Food Food Delivery Apps Should Display The Carbon Footprint Of Each Order
Main point: Food delivery apps (DoorDash, UberEats, SkipTheDishes, etc.) should modify their ordering apps to display the carbon footprint (or something more user-friendly) of each order.
I do Door Dash in the evenings. Last night I got a $2.99 order for two egg rolls that I delivered 12km away (the Chinese restaurant is near my apartment, so 24km in total).
Yes, two egg rolls, $2.99, and 24 kilometres of driving in total!
It was not the first time either — I am sure there are drivers with more ridiculous stories. There are also the 20-something kilometre deliveries (40km if it’s a round trip) from large franchises like McDonald’s, KFC, Tim Hortons, etc. with tens of other locations that are much closer. Same restaurant, same trashy food, so unless you know the person preparing the food personally, there is no reason for this.
Anyway, last night got me thinking about the environmental impact of food delivery apps.
P.S. I don’t have the customer-facing app because I don’t have the level of self-control required to have thousands of restaurants in your pocket when you are hungry and need to cook the same pasta and meatballs you’ve been having for the last week. But I digress.
I assume customers do not know the location they are ordering from — I may be wrong.
So here my question:
What if customers were not only aware of the order distance but also the carbon footprint of their order?
What decisions would customers make if the carbon footprint of the order was displayed on the app right before they place an order? Kinda like “Smoking Kills!” or the calorie count on fast food wrapping paper.
Food delivery apps have blossomed during the Covid-19 pandemic and are probably on their way to becoming the primary vehicle between customers and their food.
I think it’s time for food delivery apps to take some responsibility in the fight against climate change — by making consumers aware of how their ordering decisions are impacting the environment.
