Deliveroo UK adds 'Don't interact with the help' option for when ordering a burger

Food delivery service Deliveroo will create an option for no-contact deliveries in the UK in response to the novel coronavirus outbreak. In an email sent to customers this morning, the company said it would launch a "no-contact drop-off service" which allows users to request that their rider leaves their food on their doorstep …

[KarMann]

Household products?

'Deliveroo added that those of us who are too ill or panic-stricken to leave the house can "order kitchen and household products from local stores and supermarkets on the Deliveroo app, making every day life that much easier".'

Will they be able to bring me some bog roll? Asking for my friend Alistair.

[Anonymous Coward]

How do Uber Eats employees get "documentation" - go to the GP's surgery while they're ill ?

[Mike007]

My GP surgery sent the following SMS yesterday:

Due to the Corona Virus situation the practice has decided to move to a Total Triage of all appointment requests. We will be recommending that all routine care is either dealt with by telephone or delayed until the risks have reduced. Please see our website for updates

So, presumably the way to get documentation is with a phone call along the lines of:

Self-Employed-Contractor: Hi, I would like to make an appointment please...

Receptionist: OK we need to get a consultant to call you before making an appointment, can you briefly tell me what the problem is and I will get someone to call you back?

Self-Employed-Contractor: I am just feeling a little unwell and I am not sure what it is. I have a cough, a high temperature, and shortness of breath...

Receptionist: OK, I will get someone to call you back as soon as possible.

Self-Employed-Contractor: Do you know when that will be? I need to go to work in a minute.

Receptionist: DO NOT GO IN TO WORK! Stay at home, isolate yourself from any witnesses who can confirm your health status everyone, and again do not go in to work!

Self-Employed-Contractor: But I am a very dedicated employee, and my employer has said that I am allowed to keep working unless given specific written instructions from a medical practitioner preventing me from doing so.

Receptionist: I am already filling out the paperwork, I will put it in the post as soon as the GP signs it and it should be delivered by tomorrow.

Self-Employed-Contractor: OK, Thank you. I guess the only way I will be able to obtain further essential supplies such as toilet roll is to use the convenient and easy to use Deliveroo app to get it delivered to my door in under an hour.

[Mr Humbug]

Totally unbelivable scenarion. GP receptionists are not that helpful

[Anonymous Coward]

Nor do they answer the phone if it would interrupt their nattering.

[Captain Scarlet]

Tbh if 50% of what I said was sorry we have no appointments then, I think I would be sent insane.

[Simian Surprise]

Over the phone, you say?

Like at the Bath Green Health Centre? (this part, at least, arguably SFW)

[Peter2]

News of the feature will come as a relief to many socially awkward Brits who find the prospect of talking to a complete stranger terrifying.

And will therefore perpetuate the problem, instead of forcing them to learn the absolute basics of social interaction they ought to have learned at least by the time they left school; ie learning to say hello to somebody you don't know, making small chat about the weather for a minute followed by wishing the person you'll probably never see again a nice day/life.

[phuzz]

"making small chat about the weather for a minute followed by wishing the person you'll probably never see again a nice day/life. would just fuck off and leave you alone"

FTFY

[Anonymous Coward]

@phuzz: That would be a really shitty way to treat the person who's just brought you your dinner (probably in the rain) and is just trying to earn a (probably not very well paid) living, wouldn't it?

You don't have to engage them in a long chat, but a minimal amount of social niceties (Hi, Thanks, Cheers, at least) and acknowledgement that they are a fellow human being wouldn't hurt.

[Peter2]

The fact that people aren't doing this is why our societies are getting so divided, and it's dangerous.

[Kubla Cant]

@anon - You've missed the point. Unless you're an unusually offensive person, it's possible to wish someone would leave you alone without actually telling them so.

