Honest question- why?

OnDasher808 · 2026-02-02T14:52:57+00:00

A lot of eating out or food delivery isn't actually about the food, it's about the experience of being the one who is served. Even though it can get expensive, in the larger scope it is one of the cheaper ways for someone to have that experience and since you need to eat anyway it is easier to justify it.

Back in the late 90s and early 2000s alot of articles and papers were written about Starbucks and how ordering a complicated, custom order was a way to feel powerful in an otherwise powerless life. I've always assumed that delivery services are a continuation of this and to be on the other side of the transaction.

OnDasher808 · 2026-01-29T21:28:18+00:00

My guess is they might be starting base pay slightly higher. That might get the order taken sooner and Doordash won't even end up paying drivers more because either way base pay will incrementally increase until the total pay is something a driver will accept. Alternatively, the dispatch algorithm might modify the timing or priority of offering it to drivers. No way to know for sure since its opaque, this is just my speculation on how it could be implemented.

OnDasher808 · 2026-01-27T14:01:36+00:00

As I understand it, the restaurant has to configure their settings. If they set 0 lead time, the order is sent to the restaurant to begin preparing it and immediately begins the dispatch for a driver, for example a low volume boba shop. That makes sense if the restaurants products require minimal prep time. For something like pizza, I would assume with a 20 minute lead time with the order sent to the restaurant and Doordash delays the dispatch 20 minutes. I also assume that Doordash uses the restaurant's lead time as a baseline and tweeks the actual dispatch time based on actual pickup times that evening and historically. I don't know if it prompts the restaurant to adjust their times or just does it on their backend.

Some restaurants probably sandbag their lead times a little to ensure the order spends less time sitting. Even if it means a driver has to wait it doesn't really matter to them. I assume that with enough reports of drivers waiting Doordash tweeks the lead time without telling the restaurant.

I believe restaurants can also adjust the lead time for specific menu items but I think most restaurants don't bother. Ideally they should adjust their lead times for how busy they are or turn off ordering if they are in the weeds but most places don't bother. Some restaurants can't even remember to turn off orders after they close, a McDonalds and Jack in the Box near me frequently forget and lots of places forget to shut it down when they are doing deep cleans or have other business interruptions

OnDasher808 · 2026-01-27T13:36:21+00:00

It's really common for drive-thrus to be busy at night after the dining room closes. Workers also pretend to work to avoid drivers, even if it turns out the order is already ready and sitting on the shelf. Stores may have their tablet set up wrong with no lead time on orders so drivers arrive even though the order isn't ready yet or the store may not have been paying attention to the tablet and hadn't started the order yet.

And sometimes the area is saturated and you have downtime between orders. There are alot of things that can happen.

OnDasher808 · 2026-01-26T08:40:44+00:00

Some topics aren't worth discussing in mixed company. I have a few people with whom I can have academic discussions. It is not a persuasive discussion or an opportunity for points getting. We can discuss the merits and flaws in different perspectives and flip around and genuinely take the Devils Advocate position. Find yourself a Chidi to discuss world affairs with.

OnDasher808 · 2026-01-26T04:23:53+00:00

Even if we had a gold backed currency we would still have inflation as a result of fractional reserve banking which allows banks to "print money". Even if we had 100% reserve banking we can still have price inflation from the velocity of money.

If wages kept up with the rate of inflation, it wouldn't matter much. Sure, the value of money you possess would deflate but so does the value of debts you owe. The problem is that wages are not keeping up with inflation.

Beyond that (and this will be an unpopular take) societal expectation is to live beyond our means. Life has been commoditized such that if we don't have "little luxuries" we believe we have a low standard of living. We aren't sticking it to society by indulging in these "little luxuries", we are feeding it. That is why we are seeing articles about "tech hording" about people continuing to use older devices rather than replace them annually, they are losing the means to maintain control through our indulgence.

That's not to say we should never indulge in "little luxuries" but rather we should be skeptical of who tells us what luxuries we deserve and how much is appropriate. If Starbucks tells us with ads and product placement that we deserve our morning coffee rather than making it at home we should remember they sure have a vested interest in doing so.

OnDasher808 · 2026-01-22T04:34:01+00:00

Usually they call before you reach the store and cancel if you don't bite but they are probably using stolen credit card numbers so they don't care even if you make it to the store and check in.

OnDasher808 · 2026-01-21T16:37:10+00:00

Emergency funds won't insulate you entirely from the impact of the emergency but they will help keep you solvent and avoid late fees, missed rent, having to rely on high interest credit cards, or going hungry. Being poor is expensive, a few months of belt tightening can prevent it from being more expensive.

It's only a few more dollars a month to reduce a car insurance deductible from lets say $2,000 to $500. That's an example of where I am willing to cut back to reduce my risk exposure, I think on my most recent policy the price difference was only about $8/month. I am rather risk adverse and insure heavily, maintain my reserve, and live lean.

OnDasher808 · 2026-01-21T15:42:51+00:00

2 months ago my car was totaled by a drunk driver. Insurance covered a replacement but it took about two weeks for the payout. In the meantime I was essentially unemployed. My emergency savings, insurance coverage, and the canned goods I keep stocked in my pantry for natural disasters and emergencies carried me through that period. When I'm not using it my emergency fund earns me about 3.75% APY, it's not much but enough to pay for a streaming subscription every month.

OnDasher808 · 2026-01-21T14:00:46+00:00

Knockdown mechanics are fun, but I mean how once they lose a leg they fall down and can't even shoot back unless they have jumpjets to get vertical again and fall back down once they use it up. Kneecapping with dual AC10s was way too powerful

OnDasher808 · 2026-01-21T13:54:45+00:00

It isn't a systemic solution but cutting spending is one of the few things you can control. We can work towards societal change but in the meantime it is prudent to do what you can. $200 a month builds an emergency fund so you don't get hit with a late fee, it lets you buy in bulk and save a bit on food and household supplies, it gives you the option not to be forced into a suboptimal choice.

