the worse it will be when in these situations and the worse the anxiety will be when thinking about these situations
As a Torontonian I just want to thank you for introducing me to Conscious Farm Kitchen. As a GenX I don’t participate in the convenience economy as much as others, but I am excited to check out this exciting business.
12:45 it took me 10 years at a manufacturing job w a f500 company to make 32 an hour 😭😭 it makes me incredibly happy to hear decent paid jobs like this exist in the delivery industry and they should be extremely proud of doing business ethically but dang I’m feeling burned lol
I loved the video Chelsea. Something else I keep thinking about when it comes to convenience is I feel like a lot of service apps on our phones remove our own ownership of our lives. For example, I know a lot of people who don't grocery shop for themselves and spend little to no time browsing new products at the grocery store or have no idea how their local grocery store is organized. And I think that is simply jarring because it completely erases our awareness of our own surroundings. Similarly living in a city I've interacted with a few young adults who do not drive and kind of take Ubers everywhere and sort of don't really know the general directions of the city like which way is North? Which way is south? Which highway goes east? Which Highway goes west? Which I think is so concerning just from a safety perspective but also because it just erases our perception of our place in the world (if that makes sense...). That lack of awareness is what think about when i saw the title. Really enjoyed the video essay! Cant wait for the next one!
The gps thing is me honestly. I’ve lived in my current city for 2 years and still have no clue how to get around without my maps app (aside from a few close by things) I’ve been trying to actively remember different freeways and their directions because if anything happened or I lost my phone somewhere I’d be stuck 😟
Nah, that makes sense. The more your phone magically provides for you, the less connected you are to the Real. The less connection you have to the world outside of your house.
Even when phones weren't a thing, people still used maps and compasses lol. Most people dont know their sense of direction. Its a legit skill, that you thankfully have
That's unfair. I don't drive. I use transit. I may not know highway names because I don't use them, but I know what north and south is--better than drivers who just use GPS! I have to know all the bus and train routes down to where to find the stations and stops and how they connect as well as all the secret walking paths and connections for pedestrians-only that drivers don't know. I dont' take uber/lyft unless it's absolutely necessary. Not knowing highway names is not a "safety concern". Do you know all the bus routes? No? Why should non-drivers know car routes, then? Being a non-driver is like speaking a different language. It doesn't make them dumber than drivers.
@@Ella-g2m I didn't contextualize my apologies. I run alone (sometimes at night) and always pay attention to where I am geographically in case something happens to me that's what I meant by safety concern. I am like you otherwise I know the bus routes and main north south east west highways and city arteries.
Interesting topic but I personally believe that individual convenience is not the problem - it's the structure that we have given it. It's great to have convenience choices, great to make things easier and faster, it helps increasing flexibility and thus possibilities. What we need is a fair structure for it, where everybody wins. Nobody needs to order take out 7x a week, but it's good to a have choice - even if it costs more. The only thing we need to fix is the COST of convenience so that it acurately reflects the labour that is going into it. IMO, it doesn't need to go - it just needs some perspective.
I'm reading More Work for Mother right now and I think this video would have benefited from a historical perspective. "Convenience" services, aka commercialization of household labor, have been tried since the 19th century and many have become so normal we don't even notice they once were household labor. Some others weren't socially accepted or successful. They were also attempted for different reasons and in different forms. There have been laundry co-ops, for example, as charitable measures for people who couldn't afford in-home laundry, and as a tool for empowerment for women. I think it's good to be critical of these developments, and the way they're implemented. But that doesn't mean they're all bad or some new thing that means we're all weak and our generation is doomed (at least not for this reason alone).
The title is a bit click-baitey but I think it aligns with your general point. I don't think the video's overall message is an anti-convenience one; I think it's critical of the business models underpinning much of the newer technology-facilitated convenience. I think it's as nuanced as your excellent comment is.
My biggest level up for managing my life like an adult has been a task management system (like Asana, Monday, or Todoist). Now, I proactively tackle recurring tasks, and can also make reminders for one-of tasks to do them at some specific time. It has helped me take up so much more mental load off of my wife and place it onto me.
Do you have a brother like you? It's such a rare occurrence to find a man who thinks of sharing the home/living mental burden with their partner. Like a true partner.
I have a disability which precludes me from driving. I started taking Uber when the cabbies started to calude to price gouge me. I thought I would give cabbies another chance and my cab was two hours late.
So many people in the comments are just tripping over themselves to explain why *their* use of conveniences is okay, actually! If you feel defensive, you're probably projecting. Own your choices, or examine why this video made you uncomfortable (maybe your actions aren't aligning with your beliefs?). Convenience can be phenomenal: very few people are out here arguing that we should all go back to churning our own butter. However, for many people (not all) *over-reliance* on convenience is making us poorer, lonelier, and less capable. No one is *entitled* to takeout delivery 24/7 or trendy clothing at rock-bottom prices. The reason these conveniences are even available is because of rampant exploitation of the working class at home and abroad. I am begging people to take a look at their situation and determine which conveniences they don't actually need (and be honest), and have some worker solidarity!
Thank you! So many people have said that doing these tasks is too much for them or beyond their capabilities. Perhaps many only say that because the convenience is there? Would we not have to eat otherwise? That's where the toddler comes in, you have to have things your way, immediately. No other options come to mind. I experience it first hand and it is toddler-esque. At some point we came to believe that we are too good for the chores and tasks of adulthood. The more time passes, the more I appreciate my mother sheesh 🙏🏽
Not using delivery apps during bad weather for morality reasons is a weird argument. If nobody orders stuff, drivers can't work - no demand = no pay. Drivers are willing to go out on the roads regardless because they NEED money, and they aren't afforded paid time off. It's like saying unpaid factory work is morally wrong because of occupational hazard, when the actual issue is insufficient compensation + benefits. On the flip side, firefighters are in incredibly dangerous work but are compensated well - it's about how society/systems value your labour.
Regardless of all of this, consumers (myself included) don't understand the true cost of products and goods. Cheap stuff is not supposed to be THIS cheap.... the cost is being paid by someone else somewhere (suppressed wages, poor working conditions, outsourcing, etc).
in my country, we had this discussion of using app during bad weather and all the drivers said they prefer working during bad weather because they are paid more when it's raining or anything. sooo, I wait the heavy rain stops and order during the drizzle, cause I believe they app won't know if it's heavy rain or just a drizzle
But I don't think that is what the video is advocating. I don't think it's main point is that consumers and gig workers are to blame. I think it's asking us to consider standing in solidarity with fellow workers and apply pressure to change the system when we can because maybe the system is screwing all if us to varying degrees. Sometimes that might mean inconveniencing ourselves including considering whether or not we order deliveries in hazardous weather. Firefighters in the US might earn more than gig workers but I would argue that's not just down to how 'society or the system' values their works it's more because they are unionized. Even then think how long firefighters had to fight and campaign for Congress to agree compensation post the debilitating effects firefighters had to battle post their service during 9/11. These systems aren't neutral or objective and maybe with solidarity we can change them.
@@SeekingDialogue I can agree with this perspective for sure. I don't use food delivery apps anyway because ordering in food doesn't make sense for me financially. Although these services were never meant to be full-time jobs (thinking specifically about uber/eats). They were supposed to give people who already owned a car an opportunity to make a few more bucks. Still, I'm curious how far proper compensation would drive up pricing and if it would kill the appeal of centralized food delivery for good.
Another issue with app-based gig work is your supervisor is a piece of software on your phone, not a person. There's no pay raise scale for folks who stay with the company long term (which even many part time hourly employees get), zero wiggle room if you need to take sudden days off for health or transportation reasons, no paid vacation days, and possibly most key for your long-term employment prospects in my opinion... NO USEFUL REFERENCES YOU CAN PUT ON YOUR RESUME. That makes it much harder to move from gig work to a full employment position anywhere else, especially if it was your only job for a while and you don't have school, volunteering, or being a stay-at-home parent as an excuse.
I let my prime membership lapse because I didn’t use it every month, and I figured i could always use a family member’s account if i needed something that I couldn’t get from a local place. I do use grocery pick up a lot, single mom of three kids and a teacher its a life saver.
Your hair is fire!! Love that your putting this out there!! if everyone is gonna be doing a gig work, we definitely need universal healthcare. Mental health and physical health are two of the most important things to be able to be productive and unfortunately being worthy of being in society, according of course, to our current standards and society beliefs. Sending good vibes and we can collectively make a difference 😊
It is a double edged sword. I live in a very rural area. I have to drive at least 45 minutes to get to any store. Costco is almost 2 hours away. There aren’t many stores to put it mildly. So having access to Amazon is kind of important for me to buy things I literally cannot buy in person. I don’t always have time to drive a 4 hour trip because I realize I need a new (xyz) in a time crunch. But even Amazon can’t make fast deliveries out here and are typically late even then. I have to plan things very far in advance. We’ve been here a year and I’ve had to make a lot of adjustments to my lifestyle and I’m getting better at it. We don’t have delivery. It doesn’t exist out here. So I have to meal plan. I miss the convenience.
While super misguided, I feel like this is one reason why baby boomers are so enamored with the Trump “Make America Great Again” slogan. Some may be racists, yes. But I know my boomer parents bemoan the loss of community and the coldness of society and growing isolation. The older they are getting, the more convenience culture and hyper consumerism are growing. In many ways, my parents don’t even feel like they are a part of this world anymore. I’m an elder millennial and I think we are such a unique demographic because we grew up as kids with no internet but the mass explosion of the internet as adults. It really is kind of jarring remembering childhood vs now in terms of convenience and community. IMO, throw away culture had leached from hyper consumerism/convenience products to now personal and community relationships where people are just less dependable and way more flaky
yes but what they don’t realize is that ultimately it’s not really our faults for “not getting off our phones” it’s these social media companies, gig work companies, trying to squeeze every bit of attention and money from us. trump is not going to solve this issue
People moving more often and farther away, even moving abroad/coming in from abroad probably is a big component of that. Part of the reasons for moving is way more access to higher education for which most young adults have to move (or commute, which also to some extent takes them out of the community where they do live but just aren't present much). I moved from my small hometown to a bigger city for uni. I moved to another house in another area of the same city in the first year. Then changed course to a different uni, still in the same city, and moved again. Then changed uni to another city and was able to eventually find housing there in student housing with lots of overseas students/staff, often there for just 1-4 years. After a few years, I graduated and moved abroad, had to move within that city, moved to a third country for PhD where housing was so bad I moved around on average every year. Then moved to another city 4 hours away, then COVID happened, moved to a city 1.5 h away, and then moved to a rural area an hour away. My moves were all for higher education, research, employment, costs of housing. Many people in my social circle have had similar experiences (of course this is a select group of people). Can't form a community when you're only there for a year or a couple of years. Can't form a community when you have to move because your private landlord ups the rent and you can no longer afford it. Can't form a community when you have to move for a job because you lost your old job. Many Boomers are living in very large housing, buying up other housing as investment/retirement, gouging rents, preventing my generation from home ownership and putting down roots in that area. Only now that I'm in a purchased home, but a totally new area for me, am I looking a bit at investing in the local community. Never had the time out mental space or long enough presence for it before.
The convenience of apps and gig work is killing us, I think. Obviously it’s great for people with disabilities or limited time. But I also think the “ugh I just don’t want to X right now” mindset is really harmful for us all, as described in the video. Yeah, going to buy groceries is going to suck a little more than staying at home, but all you’re doing is offloading that task to someone else who may or may not have a choice to do it. The gig economy is coming for all of us if we don’t actively choose to not engage with it. Take a minute to ask yourself if your job *really* couldn’t be done by someone paid by the project - it almost certainly can. The gig economy will come for you, too
You realise that people with limited time is literally anyone with a full time job? "Yeah, going to buy groceries is going to suck a little more than staying at home, but all you’re doing is offloading that task to someone else who may or may not have a choice to do it." Same with production, growing food, transportation, etc. like that's literally how jobs work.
@ yeah, I do get that. As a person who buys her own damn groceries and also works 50-60 hours a week, I do get it. Your position that “but it’s hard” is exactly what I’m talking about. We all got our own groceries 5 years ago. And look I’m no Luddite, the world progresses, but I think it’s important that we don’t passively absorb the *way* it progresses because…. we’re tired after work?
No, it's not killing us. Corporations who don't treat their employees ethically, so that they can greedily put more millions in their pockets, is what is killing Americans. In more ways than I can possibly list here. If gig workers were treated well, you're only excuse would be "well, we just SHOULD do it the old way".
I would be interested if ride sharing like uber and Lyft has reduced people driving while drunk. I know if my wife and I are going out and we are planning on drinking we will we take an uber instead of driving.
It definitely streamlines the process of getting a safe ride home, which is a benefit in its own right (easier to tap the app than find the local taxi number, call, and arrange the pick up), so the hypothesis is probably sound before actually testing it. But that begs the question of why didn't Uber and Lyft work with existing local ride services to connect and market to users? We all know the answer to that, of course.
Great work Chelsea. I delivered for Uber before. The company and customers treat us like crap. I never use delivery apps because if customers knew what really goes on during the delivery they wouldn't eat the food...
I used to do food delivery too. It was difficult work for little pay. And the worst is when customers bait you with tips and then withdraw them after you deliver their food....I will never understand people that do that
My fiance and I are opposites. I almost never want to do delivery because of the added cost, I'd rather go in, pick it up, and stretch my legs a bit. He would rather have the comfort and not have to worry about crowds or parking. On the other hand, I am inclined to order delivery in bad weather. Fortunately, my fiance always points out the callousness of that choice and we make something from home instead. It's never intentional, I just have the practical thought that if they're open, they'll deliver. I'm glad he reminds me, though. I do want people to be safe, I just don't always think of it. When you mentioned it here, I had the same punch in the gut that I get when he points it out. I was trying to understand what you were leading up to but I just couldn't see it myself. Another benefit to community: compassion. After I started working in retail while in college my mom told me that she started shopping more tidily to make less work for the employees. We had to stay after closing until the store was back to normal. I had a friend who worked at the movie theater, I always cleaned up after myself (10 minutes to clean the whole theater!)-- and another who worked in a pharmacy, I'm patient and ask for advice to fix issues. My dad was in construction, I slow down in construction zones. I think I'm generally a nice person, and these are considered basics for most people, but the care with which you do them changes. You're not just making sure that you leave no trace (shyness/invisibility) or get things over with faster and not rocking the boat, you're doing them with someone in mind, even if it's not the same person that will benefit. You're thinking about their experience, too. That perspective shift changes your attitude and, for me, brings a sense of peace as well.
