# Why are delivery "ants" called that?



## VanKalDriver (Sep 13, 2021)

TL;DR Just read from the beginning to the line. The rest is how I act at 230 deliveries for Uber Eats and comparing it with how "as ant as it gets" would do it.

I asked what an ant was for Uber Eats on DuckDuckGo and got this thread which has an answer:

(1) What's an uber ant? | Uber Drivers Forum (uberpeople.net)

It's a driver, usually new, who takes every delivery or ride without thought, chases surges only to have them disappear, and can get screwed out of money for their time on deliveries with long waits, including the notorious drive-thru only with a long line. Perhaps even time online too, if they could have gotten something more lucrative for declining the lowball and long-wait (and perhaps far from home or any restaurants) offers.

There's a joke around here that if you have to ask, you are an ant, too.

But it still doesn't answer: _why_ are ants called ants? Does it have to do with actual (animal) ants' working dedication?

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I'm fairly new at 230 deliveries with Uber Eats (93% satisfaction, platinum) and may be semi-ant. I get low to medium pings in Kalamazoo so I don't always feel like I have a choice. But I'll turn down deliveries that take me too far from home later in the evening, if fuel is an issue, or if it might cause a current delivery to arrive cold because it's in the opposite direction or the restaurant takes a long time. I'll also turn down any delivery I know is for that notorious drive-thru only with a long line, as I'm learning, both Uber and for the area.

Today I tried _dodging_ surges, figuring the ants would beat me to them, and also because of a suspected glitch where the "minimum surge" remains even with no surges anywhere anymore, _limiting_ the driver to these surge restaurants even if none are in range or even existent anymore. Going offline and back on resets this, and if the surge is still there, the "minimum surge" returns, which at least partially explains my suspicion about this.

One thing that could get me called an ant is waiting a long time for orders in the restaurant when there's simply orders ahead of it. At least the food will come hot eventually, and I can get it to the customer warm even if it's far away and I have trouble finding it. Plus, I never know exactly how long it is going to be, and the worst case is cancelling for excessive wait time as they're coming out with the order for me! If they give me a very long time frame such as 20+ minutes, I might cancel for excessive wait in confidence another driver will take it for more money and less waiting, and it would still likely be warm on arrival.

Whereas cancelling for excessive wait for drive-thru only can ruin the delivery, but if they're adamant, I'd cancel in order not to let the restaurant get away with this practice. The food may arrive stone cold or not at all, but it would show the restaurant that the drivers don't like it. Probably also thumb them down. Similar deal for de-prioritizing delivery orders (I read about that today on UP.N, waiting for a ping) since other, more experienced drivers with the area are likely to know and unlikely to accept those. (Though an ant could still take and save it, provided it comes at all with deprioritizing!)

I've only cancelled one for excessive wait right now, when my local McDonald's seemed too busy to tell me if there even _was_ an order while I was newer and only doing Paw Paw still, because it seemed too likely I would be waiting 30 minutes or something ridiculous! Hopefully another driver got that one with less waiting in the sparse Paw Paw, MI region. I've cancelled one because the restaurant was closed and two where the order was picked up by someone else. One of those, the customer took it as I arrived, and with that last one I could have hit "start delivery", driven to the location and hit "delivered" (likely skipping the photo step), gotten the money and avoided the cancellation, but I didn't want to be accused of fraud, so I was honest with Uber Eats and cancelled because the order was picked up by someone else. So that's four cancellations out of 230 deliveries so far.

I wish the app showed me driver density in areas (not the whereabouts of all the drivers so they can't be stalked) and I think it would even be funny if the map showed animal ants crawling around in surge areas, which would explain why I wouldn't get a ping in such a surge. But then it begs the question: why is it surging still? I've waited in surge areas that started surging when I was already in them for 30 minutes without getting any pings. I'll figure out the actual markets eventually.

