Uber Booze - Why?

Forums › Off topic › Uber Booze - Why?

1 | 2 | 3

old3eyes

9120 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

#2680988 26-Mar-2021 12:00

Handle9:
Rikkitic

I was speaking tongue in cheek but I certainly don't see a 'need' for round-the-clock alcohol delivery to the door and anyone who doesn't think alcohol does enormous harm is living in la la land. I say this as a drinker myself and I made use of store deliveries during lockdown, but I still don't think this is a good idea.

There's really no need for any sort of home delivery. It's sure convenient but you don't need it.

Do you ever buy anything on line like computer gear, books , CDs?? If you do you lose your augment. Buying online is the way things are going unless you always want to drive to the shops for everything..

Regards,

Old3eyes

WyleECoyoteNZ

1049 posts

Uber Geek

#2680989 26-Mar-2021 12:02

This won't be popular, but I don't have a problem with it.

I think that the price of getting the booze will put some off. As the service isn't available in Wellington yet, where I live, I entered an Auckland address through Uber eats last night and easily found a store. However, as an example a single 650ml bottle of Heineken was $13.

A online shopping at a local liquor store and supermarket has the same sized bottle at $6.99 and $5.99 respectively.

And unless there are 24/7 liquor stores open in Auckland, you'll only be able to order booze while a store is open.

And aside from being able to get booze from a store while it's open, how is it any different to getting overnight delivery from an online store?

frankv

5680 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#2681042 26-Mar-2021 13:18

^^^

In the absence of Uber Booze, if you do run out, you would physically go down to the liquor store or supermarket yourself. And make the decision to do that after having already drunk whatever booze you had with you.

An alternate strategy would be to take *plenty* of booze with you, so that you won't run out. And then the temptation is to drink it all.

I doubt I'll ever use Uber to get alcohol for me, but I don't see it as big deal. Opposing it because Kiwis are binge boozers is "deck chairs on the Titanic" stuff. I do agree that it's wrong to have some random Uber driver make the decision on whether someone is too drunk or not. And if too drunk or underage, he then has to return the booze to the source and refund the payment for the alcohol, and *maybe* get paid for his extra mileage.. "Yeah, nah. The customer doesn't look all that boozed or young to me. And boozed people are good tippers."

Rikkitic

Awrrr
18667 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#2681075 26-Mar-2021 14:07

If New Zealanders were capable of behaving in a normal fashion with alcohol, this wouldn't be an issue. Since they are not, if makes sense to stop short of sending it through the water pipes.

Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos

Lias

5590 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2681188 26-Mar-2021 16:09

What always annoys me about drug & alcohol regulation in NZ, is that policy seems to be dictated by a handful of teetotalling bureaucrats.

I say bring on 24x7 legal availability of booze, weed, MDMA, coke, etc, it'll be a hell of a party.

I'm a geek, a gamer, a dad, a Quic user, and an IT Professional. I have a full rack home lab, size 15 feet, an epic beard and Asperger's. I'm a bit of a Cypherpunk, who believes information wants to be free and the Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it. If you use my Quic signup you can also use the code R570394EKGIZ8 for free setup.

Kyanar

4089 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

#2681211 26-Mar-2021 17:03

Dingbatt:

Wouldn’t any business supplying the alcohol need to have a liquor licence?

Maybe I misunderstand the UberEats business model, but don’t you order through their app, the food plus delivery is charged to your Uber account and then Uber orders the food and pays the restaurant.

If that is the case then the alcohol is not being purchased from the licensee. It is different from a licenced supermarket, pizza joint or wine merchant from delivering you alcohol I would have thought.

Not quite how it works. Uber has restructured their agreements in this neck of the world (I speak for Australia, but NZ is run out of the same offices) so that Uber provides a delivery service - the customer is purchasing food (or booze) from the restaurant, not Uber, and Uber is supplying delivery services to the restaurant (not the customer, any more). Uber also contracts the driver to perform the delivery.

Previously, per the agreement, it was that the Uber acted as an "agent" for the restaurant for payment collection, and the restaurant contracted the driver. Despite how ridiculous that claim is.

Under neither model did Uber order the food and pay the restaurant - that's an Uber offering not available in this part of the world, though DoorDash does have it.

afe66

3181 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#2681229 26-Mar-2021 17:39

If I had this service when younger it would have made all those high school parties easier.

Pinch dads credit card. Order booze. leave note on the front door with $20 cash say leave it here keep the cash

End result pissed students.

[Mod edit (MF): removed comment]

Quic Broadband

Move to New Zealand's best fibre broadband service (affiliate link). Free setup code: R587125ERQ6VE. Note that to use Quic Broadband you must be comfortable with configuring your own router.

Handle9

11409 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2681231 26-Mar-2021 17:42

old3eyes:

Handle9:
There's really no need for any sort of home delivery. It's sure convenient but you don't need it.

Do you ever buy anything on line like computer gear, books , CDs?? If you do you lose your augment. Buying online is the way things are going unless you always want to drive to the shops for everything..