I decided to go no-amazon a while ago, I just shop in real life. If I really can't find something in real life I can always find it as cheap on Ebay still with free shipping. But vendors just bake the cost of shipping into the price of the product now so you aren't actually getting a deal unless they're liquidating. A huge issue I find when shopping for anything online (amazon or otherwise) is that I almost always have a problem with what I end up getting and wouldn't have bought it if I had held it in my hands. So I only buy something if I know exactly what I'm getting. Plus, people talk about how everything is cheaper on amazon but I find stuff just as cheap in real life all the time, at least matching quality. At best I can find something for 5% less on amazon than elsewhere. And when you shop in person you get it faster than same day shipping anyway lol. There is no reason to 'depend on amazon'. I am not that financially well off. It offers nothing you can't get elsewhere other than same day shipping which isn't even common anymore and costs money when it is available. We are talking about saving at best twenty bucks a year if you plan and research really really hard which no one does. It is not a free time issue, going to a store does not take that long. It's a claim people make but if you have time to mess around on social media you have enough time to stop by a store for essentials on the way home from work. I don't understand what people are buying all the time that they couldn't go out and find in real life. The people I know ordering stuff get things like decorations and luxuries you could get at any craft store and books that are available for free at the library. I think people just don't feel like leaving the house and are addicted to online shopping.
...I hope the title of this video eventually gets changed. Equating the need for convenience shopping to being an "adult toddler" is really insulting. It's clickbait, and we can do better. I had a long thing written out, but I think I'm just not the demographic for this channel. I have a friend who buys a lot of stuff she doesn't need with money she doesn't have, and that's who I guess needs to hear this. Regardless, the gig economy bit still felt out of touch. The underlying problem is that the economy is in such a bad state they feel the need to hustle during bad weather, not that the average consumer is a terrible, entitled customer who is personally forcing a peasant to get them food.
That's who her target is. People who refuse to do things themselves because the convenience is there. It isn't about ordering out here and there it's someone else can pick up groceries, cook, do laundry, cultivate outfits, walk the dog, (forget about dishes when we have paper plates and washer machines).
Say what you will, grocery pickup is literally the best thing ever. I only have about 2 hours in the evening when I get off work, and to be able to pull up to the grocery store and them plop my groceries in my car truck. I saves me a good hour or two of my life, which is game changing. I don't eat out as much, because I have food at home. I actually spend LESS at the grocery store, because I don't have all the displays tempting me to impulse buy, and I can clearly see what is on sale and not on sale on the website. It's just better for me all around. And amazon actually allows me to be able to get gifts for my family, because otherwise I just don't have time. Should I be working this much? Probably not. But I appreciate these conveniences that make my life easier.
I get my midday meals delivered by Meals-on-Wheels, but I go out and shop local for everything I can... I don't use apps and am on snap benefits so any small store taking the snap ebt card near my apartment is likely to get my business... Mind you I am 63 and use a walker with a doctor's admonition to walk more. Streetcars and Bss drivers are my friends in this endevor I call life.
I remember the first moment I arrived in the US to study, from Latin America. I really felt it was a country made for babies. Everything was so easy and convenient, I couldn't believe it.
I deliver for DoorDash, Uber Eats, GrubHub, and Instacart. I don't use any of them. I also do the early morning deliveries for Amazon, but I'll admit to using Amazon.
We have these same delivery services here in Europe, but nobody would expect the courier to leave your food "on dry ice" or you not being home. They call you and you have to confirm you're home. Nobody would even dream of ordering and not being home to pick it up? Weird.
Yep, I can 100% back up the fact that companies are outsourcing roles to contractors in Central and South America, India, and sometimes Eastern Europe to find more exploitable workers, and they're not required to provide benefits or job security to these folks. I've seen it first hand. Contracts may or may not be renewed, nothing is guaranteed and it's a race to the bottom to see how little companies can get away with paying people. I think the end goal is to eventually try to make most of the workforce in the U.S. into contract labor since, to have a job, you'd have to compete with people overseas who may have a lower cost of living, and at some point you'll have been without work long enough that you'll take anything- even a low-paying contract gig. This is why we all need unions and folks in the tech and other white collar industries need to build class solidarity and awareness with ALL other wage workers and do wildcat strikes, withhold our labor, and collectively demand better conditions for all workers.
I wonder if there's ever going to come a time when it will be normal for average sized apartments (not microlofts,) to not have a range anymore and only have a microwave because average people won't be expected to know how to cook from scratch or want to do it, unless they went to culinary school or worked in a restaurant. We live in a time where you could go years without using an oven or a stove if you wanted to. Of course, it's way more expensive and less healthy, but I think that's going to change in the coming decades, to the point where having a kitchen with a range is going to be like having a sewing machine. Think about it, years ago lots of people used to sew their own clothes because they needed to or because it was cheaper. But now stores are full of cheap clothes and making your own is just an optional hobby.
@@cdnchevry Yeah, I second that. I love to cook and bake and I learned how to make cinnamon buns. They take a lot of effort "from scratch" but they are worth it. I still am grateful for the "convenience" of a hand mixer to help me mix the dough. We're all working with some level of convenience.
A lot of people in history didn't have a oven in cities because it is was easier to bake bread in one oven at the bakers, there has been takeout since ancient times. It not just a modern thing
I remembered why I stopped watching this channel :/ why make this whole video critiquing convenience culture just to be sponsored by a convenience brand? Odd choice.
Another great, and considerate video from TFD! I stopped my amazon prime years ago - I find it to be much better to buy things locally. There are times when I do need to order from amazon, but when you don't use it that often they are always trying to entice you into getting prime by giving you a free month. In those desperate situations, I will take the free month, buy the things I need, and then immediately cancel the membership. Even if you cancel immediately after activation, you still get the benefits for the full month.
Same - my family shares an account, and I mainly use it for the discount at Whole Foods and the streaming services. I buy something online maybe once per year, and that's usually because I've exhausted the local options. I'd rather walk in a store and see/handle the product than order it.
Weaning myself off Amazon is difficult. Trying to find items I need locally is hard, especially specialty items that I need urgently. For example, I need to get a 1 inch swivel bolt hook to repair a stadium chair before this weekend. I can't get the specific item I need from any hardware store locally, and while there is a specialty small business that has it very cheap.... it'll take two weeks to get here, and I need to make my repair in three days. Amazon could have had it here overnight. I'm going to try a half assed temp repair with a lesser item from the local store, I guess, and order the proper bits and bobs for next season's fixes to the chairs from the real store. Because I'm never giving Bezos another penny, if I can avoid it.
It rubs me the wrong way when small buisness owners say that customers don't understand why they can't offer the deals the big companies can, like, no, we understand why it costs more to do things ethically, we just can't always afford that
People have forgotten the true costs of things. They want clothes for $5-20, for instance. Half of that is the retailer's margin, the other half-ish is what the retailer paid the distributor/manufacturer. So leggings are made for less than $10, shipped all the way from China... You could also be willing to pay more for better quality and to support local manufacturing, but people think $40 is too much for good leggings, unless they are Lululemon (?) which apparently makes $100 leggings (in the USA or Asia?!).
Workers in prior generations had full time house staff. That's what a wife was. Now that everyone works and wages are significantly worse, some of that stuff has to be done. No matter how much millennials spend or whatever, it's less than keeping an entire person essentially on salary. I also think we'd rely on amazon if physical stores stocked anything anymore, but they don't. The shelves cleared out in 2020, and they're still not properly stocked in 2024, even if there is stock you can order. They know you'll just order it. They don't need to bother to put it on the shelves. When you can buy it in person, it's 3 times the price. But I am sure NYC is especially bad, to be fair. Everyone would rather be driven to the airport by a friend or family member, but none of those people can afford to have cars either. The whole community is under the same pressures.
Listening to the entrepreneur talk about her food delivery business really makes me think about how much damage the blitz scaling model has done to small businesses. You've got these massive companies that are burning through investor money while subsidizing the customer's consumption. Small companies who are genuinely trying to build their business the good and honest way are stuck in price wars that they can't win because the market has been taught to demand a price that's not economically viable.
I have to walk 30 minutes to pick up my meds. I was asked why I just don't get them delivered? Because I can still walk. I get my exercise AND I get a chance to check out the secondhand stores while I'm down there. I can't afford the extra 2-5$ to have fast food or groceries delivered when I can still walk, even if the shops are 20+ minutes of walking away.
I wonder if the growth in convenience services (especially food and grocery delivery) has something to do, at least on some level, with the huge rise in disability and chronic illness/fatigue leaving huge numbers of people with less means to get out and about and do their own chores like shopping, etc. A video on disability and finances and the hardships people face there would be really interesting. Appreciate your work as always, Chelsea!
Most people also don't have community to rely on anymore. Both my parents live out of state. My sister has a job and 4 year old. I don't have very many friends to begin with, none of them live close by. It's just me and my partner, who works full-time every weekday. There is no one I can turn to besides paid convenience services.
I deliver pizzas in a wealthy suburb and during a tornado warning (that’s the worse of the two), I had a customer tell me I shouldn’t be out driving. I was delivering her food to her.
I'm a "convenience spender" because of my chronic illness. As someone with chronic illness, these "conveniences" are a lifeline to me and allow me to do things like eat one meal a day. I'm curious with the long-term effects of Covid on public health and the rise of chronic illness and disability, how many others are like me, contributing to the rise in "convenience" spending.
I really dont see an issue with this. I couldnt be a single soccer mom with 2 kids and a full time job without all these things at my convenience. its either convenience or no home cooked meals.
When younger people see how single moms struggle on top of the lack of societal support for fostering fruitful marriages, we start asking questions. Most of the convenience workers are on contract and speak no English. It's almost like America created a slave class just to squeeze more $$ out of us.
@@feliciafelicia6965 it's not a conspiracy theory lol, same thing happened in Canada and Australia were governments were relaxing student visas without ensuring good quality of life so that they could get cheap labour for blue-collar jobs. Great that it benefits you but u can't just ignore that other ppl are struggling bc of the exploitation.
I think we're ignoring the elephant in the room: Federal safety nets. We need healthcare for everyone, a mandated livable minimum wage, and mandated parental leave. These would immediately alleviate the pressure on the working class. Worker's rights are needed as well, but just starting there honestly feels like a bandaid for a huge gaping wound that is no safety nets. At the end of the day, the only people getting any marginal increases in worker's rights are those living in blue states, and corporations just skirt that by moving somewhere red. Federal regulation is the solution.
I agree that the exploitation of these workers is a big problem but that's systemic, that's not the fault of the consumers. EVERYBODY is overworked and underpaid now, and using these conveniences makes life easier and more manageable. I don't think it's fair to blame people for choosing to make their difficult lives easier. The companies are the problem.
I think this is such a flawed way of seeing this. The system is flawed and the consumers know it yet they still perpetuate the system? The consumers are to blame, companies are to blame, society is to blame, we are all to blame. The blame is diffuse. We are all part of the problem. We can obfuscate and fragment ourselves away from responsibility forever and ever and never see the world improve. Blaming the companies full-stop and being like "whoops, guess there's nothing we can do to improve anything!" is really child-like thinking.
@@rinesserin it's not "shaming", but if you consider something is a bad company policy, I think that aside from trying to get it banned, you should educate the consumer about why it's wrong, not just allowing it while it lasts Besides, the general public perception on the subject can be a big force when implementing such policies
@drillerdev4624 People know why it's wrong. But most people don't have the luxury of choosing differently. Lecturing a disabled person or a single mother working multiple jobs about why they shouldn't be using delivery apps doesn't solve any problems. It's up to lawmakers to enforce actual workers rights and prevent these companies from taking advantage of their employees.
I live in Germany in a big city with all the shops available. Whenever I want to buy a product, a very mainstream/basic one, not even a niche product, I prefer to walk or drive to the city and pick it up by myself in the store. The last months I noticed the stores would never have the products I want and the sales assistants would tell me it is only online available. At this point I have given up going to the stores. I order online and sometimes I am even lucky to get coupons by subscribing to the newsletter, that I would otherwise not receive in the stores.
We cancelled our Prime sub this year and... turns out we didn't even need it. I wait until I run out of the things I can't find elsewhere, and only place an order when I've hit enough for free standard shipping. Also turns out some of the things I was ordering have been available at my city's Asian market anyway, often for way cheaper, so now I get to support a local business more often instead of Bezos.
As a Millennial, I just want to say that the research and reporting done on this channel is better than anything out there in mainstream media right now. Genuinely appreciate the no bull approach to gathering and sharing information in a way that is easy to understand and process. No corporate media bias etc. Just consistently great content. Thank you TFD.
This video was FABULOUS and I'm glad it went so heavily into my #1 least-favorite thing about the gig economy: misclassification of employees. Most people don't know or don't care about those implications or how brazenly the companies make the claim that e.g. uber drivers "don't provide work that's central to the company's main product." But my second favorite thing, the fees for the small businesses to participate in things like doordash or ubereats, are what made me decide I would only order restaurant food to my door if the restaurant itself is providing the delivery service.
