Which food delivery service is best for you?

Photo by Sina Salehi

Now more than ever, people are getting their meals from food delivery services. But the number of services available makes it difficult to choose one that is most convenient.

DoorDash has great customer service, relatively cheap pricing and fast speeds but not a huge pool of grocery stores. Postmates delivers everything from groceries to fast food, but it’s often more expensive. UberEats is relatively cheap and timely, but has less variety. GrubHub has a huge pool of restaurants but is more expensive due to the number of new restaurants added because of the requests of users.

With so much variety, it may be hard for you to choose the ideal app for your needs. But don’t worry, I’ve tested each app and found their pros and cons to give you an idea of which suits your needs the most.

All these services offer premium subscriptions, which cut the delivery fee and reduce the 10 and 15 percent service fees. I’ve found that the cheapest option is DoorDash, where the service charge is reduced to 5 percent.

When I tried to order the same bigger plate on Panda Express on all four apps, DoorDash had the lowest price while GrubHub had the highest.

The speed and food quality of the delivery is consistent on most delivery services, but the part I found lacking was the customer service from some apps, such as UberEats.

DoorDash and Postmates both have relatively fair compensations for misplaced orders while UberEats may be unfriendly to users and often will not provide refunds. A common trend I’ve noticed when users describe UberEats’ customer service is that it’s filled with responses that seem artificial. When UberEats lost my order, I received robotic feedback such as “I’m afraid we are unable to provide compensation for this concern” and “Your feedback will help us re-evaluate our partnership with delivery partners.”

If you want more than just food from restaurants, Postmates is a great option for purchasing groceries. Postmates offers same-day deliveries of both food from restaurants and grocery stores. This is especially rare especially during quarantine as most services, like Amazon Fresh and Weee! are overloaded with requests.

From my experience as a hungry user craving chicken nuggets, DoorDash is the go-to app for those who want a quick snack. Its convenience, cheap pricing and great customer service won me over. Postmates is also a great option for those who also want groceries from a variety of stores delivered efficiently.