Delivery apps are a God–send. I’m not ashamed of milking every free promo I can—begging friends for their Uber Eats codes, signing up for email lists of InstaCart coupons. Here’s my take on the best of the best: The apps designed to save you from getting hangry in VP.
Postmates:
The beautiful thing about Postmates is that the app doesn’t just bring you food. Yes, you can get your fix of restaurants from Chipotle to Parc, but you can also take advantage of the Postmates General Store—sending calculators, Benadryl, sunscreen, even contact solution to your door. Postmates has a $3.99 flat delivery fee, which can get frustrating, but I’ve never encountered a delivery person who wasn’t extraordinarily friendly (maybe because most Postmaters bike, rather than drive. The power of endorphins, everybody). I opted for a Wake Up smoothie (spinach, strawberries and banana, for $4.95) from Fuel, a trendy health store downtown. The delivery person came right to VP—meaning I didn’t even have to step away from my Poli Sci notes long enough to ask the girl next to me to watch my stuff. Dreams do come true.
Caviar:
Caviar caters to more high–end (read: farther away) restaurants, making the wait a little bit longer than other apps, but is definitely worth it. You have to order foods based around when the restaurants make them, which means you can’t plan your deliveries on college student’s schedule i.e., no 2 a.m. calls for mac and cheese. With delivery fees ranging from $2–5, though, you can get high quality food delivered for about the price of an Uber downtown, and you don’t have to leave your apartment.
Don’t miss the chance to order Dim Sum Garden’s famous soup dumplings—they’re just as good without the side of Franzia.
Promos to try: $0 delivery on the first order.
GrubHub:
Ah, GrubHub. The love story between Penn and GrubHub has blossomed throughout the years. In 2014, the delivery service even claimed we were the “most polite” campus of food orderers. Ideal for speedy deliveries from nearby restaurants you can’t bear to walk to (Allegro will come to your door in about 25 minutes), GrubHub becomes a staple in our lives when the weather gets colder and we get lazier.
UberEats:
UberEats is like that Netflix show your friends keep begging you to check out, but you’ve told yourself you’re “too busy” to watch. You know it exists, but still, you let the days float on without downloading the app. Believe the hype: UberEats is cheap, convenient and, yes, delicious. I used a friend’s promo code and did some quick cost–benefit calculations to figure out the maximum amount of food I could get on a $10 credit. (And they say English majors can’t do math.) The verdict: A cheese pie from Villagio Pizza. The delivery came to my door in the time it took me to run a few miles at Pottruck and walk back home.
Helpful hint: Share your promo code with every group–chat you’re a part of—each time someone uses it, you’ll get a $10 credit.
