A Singapore hawker took to social media to announce they were giving away 45 packs of noodles after the customer cancelled the order.
Shuang Kou Mian, the noodle stall at Timbre+ One North at Ayer Rajah Crescent, said in a Facebook post on Oct 20 that it was giving away the food for free to anyone who wanted some noodles.
Those who claim the noodles could donate it to anyone in need, “no questions asked. We feel it would be a waste to throw,” the post noted.
The hawker stall explained that the orders were all clean and cooked during lunchtime for a GrabFood order.
The customer cancelled because the order took an hour to cook and pack, said the hawker.
“Some of the noodles are toppled inside the container due to the driver throwing the noodles back at us. But don’t worry, it is all clean and never came out of the container,” the hawker reassured the public.
Meanwhile, netizens criticised the customer who ordered the noodles, noting they should have expected a longer preparation time for the order size.
“The one who placed the order should step up and own up,” said Facebook user Lilli An. “My aunt runs a supermarket, and she said people like to ‘play trick,’ i.e. order a whole carton of drinks, she packed them ready for collection, and the customer cancels it. She has to return everything back to the shelves. People got nothing better to do?!”
“What annoys me the most is not the food wastage, but the fact is the time needed to prep the food could have been used to serve the genuine customers in the queue,” added Facebook user Stephen Loh JK. He suggested removing the cash-on-delivery option for orders above a certain volume to avoid such issues.
One Andrew Lee commented, “5-10 years running and Grab still has no system in place to protect vendors and prevent ordering system abuse like these – which should have already been a consideration since day 1. I’m surprised a company like this is still allowed to operate at a national level in this country.”
TISG has reached out to Grab for comment and clarification. /TISG
https://theindependent.sg/kf-seetoh-hawker-food-business-in-singapore-not-sustainable-urban-hawker-23-chicken-rice-in-us-should-not-be-the-news/