[heyrick]

Fuck off bastard

As an introvert, I don't like socialising, but that doesn't mean I can't manage some social niceties. However it seemed (*) that the title text was a completely acceptable reply to having a stranger (me) say hello. One learns quickly that the best behaviour is to try not to exist or draw attention. No eye contact, no hello, no anything. Maybe you live in a better place. I guess I didn't.

* - circa 2001ish, I left England shortly after, haven't looked back.

[Mike007]

What is the daily rate that they are offering, and how does it compare to the usual per-delivery payments that someone who didn't report having a cough would receive?

Also many of their "independent self-employed contractors" offer their services to multiple companies at the same time. How does the Uber Eats daily rate + the Deliveroo daily rate compare to the per-delivery rate that they would normally earn?

[Anonymous Coward]

What if I'm having a shit to use up my mountain of bog roll and don't hear the doorbell? Who is responsible for my cold kebab? I don't think they've thought this through.

[Tromos]

Forget the kebab...

...eat the bog roll, it's a healthier option.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Forget the kebab...

I prefer the front door to be honest.

[Rich 11]

Surely you're producing your own material for a shish kebab? Just add paprika and stir.

[Claverhouse]

Optional Tipping

In a statement the company – which accepts card payments only (you can tip through the app)

Seems ideal; food service companies are meticulous at making sure tips go to the right person.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Optional Tipping

> Seems ideal; food service companies are meticulous at making sure tips go to the right person.

That's correct. Right up until the point where tips equals minimum wage...

[the Jim bloke]

Deliveroo did not respond to The Register

Good to see management are also complying with the non-interaction directive.

Leadership setting a good example, thats what we need.

As for Uber, I expect they will be paying their employees, a percentage of their normal rostered hours

..so zero...times, say 75%, .. times zero...

[macjules]

"Riders' safety is a priority ..

What about the rest of us who have to put up with maniac scooter drivers who cut through on your nearside just as you are turning left.

Also, why do they all have L plates on their scooters - do Deliveroo etc not have some policy to ensure that they have passed the driving and theory tests for scooters?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: "Riders' safety is a priority ..

You can ride on L plates for two years between CBT and taking the actual tests.

[Sirius Lee]

How does this help?

What on earth do delivery drivers do when they call at the door? Swap spit? Cough all over customers? If the sweaty hands of the infected delivery person (or the person at the dispensing burger comany) have been all over the packaging and you pick up the packaging (you have to pick it up, right?) then the virus can be transmitted. It doesn't matter that the delivery person is wearing gloves if they've wiped their nose with them or coughed into them as the virus will be all over the gloves and, so, on the packaging.

[Mike 137]

10,000 or 596?

10,000 or 596? It apparently depends on whether you're a politician or a medic. Yes, the virus is spreading, but this discrepancy in the figures on a single day strongly suggests either complete ignorance or a policy of "control by fear" on the part of one of the parties. Of course there's also a less charitable alternative - it might just be a good opportunity to be seen as an "important" PM. The only thing that will combat all of these is a big dose of reality (sorry to use obscure technical terminology).

[Is It Me]

Re: 10,000 or 596?

It is quite simple, the number of cases were someone has been tested and tested positive is 596.

10,000 is the expected number of actual cases that there in the UK allowing for the fact that the majority of people with symptoms aren't being tested and allowing for people who are infected and not yet showing symptoms.

[Santa from Exeter]

Re: 10,000 or 596?

That's still a ridiculously large multiplier

[pxd]

Re: 10,000 or 596?

"That's still a ridiculously large multiplier" - it absolutely is not. As the poster above you (Is It Me) noted, only a small number of UK infections have been confirmed by test, but everything we know about the virus, based on the experiences of other countries, does indeed indicate that a very much larger number of infected persons is to be expected. Please take the time to absorb the information already available on the Web. For a starter, I recomment the excellent article at the link below. pxd

https://medium.com/@tomaspueyo/coronavirus-act-today-or-people-will-die-f4d3d9cd99ca