Waimai Deliveries Taking Longer Than Usual? Here's Why

Since the city’s current round of Covid restrictions began to take effect around Nov 18, besides restaurant and venue closures, one thing is painfully obvious: waimai deliveries are taking a lot longer now.

Whereas lockdowns and in-house dining bans in the spring led to fears of grocery stores running out of food -- which in turn led to grocery stores having to close temporarily to restock empty shelves and delivery timing issues -- this time around it’s more to do with a shortage of actual delivery drivers.

Under current epidemic controls, lockdowns are supposed to be enacted on a building by building basis instead of whole communities being locked down if one case is found. Because of this, Sixth Tone reports, gig workers like waimai drivers who need to be outside to work are adversely affected.

Scan for Sixth Tone report

A grim result, according to the Sixth Tone report, is that many waimai drivers have resorted to sleeping on the streets in order to keep on working.

So, first of all, how can you help delivery drivers during these trying times?

The easiest way is by adding a tip to the order. To do so, open your preferred delivery app of choice (if using Meituan or Eleme) and find 订单 dìng dān. After clicking in, click in to your most recent order.

Then, all you have to do find and click into your most recent order, click 打赏骑士 dǎ shǎng qíshì and leave a tip.

Other delivery app options like Sherpa's and JSS are a little kinder to their drivers. It may cost more to get a delivery on these apps, but it's well worth it, with a spokesperson from JSS telling the Beijinger that their drivers receive the full delivery fee and are not charged any commission.

avertisement

In regards to getting your food delivery in a timely manner, this boils down to timing.

We found when ordering through Meituan that deliveries come on time or quicker when ordered before peak hours, which tend to last from around 11am until around 7 or 8pm everyday.

This is especially true when you’re ordering around lunch or dinner time, as we found many restaurants took considerably longer to find a delivery driver, at one point waiting over an hour for one restaurant to find a driver.

Another thing to keep in mind is that since there's a driver shortage, this means once a driver does take your order, they'll also be making other stops along the way to drop off and pick up more orders.

When in doubt, many restaurants also offer delivery via Shansong, but it's best to contact a restaurant directly to see about this option.

Whatever the case, the best thing you can do to help out whoever happens to be delivering your food during these crazy times is to be patient and try to help them as much as possible if they’re lost or have any issues with delivering your food. A little kindness can go a long way.