Living in Hawaii cured me of a LOTS of convenience because being so far off geographically, you get used to not having stuff being delivered here and buy locally or go without. And even if they have free delivery its only to " Continental US" so Hawaii and Alaska always get screwed and have to pay for delivery. Amazon takes 5 days on average to deleivery to Honolulu, food is already marked up so food delivery is only used when you're sick or if you're a tourist.
Not the bowling ball buffer 😂😂😂 Great video. As a rule, I do not order groceries or door dash simply because the fee is not worth it for me. I’d rather go after work at 8pm than pay some billionaire $20 to send someone else to do it for me. I also bring lunch every day to work, which my coworkers are astonished at because some of them order take out literally every day
The irony of saying by ride sharing is a convenience while selling a convenience app to delete the data those same companies are selling. Also it's a free feature on Google
I'm an in-between Millennial and Gen Z, I've only watched this video and "Why Nothing You Buy Feels Good Anymore" so far and it's so surprising that all of statistics are so high. I don't have prime, any food delivery service, and rarely use uber or doordash. Maybe it's because I'm from a small rural town so we didn't have those things for nearly as long as big cities so maybe they're not as big a part of our lives. I wouldn't be surprised at a high use of Amazon in our area because our population is so small that having a physical store for a niche product/market would not draw in enough buisness to stay open. However, Amazon is almost guaranteed to have whatever it is and get to you ASAP. For example, I needed a specific cord for my computer and I want to Walmart and a local computer store looking for it and NEITHER had it, but Amazon did. As for delivery apps, I can't justify them because why pay extra when the store is only a 10 minute drive across town? It would make more sense somewhere like LA where getting to the store can take an hour on its own. As for excessive shopping, in your other video you said people buy 70 new clothing items a year. I probably only bought 70 new items in my whole adulthood! The other day I threw away a pair of sweatpants that I've had for probably 10 years only because they had rips, tears, and were stretched out. I wish I could go to the mall and be around the hustle and bustle but so many are dead. I love going to in person stores to make sure what I'm buying is actually what is advertized and decent quality. Am I the odd one here? Is this stuff actually normal and I'm just in my litttle bubble and don't see it?
Am I missing something? She said that ordering food delivery during inclement weather indicates a lack of empathy on the part of the consumer, but the drivers for companies like DoorDash and Ubereats only work when they choose to. Obviously, they might put themselves at risk by driving in bad weather because they can’t afford to not have the income, but how does not ordering food help that?? Sure the risk of them getting hurt being out in that weather is gone, but now they also can’t get that income that they need. These drivers are adults and should weigh the risks for themselves. I used to drive for DoorDash and I know that you would get paid more when there were fewer drivers working, so bad weather often means more money.
Many delivery and uber drivers that I've met aren't working their hours out of choice, they've been squeezed into a position where they literally can't stop working by really exploitative company policy, or the systems that surround the job (like extortive car leasing) that the company turns a blind eye to. I think that might differ from place to place, but in South Africa, I have not met many drivers who feel like the position has opened up choice for them, very much the opposite.
@@jamysilver4575 If they can’t choose to not work on a given day/time, then it is not gig work. I was referring specifically to gig work delivery like DoorDash and Ubereats. Idk how it works outside the US or in other companies, but for DoorDash (and likely Ubereats, Instacart, etc), it’s up to the driver’s discretion
We wouldn't need so many conveniences if we didn't exhaust ourselves at work with terrible working hours or conditions, often both. Since I started working fewer hours I naturally spend less money on conveniences. But not everyone can do that. Maybe it's the neurodivergence but before delivery apps when I was working and a student, I just starved because I didn't have the energy to go grocery shopping.
About 20 years ago, I visited Puerto Rico for a work conference. It was at a fancy hotel about an hour from San Juan. On the ride from the airport to the hotel, I saw poverty like I’d never seen before. It was then that I realized vacations are just a way for ordinary people to pretend to be rich for a little while, and to do that, there needs to be a underclass. Our comfort and convenience is dependent on there being a permanent underclass. So be mindful of how you use modern comforts and conveniences.
I have a friend who said it impacted her town when they got mail delivery to the house instead of having to pick it up at the post office. Sure it was more convenient, but people used to chat together at the post office and that connection was lost. On a different note, many of the seniors I know, including my 90 year old mother, get home grocery delivery. It is safer for them to not drive anymore, they don't have to go out in the rain or snow, and they have acesss to fresh food so they can still live independently and cook their own meals. Convenience is a double edged sword.
+ a close familial structure where the younger generation takes care of things like groceries for the older generation is also a more social version than at-home grocery deliveries, but family structure is slowly disintegrating either way.
@francookie9353 maybe if the older people didn't gleefully mangle us when we were younger, there would be less disintegration.
@M4rkeritaville Yep or now get mad at boundaries when we tell them "hey don't force my child to cuddle or kiss you, they have bodily autonomy" and suddenly you're blocking them from seeing their grandchild (apparently) and they won't talk to you anymore (even though they claim to want to see their grandkids)
True convenience would be if cars were not a necessity and actual necessities were accessible within walking distance of your neighborhood
@@W0Rd0n32sTre3T Absolutely. Big stores outpriced all the small corner stores that made daily necessities easily accesible then sold us the solution to not being able to go 5 minutes to the next store. Same with easily accesible doctors and other necessities.
I come from a small town too, and the problem with "buying local" is that local shops don't produce goods anymore. They are just resellers, just like amazon, selling the same cheap china-made crap, but for 3 times the price so the shop owner can afford to vacation down south every winter. That doesn't help "support local economy" one bit because they just send your hard earned money over seas to buy that cheap labour crap, just like any other reseller trying for a quick (cheap) buck.
Bottom line:
-If your local businesses are producing things locally, please, make an effort to support them and help retain the local talented/skilled workers you have, as well as support the local economy.
-If they are just resellers, then it's fair game where you buy the product from, because it's all the same cheap foreign crap anyway and your money ends up in the same foreign pockets in the end.
100% agree!
I never thought about this! Very interesting information :) Are there certain ways to identify if a "local" business is a reseller?
@@WuffskyArtswhen you ask them about their products and they either don’t know the process or they explain it in a way that is just “I get it, I hold it in my shop, I slap my brand on it, and then I sell it”. Now, this makes sense for a lot of products, but if the product you bought from them feels cheap and you can find the same exact thing online for a way lower price then boom, there is your answer
One caveat: the taxes do at least stay in your community for roads, schools, etc.
While I agree that much of what is being sold isn't produced locally and that selling locally produced goods would be better, having those shops in my town has made the town itself more vibrant. My town used to be rundown and no one knew of it and now people in the area know it. There are also more jobs for teens in those stores, which is different from when I was a kid. Of course, the gentrification has its problems (it's driven up housing prices, making it difficult for those who grew up there to buy there), so it continues to be complicated.
If my spouse and I could pull a boomer lifestyle where we collectively only work 40 hours to take care of a family of 4, we wouldn't feel so exhausted and resort to paying for conveniences. I hate it.
Boomers when they were raising children had 1 house phone, not a phone for every family member. Rarely had home computers or dial up which is now high speed/wifi internet. Many had one car per family. Many didn't have access to credit cards. They saved or had 1 credit card per household or layaway to afford things like Christmas and appliances. They wrote and balanced check books not credit cards. Some of these are luxuries that people feel entitled to. I had a friend with a $800 I phone and plan, but couldn't afford an $11 Uber and had to walk home in the middle of the night.
@@YahsLoveisEnoughthat’s because the technology wasn’t there . If smartphones were around then boomers would have wanted access to them . Particularly as functioning in society in the West basically requires you to have one
LOL I'm a Boomer/Gen X with two college grad parents, and we never had that lifestyle. It only existed on TV.
Im the very last year of the boomers and ive always worked 50-60 hr weeks. If youre exhausted now, wait until youre still working those hours at 50+.
Phones and internet are a necessity unfortunately and the way phone companies work, getting a new phone makes more sense then paying the same amount with no new phone... It's dumb tho. And usually you aren't paying for the phone upfront. @@YahsLoveisEnough
This can also be a story about city/urban design that is hostile to people's mobility, which can increase reliance on delivery services and rideshare apps.
@@fani852 Spot on.
Yes 100% we aim to have "15 minute neighbourhoods" which is such a great concept
Bingo.
Anything to remove your personal responsibility eh?
@cvangemon1307 These issues are collective issues. Being aware of that is exercising personal redponsability.
I love this video but please take into account: There were people before (mostly women) doing the convenience work for the family.
Fe my aunt was always working full time as a boomer, but my grandma was cooking for her, her husband and her daughter.
The labour is always there, we have to just value and acknowledge it.
@ I want to say : we are not the first generation to use convenience services. We are the first to pay for it. And obviously (esp in the us) not enough.
This! Converting unpaid labour to paid labour can decrease inequality. Bashing "lazy millenials" for going out for latte and avocado toast is often a front for trying to push women back into the kitchen to do the cooking and entertaining for free. (Not something I see TFD doing here.) If everyone, including the men, pitches in equally not just with effort in the moment but also by learning to cook well, learning to accomodate multiple preferences and allergies and learning how to plan and prepare parties, I do think that would be amazing, but will this happen in 2024?
@@aquamar1003we’re not even the first to pay. The milkman is a trope for a reason, you used to have milk delivered. The grocer would go around middle class houses taking orders and then delivering them later that day, same with the butcher. Household employees such as maids and cooks. More than 1.3 million people were in domestic service in England in the Edwardian period. More than there were farmers. More than there were coal miners. We are only the third generation (as a millennial) where human labour is more expensive than goods. We’re really just going back to the historical norm.
I think that the real issue is that the gig-style jobs aren’t paying a reasonable amount of money… being a maid was generally a job for a young woman (in Edwardian times as someone mentioned), being a milkman paid enough to sustain a person’s wages, etc. These gig workers are not young or inexperienced, and they only pay “well” if you overwork yourself, and still don’t offer any real benefits. It’s a bunch of jobs where people willing to spend the money are offloading the social responsibility onto others who don’t have that luxury (similar to what happens with cheap clothes made in china or Bangladesh). I would almost go as far as to say that this type of work increases inequality.
Talk about convenience culture as a single parent. I have only one adult in my household but I am expected to perform the responsibilities of two parents. If I save time shopping for clothes online that gives me more time to clean my house, cook dinner, and interact with my child. That’s a win in my book.
Yes ! You are doing a good job , being a two parent household is hard enough, I’m behind single parents doing what they need to do to function , don’t let anyone shame you for using convenience!
You should get a partner
How exactly are you expected to perform the responsibilities of two parents may I ask? America has tons of single parents raising children, I think the assumption that all homes have two parents went out with the early 2000's. You're expected to perform the responsibilities of a parent raising their child, not expected to do two people's job. My mom raised 5 on her own while working, with little to no help from family aside from the first couple years of my brothers life.
Shopping: Get the kids in a group, something that's done twice a year at the bargain stores. Hand me downs for the younger kids as we grew into shoes etc.
Cooking: Big weekend prep, once a child is over 4 they can help. By 9 I was making all my meals aside from big Sunday dinners
Cleaning, Chores etc: Again, split between parent and children
Transport: Public, Carpooling, etc
Are you *really* saving time browsing these convenience sites? Getting sucked into doomscrolling, ads, dopamine drain etc? How old is your child? Cleaning and cooking are great times to interact with your kid, grocery shopping and getting clothes together in store as well.
Not trying to be dismissive, just genuinely confused as to where the large struggle is coming from, one parent, one child, one home, unless you're working multiple jobs or something.
@@Nonyah123 that's really harsh because we don't know the reality of her situation. She might be working multiple jobs because being single is definitely a huge drain on finances, they call it the single tax. And how is working 40 hours not draining enough as well as getting groceries, making a meal plan, doing the chores, bathing, sleeping a minimal amount, and starting again? We also do not know if she has a commute that drains her time, or a morning routine with her child that drains time? It's also possible she's doing blue collar work, where she doesn't get to sit on her butt all day, then comes home to do chores, make dinner, and situate her child for bed. Not a lot of time after working 8 hours with an unpaid lunch and an average commute. You're looking at 5 hrs. of time in the evening to get anything done. Just because your mom did it (mind you with 5 kids who had to do so much of their own stuff), doesn't mean everyone else does! It is a struggle.
@@benvel2302That’s easier said than done…
In the 1950s, Betty Crocker came out with a cake mix. All you had to do was add water and stick the cake in the oven. It didn't sell well and when the company did focus groups, they found that housewives wouldn't buy the cake because of guilt. Betty Crocker added eggs and milk to the recipe on the box and suddenly the cake mix sold well again. Betty Crocker's focus groups found that female consumers felt an obligation to work hard baking a cake from scratch in order to please their husbands and guests. That obligation is bullshit - so make sure you don't take the anti-convenience too far. If there truly isn't any harm caused by the convenience, we shouldn't make our lives harder than they have to be. There is enough pressure on women to be perfect already.
I agree with your sentiment that we shouldn't be putting more pressure on women to be perfect, nor should we shun "convenience". I think some people might forget the good things about convenience. What about the sick or elderly or the stay-at-home moms with young children that really appreciate conveniences such as the home delivery of essentials like food, medicine and diapers? There are truckers that drive those same essentials to the stores for our convenience. What's the difference if it's put on another truck and driven right to our doors so that we don't have to waste hours of our time getting it in person?
Where does it end? If people really want to shun "convenience" why don't they give up all of their appliances? Why not live off grid with no power or Internet? Why not sell their cars and walk everywhere? All of these things are modern conveniences, which we should feel grateful for.
I have never succeeded in baking a cake from scratch. What I get is 9” round 1/2 inch thick doorstops. What a waste of time and ingredients….I’ll take a box cake mix, doctored or plain, any time!
When i moved out from my parent’s home and started living alone I came up with making «emergency cake jars»- mixed flour, cinnamon,sugar and baking powder in little jars just enough for a cake or 6 muffins - in case of an unplanned friend visit, which happened often . Then somebody told me that «cake mix» was a thing…still don’t get the idea- it takes like 5 minutes to mix.
