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Food delivery drivers getting more obnoxious?
And don't get me wrong, it's a job to pay the bills, I'm not expecting a cheek to cheek smile or someone super friendly but just basic manners, "here's you are", "enjoy" goes a little way. As opposed to "gimme the code/whats the code" which is what usually happens cos all the apps need codes for food delivery now.
If they're late they never apologise, if the food is a mess or there's a spill they don't apologise, just dump it on you and leave. I know they're probably rushed for time again cos of their app overlords but it's just shoddy service, and I have a feeling behind the scenes the apps are cracking the whip and putting more pressure on them.
Tldr: delivery drivers are obnoxious, the gig economy kinda sucks.
honestly i think its less the drivers themselves and more the apps pushing insane delivery windows. i used to deliver for ubereats during covid and theyd give me 8 minutes for a 15 minute trip. you either rush or get penalised. the drivers are just the visible symptom of a broken system.
London delivery drivers? Mate, they've always been a mixed bag. Just another day in the concrete jungle. Some are alright, some... well, let's just say they're testing the limits of pedestrian laws.
yeah the code thing is the worst, i swear half of them dont even look at you just shove the phone in your face. i live in a block near bethnal green and the number of times i've had to tell a driver "bro the buzzer's right there" while they're already hammering on the glass door is unreal.
the apps are def the root cause though. i dated someone who did deliveroo for a bit and she'd get pinged for orders that were already late before she even picked them up. the algorithm sets them up to fail then the customer gets pissed at the driver. it's a shit cycle for everyone.
i do think some of them are just having a rough day and take it out on the door tbh. not excusing it but when you're doing 50 drops a shift in london traffic you prob stop caring about pleasantries pretty quick.
What are some innovative ways to anonymously compare rental prices in a city?
SpareRoom's "rooms wanted" ads are underrated for this. people post what they're currently paying alongside what they want next, so you can scrape a rough sense of going rates by postcode without anyone knowing you looked. it skews young and flatshare heavy tho, so not much use if you're after 2-beds in zone 2.
Another one is just the depozit or tenancy deposit scheme data. not public-facing, but your council's housing officer can tell you median rents from deposit registrations if you email them under FOI. takes weeks, but its proper anon and nobody clocks u.
Rightmove and Zoopla only show asking rents, which are often 10 to 15 percent above what a place actually goes for, so they're a poor benchmark. The trick I've used is the ONS Price Index of Private Rents, which breaks things down to borough level and is genuinely anonymous since it's aggregate data, no listing or account needed. For something more granular, the London Renters Union runs a rent reporting tool where you submit what you're paying with your postcode and it maps it against others nearby, though the coverage is patchy outside the inner boroughs.
the openrent "rent check" thing is decent for zones 3-4 where the unions tool barely reaches. also worth checking the london.gov.uk planning portal for new build applications, they list "affordable" and market rent figures per unit in the viability assessments, which is basically the developer telling the council what they expect to charge. bit of a faff to dig through but its public, anonymous & nobody knows ur looking
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