How much Australians are prepared to spend on Uber and Uber Eats
WE all know the need for dialling in a burger on a lazy night at home but its costing Australians big time, with many spending as much on Uber Eats as their yearly wardrobe.
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YOUNG people are costing themselves a small fortune as they order up takeaway coffees and meals to their front doors and desks.
And it’s not just smashed avocado orders that’s biting into budgets.
New figures show spending is surging on Uber fares and popular food delivery services including Uber Eats, Foodora and Deliveroo.
Spenders are also forking out hundreds of dollars a year on buy now, pay later schemes as they delay the need to pay.
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New figures from popular micro-investing app Raiz, formerly known as Acorns, found Millennials (25 to 35-year-olds) are spending more than $740 a year on Uber food deliveries and Uber fares alone.
Social analyst David Chalke said the days of “walking down to the fish and chip shop” are long gone and instead Australians are focused on convenience.
“The Millennials are perfectly adapted to a world of impermanence, this is now, now is the moment,’’ he said.
“The notion of prudence and caution which we were brought up with is less and less relevant today.”
On Raiz’s database customers meal deliveries are rolling into homes and workplaces — in 2017 Millennials spent an estimated $180 on Foodora deliveries, $228 on Deliveroo services and another $228 on Menulog.
New figures from financial institution ING found in 2017 customers spent about $260 on Uber fares — a rise of 12 per cent.
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And customers spent about $540 annually on the rapidly growing buy now, pay later scheme Afterpay.
Their data also showed the annual amount spent on food deliveries continued to grow with customers spending on Uber Eats ($186), Deliveroo ($166) and Foodora ($116).
Tribeca Financial’s chief executive officer Ryan Watson said spending up with the click of a finger was too easy for younger Australians who he described as “the generation of instant gratification”.
“What they see is what they want and simply have to have,’’ he said.
“Spending without thought and therefore consequence just creates a vicious cycle — we need to get back to being a population of people who save something for a ‘rainy day.’
University of Melbourne Associate Professor Dr Anish Nagpal, an expert in consumer behaviour and decision making, said the ease at which consumers spend using their phones instead of cash removed the pain of paying.
“It decouples the pain of spending and the pleasure of receiving,’’ he said.
“People typically think a little more before handing out cash.
“The focus now is on pleasure and they tend to spend more.”
sophie.elsworth@news.com.au
Originally published as How much Australians are prepared to spend on Uber and Uber Eats