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To add to your analysis, Instacart is also very dependent on a large team of 'staff' (be it contractors or employees) to provide its service. A major cornersto
by Naritai 11y ago
To add to your analysis, Instacart is also very dependent on a large team of 'staff' (be it contractors or employees) to provide its service. A major cornerstone of low-margin companies like Amazon is high levels of automation and standardization to reduce the number of humans involved.
That said, this is a relatively small round of layoffs focused on a team not directly related to the product (recruiting), so it's not really proof that they are in trouble yet.
- bsbechtel 11y agoI agree that this may not be a sign of trouble, although this has been happening with more frequency across the on-demand sector. However, I would also consider most on-demand companies as service companies, not product companies, and in doing so, you consider the base labor cost the same as your cost of goods sold. So the 80% driver cut for Uber/Lyft would be the same as selling a retail product at a 20% markup (assuming sales taxes and payroll taxes/worker's comp are equal, which they aren't).