The same people who are afraid of their data stolen by websites are totally fine with adding a phone number on take away websites.

What the fuck?

I hate it. It's a mandatory field. I don't know my phone number and if you call me there I won't even see it. If you can't deliver my order it must be my fault and so be it.

Of all things a phone number seems like it is the least private by default.

Y'all been putting in your real numbers?!

I just put in the phone number of the place I'm ordering from.

@sariel that's genius

Online shopping I normally put something like 01234567890

@d4ng3r0u5 someone in Bedford is really pissed with you 🤣

This is an artifact of the early days.
Back then, when placing orders online was still a fresh concept, there where a lot of issues with "pranks". So they actually called you back on your first order to confirm validity.
Since that early days, the phone number is a mandatory field.

They stopped using callback verification for some unknown reason (maybe, it didn't really work), but never changed the forms.
New companies just copied what was already there...
So it basically comes down to cargo cult as (thankfully) none of the ancient ones is still using his first order form.

@Oktokolo "we do it this way because it's always been done like this."

@sariel
Yep - just cargo cult.

@Oktokolo I see, that makes sense.
But yeah, not a necessity these days, as long as I payed the stuff via paypal before the driver even gets into his car. If it was a prank, well they still got the money. And for all I know that's the only thing they care about.^^

@nitwhiz
Well, if it would make sense, it wouldn't be cargo cult :P

@ostream I don't care about privacy at all, I care about ease of use and typing in phone numbers sucks.

@ostream that's actually a good idea, never thought of that. It's time i use keepass privately, too.

I don’t really follow this thread at all. I don’t get it. While phone numbers used to be for calling to verify an order, they can now be used for texting of status updates. Don’t email me a receipt, just text it. If you have a form where it is difficult to enter a phone number, then the form is coded incorrectly. SMS is a huge in the takeout and e-commerce industry. SMS has insane engagement rates compared to that in email. If you are developer for an e-commerce company and your company has not harnessed the power of SMS, you are missing out. Also, if you are a person who carries your phone on you all day and spend several hours accessing content through it and you do not know your own phone number then that’s on you and you need to get with the program...

@morphplay yes but entering my email feels a lot less painless than looking up and entering my phone number.
The status updates are on the website, where they should be, reachable via permalink. No sms updates, what the fuck?