As someone wi does a gig job occasionally, I appreciate the fact that i can expect more business in bad weather. Chelsea is a bit obnoxious to pretend she can speak for everyone because of the one testimonial she recorded. 🙄
@@faithli2131nowadays virtually all takeout delivery drivers choose when they work. They make their own schedule. If they’re delivering takeout in the rain it’s completely their choice.
2:35 the quote on roughly 37% of all workers using gig work as the primary income is misleading. Go look up that survey. It surveyed ~1000 people that were already gig workers. Roughly 37% of gig workers use gig work as a primary source of income, not 37% of all workers.
Yea, when I heard that misrepresentation I almost turned this shit off
It is phrased oddly, maybe to purposefully confuse people, but that is literally what it says.
I was also really disappointed on the stats and research from this video
How is it misleading? The moral of the story is that these apps are bad for humanity.Period
@@cesargalvan9808 1000% agree that these apps and corps are terrible for humanity and the world. However even if their message is good, they should not be using misleading research or communication. That weakens their argument and allows those who disagree to point out these flaws. It can call more of their research into question as well.
This was misleading because they said "roughly 37% of all workers using gig work as the primary income" but they only surveyed gig workers so as Bobby said what they actually found was "roughly 37% of *Gig Workers* using gig work as the primary income".
If they had surveyed employed people and 37% of all the workers used gig work as the primary income, then they could say the original quote above. Although I also don't love that surveys of ~1000 ppl can be applied to a state or country level, but it is unfortunately the general standard for most surveys.
I deleted the Amazon app a couple of months ago and haven’t looked back. Cutting out the convenience has drastically helped my spending!
And the environment!
Same. It was to much of an easy access for me.
I do this with uber eats, i still occasionally get it but I have to log in on my browser and go through the whole login flow + 2FA process, I can't just mindlessly open it
Me too!
I don't even know what people buy from Amazon, lol. I had to buy a 16 foot Display Port cable that I couldn't find at the local best buy. But basically 99% of my shopping is at the local grocery and hardware store, lol.
I'm reading a lot of negative comments here so I just wanna chime in and say I really appreciate how candid this video is about the responsibility that we as individuals have to each other and, yes, the way our invidual consumer choices (IN ADDITION TO THE EXISTING STRUCTURES WHICH NEED MORE REGULATION!!!) contribute to making things worse for EVERYONE. I think Chelsea and TFD have earned a lot of goodwill over the years assuring uys that we live in broken systems and that a lot of things aren't our fault- and I think they've earned the right to tell us like it is every now and then. wonderful video
'convenience culture is killing us
here is an ad for convenience investment'
...i know sponsorships are just a thing you have do deal with, but damn that whiplash x.x
“we should improve society somewhat” meme :p
Betterment is not therapy, it's an investment company. You're thinking of BetterHelp.
Paying for TH-cam Premium feels like a waste because of sponsorships 😅
@@CrisOnTheInternet you said it!!
@@lenainternet my comment still stands but yes the original comment is misleading lol
Interesting video but thought it would be related to the infantilization trends rather than just being a focus on the state of the gig economy. Would be interested in a video on that
Its amazing to me that we are suffering from a loneliness epidemic, but people are doing everything in their power to not have to leave their house and interact with other people. I totally understand that sometimes you just can't be bothered or don't have the time to go grocery shopping, or to cook a meal. But those times should be the exception, not the norm. (Obviously not referring to people with disabilities or other valid reasons to rely on convenience services).
By running my own errands, I've been able to make connections with people. The local butcher knows me on a first name basis. I run into people I know at the grocery store. Instead of buying a book on my kindle, I go to my library and have met many new people there. Its such a small thing, but its a way to build community. And lets not forget that a driving factor of our overspending and overconsumption is the fact that we no longer have community. While I know that these services can be lifesaving for some people, I'm a firm believer that the blatant overuse of them is terrible for not only our financial health, but our mental and social health as well.
THIS!!!! I feel exactly the same way. I take care of a middle aged quadriplegic woman, and these apps have been amazing for her (and other disabled people) to have a sense of independence she never knew was possible. I remember once her daughter was coming home from college and my client was in tears that she could provide her with a warm meal, groceries in the fridge, and other little goodies without having to deal with the pain and inconvenience of going out as a fully paralyzed woman. On the flip side, her early 20s son is able bodied, gets everything delivered to the house, doesn’t go out, and is morosely depressed. I don’t want to shame him (that’s truly not my intention), but he is the pinnacle of what TFD is talking about in this video. He’s the sweetest kid, so kind and caring but he is so so deeply lonely and I can’t pretend it’s not heavily influenced by convenience culture
TLDR: these apps can be amazing or terrible depending on how you use them
@@Sophia-ks9yu Hear me out here...
Her able bodied, young, healthy son could be helping her out with errands. Helping to take care of his less capable mother.
You know, the way it was done for generations before.
The last time I used Instacart it was a week after my grandfather's death and the day before his funeral. I was an absolute mess. My grandpa was my dad, more or less; bio-dad was abusive.
The Instacart shopper couldn't find milk in Wisconsin, somehow, so I had to go out anyway. I had a nervous breakdown in the middle of the dairy aisle, but I got my milk.
And I've never used Instacart again. So, thanks for scarring me for life, heartless corporation! I only used it three times before that when I/relatives had COVID and I'll never use a similar service again.
@@fireandiron4181 And in "generations before" the elderly and infirm were left to die. Your average son isn't a qualified nurse. And caretaking is a full time job. Who's paying the bills?
@@ArielLong-lh8zw fortunately, she mentioned running errands and not nursing care.
I do think rideshare apps greatly improved on the taxi model, at least for consumers. I remember our crew missing a flight out LaGuardia once after a work event, because every cab we wasted time flagging down refused to drive to the airport from Manhattan. Also, the number of times I was wildly overcharged for a cab ride because a driver knew I was unfamiliar with the area and took me on a very "scenic route." I love knowing how much my ride is going to cost me BEFORE I get in the car, not after I've arrived at my destination and am frantically trying to scrape together cash for a trip that should have been $20, but was now closer to $30. In my opinion, that industry needed to be shaken up.
It absolutely did. But it also needs more regulation.
Industries in general need to be shaken up regularly. With regulation.
I just take the train to the airport. It's superior to taxi/rideshare. Not every city has a train to the airport but most places I travel do.
That was the initial promise, and while it improved certain things (like more taxis have their own apps now and there is no need to call anymore), they didn't really improve service as a whole.
Uber has publicly admitted the app would detect if the user's phone was low on battery and apply a surge just because they can, because if your phone is about to die you cannot compare with other providers or call a taxi... They blamed AI for this, but it's not the only dubious thing they do.
When I have to use it for my work, when I open the app there is always a car available 3 minutes away, however, once you actually book your ride, they cannot find a driver... Suddenly those 3 minutes became 20 and there is still no driver available... However, if you book with priority, one driver magically appears.
Also when it comes to safety - not that you're guaranteed a safe driver, but that you can share your ride with your SO or your parents, and flag if there's something unsafe in the car, like no seatbelts or if the driver is driving recklessly. Or even if you forget something in their car, it's so much easier to get it back.
@@liv97497 Not to mention all the sexual abuse reports that have been made. There's been a crack down on that, luckily.
I'll be honest. I saw the video title and now I want chicken nuggets.
😆😆😆
But only the dinosaurs ones
🦖
😂
I literally just got done eating chicken tenders
I would also point out as a user of for example walmart plus and ordering food once a week, this is not a convenience purchase for me but a money saver. I do not own a car. While I can afford to own a car, auto insurance, maintenance, parking, and fuel costs, I have estimated to be around $200-300 a month. I can bike wherever I need to be(college), so these are the only things I need a car for. compared to that with the "convenience purchasing" I spend ~$50 a month. that's a huge difference. not even accounting for the initial purchase of a vehicle. So some of this also boils down to car culture.
You are probably underestimating your savings.
@@churchofmarcus Car payments, even on used cars now, usually start at the absolute lowest around $350, but are more commonly $500 to $600, and that's for very low end, basic models with no frills.
Owning a car is outrageously expensive and the car culture in this country is another reason many have to order delivery. I share one car with my partner, and when he is at work, I have to order delivery because he works 12 hour shifts and doesn't leave work until most places are closed, and I have no way to get my groceries otherwise during his work schedule.
Many, many, many people are in this same boat. Villainizing convenience, a demand that will ALWAYS BE THERE, is outrageous when the reason people rely on these conveniences isn't a moral failing, but how our system is poorly set up.
Moralizing people trying to make their lives easier, when the problem isn't them to begin with, only points out privledges and biases that may have, that others don't. In order to shop for yourself, you need a car in the majority of the country that isn't a metro city. You need money for gas, car insurance, car maintenance. You need to have a job that allows you the working hours to go personally shopping for all the things you need. You need to have good health that allows you to physically work 40+ hours a week, and still do everything else that convenience apps take care of for people.
Moralizing anything when it comes to working is why people feel guilty when they aren't constantly being productive. It's a terrible, harmful mindset. I'm all for being aware of the struggles of gig work, and tipping accordingly if you use these services, but the real issue isn't really being addressed here.
Buy paniers I grocery shop on a bike and it works great
@@MattWalters123 It really depends on where you live. Where I am now that would be fine, but I've also lived places where the closest "grocery" store was a dollar general, and the nearest real grocery store was not within bikable distance. Even if you really wanted to push yourself, you'd be biking down roads with high-speeds and no sidewalks.
I don't know the cost of gas where you live, but you might even be underestimating. I spend about $150 a month on car insurance, and at least $140 on gas. I also drive a shitty old car so unexpected repairs pop up at least once a year, which can range from hundreds to over a thousand dollars. To be fair, I don't have a car payment, so that helps a lot. But you are right that owning a car would be way, way more expensive
Has anyone pointed out the obvious, here? It shouldn't be about getting rid of convenience services, which help so many people, including myself. Instead of doing the Boomer trope of "I walked to school in 10 feet of snow, and so should you", we should be making tighter regulations and requirements for how businesses treat their people and pay them properly.
We are a service economy; thanks to technology, this is the case. We're not going backwards in time to where working in dangerous factories is the norm and doing everything by hand is the "only way". Force businesses to pay and treat their people well; our service economy will continue, and as much as people apparently hate it, what do you think "services" are? This includes a lot of convenience services, many which became necessary during the COVID pandemic.
I'm not into shaming people for using a service, when the root of the actual problem is the greedy corporations who don't pay their people enough and treat them like shit. If the employees of these "gig" jobs were paid well and treated properly, the only excuse you would have is that things should be done "the hard way", which IMO, is incredibly subjective and silly.
I normally love your videos, but this one was way off base for me.
Everything in our lives is filled with conveniences and things that we outsource to other people. Most people don't grow or raise their own food, make their own clothes or build their own house. We rely on a vast network of people that work hard in order for us to eat, be clothed and have a roof over our heads with plumbing, heat and cooling. Those are all "conveniences", but people may have lost sight of that. If that were taken into account, then the entire world is full of adult toddlers.
yeah, i'm with you on this one. too much of the video felt very 'nobody wants to work today'. i think what it comes down to is that people feel uncomfortable with working conditions for people who provide these services, and instead of deciding to try and improve those conditions they're more comfortable just eliminating the jobs altogether - even though a massive amount of Americans would lose significant chunks of their income if this happened. and also, like you said, there's a lot of moral value placed on doing work for works sake, which makes people even more inclined to think the answer is that everyone should just stop being a big baby - or adult toddler - and stop using the services.
We're a service economy because we exploit the third world
@@neriah9969 I’m with you, but the reality *is* underpaid and overworked people, and I DO think we need to moralize the ethics of utilizing that if you don’t really need to.
We’ve already un-moralized buying from absolutely heinous overseas companies, and doing it here will make things worse for everyone. Like we aren’t safe from the gig economy in basically any job that doesn’t require a doctorate - we should be *extremely* cautious about buying in to a system like this
It is being tried in Seattle. It is deeply unpopular with many gig workers. Largely, because the fees get passed onto the consumer, they don't want to pay what the labor involved is worth.
While I don’t agree with every point made in the video essay, I always appreciate the thought-provoking nature of TFD content.
I think its a problem to assume entitlement when you are just viewing statistics about people ordering. There are a LOT more disabled people now than there were in 2019 who have difficulty getting out in bad weather too. When I bring this up, I often get comments like "well this isnt about disabled people." Which is a huge problem in itself. Disabled people are 20-25% of the population. It doesn't just mean wheelchair users. Let's focus on the problem, which is the system. Individuals often don't have great choices anymore.
So true. I have a chronic disease and on bad days, convinience helps a lot.
100% this. When my vertigo flares up, I often can't drive or walk. Food and meal delivery is often the only way I can eat when my partner is away at work during a flare up.
COVID brought out POTS in my friends and nobody seems to be talking about how many more people are actually disabled, mentally and physically.
People always bring up disabled people when this topic comes up but...the vast majority of people don't order ubereats because they need to. They want taco bell at 2 in the morning because they have a craving they must give in to/have food addiction.
@@ganasde65 I don't know if you are a parent. But while it is good that women have jobs and financial independence, the job of a homemaker is long hours. Homemade food is fresh groceries and time to cook. Many do not have this time any more.
Appreciate TFD’s long-form videos like these SO so much!!!!! Always spot on and leave me with so much to think about/discuss with others!
I have to say I chuckle when I think of the negativity around the new age conveniences, when back in the day people could have literally all of their staples delivered to their homes on a daily or near daily basis (milkman anyone?).
Yup! It reminds me of every older person who has ever done the whole "You kids are so lazy! I used to walk 2 miles in 10 feet of snow everyday to school!"
Like, we have serious issues facing us as a country. People having access to convenience apps is the last thing on my radar, unless we want to approach this from a "fuck these corporations, make them pay and treat their people ethically" viewpoint. I'm all on board for that.