And also, if there's _no_ driver in range of any restaurants that are open and doing UE, it should show that, and it would even be cool if Takokat (who I used to deliver directly for in Paw Paw) gave me a faraway, big-money ping (even at a loss to UE) in that kind of business emergency or even gave an emergency alarm for it, even if I'm _offline!!_ This would probably be something the restaurant and driver would agree to for this to happen. Cold is better than not at all, and residences at least are usually reheat capable.

A full-on "ant" would accept everything and wait in drive-thru lines for 30 minutes for orders that may have already been ready when they got the ping, for $5 or even less, perhaps for the noble cause of getting the food to the customer _at all,_ but most of them either because they don't know the restaurant does that or is afraid to turn down requests, thinking it would negatively affect their ratings, and perhaps chasing (for Uber Eats) Pro tiers that are pretty much cosmetic after Green. At the end of September this year, I got to 401 points and 95.0% satisfaction thinking it would get me diamond, but it said "not so fast, decrease your cancellation rate to achieve Diamond" where I'd only cancelled two out of 180, for a 1.1% rate, and one I had no choice because the order was picked up by someone else, if I recall. So this very low cancellation requirement (1.0% or less?) could be driving the ant to take everything come heck or high water (and perhaps even commit fraud with a closed restaurant or an order already picked up) for that top tier.

That's the end of my description of my experience level that may or may not be considered "ant", and I'm ending this with my question of _why_ an ant is called an ant on UberPeople.Net.


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## MontcoUberDriver (Aug 14, 2018)

On the Uber rider’s app you can see the cars available in your area. They look like little black ants hence the term. We use it as a slur against the mindless fools that put no thought into making profit on their labor. AKA ants.


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## VanKalDriver (Sep 13, 2021)

I don't do pax nor have ever been an Uber passenger, so I wouldn't know this. I do food and grocery deliveries only, but still, it's a fairly decent and succinct answer to my question as to where "ant" comes from. Thank you. I'll finish figuring out the markets in my area, even if they differ from surges, particularly with all the "ants" flocking to them in response to them appearing!


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## Uber's Guber (Oct 22, 2017)

VanKalDriver said:


> But it still doesn't answer: _why_ are ants called ants?


Because y'all ants are so overly eager to "service your community" that you end up tripping over each other and screwing yourself in the process.


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## TobyD (Mar 14, 2021)

I agree with Mr. Uber’s Guber


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## W00dbutcher (Jan 14, 2019)

When I first got wind of an ant.... A kept thinking automaton.

Never equated that to an actual ant.


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## VanKalDriver (Sep 13, 2021)

It seems like the surge system is working _too_ well in a way - it's supposed to attract drivers to busy restaurants that need drivers, but then _way too many_ drivers - particularly with a lot of new ones - the ones that would be called "ants" - go there and wonder why they aren't getting pings or the surge disappears.

Today, I was once again waiting for a delivery and wondering where the best place was not too far from home (I have to commute from about 6 miles west of Paw Paw, MI to Kalamazoo/Portage), went from WMU (my favorite hangout spot with the college people, a few of whom I delivered to) to the M-43 food district a few miles northwest, and when a surge came up in Eastwood, I thought "OK, the ants are going to be flocking there now, so I might get one here." I ate my own dinner at Chick-Fil-A there, still online (both that and the Portage location are fast with their lobbies open, and nothing too cheap from there yet) and upon finishing my meal, got a ping for a nearby Kyoto Steakhouse which is apparently timed to have the order ready for the driver, because both today and yesterday, the order was ready when I arrived on-site (yesterday) and very nearby from Chick-Fil-A (today.) It went a bit east, but that was OK for what turned out to be $9.24 after the tip.

An apparent Takokat business emergency that turned out to get another driver caused me to cancel a McDonald's a bit east of the Westnedge Ave. food district in Portage I was headed to after I arrived after I got that ping. Not wanting to cancel immediately, I went to the McDonald's, and found their lobby closed with a moderate drive-thru line. Normally I would have tried to work with McDonald's to get the order out for the least possible frustration all around, but with the business emergency alarm still sounding in my head, I immediately cancelled for excessive wait time, figuring it could still teach that McDonald's a lesson about drive-thru only, then called Takokat and found it had another driver already.

