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Fed Up With Food Delivery App Fees & Tips? Barclays Has Terrific News

Zero Rss
2 months ago
Fed Up With Food Delivery App Fees & Tips? Barclays Has Terrific News

Whether consumers are ordering from Uber Eats or DoorDash, delivery costs before tips now average roughly $8 to $10 per order. Add in the tip, and the basic meal for one at Chipotle, such as a burrito bowl, moves into unaffordable territory for many working-class folks. The result is that food delivery, once pitched as a mass-market convenience, is increasingly looking like a discretionary luxury.

Barclays internet equity analyst Ross Sandler penned a note on Wednesday titled "Autonomous Food Delivery Likely Hits Critical Mass By 2030," covering how automation in last-mile delivery could push delivery costs down to as little as $1 per order.

"The promise of autonomous food delivery is still a few years out, but showing very positive signals in markets that have been quick to embrace it. AVs should reduce the cost of delivery for both marketplaces (currently $8-$10 per order) and for consumers (tipping, $5 per order) down to as low as $1 per order," Sandler wrote in the note.

He continued, "As witnessed already in select APAC geos with low delivery costs, when this kind of improvement happens to the cost curve, consumer adoption should go through the roof. China's online food delivery penetration is 40% of orders in tier one cities, well ahead of the US, with cost being the biggest delta.

"UBER and DASH have a number of strategies in place in both SDR (sidewalk delivery robotics) and drones, but claim that these efforts are not likely to hit a material percentage of orders until 2030 and beyond."

The analyst sees "sidewalk delivery robots as the nearer-term opportunity. Current costs are around $5 to $7 per drop, but could fall toward $1 over time as utilization improves. Drones offer faster delivery and a larger "wow" factor, but regulatory hurdles, battery limitations and airspace approvals make the path more complicated."

Automated last-mile food delivery will certaintly improve the economics, and the added benefit is no tip.

Once delivery costs plummet, likely by the end of the decade, improved affordability should drive more people to order restaurant meals at home.

All of this is welcome news from Sandler's team at Barclays, but delivery costs are unlikely to decline meaningfully until automation is added to the last-mile process. Even then, the path to $1 delivery fees with no tip won't be frictionless. Local politicians and regulators could slow the adoption of automation with policies because voters will revolt over job displacement. Still, the benefit is obvious: cheaper delivery and no tip required, something almost everyone can agree on.

Guy breaks down how ridiculous food delivery app fees have gotten... 

This guy breaks down how ridiculous food delivery app fees have gotten.

He shows how a $4.99 iced coffee can easily turn into $19+ once you add the service fee, delivery fee, tip, and priority fee. Even if you subscribe to the app to “save money,” you’re still hit with multiple… pic.twitter.com/CLGsCeW3jr

— End3of6Days9 (Helen) 🇺🇸 (@end3of6days9) June 9, 2026

Kevin O'Leary says Gen Z is financially cooked... 

Kevin O’Leary says Gen Z is financially cooked when people making $70K a year are spending $28 on lunch pic.twitter.com/7s820Xnhg9

— Mikli (@CryptoMikli) May 18, 2026

Professional subscribers can read more about automation and AI at our new Marketdesk.ai portal. 

Tyler Durden Thu, 06/11/2026 - 21:20
Tyler Durden

Middle Schoolers' Reading & Math Scores Remain Below Pre-Pandemic Levels, US Results Show

Zero Rss
2 months ago
Middle Schoolers' Reading & Math Scores Remain Below Pre-Pandemic Levels, US Results Show

Authored by Aaron Gifford via The Epoch Times,

Although math and reading scores for 9-year-old students across the country have improved slightly over the past three years, their 13-year-old peers have seen no gains in the same subject areas, according to U.S. Department of Education data released on June 10.

Still, scores for both age groups remain below the levels before the COVID-19 pandemic in both subject areas.

That’s according to the latest release of the Nation’s Report Card, which provides new data for the two age groups dating back at least three years.

For the 9-year-olds, average scores last year were 4 points higher in both reading (218 out of 500) and math (238 out of 500) than those in 2022.

For the 13-year-olds, average reading scores have remained at 256 since 2023, while math scores decreased by 1 point from 2023 to 270 last year.

The data, summarized by the federal agency’s National Assessment of Educational Progress office, are based on standardized assessment scores across all states for both public and private school students.

For the latest report, the office examined scores of more than 7,000 9-year-olds and more than 8,000 13-year-olds across more than 400 schools.

Stagnant or declining scores on the Nation’s Report Card across all grade levels in recent years have been a topic of debate among federal leaders. President Donald Trump and Education Secretary Linda McMahon advocate eliminating the Department of Education, promoting universal school choice, and incentivizing states and local school districts to make improvements based on local priorities for public education. They’ve enjoyed support from Republican members of Congress.

Democrats have called for preserving the federal agency and providing more state and federal funding for public schools. During committee hearings in the past year, members also opposed private school voucher initiatives and criticized charter schools for taking funding away from public schools based on the per-pupil aid formulas.

The Department of Education has not yet released comments on the latest report.

The latest Nation’s Report Card data coincide with a new report from the National Council on Teacher Quality, a nonprofit organization made up of industry experts who review the effectiveness of teacher training programs. Its latest research indicates that about half of the nation’s colleges and universities with education programs of study aren’t providing effective reading instruction based on the most recent proven bodies of research.