But when you start tying morality to convenience, I immediately know you're being ridiculous.
Look, if you say fuck it I want to pay 30 dollars for 10 dollars worth of food that's fine. But most people know they really can't afford it, do it anyway and rationalize it by pretending it's actually cheaper to get doordash than it is to learn to cook and plan like an adult.
True. Mostly because in the case of my neighborhood, the mother stayed home with the kids and didn't have access to a car. We also had a fruit and vegetable truck that used to come by. All the kids loved the vendor - such a wonderful man.
True, but a big difference is that those services were sustainable and less bad for the environment. Glass milk bottles were reused. They were also good jobs with benefits and labor unions. They were also members of the community-people knew the milkman (some people knew the milkman VERY well, lol!). Actually, the milkman is a great example of all of the things Chelsea is advocating for in this video: ethical convenience.
@@midorisour2844 Can confirm. My father was a milkman in the '80s. Every milkman had the same route, and they knew what people would need. It was also a pretty laid-back job, and he'd have coffee breaks at people's houses. Neighbors would meet almost daily when the milkman came. So it was very much a community thing.
I watch “the financial audit” show a lot. Many of the guests order from door dash or Uber eats multiple times a week. When asked why they say that they “need to eat”. It’s a very strange way to live. Often they spend hundreds or even thousands on these each month.
That’s my favorite podcast!! You read my mind because I was JUST thinking about that. Since watching Caleb hammer, I’ve saved $200-300 a month from cutting out food delivery. That podcast is like a splash of cold water on our faces omg
I really don't like how overly rude and disrespectful Caleb is (but I understand that it's part of the show), but it is pretty wild to see just how much his guests will insist that their only options are to either order takeout/food delivery or starve. 😅
@ agreed. I almost never eat out. I think my annual spending on eating out is less than some guests spend in one month.
I never get food or groceries delivered. I'd like to know what's in my food as I'm vegan and on a diet. Even when I'm really busy, I always cook.
@sparkymularkey6970 that's my girlfriend and it is infuriating. So we either have to order or I have to cook. It's constantly I'm craving this or that, but when it's why dont we cook this? "Oh I'll just starve" even if I'll put something together for myself because there is food in the house. I often get food just so she'll eat something. And then she barely eats leftovers ?! It definitely feels like dating a toddler, but I'm the jerk to say "I'm not youre parent" or "You're an adult, these are adult responsibilities." Does it make me feel better that it is an epidemic? Idk...
The absolute peril of doing DoorDash in inclement weather is real. I did that for a winter or two in Chicago because undeniably the business is a lot better in those conditions. Then I spun out and almost got hit by a pickup truck trying to take an exit off Lake Shore Drive. At that moment I decided I needed to get tf out of that game.
Yikes. I drove FT rideshare in Chicago for 2 yrs and chose to never drive in snow, or during drunk o'clock. Still made decent money!
Some of these conveniences are really good for people with disabilities. Making them affordable for people that really do need things delivered for them. It’s complicated.
Or people who work fulltime jobs. Idk about you all, but working fulltime, cooking and keeping the house clean is for me impossible. I was in a constant state of burnout before I started outsourcing some parts of my weekly tasks.
@@Ashina12345 I empathize as I also work full time and have an all-around busy schedule, but we shouldn't be demanding for services that ultimately cannot be this cheap without an exploitative business model to continue existing. Rather we should be advocating for the root cause to change and force companies to implement for example a four day workweek (as a start), which would provide people with full time jobs with more free time to take care of their own shit and not feel like it's eating up any free time they have left after working, often overtime.
The same is true for people with disabilities: Why are they not getting help in a different form? Why are they getting so little benefits that they cannot afford "convenience" at its real price (for them a necessity really) without offloading the cost to gig workers? It's capitalism's divide and conquer strategy working when really the working class and people with disabilites are on the same side and that is not the side of capital.
@@BS-xs7jb i don't see her demanding. i see her using what is available. and you can be lobbying for change (which is expensive - better get to fundraising!!) while our friend up there is utilizing the convenience services available to her. it's not mutually exclusive. i hope you understand that.
and why are disabled people not getting help in a different form? well, because that's socialism, which makes 33% of the country incredibly fearful.
if it costs you money to do your gig work job, then dont' do the gig work job. it's pretty simple.
@@meowiestwoAgree with you. And it's not even just socialism that keeps disabled people from relying on others to do this for them. I have a disability that makes grocery shopping incredibly difficult although not impossible. But I'm also relatively young and highly value my independence. Between the option of relying on friends or family to do shopping for me or dealing with the physical ramifications, I 100% would choose to do it myself as I used to have to do. People also take for granted that sometimes you need something in a pinch and it's not ideal to have to wait for someone to do it for you if they don't have time to help right away.
Grocery delivery and pickup has been a huge quality of life improvement for me. Should the delivery providers be compensated better? For sure, but same goes for the employees at the grocery store and I'm not going to start growing all of my food in protest.
@@Emmajo2how old are you if you don’t mind me asking?
I’d like to ad a different perspective. My partner and I both work fulltime and we have two school aged kids. Making use of online grocery shopping, meal delivery once a week, clothes/errand shopping online, etc, is a necesity to sustain this model. If these services are not in place you run the risk of pushing back women into the home at the expense of their career and financial independence. I see these services as facilitating emancipation of women. However this should not come at the expense of workers, fair waged are key and I support that whole heartitly.
It's kind of a parallel to how (white middle-class) women fully entered the workforce. Great for their financial emancipation, but overall wages went down as a result of the workforce almost doubling.
Wages shouldn't have gone down. It's true that they did, but that wasn't women's fault and shouldn't be used as an argument for them to leave the workforce again (as it sometimes is in certain circles).
It always comes back to the corporations. Individual (consumer) guilt isn't the answer.
Now, how do we get corporations to act right?
@@francookie9353 i mean, women have always been in the work force? like poor women and women of color were still in the work force even when the "middle class" white lifestyle pushed women back into the home en masse after ww2
Kudos to you for being able to use convenience to your advantage. But that’s the key really- you use it to your advantage whereas others let it take advantage of their already shallow pockets that they work too hard to sustain. A lot of people honestly shouldn’t have credit cards and should do cash stuffing. They go online, get advertised to, and lose sight of the mission, get super sidetracked. These convenience services are really nice when used properly. Throw everything in your target cart during lunch, pay, drop by and pick up after work. Way faster than shopping in store, and you got exactly what you needed and not more (hopefully).
Yeah I recently started shopping for groceries on my commute home and then picking it up on the next day. What a time saver.
There has to be come part of this that is about not just convenience but pleasure. Like wanting a more elaborate meal every night. The reality is you could make a huge pot of lentil or chicken soup, rice and veggies, and eat it with bread every day for a week, and it would serve your nutritional needs, be quicker over all, save money and save the planet. But that is "boring" and hence why "adult toddler".
Real talk, I think some of the reasons convenience culture and over consumption are so prevalent is because we’re all so stressed and burnt out. For me, I tend to order tons of door dash (can’t drive and the area is dangerous and unwalkable 😢) whenever I’m either having problems at grad school or am otherwise overworked. I can only imagine how much worse it would be for people with full time jobs. It’s just that when things aren’t going well, I don’t have the mental bandwidth to enjoy my non spending activities like piano or following a book or tv show so I just end up over consuming (stress eating or shopping). I think that addressing this burnout is important because fun fact: one of the early symptoms of burnout is decreased empathy.
I was the same way as you until recently. Its really hard to pull yourself out of that, but when you do it feels amazing. The thing that really helped me, funnily enough, was video games, cause I could own them for a one time fee and spend hours on them, getting my dopamine fix from winning/killing a boss/etc. instead of just buying or eating. Maybe you could try to find a low effort hobby like that? Lack of hobbies is one of the big reasons a lot of people end up feeling burnout cause they feel like they have nothing to escape from stress with.
Yes it’s not an individual problem, but a systemic societal problem built into our capitalistic economic structures. People being forced to work longer and harder and resort to convenience as a break which hurts the bottom class. Only benefits the people at the top. It will take a lot of change across levels to create systems that work better for most people
I worked for doordash for almost a year in San Francisco, getting between $10-$33 an hour. All depends on the time of day. I could sit in my car for over an hour waiting for an order, not getting paid. If i did get a good shift of $33 an hour for a few hours, it doesnt account for gas (around $5-6 a gallon), car maintenance, or taxes you still have to pay.
I’m neurodivergent and work a stressful job in stem. After work I’m totally exhausted and am not able to handle going into the sensory environment of the grocery store and interacting with people. Grocery delivery has been life changing - I am much more healthy as a result.
please tell me you tip well because instacart shoppers pretty much make nothing other than what they get from tips. and hardly anyone ever tips
Me too! And I definitely tip well and it still saves me money in the long run because I don’t impulse buy anything
@@lenainternet
They suffered through the pain of living day to day (if passing), or got put into psych wards if not passing (which were not anywhere near ethical). Hope that helps
Imagine your ancestors defending themselves from giant mega-fauna predator with sticks and rocks, seeing you not be able to handle walking into a store where all the food is laid out for you to have your choice from.
I mean seriously, can we stop glorifying the excuses?
@@fireandiron4181imagine your ancestor trying to do the job that the OP does. Guarantee they will never be able to do it. Humans have lost physicality in place of the ability to think about 500 different things in a minute.
Convenience apps are a direct results of North America's terrible urban design. In other countries these apps aren't nearly as successful because people hop on the metro instead of taking an uber and pick up groceries/takeout on the way home instead of ordering on doordash. I have literally never in my life done either.
I live in America and only began this month bc I’m in a metro area but am disabled. I hate even using the apps, I extra hate paying a huge fee that doesn’t pay the driver more, I despise not being able to give a tip at times when I have decent drivers.
I'm in the UK and what you say only works if you live in a big city/very urban area. Most people do not. The nearest bus stop is 15 minutes on foot down a steep "farm road" (can't take the car, the path is too narrow). When I'm looking to eat dinner around 9-10 PM, I imagine there might be two buses an hour, possibly just one. I could walk a little further and get a meal from the local chip shop, but within that closer distance, there's only garbage food. But you know what I do? I buy groceries and cook my own meals every single day. I'm a Millennial. I like cooking. Even when I worked a 14 hour day at the lab during my PhD, I'd still cook my own dinner (usually something quick if it was that late).
@@billiemunchen urbanity is sort of implied when talking about convenience apps since most of them don't operate out in the countryside anyway. I lived in a rural area until not too long ago and there was maybe one kebap/pizza shop you order from if the owners nephew happened to be around to run deliveries that day. So as you said, rural people just make their own food anyway.
we used doordash a lot during covid but almost never now that it’s like $100 per order. now we just use the app to organize our order and then call the restaurant, order directly from them and go pick it up because it’s way cheaper lol
This is so smart. I'll start doing it too
Yes! Delivery is too expensive! I’m a fan of pickup if I do use the app
Idk. Thinking about delivery and calling it “toddler” … milk 🥛 used to be delivered, ice 🧊 used to be delivered. And although we don’t it by its original name the convenience store was well … convenient? At least more so than the previous generation.
On the flipside, much of the workforce didn’t and doesn’t aspire to be a gig worker. It’s not their job of choice.
You have a lot of excellent points in this video, and you have a lot of nuanced pushback in the comments, especially about the definition of entitlement, disability and convenience, and gender disparity of household tasks. I would also like to add that a lot of these convenience businesses begin as a demand for reform in industries that frequently take advantage of the average consumer. I remember taking taxis as a teenager and feeling either unsafe around a taxi driver driving recklessly, road raging, or just plain creepy. I would also never end up paying the rate that was displayed on their dash. It was always hiked up by a lot, and what is a 19 year old single woman going to do, argue about it? Ultimately, we need laws to protect these folks working in these services, but let's not demonize them completely. We need reform across the board.
I’m getting a lot of these types of videos in my feed right now - and I agree with wha she is saying about the parasitic nature of convenience spending whole heartedly - But I topic I don’t see often is that the generations before the millennials had tons of convenience for white men propped up the guaranteed free (or almost free) labor of women and minorities.
Wealthy men have never gone grocery shopping.
As a woman, although this may be true, I don't think a reasonable response to this is to take out the shortcomings on men on people of a lower class than ourselves. We are effectively utilizing the same power dynamics as men by doing this, so hardly have a leg to stand on
Air bnb is great for groups of 3 or more, especially in areas where cooking some of your meals at home helps offset the cost of the trip itself. Or when we want to go on a trip with our 3 dogs. But over the last couple of years if it's just for myself or me and one person, hotels all the way!
Also handy for parents with young children. My kids are too young to have their own hotel room which means if we want to stay in a hotel it usually means sleeping all in the same room. Which means their bedtime (8pm) has to become our bedtime too.
Have an air B&B and they have their own room so they can go to bed and we can stay up in the living room etc..
Groups of people are a problem in residential neighborhoods. Multiple cars all over the street. Unsupervised kids and dogs running around. And the expectation that there's no responsibility to be civil to the neighbors because you don't live there and will be gone in a few days. My quality of life where I live has suffered greatly so that someone else can travel or visit an area more conveniently.
@@CulturePhilternot to mention access to laundry facilities. Parenting = always doing laundry.
Grocery shopping is a weekly ritual for me and my husband. We go together, mostly to make sure that neither of us makes an impulse buy without getting confirmation, but also because we can discuss and meal plan in real time. I think it scratches my primal hunter-gatherer itch.
I really hate these apps. I have spent more time when using them because of the number of wrong orders on food delivery, or terrible produce from the grocery apps. I end up having to drive to re-order the food or return the produce. I certainly don't blame the drivers or pickers knowing that they are underpaid and overworked. Now I just do everything myself, including cooking. It took me a while to figure out how to do time management because of my ADHD and my depression, but I discovered that if I spend my Sunday shopping in the morning, making my food for the week including baking two loaves of bread, cleaning and doing laundry, I have a ton of time the rest of the week, and I've been eating healthier and spending WAY less money.
