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I received a free $20 to Amazon Restaurants for buying something on cyber Wednesday, didn't know that was a thing until I received the email. I used it to order

I received a free $20 to Amazon Restaurants for buying something on cyber Wednesday, didn't know that was a thing until I received the email. I used it to order pizza from a local joint, because who doesn't like free pizza. Ordering was interesting, they didn't have the pizza I wanted listed under the pre-made options, so I had to make my own, but there was no option to do half and half and adding additional topping had a confusing interface. The menus do not seem to be optimized for each restaurant the way Doordash is, and you must click on an item to see the price. Also the food wasn't kept in a thermal bag, like pizza delivery does, so it wasn't piping hot when I received it and the delivery members don't have distinct shirts. I probably won't use it ever again since I prefer Doordash, and one of my friends brother in laws is a cofounder/CTO so I feel a false tie to it.

roflchoppa 10y ago
Ya, but at the same time, you have somewhat of an obligation to help the homies
analogmemory 10y ago
Good tip on the pizza. I'll just stick to things that deliver well, Indian, Thai and Sandwiches.
khazhou 10y ago
None of my friends' brother-in-laws are cofounders at Doordash, so I'm less attached :-) But this is a great example of the lack of customer lock-in. Even the slightest improvement over Doordash, and I'd easily switch to Amazon or just bounce between the two. There's a thai restaurant just a bit out of Doordash range -- that would do it. Pictures on the menus -- that would do it. A "re-order" button -- that would do it. I like DD, but all I think of it is: "I order food and it gets here."
- dvdhsu 10y ago
  Right -- I think this is a problem for many recent startups like Doordash, Postmates, and even Uber. Their pitch to investors that this was a land grab -- whoever conquers the two-sided marketplace first dominates it and extracts profits later on. And so they need mountains of money to build up both sides of the marketplace. But it turns out that there's no switching cost on either side of the marketplace: you or I happily switch between both depending on which drivers are closer, and an Uber driver can just open their Lyft app if Uber is slowing down. You'd happily switch from Doordash if Caviar had better photos, and a restaurant can delivery via both Doordash and Caviar. I think Uber might be able to get out of this by saying "growth / users -> investment -> self driving cars", but I'm not sure what Doordash or Postmates plans to do about it.

roflchoppa 10y ago

Ya, but at the same time, you have somewhat of an obligation to help the homies

analogmemory 10y ago

Good tip on the pizza. I'll just stick to things that deliver well, Indian, Thai and Sandwiches.

khazhou 10y ago

None of my friends' brother-in-laws are cofounders at Doordash, so I'm less attached :-) But this is a great example of the lack of customer lock-in. Even the slightest improvement over Doordash, and I'd easily switch to Amazon or just bounce between the two. There's a thai restaurant just a bit out of Doordash range -- that would do it. Pictures on the menus -- that would do it. A "re-order" button -- that would do it. I like DD, but all I think of it is: "I order food and it gets here."

dvdhsu 10y ago
Right -- I think this is a problem for many recent startups like Doordash, Postmates, and even Uber. Their pitch to investors that this was a land grab -- whoever conquers the two-sided marketplace first dominates it and extracts profits later on. And so they need mountains of money to build up both sides of the marketplace. But it turns out that there's no switching cost on either side of the marketplace: you or I happily switch between both depending on which drivers are closer, and an Uber driver can just open their Lyft app if Uber is slowing down. You'd happily switch from Doordash if Caviar had better photos, and a restaurant can delivery via both Doordash and Caviar. I think Uber might be able to get out of this by saying "growth / users -> investment -> self driving cars", but I'm not sure what Doordash or Postmates plans to do about it.