How Does Uber Eats Work, And Is It Worth It?

Because of the fees, it's never worth it unless there are multiple promo that you can stack. Like BOGO free, plus extra 40% off. Then it ends up being about the regular price when you factor in fees and tips. And also, once you sign up for Uber One, you stop getting those 40% off promos.

Also keep in mind that a lot of restaurants have higher prices on Uber Eats than in store or ordering first-party for pickup. For example, that $21.50 bowl in your screenshot may only be $18 if you ordered directly from the restaurant for pickup.

Likely a very different calculus if you live in some flyover-country suburban hellscape, but I use it 80% of the time to just order take out given there are probably 50 places within a 10 minute walk of me. The Uber One discount shaves the tax down to where it's usually cheaper than ordering direct from the restaurant.

There are a handful of places too far to walk that we like, and that's the 20% we'll do delivery for.

I get the 40% off promos and have Uber One. (My sense was actually they send you *more* such promos if you have Uber One, but that might be incorrect,)

Same here. When I had UberOne, I received a 40% offer every single week without exception for months (each offer good for 3x uses). I cancelled UberOne a few weeks ago and have not received the offer since then.

It's also worth noting that the monthly Uber credits on AmEx Platinum and Gold can be used with Uber Eats. We usually get a couple of free meals each month with these.

Delta announced LAX-AKL today. But here is another advertorial

In my experience, if you play your cards right, UberEats for delivery can be substantially cheaper than ordering directly from the restaurant. It is true that many restaurants mark up the price by around 10% to 20% compared to in-restaurant, and there is the extra cost of Uber fees and driver tip, but those extra costs are more than offset by offers that can often be stacked 5, 6, or even 7 deep.

For example, in 2022, I used the 40% off delivery (up to $15) for probably 50 deliveries (around 2x per week for the latter half of the year). On top of that, when I wasn't paying with "free" AmEx Gold/Platinum monthly credits, I was paying with Uber gift cards acquired 20% to 30% off (e.g., Amazon deal using 1 MR point). On top of that, Citi was offering quite a few "$10 off $25" deals last year, which I used across several cards. On top of that, Simply miles was offering something similar, for around 435 or 465 AA points, which I earned quite a few times. On top of that, if linked to a Marriott account, every Uber order gets Marriott points. Moreover, recently AmEx also had an offer for 500 MR points for a $15 purchase, valid for 5x uses. (There may be other deals I'm forgetting, not to mention the points/miles from the actual credit card charges, especially if the card offers a multiplier for restaurants.)

When I analyzed the actual net cost, my typical order (including 3 meals) would have cost around $35 + 30 minutes of my time + gasoline and car wear if I had ordered directly from the restaurant and drove there to pick up. Compared to the average net cost of around $14 after all the offers when having delivered, not to mention the savings of time and wear on my car. So literally less than half price for ordering via UberEats.

Those who bemoan that prices on UberEats, DoorDash, and GrubHub are so much higher either aren't considering the myriad mitigating discounts or are not maximizing the value offered.

@ AA70 -- I'm sorry, I'm on a bit of a different schedule this week, and am trying to disconnect a bit. I got to that news as soon as I could, and now have a post up about it.

Hopefully being on a different schedule means you're traveling!
Just enjoyed the capital one lounge at DFW, was actually brilliant

$15 with the Platinum + $10 with the Gold. You get a couple meals with $25? With delivery fees, taxes and tip, that is barely one meal on UberEats.

@ AA70 -- It does indeed, to stay tuned for (more) reviews. Happy you enjoyed the Capital One Lounge, it's one of my favorites!

This makes me happy.

I had to try it for myself after your raved about it, finally found myself in DFW long enough to enjoy it.

Safe travels!

The pricing is high without promos.

But the real issue is customer service or lack thereof. If an order is sting, forget about resolving it in time yo eat.

DoorDash I’d much better they way. I use Uber Eats only yo use Amex Uber credits,

Either you've had a stroke or you need to turn autocorrect off, my dude.

You can also link your Uber/Uber Eats account with a Marriott Bonvoy account and get Marriott points for Uber transactions.

While not an immense return, should definitely mention the Marriott partnership with Uber/Uber Eats. I definitely appreciate the extra 2X Marriott points on orders, especially when stacking on top of Amex credits, SUB or restaurant earning card.

I have tried it a few times and it’s always such I hassle, I gave up. It seems they use GPS location data to locate you rather then the actual street address. I live in a large building, in a unit more or less In the center of the building, and they’ve consistently tried to deliver to the other side of the building, even though there’s no entrance there. Then there’s all the texts and calls while they try to figure out where the front entrance is. Even though that’s the address I have entered into the app. It’s ridiculous.

Also Uber One gets you some % off Uber rides

$21.50 for an açaí bowl is freaking incredible. Roughly three times the price of one in my area. Is that because it’s Uber Eats or Miami or both?

One thing I’ve noticed recently is how Uber eats will promote adding more items for other stores once an order is in process. This even includes places for me that are far enough away that even with Uber one there would be a delivery fee. That fee is waived during this limited time, so I ended up trying an açaí bowl of all things.

Here’s my Uber eats code: Get $20 off your first Uber Eats order of $25 or more. Terms apply. Use my code at checkout: eats-4zir4ir9cx

Biggest ripoff and BTW I have boycotted using Uber rides because the pricing has gone up sky high.
I just don't get it. What exactly is Uber One monthly subscription fee. And what the heck is a service fee on top of delivery fees. And to boot, most of the restaurants we like to do takeaway have higher priced menus than if I order directly with restaurant and/or other online ordering services.

Here is the bottom line with all the Uber and competitors. The business model simply does not work because they based it on autonomous vehicles to get rid of their biggest "contract drivet" costs. They have relied on the cash feom IPOs (lost $2 billion before they pulled out of China).
The only good news is that cities have been forced to re-price their taxi medallions.

Its worth noting that the much ballyhooed benefits of the Amex plat are less than advertised. I recently got an Amex platinum and thought I would use Uber eats to take advantage of the credits, but found that Seamless is actually much cheaper. Much like supposed hotel perks with Amex plat end up being way more expensive than booking directly with the hotel

I have used them once and it is grand theft by the charges I have received. The cost of this service was extended over s week resulting in 3 separate charges. The sun total of all these charges was almost $100 just about the cost of the meal. Would never recommend this service to anyone.

Uber eats is okay. But there are way too many fees.