That's amazing, good job on finding a routine that works for you. I love cooking and never get takeaway and rarely eat out.
If all that's keeping people "connected" with their community are chores that force them into public places, society has a bigger problem than convenience services.
Yeah. I don't get my community by in person shopping. It's a big ask to try to do that when retail companies have trained their other customers to be obstacles at best and ticking time bombs at worst. I do not want to community with that.
@@milikoshki doing tasks and chores together is how communities were made through centuries tho
@@opierroleo yeah, working together on a shared task with your neighbor is not the same thing as going alone to the grocery store and maybe chatting with the cashier for 3 minutes. Tiny connections with strangers are great! But if that's your only connection with the community around you, that seems like a sign of major isolation.
This also has to do with grocery store culture. I have nothing to say to a grocery store clerk about the exchange that is taking place because they aren't actually stakeholders in what I'm buying, but at a farmer's market it's a totally different world.
@@marenomorgan that's a fair point
Best and easiest thing I did was start writing down any discretionary spend in my phone notes section. Everything. That way I can keep track of how much I am spending and modify.
same!
Former delivery driver here, if you don't order because of the weather. I don't work. I don't make money. I know the risks I am taking but that's part of the job. Just give a good tip. That's the one time a %20 minimum tip should be a expected. Sadly people often don't tip better and the worst tippers are the doctors living in their multimillion dollar homes ordering a $200 takeout order... Those make me mad. I never got mad about regulars who were on disability who didn't tip because I get it and I'm willing to take the hit for them. But the rich people... Ughhhh makes me angry. Minimum $5 courtesy tip starting off. If they go above and beyond. Do more if you can. Also as a former delivery driver I am sick of the dashers who only want high tips, the tip is for a job well done. Not to incentivize them to doing their jobs!!! Makes me so irate seeing the entitlement of some of these new drivers. Ps I worked for an OG delivery company before doordash, ubereats, or skip the dishes was ever a thing.
This. The one big perk of delivering is that people can take or leave any particular delivery. Nobody is forced to go out in the bad weather, unlike a regular job.
What I hate about online shopping is you can physicality get more than I can locally. I go to brick and mortar and cannot find what I'm looking for but amazon has something much closer. You have to make the ethical call that you will get something less desirable to avoid the mega company.
That's what I've noticed most of the time too. I live in a large city too but multiple times I spent hours looking for things that I ended up having to get online anyway.
@@stretchkitty21 I'll go to like 3-5 stores to find something and then have to order online anyways. I prefer at least trying but it's crazy how hard it is to find things in person now
I grew up before online shopping. I like alternative fashion but there was nothing like that for sale in my city. I'd have to either use the one mail-order catalog which obviously had a limited selection, or travel to the nearest bigger city just for one or two small shops or go to our major national cities, but I couldn't afford what they sold anyways. I just learned to make my own clothes. Since my mid 20s I buy most of my clothes and house stuff secondhand. You don't have the same kind of options but in some ways you have more options as you can find stuff from literally the 60s onwards. You can also be content or happy with the stuff that IS for sale near you, but I get that that might be hard when you have millions of options online.
@@erinnlinn6036What are you looking for that you can't find in a handful of shops? Are you looking for a specific variety/style of the item (a specific design dress), or the item category just isn't for sale near you at all (spare parts for vintage cars or whatever)?
Thank you for what you've said regarding free shipping. I'm a little Etsy seller and I'm under high pressure from both Etsy and buyers to offer free shipping, which isn't a cost I can just eat, as a one-woman operation.
All you have to do is add it to the price of your items and then check the free shipping box when listing. Tada, suddenly you have free shipping and can afford to have it.
@demonic.lionfish Thanks for explaining it to me like I'm five. 👍But why should I have to lie to my customers tho? And honestly, that would double the price of my smaller items. No thanks.
@@itme999 that's more of a psychology question and above my pay grade, but I can commiserate about it because I also sell stuff online and it's dumb how big of a difference seeing "free shipping" makes on the sales figures. I know the reason I tend to gravitate towards those listings is because I live in Oregon and have gotten very used to no sales tax, so the process of buying online aligning with the process of buying in person (i.e no additional charge at checkout) is just what my brain vastly prefers at this point.
@@itme999 a nice middle ground that may work for you is a service like pirate ship or simply sending everything USPS Media rate. *Shrug* I'm guilty of using both. Media rate is far cheaper, but it does take a fucking long time to get where it's going.
@@itme999 Telling you like your five? What the--as a customer myself, free shipping to me is everything. Because the price doesn't change and shipping costs usually jump scare me. It is a tactic that doesn't harm people.
Then you just tell this person to f off. Okay lady this person shouldn't have wasted their time on you.
On Airbnb - it was originally founded as a way for people to make money renting spare rooms for short term rentals, not for full houses. You stayed with a family and experience the local culture, etc. like in the commercials. It was not intended to be a business, and guests and hosts were more connected. I don't remember there being any "horror stories" until it changed to be more separate.
No, that was only how they "disrupted" the market to keep prices low for the consumer and without spending a single dollar on an initial investment in real-state, but in fact that already existed (and still exists) and it's called couch-surfing.
I haven't ordered food delivery since January 2024. I enjoy doing freezer meal prepping which means each week, I don't have to stress over what to eat that week. Instead, I can shop from my freezer and avoid having that urge to run out and grab take-out or do delivery. I have taken the stress away from deciding as I technically plan far ahead every time I fill my freezer with a new batch of cooked meals.
I wish we could quit amazon and Walmart, but we live in a rural area and there's not a nonmajor grocery store we would actually be able to afford food at. It's kind of a vicious cycle when you have kids and make less than the median wage. I can definitely see why people want things cheaper, it's because their own labor has been exploited. I work for a grocery store (Safeway), and my husband a smaller local, restaurant chain. As mentioned in the video, there isn't money in grocery or restaurants, so owners or even major companies cannot pay workers adequate wages, which cycles back through to people like us having to find the best deal we can, searching high and low between the major brands or at grocery stores like Fred Meyer (Kroger), Safeway, or Winco. Either way, we cannot support small businesses consistently like we would love to.
We do support small businesses, but not as much as we would like! As far as supporting small businesses recently, I have changed my prescription to a local pharmacy/drug store, and we've bought cute things (one Christmas present) and candy from them. I guess this is an example of an inconvenience that became something more pleasant such as interacting with pharmacists, and the cashier at the little shop! We also went to a local farm and paid to go to a pumpkin patch (as well as buying pumpkins), as well as bought stuff in their store. There's also a pizza place in town we go to occasionally that only has two locations so I can consider it a small business! Maybe what we need to do as a society is figure out ways to go to small businesses with our discretionary funding instead of going to chain restaurant or shopping on amazon.
Honestly I usually get my groceries delivered to my house but today I went to the store at 5pm and it was hell. So crowded, so many people everywhere blocking the aisles, chatting in the middle of the aisle, walking super slow. I literally couldn’t stand it, it gave me anxiety. I’m sticking to delivery service and I’m grateful for it.
I really think that the companies have made the in person experience intolerable and made susceptible customers dumb and rude intentionally in order to push online shopping.
Was this in the US? If so, you went on one of the busiest days of grocery shopping of the year (
It was around a major holiday…
Many grocery stores open at 6am and stay open until around 10 or 11pm. Either end is much less busy than 5pm
The more people remove themselves from situations that cause them discomfort, the worse it will be when in these situations and the worse the anxiety will be when thinking about these situations
As a Torontonian I just want to thank you for introducing me to Conscious Farm Kitchen. As a GenX I don’t participate in the convenience economy as much as others, but I am excited to check out this exciting business.
12:45 it took me 10 years at a manufacturing job w a f500 company to make 32 an hour 😭😭 it makes me incredibly happy to hear decent paid jobs like this exist in the delivery industry and they should be extremely proud of doing business ethically but dang I’m feeling burned lol
I loved the video Chelsea. Something else I keep thinking about when it comes to convenience is I feel like a lot of service apps on our phones remove our own ownership of our lives. For example, I know a lot of people who don't grocery shop for themselves and spend little to no time browsing new products at the grocery store or have no idea how their local grocery store is organized. And I think that is simply jarring because it completely erases our awareness of our own surroundings. Similarly living in a city I've interacted with a few young adults who do not drive and kind of take Ubers everywhere and sort of don't really know the general directions of the city like which way is North? Which way is south? Which highway goes east? Which Highway goes west? Which I think is so concerning just from a safety perspective but also because it just erases our perception of our place in the world (if that makes sense...). That lack of awareness is what think about when i saw the title. Really enjoyed the video essay! Cant wait for the next one!
The gps thing is me honestly. I’ve lived in my current city for 2 years and still have no clue how to get around without my maps app (aside from a few close by things) I’ve been trying to actively remember different freeways and their directions because if anything happened or I lost my phone somewhere I’d be stuck 😟
Nah, that makes sense. The more your phone magically provides for you, the less connected you are to the Real. The less connection you have to the world outside of your house.
Even when phones weren't a thing, people still used maps and compasses lol. Most people dont know their sense of direction. Its a legit skill, that you thankfully have
That's unfair. I don't drive. I use transit. I may not know highway names because I don't use them, but I know what north and south is--better than drivers who just use GPS! I have to know all the bus and train routes down to where to find the stations and stops and how they connect as well as all the secret walking paths and connections for pedestrians-only that drivers don't know. I dont' take uber/lyft unless it's absolutely necessary.
Not knowing highway names is not a "safety concern". Do you know all the bus routes? No? Why should non-drivers know car routes, then? Being a non-driver is like speaking a different language. It doesn't make them dumber than drivers.
@@Ella-g2m I didn't contextualize my apologies. I run alone (sometimes at night) and always pay attention to where I am geographically in case something happens to me that's what I meant by safety concern. I am like you otherwise I know the bus routes and main north south east west highways and city arteries.
Interesting topic but I personally believe that individual convenience is not the problem - it's the structure that we have given it. It's great to have convenience choices, great to make things easier and faster, it helps increasing flexibility and thus possibilities. What we need is a fair structure for it, where everybody wins. Nobody needs to order take out 7x a week, but it's good to a have choice - even if it costs more. The only thing we need to fix is the COST of convenience so that it acurately reflects the labour that is going into it. IMO, it doesn't need to go - it just needs some perspective.
@@akbender individuals are the ones who can influence and change the structure though
I'm reading More Work for Mother right now and I think this video would have benefited from a historical perspective.
"Convenience" services, aka commercialization of household labor, have been tried since the 19th century and many have become so normal we don't even notice they once were household labor. Some others weren't socially accepted or successful.
They were also attempted for different reasons and in different forms. There have been laundry co-ops, for example, as charitable measures for people who couldn't afford in-home laundry, and as a tool for empowerment for women.
I think it's good to be critical of these developments, and the way they're implemented. But that doesn't mean they're all bad or some new thing that means we're all weak and our generation is doomed (at least not for this reason alone).
The title is a bit click-baitey but I think it aligns with your general point. I don't think the video's overall message is an anti-convenience one; I think it's critical of the business models underpinning much of the newer technology-facilitated convenience. I think it's as nuanced as your excellent comment is.
My biggest level up for managing my life like an adult has been a task management system (like Asana, Monday, or Todoist). Now, I proactively tackle recurring tasks, and can also make reminders for one-of tasks to do them at some specific time. It has helped me take up so much more mental load off of my wife and place it onto me.
America are filthy nation
Do you have a brother like you? It's such a rare occurrence to find a man who thinks of sharing the home/living mental burden with their partner. Like a true partner.
I have a disability which precludes me from driving. I started taking Uber when the cabbies started to calude to price gouge me. I thought I would give cabbies another chance and my cab was two hours late.
yeh i dont use taxis cause they suck, from what i've seen rideshare apps havent taken off as much in places where the taxi service is actually good
So many people in the comments are just tripping over themselves to explain why *their* use of conveniences is okay, actually! If you feel defensive, you're probably projecting. Own your choices, or examine why this video made you uncomfortable (maybe your actions aren't aligning with your beliefs?). Convenience can be phenomenal: very few people are out here arguing that we should all go back to churning our own butter. However, for many people (not all) *over-reliance* on convenience is making us poorer, lonelier, and less capable. No one is *entitled* to takeout delivery 24/7 or trendy clothing at rock-bottom prices. The reason these conveniences are even available is because of rampant exploitation of the working class at home and abroad. I am begging people to take a look at their situation and determine which conveniences they don't actually need (and be honest), and have some worker solidarity!
Best comment!
Thank you! So many people have said that doing these tasks is too much for them or beyond their capabilities. Perhaps many only say that because the convenience is there? Would we not have to eat otherwise? That's where the toddler comes in, you have to have things your way, immediately. No other options come to mind.
I experience it first hand and it is toddler-esque. At some point we came to believe that we are too good for the chores and tasks of adulthood. The more time passes, the more I appreciate my mother sheesh 🙏🏽
Not using delivery apps during bad weather for morality reasons is a weird argument. If nobody orders stuff, drivers can't work - no demand = no pay. Drivers are willing to go out on the roads regardless because they NEED money, and they aren't afforded paid time off. It's like saying unpaid factory work is morally wrong because of occupational hazard, when the actual issue is insufficient compensation + benefits. On the flip side, firefighters are in incredibly dangerous work but are compensated well - it's about how society/systems value your labour.
