Throughout late February and March, a stretch of homes in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Highland Park was bestowed with dozens of Uber Eats orders left on residents’ doorsteps.
However, the recipients hadn’t ordered the food, per the Los Angeles Times. What started as a funny, free food surprise or an assumed simple mistake quickly turned into annoyance as the orders piled up (with some recipients receiving upwards of 30 orders over the course of several weeks).
After the outlet ran its piece on the delivery mystery in mid-March, the orders seemed to have stopped — but in early May, a Highland Park resident told the paper that the unwanted orders have returned.
The orders, which are mostly from McDonald’s and Starbucks, use other people’s names and are entirely paid for — often including tips for drivers. The orders are as simplistic as they are perplexing and bizarre — one recipient received three deliveries all with a single order of McDonald’s fries, and another received four McGriddles in one order. Others simply received bottles of water and cartons of milk.
“We one got three different orders within five minutes,” Highland Park resident William Neil told CBS. “Two from the same driver.”
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The unwanted orders have sparked a myriad of theories from residents, including the work of a burglary ring attempting to probe homes as potential robbery targets, the work of a psychology experiment from a nearby college, or criminals testing stolen credit cards for validity, according to the outlet.
However, the mystery remains unsolved, and in the meantime, residents have coped in a variety of ways — from posting signs on the door not to leave deliveries to donating the unsolicited hauls of food.
“Nothing really harmful is happening to these people, but it is beyond annoying and somewhat disturbing,” LA-based writer, Lisa Morton, told the outlet.
Entrepreneur has reached out to Uber for comment.
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https://www.entrepreneur.com/business-news/unsolicited-ubereats-orders-flood-an-la-neighborhoodagain/453790