Instant is Preferred.
Featured photo and above by Cris Ovalle / Unsplash
Today I opened up Uber Eats, because support was finally added for my home location. I had plenty of food in my fridge and the ability to walk to my next door grocery store, but the list of food nearby with delivery was tempting.
The application even was tempting me with ordering within five minutes to get a $2 cheaper fare. I refreshed the application a few times and the five minute countdown would restart. The list of restaurants sometimes changed, so it must be a nice marketing trick in order for me to order.
Scrolling the list of all food places is fun, seeing a menu of all nearby places is tempting. Trying the buffalo chicken sandwich from every nearby place is something I would seriously do, but I'd much rather go in person than have the delayed and sometimes stale delivery option.
Moving from Uber Eats, I ordered another battery pack for my phone on Tuesday of last week. It wasn't until 4 days later on Saturday that I got a text that my order was shipped. A bit maddening, but the estimated delivery was Sunday (the next day). Times have changed with deliveries coming on Sunday and sure enough around 9am the package arrived.
The delivery including the days it didn't ship, equals the estimated free delivery of 5-7 days. Hopefully Amazon didn't intentionally hold the package for no reason in order to entice me to pay for quicker shipping.
Though quicker shipping is beyond tempting. There are some things you can order and receive same day! This means you click a button on a website and in real life someone shows up with the object at your door. This box used to be a brown box full of shipping labels. Shown below is the box I received.
Advertising has entered this field of quick shipping, whether I like to admit it or not. My eyes read this box and thus vaguely remember the name "Ace Snacks". It sits in my brain and if I ever see it again, I will make the connection. If I find myself in a situation where I might purchase snacks and "Ace Snacks" is an option then this form of advertisement worked.
Things are becoming faster, whether it is my Internet speed or method of shipping packages. Speed costs either money or my attention, both of which are very important. I think Amazon Prime is changing a field along with Uber Eats, I'm very interested to see how things are in a few more years.