Regardless of all of this, consumers (myself included) don't understand the true cost of products and goods. Cheap stuff is not supposed to be THIS cheap.... the cost is being paid by someone else somewhere (suppressed wages, poor working conditions, outsourcing, etc).
in my country, we had this discussion of using app during bad weather and all the drivers said they prefer working during bad weather because they are paid more when it's raining or anything. sooo, I wait the heavy rain stops and order during the drizzle, cause I believe they app won't know if it's heavy rain or just a drizzle
But I don't think that is what the video is advocating. I don't think it's main point is that consumers and gig workers are to blame. I think it's asking us to consider standing in solidarity with fellow workers and apply pressure to change the system when we can because maybe the system is screwing all if us to varying degrees. Sometimes that might mean inconveniencing ourselves including considering whether or not we order deliveries in hazardous weather. Firefighters in the US might earn more than gig workers but I would argue that's not just down to how 'society or the system' values their works it's more because they are unionized. Even then think how long firefighters had to fight and campaign for Congress to agree compensation post the debilitating effects firefighters had to battle post their service during 9/11. These systems aren't neutral or objective and maybe with solidarity we can change them.
@@SeekingDialogue I can agree with this perspective for sure. I don't use food delivery apps anyway because ordering in food doesn't make sense for me financially. Although these services were never meant to be full-time jobs (thinking specifically about uber/eats). They were supposed to give people who already owned a car an opportunity to make a few more bucks. Still, I'm curious how far proper compensation would drive up pricing and if it would kill the appeal of centralized food delivery for good.
@@SeekingDialogue you're not standing in solidarity with me if you're boycotting the company I work for. I don't get paid if I don't deliver.
Another issue with app-based gig work is your supervisor is a piece of software on your phone, not a person. There's no pay raise scale for folks who stay with the company long term (which even many part time hourly employees get), zero wiggle room if you need to take sudden days off for health or transportation reasons, no paid vacation days, and possibly most key for your long-term employment prospects in my opinion... NO USEFUL REFERENCES YOU CAN PUT ON YOUR RESUME.
That makes it much harder to move from gig work to a full employment position anywhere else, especially if it was your only job for a while and you don't have school, volunteering, or being a stay-at-home parent as an excuse.
I let my prime membership lapse because I didn’t use it every month, and I figured i could always use a family member’s account if i needed something that I couldn’t get from a local place. I do use grocery pick up a lot, single mom of three kids and a teacher its a life saver.
1:04 “we love uber eats” are you serious 😭 i rely on it cuz I don’t have a car and if im alone at work can’t leave to get food regardless but just wow
Your hair is fire!!
Love that your putting this out there!! if everyone is gonna be doing a gig work, we definitely need universal healthcare. Mental health and physical health are two of the most important things to be able to be productive and unfortunately being worthy of being in society, according of course, to our current standards and society beliefs.
Sending good vibes and we can collectively make a difference 😊
It is a double edged sword. I live in a very rural area. I have to drive at least 45 minutes to get to any store. Costco is almost 2 hours away. There aren’t many stores to put it mildly. So having access to Amazon is kind of important for me to buy things I literally cannot buy in person. I don’t always have time to drive a 4 hour trip because I realize I need a new (xyz) in a time crunch. But even Amazon can’t make fast deliveries out here and are typically late even then. I have to plan things very far in advance. We’ve been here a year and I’ve had to make a lot of adjustments to my lifestyle and I’m getting better at it. We don’t have delivery. It doesn’t exist out here. So I have to meal plan. I miss the convenience.
While super misguided, I feel like this is one reason why baby boomers are so enamored with the Trump “Make America Great Again” slogan. Some may be racists, yes. But I know my boomer parents bemoan the loss of community and the coldness of society and growing isolation. The older they are getting, the more convenience culture and hyper consumerism are growing. In many ways, my parents don’t even feel like they are a part of this world anymore. I’m an elder millennial and I think we are such a unique demographic because we grew up as kids with no internet but the mass explosion of the internet as adults. It really is kind of jarring remembering childhood vs now in terms of convenience and community. IMO, throw away culture had leached from hyper consumerism/convenience products to now personal and community relationships where people are just less dependable and way more flaky
Funny how I'm a millennial but also don't feel part of the world. It's not just your parents, everything is just alienating now
yes but what they don’t realize is that ultimately it’s not really our faults for “not getting off our phones” it’s these social media companies, gig work companies, trying to squeeze every bit of attention and money from us. trump is not going to solve this issue
People moving more often and farther away, even moving abroad/coming in from abroad probably is a big component of that. Part of the reasons for moving is way more access to higher education for which most young adults have to move (or commute, which also to some extent takes them out of the community where they do live but just aren't present much). I moved from my small hometown to a bigger city for uni. I moved to another house in another area of the same city in the first year. Then changed course to a different uni, still in the same city, and moved again. Then changed uni to another city and was able to eventually find housing there in student housing with lots of overseas students/staff, often there for just 1-4 years. After a few years, I graduated and moved abroad, had to move within that city, moved to a third country for PhD where housing was so bad I moved around on average every year. Then moved to another city 4 hours away, then COVID happened, moved to a city 1.5 h away, and then moved to a rural area an hour away. My moves were all for higher education, research, employment, costs of housing. Many people in my social circle have had similar experiences (of course this is a select group of people). Can't form a community when you're only there for a year or a couple of years. Can't form a community when you have to move because your private landlord ups the rent and you can no longer afford it. Can't form a community when you have to move for a job because you lost your old job. Many Boomers are living in very large housing, buying up other housing as investment/retirement, gouging rents, preventing my generation from home ownership and putting down roots in that area. Only now that I'm in a purchased home, but a totally new area for me, am I looking a bit at investing in the local community. Never had the time out mental space or long enough presence for it before.
"Coldness of society" towards whom?
The convenience of apps and gig work is killing us, I think. Obviously it’s great for people with disabilities or limited time. But I also think the “ugh I just don’t want to X right now” mindset is really harmful for us all, as described in the video.
Yeah, going to buy groceries is going to suck a little more than staying at home, but all you’re doing is offloading that task to someone else who may or may not have a choice to do it. The gig economy is coming for all of us if we don’t actively choose to not engage with it. Take a minute to ask yourself if your job *really* couldn’t be done by someone paid by the project - it almost certainly can. The gig economy will come for you, too
You realise that people with limited time is literally anyone with a full time job?
"Yeah, going to buy groceries is going to suck a little more than staying at home, but all you’re doing is offloading that task to someone else who may or may not have a choice to do it."
Same with production, growing food, transportation, etc. like that's literally how jobs work.
@ yeah, I do get that. As a person who buys her own damn groceries and also works 50-60 hours a week, I do get it.
Your position that “but it’s hard” is exactly what I’m talking about. We all got our own groceries 5 years ago. And look I’m no Luddite, the world progresses, but I think it’s important that we don’t passively absorb the *way* it progresses because…. we’re tired after work?
No, it's not killing us. Corporations who don't treat their employees ethically, so that they can greedily put more millions in their pockets, is what is killing Americans. In more ways than I can possibly list here. If gig workers were treated well, you're only excuse would be "well, we just SHOULD do it the old way".
So the gig workers will make less money… how does that help them?
@@shee3073 the goal is to not proliferate the gig economy
I would be interested if ride sharing like uber and Lyft has reduced people driving while drunk. I know if my wife and I are going out and we are planning on drinking we will we take an uber instead of driving.
It definitely streamlines the process of getting a safe ride home, which is a benefit in its own right (easier to tap the app than find the local taxi number, call, and arrange the pick up), so the hypothesis is probably sound before actually testing it. But that begs the question of why didn't Uber and Lyft work with existing local ride services to connect and market to users? We all know the answer to that, of course.
Great work Chelsea. I delivered for Uber before. The company and customers treat us like crap. I never use delivery apps because if customers knew what really goes on during the delivery they wouldn't eat the food...
I used to do food delivery too. It was difficult work for little pay. And the worst is when customers bait you with tips and then withdraw them after you deliver their food....I will never understand people that do that
@@MsKateC2Kthese ppl are so darn cheap... not pll u want to no anyway
My fiance and I are opposites. I almost never want to do delivery because of the added cost, I'd rather go in, pick it up, and stretch my legs a bit. He would rather have the comfort and not have to worry about crowds or parking.
On the other hand, I am inclined to order delivery in bad weather. Fortunately, my fiance always points out the callousness of that choice and we make something from home instead. It's never intentional, I just have the practical thought that if they're open, they'll deliver. I'm glad he reminds me, though. I do want people to be safe, I just don't always think of it. When you mentioned it here, I had the same punch in the gut that I get when he points it out.
I was trying to understand what you were leading up to but I just couldn't see it myself.
Another benefit to community: compassion. After I started working in retail while in college my mom told me that she started shopping more tidily to make less work for the employees. We had to stay after closing until the store was back to normal. I had a friend who worked at the movie theater, I always cleaned up after myself (10 minutes to clean the whole theater!)-- and another who worked in a pharmacy, I'm patient and ask for advice to fix issues. My dad was in construction, I slow down in construction zones.
I think I'm generally a nice person, and these are considered basics for most people, but the care with which you do them changes. You're not just making sure that you leave no trace (shyness/invisibility) or get things over with faster and not rocking the boat, you're doing them with someone in mind, even if it's not the same person that will benefit. You're thinking about their experience, too. That perspective shift changes your attitude and, for me, brings a sense of peace as well.
I decided to go no-amazon a while ago, I just shop in real life. If I really can't find something in real life I can always find it as cheap on Ebay still with free shipping. But vendors just bake the cost of shipping into the price of the product now so you aren't actually getting a deal unless they're liquidating. A huge issue I find when shopping for anything online (amazon or otherwise) is that I almost always have a problem with what I end up getting and wouldn't have bought it if I had held it in my hands. So I only buy something if I know exactly what I'm getting. Plus, people talk about how everything is cheaper on amazon but I find stuff just as cheap in real life all the time, at least matching quality. At best I can find something for 5% less on amazon than elsewhere. And when you shop in person you get it faster than same day shipping anyway lol. There is no reason to 'depend on amazon'. I am not that financially well off. It offers nothing you can't get elsewhere other than same day shipping which isn't even common anymore and costs money when it is available. We are talking about saving at best twenty bucks a year if you plan and research really really hard which no one does. It is not a free time issue, going to a store does not take that long. It's a claim people make but if you have time to mess around on social media you have enough time to stop by a store for essentials on the way home from work. I don't understand what people are buying all the time that they couldn't go out and find in real life. The people I know ordering stuff get things like decorations and luxuries you could get at any craft store and books that are available for free at the library. I think people just don't feel like leaving the house and are addicted to online shopping.
...I hope the title of this video eventually gets changed. Equating the need for convenience shopping to being an "adult toddler" is really insulting. It's clickbait, and we can do better.
I had a long thing written out, but I think I'm just not the demographic for this channel. I have a friend who buys a lot of stuff she doesn't need with money she doesn't have, and that's who I guess needs to hear this.
Regardless, the gig economy bit still felt out of touch. The underlying problem is that the economy is in such a bad state they feel the need to hustle during bad weather, not that the average consumer is a terrible, entitled customer who is personally forcing a peasant to get them food.
That's who her target is. People who refuse to do things themselves because the convenience is there. It isn't about ordering out here and there it's someone else can pick up groceries, cook, do laundry, cultivate outfits, walk the dog, (forget about dishes when we have paper plates and washer machines).
Say what you will, grocery pickup is literally the best thing ever. I only have about 2 hours in the evening when I get off work, and to be able to pull up to the grocery store and them plop my groceries in my car truck. I saves me a good hour or two of my life, which is game changing. I don't eat out as much, because I have food at home. I actually spend LESS at the grocery store, because I don't have all the displays tempting me to impulse buy, and I can clearly see what is on sale and not on sale on the website. It's just better for me all around. And amazon actually allows me to be able to get gifts for my family, because otherwise I just don't have time. Should I be working this much? Probably not. But I appreciate these conveniences that make my life easier.
I get my midday meals delivered by Meals-on-Wheels, but I go out and shop local for everything I can... I don't use apps and am on snap benefits so any small store taking the snap ebt card near my apartment is likely to get my business... Mind you I am 63 and use a walker with a doctor's admonition to walk more. Streetcars and Bss drivers are my friends in this endevor I call life.
I remember the first moment I arrived in the US to study, from Latin America. I really felt it was a country made for babies. Everything was so easy and convenient, I couldn't believe it.
Thats what I think about SUVs-- you don't even have to use your leg muscles to get in and out of the car.
Uber eats and grubhub are so expensive. No way I’m paying those prices to have food at my front door.
I deliver for DoorDash, Uber Eats, GrubHub, and Instacart. I don't use any of them. I also do the early morning deliveries for Amazon, but I'll admit to using Amazon.
We have these same delivery services here in Europe, but nobody would expect the courier to leave your food "on dry ice" or you not being home. They call you and you have to confirm you're home. Nobody would even dream of ordering and not being home to pick it up? Weird.
In ALL of Europe? "Interesting"...
@imzabatch I said "in Europe", where did I say in ALL of Europe?
Yep, I can 100% back up the fact that companies are outsourcing roles to contractors in Central and South America, India, and sometimes Eastern Europe to find more exploitable workers, and they're not required to provide benefits or job security to these folks. I've seen it first hand. Contracts may or may not be renewed, nothing is guaranteed and it's a race to the bottom to see how little companies can get away with paying people. I think the end goal is to eventually try to make most of the workforce in the U.S. into contract labor since, to have a job, you'd have to compete with people overseas who may have a lower cost of living, and at some point you'll have been without work long enough that you'll take anything- even a low-paying contract gig. This is why we all need unions and folks in the tech and other white collar industries need to build class solidarity and awareness with ALL other wage workers and do wildcat strikes, withhold our labor, and collectively demand better conditions for all workers.
I wonder if there's ever going to come a time when it will be normal for average sized apartments (not microlofts,) to not have a range anymore and only have a microwave because average people won't be expected to know how to cook from scratch or want to do it, unless they went to culinary school or worked in a restaurant. We live in a time where you could go years without using an oven or a stove if you wanted to. Of course, it's way more expensive and less healthy, but I think that's going to change in the coming decades, to the point where having a kitchen with a range is going to be like having a sewing machine. Think about it, years ago lots of people used to sew their own clothes because they needed to or because it was cheaper. But now stores are full of cheap clothes and making your own is just an optional hobby.