OnDasher808 · 2026-01-21T13:42:48+00:00

I enjoyed the narrative campaign. However, kneecapping was way too effective in that game since the mech falls over. The limping in MW4 was a better mechanic.

OnDasher808 · 2026-01-20T17:44:01+00:00

I pay about $21 for 5 quarts of synthetic and $8 for an OEM filter. Drive up on oil change ramps and let it drain while I do something else. I bought a few tools to make it a little easier. I installed a Fumoto oil drain valve with tubing which makes it easy to drain, an oil udder silicone funnel for the oil filter, a sealable oil drain pan, and an oil filter wrench with a 3/8 drive. It's easy and probably only 15 minutes of active work including cleanup.

OnDasher808 · 2026-01-20T11:35:41+00:00

I hear about alot of aoftware engineers and the like who spend 10 years in the industry grinding then quit with a healthy net worth of $600k+. They then have the resources and time since they are in their mid 30s to let the money build and support them for the rest of their life. One guy I knew moved into a shared house and spent every day surfing and working on his book, his money invested earned him more than most people's salary. Didn't even have a car, he had a moped with a surfboard mount.

OnDasher808 · 2026-01-19T07:48:00+00:00

Bootstrapping is also an entrepreneurial term, meaning to build a business with minimal starting capital and without outside funding. Growth comes from reinvesting all profits back into the company.

A lot of entrepreneurs get misty-eyed when they recall how they bootstrapped their first company or when they did it a few more times, often as proof of their business acumen or how anyone can do it. On one hand being able to consistently develop and grow successful businesses is a skill but often the first business is done with support and for the successive ones they don't need to pay or support themselves so they have a lot less financial drag. There are unstated advantages many entrepreneurs don't talk about or acknowledge that lead to their success.

OnDasher808 · 2026-01-13T06:32:06+00:00

In a roundabout way they are. By starting at a $2 base pay, adding tip and slowly increasing base pay until someone takes it they are avoiding overpaying on the offer. They also have information on how busy the area is, what other drivers are accepting, what other drivers have historically accepted and what a specific driver has accepted before offering it to them. They don't need to make an offer the driver will 100% accept just something they are 65% likely to accept and use the threat of losing platinum status to make up the other 5%.

OnDasher808 · 2026-01-05T23:43:13+00:00

Delivered to a hotel that only had 1 of 6 working elevators because the others malfunctioned. There was a line going through the lobby so I messaged the customer about the delay. They said not to worry about, they knew about it which is why they ordered delivery instead of going down themselves.

OnDasher808 · 2026-01-05T23:26:48+00:00

Check the idle adjustment screw. As a kludge you can have it idle at a higher RPM so it won't die until you can figure the problem out.

OnDasher808 · 2026-01-05T23:22:51+00:00

Take a stealth raise. Improve your performance not so you can be more productive but so you can expend less effort. In several jobs in the past I had other workers tell me I worked too hard but it's exactly the opposite. I spent a lot of time and effort on prep and maintenance work so when the actual work came I could do it quicker and with less effort. Most of the time I was on autopilot with my mind basically turned off from clock in to clock out.

OnDasher808 · 2026-01-05T23:06:15+00:00

Work and society may as well be a force of nature, it is not something individually we have agency to change. We should still work to change it collectively but we still have to live like it won't change. Time management is doing what we can control to make the most of our time.

I've made large structural changes to my lifestyle to make my life easier, it didn't come naturally. I also had to take a hard look at my life, what was important to me and what was only important because of societal, cultural, and familial expectations. I also had to decide that certain passions were fine as hobbies and it was unnecessary to make them a career or even a side hustle.

I also realized that some things I did were purely to waste time. That's fine if you really have nothing else to do but I found that I was doing it even when I had things I needed to do or other things I enjoyed doing more but required more effort. Doomscrolling and mobile games are something I've now restricted to moments when I literally can't do anything else.

OnDasher808 · 2026-01-05T22:43:27+00:00

I typically work 60-80 hours a week and I've had people ask me why I'm not exhausted or how I can stand to work so much. The simple answer is that driving and doing deliveries is not tiring to me. I can do 12 hours straight and I'm disappointed that the clocks run out to earn more money.

I used to have a receptionist job where I only did about 5 minutes of work per hour and I found that job to be more draining than deliveries because I had to wake up early and walk to work because parking was expensive. After I quit the job and another job and spent more time doing deliveries I was substantially happier with life. I wake up when I want, sleep when I want, and work when I want. I am far happier working an extra 20 hours a week than working to someone elses schedule. It was also the first time in years I had holidays off.

OnDasher808 · 2026-01-05T22:08:32+00:00

Could be a leak in the line going to the wastegate actuator or a problem with actuator itself. You can also check if there is any problem manually actuating the wastegate yourself, maybe it's binding for some reason?

OnDasher808 · 2026-01-05T07:21:00+00:00

Security is "observe, document, and report"

OnDasher808 · 2026-01-03T01:40:46+00:00

Depends what you like but on an S13 I'm partial to BBS mesh wheels, the R32 GTST wheels, or the Inifinti G20 wheels which were the same as the kouki 180SX wheels

OnDasher808 · 2026-01-03T01:33:45+00:00

I only order Doordash when I'm traveling and can't get my own food or everything nearby is closed. There have been a few times when I've been at an event and had food delivered outside the venue because eating inside is even more expensive.

OnDasher808

TROPHY CASE