Reading outcomes, the report said, won’t improve without better teacher preparation.

Child literacy advocates and leaders in both K–12 and higher education across the nation urge policymakers and university administrators to consider the council’s recommendations to reverse this negative trend.

“When a new teacher walks into a classroom without a solid grounding in the science of reading, we’ve already put that teacher—and every child in front of them—at a disadvantage,” Anne Wicks, a program director at the George W. Bush Institute policy center, said in a statement.

“This is fixable, and it’s time to act.”

Tyler Durden Thu, 06/11/2026 - 20:55
Tyler Durden

"It Was Like Two Bucks": Homeless Residents Say They Were Paid To Vote In Los Angeles Mayoral Race

Zero Rss
2 months ago
"It Was Like Two Bucks": Homeless Residents Say They Were Paid To Vote In Los Angeles Mayoral Race

Shocking videos posted on social media show multiple homeless Skid Row residents claiming they accepted cash payments ranging from $2 to $5 in exchange for voting for Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and city councilwoman Nithya Raman in last week's mayoral election.

Spencer Pratt was eliminated from the mayoral race on Monday, after Raman secured the number two spot in what many believe was a mathematically improbable surge in votes from post-Election Day mail-in ballots.

Skid Row is home to almost 4,000 people and has the highest concentration of homelessness in Los Angeles County. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

A man who identified himself as Kevin Shepherd says he cast a mail-in ballot for Bass after being offered $2 and negotiating the payment up to $4. He says he completed the ballot and deposited it into a ballot box. When asked whether payments extended to Raman as well, Shepherd confirmed they did. He also told investigators that outreach workers showed up in the area "three to five times a week" in the weeks leading up to the election, with multiple organizations cycling through.

Rene Johnson, 39, told a similar story. She says she received $5 after being directed to vote for Bass and describes groups regularly moving through Skid Row asking residents to sign paperwork.

"But, you know, at the time, I didn't know that that was going on," Johnson said. "I was just trying to make five bucks, you know? But I didn't do the fraud." Asked directly whether she believed the arrangement amounted to fraud, Johnson did not hesitate. She called it "fraudulent behavior" and said she believed people were being taken advantage of.

A third, unidentified woman who says she lives on the street described a recurring pattern of politically motivated visits. "It was like two bucks," she said of her payment, adding that "yeah, they come out here all the time." A fourth resident, Mark Sanchez, says canvassers paid him on multiple occasions to sign materials tied to local officeholders. "To sign a petition for the mayor or different things in office, and they paid me $4 or $5 in different accounts," Sanchez said. "It happened more than four or five times."

WOAH 🚨 Homeless women living on Skid Row in Los Angeles says someone came and had her fill out a ballot for Karen Bass

They told her who to vote for and then paid her $2 for the vote

She says “they come out here all the time” to get votes for Democrats

“They told you to vote… pic.twitter.com/BEuPbM1RKg

— Wall Street Apes (@WallStreetApes) June 9, 2026

The content creator who filmed the videos says a friend who works nearby tipped him off after witnessing political volunteers operating in the area during the run-up to Election Day. He spent roughly two hours talking to residents. "Everybody said it was normal," he said, describing what he heard on the street about the paid ballot activities.

Don Garza, a disabled military veteran who has lived on Skid Row since 1999, offers perhaps the sharpest indictment of what has allegedly gone on there. He says voter registration drives run by nonprofit organizations have been a fixture of life in the area for years. "We are tired of it. We don't want people coming in and deciding elections and taking advantage of us," Garza said. "Every one of them thinks they have claim to our voice. They think they speak for us."

The California Post previously reported that thousands of homeless voters were registered at Los Angeles shelters despite many not actually residing at those facilities. A Venice shelter with 185 registered Raman voters received $600,000 in taxpayer money with ties to Raman's office. The pattern suggests something more systematic than a few isolated transactions.

🚨Los Angeles Election Fraud Caught on Hidden Camera

LA election petitioners were caught on tape giving homeless individuals other voters' information, instructing them to forge voter names and signatures, and offering cash and drugs as incentives to register to vote. https://t.co/lCmAAPktyR pic.twitter.com/mf4dsxv4Md

— James O'Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) June 8, 2026

Ballot harvesting, which involves collecting completed mail ballots and delivering them on voters' behalf, remains legal in California, but the Los Angeles chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America has published a how-to guide that illustrates how close that line can be pushed.

WATCH: Some Skid Row residents tell @FOXLA they’ve been offered cash, cigarettes and other incentives to sign political petitions and paperwork.

The allegations come days after a longtime petition circulator pleaded guilty in a federal voter registration case. pic.twitter.com/SAtnmwGG0k

— Matthew Seedorff (@MattSeedorff) June 11, 2026

The California Post could not independently verify the residents' accounts on camera. However, it is hard to dismiss the consistency of the testimony across multiple unconnected individuals.

However, paying people to vote is clearly illegal. California Elections Code Section 18521 prohibits any person from receiving money, gifts, loans, or other consideration in exchange for voting or refraining from voting for any particular candidate. Section 18522 makes the flip side equally illegal, barring anyone from offering or providing such inducements. Violations carry criminal penalties.

U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli says his office will investigate the concerns the Post has uncovered and will "follow the evidence" to determine whether the law was broken.

Tyler Durden Thu, 06/11/2026 - 20:30
Tyler Durden

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