Why do I lose the argument? I buy lots of things online. I like to do so but I don't need to. I could drive to the shops.

Kyanar

4089 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

#2681870 28-Mar-2021 09:40

Handle9:

Why do I lose the argument? I buy lots of things online. I like to do so but I don't need to. I could drive to the shops.

I just want to point out that especially in rural areas, there is actually a modest need for home delivery - I'll use Australia as an example here just because it magnifies the issue, but for someone living far away from the CBD, "drive to the shops" for many things can mean a drive ranging from one to nine hours. I know in New Zealand you could still live over an hour's drive from a major shop with the things you need, and lord forbid you be lower income and can't afford a car.

On top of that, COVID has kind of magnified that sick people should not be leaving their houses. I know us westerners are absolutely crap at this, unlike some East Asian countries, but delivery services are really the only way to get things if you're ill and isolating.

networkn

Networkn
32365 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2681871 28-Mar-2021 09:50

Kyanar:

Handle9:

Why do I lose the argument? I buy lots of things online. I like to do so but I don't need to. I could drive to the shops.

I just want to point out that especially in rural areas, there is actually a modest need for home delivery - I'll use Australia as an example here just because it magnifies the issue, but for someone living far away from the CBD, "drive to the shops" for many things can mean a drive ranging from one to nine hours. I know in New Zealand you could still live over an hour's drive from a major shop with the things you need, and lord forbid you be lower income and can't afford a car.

On top of that, COVID has kind of magnified that sick people should not be leaving their houses. I know us westerners are absolutely crap at this, unlike some East Asian countries, but delivery services are really the only way to get things if you're ill and isolating.

It's apples and oranges. For Alcohol, I don't agree with HD at all, and I know it's a fantasty, but in theory, if you need to go and *drive* to get alcohol, then you need (legally) to be sober/safe enough to drive.

Home delivery rurally (or even mostly inside Urban zones) aren't done inside of 60 minutes. Usually, they would be overnight, some planning is required.

The quantities of booze allowed to be delivered are smaller than I'd imagined, which does reduce my concerns somewhat, my other concerns remain. I must admit that the idea that someone intoxicated can ring to get alcohol rather than driving is a side of the argument I hadn't really considered, probably because I assume people will operate inside the law by default.

Overall though, I stand by the argument of why are we making our most harmful substance in NZ society, *more* accessible, rather than less?

Rikkitic

Awrrr
18667 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#2681884 28-Mar-2021 10:35

networkn:

Overall though, I stand by the argument of why are we making our most harmful substance in NZ society, *more* accessible, rather than less?

+1 for that. Apart from that, my experience is that most outfits that deliver do not deliver to rural areas so that point might be moot. Maybe Uber is different. I don't know but it would surely be a lot more expensive.

Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos

Lias

5590 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2682240 29-Mar-2021 07:20

networkn:

Overall though, I stand by the argument of why are we making our most harmful substance in NZ society, *more* accessible, rather than less?

I don't think there is a simple answer to that, some possible factors I can think of:

Alcohol companies have deep pockets and political sway.
Alcohol excise and tax is a huge revenue generator for the government (The excise alone was almost 1% of all crown tax revenue in the most recent figures I could find)
Alcohol is 'traditional' in our society and over half the population drinks alcohol at least weekly.
Government reluctance to implement policies that may be unpopular.
NZ still being primarily a Judaeo-Christian country and alcohol and Christianity are intrinsically linked (Water into wine etc).
People willing to pay for this service are probably not at the lower end of the socioeconomic scale.
Plenty of people consume alcohol without harm to society
Prohibition is proven to be ineffective and restricting supply is merely partial prohibition.
The moral panic around alternatives to alcohol.

chevrolux

4962 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#2682330 29-Mar-2021 09:32

networkn:

Overall though, I stand by the argument of why are we making our most harmful substance in NZ society, *more* accessible, rather than less?

Because prohibition just does not work. Full stop.

People will abuse substances no matter what laws are in place, so we simply need to educate about harm and make it as safe as possible.

networkn

Networkn
32365 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2682332 29-Mar-2021 09:40

chevrolux:

networkn:

Overall though, I stand by the argument of why are we making our most harmful substance in NZ society, *more* accessible, rather than less?

Because prohibition just does not work. Full stop.

People will abuse substances no matter what laws are in place, so we simply need to educate about harm and make it as safe as possible.

No-one, not one, has mentioned prohibiting alcohol. We are talking about making it less readily available. It's not even remotely the same thing.

All the education programs we have run have made little to no difference.

Geektastic

17944 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2682387 29-Mar-2021 11:17

afe66:
If I had this service when younger it would have made all those high school parties easier.

Pinch dads credit card. Order booze. leave note on the front door with $20 cash say leave it here keep the cash

End result pissed students.

[Mod edit (MF): removed comment]

My father would have visited the wrath of the gods upon my head if I had done that.

1 | 2 | 3