Maybe next time I'll call Takokat first, to see if there's another driver, before negotiating with McDonald's about whether they'll do it in a way besides drive-thru, before cancelling for excessive wait in such an "emergency." That could have slowed down the McDonald's by a few minutes but ultimately saved it.

I nonetheless, partly because one of my headlights is currently out as the days get shorter and more of them are at night, finished my business emergency procedure and went back to Takokat towards home, arriving about 30 minutes before they closed at 8 in hopes of a good-dollar delivery closer to home for that restaurant and to keep some connection with them. Paw Paw had at least paid good money per delivery, but I started going to Kalamazoo on September 10th (my birthday eve) to make more money when Paw Paw got too slow. This "business emergency" could get me called an ant for "caring too much", but that is my situation with me previously delivering directly for them, and us moving to Uber Eats out of necessity for reasons outside both of our control. Plus it took me much closer to home, where I have to commute to Kalamazoo to get enough money most of the time.

I'm at 231 deliveries, 93% satisfaction and platinum at least until the end of the month for the record on my experience and status with that post. Diamond seems unlikely with this cancellation now, but that's OK - tiers above Green are pretty much cosmetic, and 93% is still "high ratings" which I would ultimately be fine with.


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## W00dbutcher (Jan 14, 2019)

VanKalDriver said:


> It seems like the surge system is working _too_ well in a way - it's supposed to attract drivers to busy restaurants that need drivers, but then _way too many_ drivers - particularly with a lot of new ones - the ones that would be called "ants" - go there and wonder why they aren't getting pings or the surge disappears.
> 
> Today, I was once again waiting for a delivery and wondering where the best place was not too far from home (I have to commute from about 6 miles west of Paw Paw, MI to Kalamazoo/Portage), went from WMU (my favorite hangout spot with the college people, a few of whom I delivered to) to the M-43 food district a few miles northwest, and when a surge came up in Eastwood, I thought "OK, the ants are going to be flocking there now, so I might get one here." I ate my own dinner at Chick-Fil-A there, still online (both that and the Portage location are fast with their lobbies open, and nothing too cheap from there yet) and upon finishing my meal, got a ping for a nearby Kyoto Steakhouse which is apparently timed to have the order ready for the driver, because both today and yesterday, the order was ready when I arrived on-site (yesterday) and very nearby from Chick-Fil-A (today.) It went a bit east, but that was OK for what turned out to be $9.24 after the tip.
> 
> ...


Smh

To think..... We where all here once.


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## Diamondraider (Mar 13, 2017)

VanKalDriver said:


> It seems like the surge system is working _too_ well in a way - it's supposed to attract drivers to busy restaurants that need drivers, but then _way too many_ drivers - particularly with a lot of new ones - the ones that would be called "ants" - go there and wonder why they aren't getting pings or the surge disappears.
> 
> Today, I was once again waiting for a delivery and wondering where the best place was not too far from home (I have to commute from about 6 miles west of Paw Paw, MI to Kalamazoo/Portage), went from WMU (my favorite hangout spot with the college people, a few of whom I delivered to) to the M-43 food district a few miles northwest, and when a surge came up in Eastwood, I thought "OK, the ants are going to be flocking there now, so I might get one here." I ate my own dinner at Chick-Fil-A there, still online (both that and the Portage location are fast with their lobbies open, and nothing too cheap from there yet) and upon finishing my meal, got a ping for a nearby Kyoto Steakhouse which is apparently timed to have the order ready for the driver, because both today and yesterday, the order was ready when I arrived on-site (yesterday) and very nearby from Chick-Fil-A (today.) It went a bit east, but that was OK for what turned out to be $9.24 after the tip.
> 
> ...


UP.net does not compensate you by the word.


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