The food tastes better when you make it!
@@cdnchevry
Yeah, I second that. I love to cook and bake and I learned how to make cinnamon buns. They take a lot of effort "from scratch" but they are worth it. I still am grateful for the "convenience" of a hand mixer to help me mix the dough. We're all working with some level of convenience.
A lot of people in history didn't have a oven in cities because it is was easier to bake bread in one oven at the bakers, there has been takeout since ancient times. It not just a modern thing
@@LadyBoldly
That's a good point. There were also local markets and on the daily people would pick up food "conveniently" located in one place.
@@LadyBoldly Yeah, but do we want to go back to those days, though? That's my point.
I remembered why I stopped watching this channel :/ why make this whole video critiquing convenience culture just to be sponsored by a convenience brand? Odd choice.
Pretty insane that the next line after the ad read is "There's always a new app..." Absolutely wild
Another great, and considerate video from TFD! I stopped my amazon prime years ago - I find it to be much better to buy things locally. There are times when I do need to order from amazon, but when you don't use it that often they are always trying to entice you into getting prime by giving you a free month. In those desperate situations, I will take the free month, buy the things I need, and then immediately cancel the membership. Even if you cancel immediately after activation, you still get the benefits for the full month.
That's very smart truthfully my husband and I hardly order off Amazon. We should just cancel it
Same - my family shares an account, and I mainly use it for the discount at Whole Foods and the streaming services. I buy something online maybe once per year, and that's usually because I've exhausted the local options. I'd rather walk in a store and see/handle the product than order it.
Weaning myself off Amazon is difficult. Trying to find items I need locally is hard, especially specialty items that I need urgently. For example, I need to get a 1 inch swivel bolt hook to repair a stadium chair before this weekend. I can't get the specific item I need from any hardware store locally, and while there is a specialty small business that has it very cheap.... it'll take two weeks to get here, and I need to make my repair in three days. Amazon could have had it here overnight.
I'm going to try a half assed temp repair with a lesser item from the local store, I guess, and order the proper bits and bobs for next season's fixes to the chairs from the real store. Because I'm never giving Bezos another penny, if I can avoid it.
It rubs me the wrong way when small buisness owners say that customers don't understand why they can't offer the deals the big companies can, like, no, we understand why it costs more to do things ethically, we just can't always afford that
People have forgotten the true costs of things. They want clothes for $5-20, for instance. Half of that is the retailer's margin, the other half-ish is what the retailer paid the distributor/manufacturer. So leggings are made for less than $10, shipped all the way from China... You could also be willing to pay more for better quality and to support local manufacturing, but people think $40 is too much for good leggings, unless they are Lululemon (?) which apparently makes $100 leggings (in the USA or Asia?!).
Workers in prior generations had full time house staff. That's what a wife was. Now that everyone works and wages are significantly worse, some of that stuff has to be done. No matter how much millennials spend or whatever, it's less than keeping an entire person essentially on salary.
I also think we'd rely on amazon if physical stores stocked anything anymore, but they don't. The shelves cleared out in 2020, and they're still not properly stocked in 2024, even if there is stock you can order. They know you'll just order it. They don't need to bother to put it on the shelves. When you can buy it in person, it's 3 times the price. But I am sure NYC is especially bad, to be fair.
Everyone would rather be driven to the airport by a friend or family member, but none of those people can afford to have cars either. The whole community is under the same pressures.
Listening to the entrepreneur talk about her food delivery business really makes me think about how much damage the blitz scaling model has done to small businesses. You've got these massive companies that are burning through investor money while subsidizing the customer's consumption. Small companies who are genuinely trying to build their business the good and honest way are stuck in price wars that they can't win because the market has been taught to demand a price that's not economically viable.
I have to walk 30 minutes to pick up my meds. I was asked why I just don't get them delivered? Because I can still walk. I get my exercise AND I get a chance to check out the secondhand stores while I'm down there. I can't afford the extra 2-5$ to have fast food or groceries delivered when I can still walk, even if the shops are 20+ minutes of walking away.
I wonder if the growth in convenience services (especially food and grocery delivery) has something to do, at least on some level, with the huge rise in disability and chronic illness/fatigue leaving huge numbers of people with less means to get out and about and do their own chores like shopping, etc. A video on disability and finances and the hardships people face there would be really interesting. Appreciate your work as always, Chelsea!
Most people also don't have community to rely on anymore. Both my parents live out of state. My sister has a job and 4 year old. I don't have very many friends to begin with, none of them live close by. It's just me and my partner, who works full-time every weekday. There is no one I can turn to besides paid convenience services.
I deliver pizzas in a wealthy suburb and during a tornado warning (that’s the worse of the two), I had a customer tell me I shouldn’t be out driving. I was delivering her food to her.
Then can I stay here till it's over?
@ I’m not really one to invite myself into the multi million dollar McMansion.
@@danielford2369 if I felt it enough to say it, I'd let you in, but I also don't live in a mansion.
@ the person ordering delivery during a tornado warning doesn’t strike me as the most empathetic.
I'm a "convenience spender" because of my chronic illness. As someone with chronic illness, these "conveniences" are a lifeline to me and allow me to do things like eat one meal a day. I'm curious with the long-term effects of Covid on public health and the rise of chronic illness and disability, how many others are like me, contributing to the rise in "convenience" spending.
I really dont see an issue with this. I couldnt be a single soccer mom with 2 kids and a full time job without all these things at my convenience. its either convenience or no home cooked meals.
When younger people see how single moms struggle on top of the lack of societal support for fostering fruitful marriages, we start asking questions. Most of the convenience workers are on contract and speak no English. It's almost like America created a slave class just to squeeze more $$ out of us.
@Mandelasmind Please take your conspiracy theories to your own comment. Theyre not welcomed here.
@@feliciafelicia6965 1st amendment.
@@feliciafelicia6965 it's not a conspiracy theory lol, same thing happened in Canada and Australia were governments were relaxing student visas without ensuring good quality of life so that they could get cheap labour for blue-collar jobs. Great that it benefits you but u can't just ignore that other ppl are struggling bc of the exploitation.
@@feliciafelicia6965 it's not a conspiracy, most of richer countries economies are based on exploitation of migrants or foreign countries
I think we're ignoring the elephant in the room: Federal safety nets. We need healthcare for everyone, a mandated livable minimum wage, and mandated parental leave. These would immediately alleviate the pressure on the working class. Worker's rights are needed as well, but just starting there honestly feels like a bandaid for a huge gaping wound that is no safety nets. At the end of the day, the only people getting any marginal increases in worker's rights are those living in blue states, and corporations just skirt that by moving somewhere red. Federal regulation is the solution.
I agree that the exploitation of these workers is a big problem but that's systemic, that's not the fault of the consumers. EVERYBODY is overworked and underpaid now, and using these conveniences makes life easier and more manageable. I don't think it's fair to blame people for choosing to make their difficult lives easier. The companies are the problem.
So... "Screw them, not my problem"?
I think this is such a flawed way of seeing this. The system is flawed and the consumers know it yet they still perpetuate the system? The consumers are to blame, companies are to blame, society is to blame, we are all to blame. The blame is diffuse. We are all part of the problem. We can obfuscate and fragment ourselves away from responsibility forever and ever and never see the world improve. Blaming the companies full-stop and being like "whoops, guess there's nothing we can do to improve anything!" is really child-like thinking.
@@drillerdev4624 Not even a little bit. But the work needs to be done on a policy level. Not by shaming customers who are just trying to get by.
@@rinesserin it's not "shaming", but if you consider something is a bad company policy, I think that aside from trying to get it banned, you should educate the consumer about why it's wrong, not just allowing it while it lasts
Besides, the general public perception on the subject can be a big force when implementing such policies
@drillerdev4624 People know why it's wrong. But most people don't have the luxury of choosing differently. Lecturing a disabled person or a single mother working multiple jobs about why they shouldn't be using delivery apps doesn't solve any problems. It's up to lawmakers to enforce actual workers rights and prevent these companies from taking advantage of their employees.
I live in Germany in a big city with all the shops available. Whenever I want to buy a product, a very mainstream/basic one, not even a niche product, I prefer to walk or drive to the city and pick it up by myself in the store. The last months I noticed the stores would never have the products I want and the sales assistants would tell me it is only online available. At this point I have given up going to the stores. I order online and sometimes I am even lucky to get coupons by subscribing to the newsletter, that I would otherwise not receive in the stores.
The problem with all jobs being convenience is that if you do have a disability, you often can't do that work.
We cancelled our Prime sub this year and... turns out we didn't even need it. I wait until I run out of the things I can't find elsewhere, and only place an order when I've hit enough for free standard shipping. Also turns out some of the things I was ordering have been available at my city's Asian market anyway, often for way cheaper, so now I get to support a local business more often instead of Bezos.
Ooooh, catching a live! Appreciate you and everything you do!
As a Millennial, I just want to say that the research and reporting done on this channel is better than anything out there in mainstream media right now. Genuinely appreciate the no bull approach to gathering and sharing information in a way that is easy to understand and process. No corporate media bias etc. Just consistently great content. Thank you TFD.
This video was FABULOUS and I'm glad it went so heavily into my #1 least-favorite thing about the gig economy: misclassification of employees. Most people don't know or don't care about those implications or how brazenly the companies make the claim that e.g. uber drivers "don't provide work that's central to the company's main product." But my second favorite thing, the fees for the small businesses to participate in things like doordash or ubereats, are what made me decide I would only order restaurant food to my door if the restaurant itself is providing the delivery service.
Living in Hawaii cured me of a LOTS of convenience because being so far off geographically, you get used to not having stuff being delivered here and buy locally or go without. And even if they have free delivery its only to " Continental US" so Hawaii and Alaska always get screwed and have to pay for delivery.
Amazon takes 5 days on average to deleivery to Honolulu, food is already marked up so food delivery is only used when you're sick or if you're a tourist.
Not the bowling ball buffer 😂😂😂
Great video. As a rule, I do not order groceries or door dash simply because the fee is not worth it for me. I’d rather go after work at 8pm than pay some billionaire $20 to send someone else to do it for me. I also bring lunch every day to work, which my coworkers are astonished at because some of them order take out literally every day
The irony of saying by ride sharing is a convenience while selling a convenience app to delete the data those same companies are selling. Also it's a free feature on Google
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I'm an in-between Millennial and Gen Z, I've only watched this video and "Why Nothing You Buy Feels Good Anymore" so far and it's so surprising that all of statistics are so high. I don't have prime, any food delivery service, and rarely use uber or doordash. Maybe it's because I'm from a small rural town so we didn't have those things for nearly as long as big cities so maybe they're not as big a part of our lives. I wouldn't be surprised at a high use of Amazon in our area because our population is so small that having a physical store for a niche product/market would not draw in enough buisness to stay open. However, Amazon is almost guaranteed to have whatever it is and get to you ASAP. For example, I needed a specific cord for my computer and I want to Walmart and a local computer store looking for it and NEITHER had it, but Amazon did. As for delivery apps, I can't justify them because why pay extra when the store is only a 10 minute drive across town? It would make more sense somewhere like LA where getting to the store can take an hour on its own. As for excessive shopping, in your other video you said people buy 70 new clothing items a year. I probably only bought 70 new items in my whole adulthood! The other day I threw away a pair of sweatpants that I've had for probably 10 years only because they had rips, tears, and were stretched out. I wish I could go to the mall and be around the hustle and bustle but so many are dead. I love going to in person stores to make sure what I'm buying is actually what is advertized and decent quality. Am I the odd one here? Is this stuff actually normal and I'm just in my litttle bubble and don't see it?
Am I missing something? She said that ordering food delivery during inclement weather indicates a lack of empathy on the part of the consumer, but the drivers for companies like DoorDash and Ubereats only work when they choose to. Obviously, they might put themselves at risk by driving in bad weather because they can’t afford to not have the income, but how does not ordering food help that?? Sure the risk of them getting hurt being out in that weather is gone, but now they also can’t get that income that they need. These drivers are adults and should weigh the risks for themselves. I used to drive for DoorDash and I know that you would get paid more when there were fewer drivers working, so bad weather often means more money.
Also, no one ever cared about pizza and Chinese delivery...
@@TwisterTornado exactly! and they don’t even have the choice to refuse when on the clock!
Many delivery and uber drivers that I've met aren't working their hours out of choice, they've been squeezed into a position where they literally can't stop working by really exploitative company policy, or the systems that surround the job (like extortive car leasing) that the company turns a blind eye to. I think that might differ from place to place, but in South Africa, I have not met many drivers who feel like the position has opened up choice for them, very much the opposite.
@@jamysilver4575 If they can’t choose to not work on a given day/time, then it is not gig work. I was referring specifically to gig work delivery like DoorDash and Ubereats. Idk how it works outside the US or in other companies, but for DoorDash (and likely Ubereats, Instacart, etc), it’s up to the driver’s discretion
Think about it like this: in any other job, do you take overtime on Christmas because you love the work? Gig workers are still people.
We wouldn't need so many conveniences if we didn't exhaust ourselves at work with terrible working hours or conditions, often both. Since I started working fewer hours I naturally spend less money on conveniences. But not everyone can do that. Maybe it's the neurodivergence but before delivery apps when I was working and a student, I just starved because I didn't have the energy to go grocery shopping.
About 20 years ago, I visited Puerto Rico for a work conference. It was at a fancy hotel about an hour from San Juan. On the ride from the airport to the hotel, I saw poverty like I’d never seen before. It was then that I realized vacations are just a way for ordinary people to pretend to be rich for a little while, and to do that, there needs to be a underclass. Our comfort and convenience is dependent on there being a permanent underclass. So be mindful of how you use modern comforts and conveniences.