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And a 4.5B loss, which seems insane to me. It's interesting that UberEats reached 4B gross revenue run-rate, which according to the article means food delivery

And a 4.5B loss, which seems insane to me. It's interesting that UberEats reached 4B gross revenue run-rate, which according to the article means food delivery is 10% of their business. Seems like that's pretty significant given how recent UberEats is and how many competitors they have in the space. Why is UberEats better than Grubhub, for example?

HowardStark 9y ago
UberEats has simplicity and convenience over most of the other solutions. After using it every now and then for the better part of a year, I've had limited issues with delivery. By comparison, Postmates has had issues with delivery every time I've tried it. Usually, it comes down to a lack of drivers in my area, which isn't ever the case with Uber.
williamscales 9y ago
UberEats works very well. It's a simple UI and has many restaurants. The food comes quickly and you can see the location of the drive. When I've had issues, the customer support has been good. I haven't used GrubHub myself, but my experience with DoorDash has been considerably rockier than with UberEats. They get the order wrong often or fail to show up and you can't always order from the restaurant for immediate delivery.
- mrep 9y ago
  > UberEats works very well. It's a simple UI and has many restaurants. The food comes quickly and you can see the location of the drive. When I've had issues, the customer support has been good. 100% yes to all of these and I've ordered uber eats just shy of 100 times now. The customer support has been especially surprising as a few of orders have mixed with other people's a few times (so i got a completely different order) and I got too keep the food and got my money back. Granted, when they first started where I live, ALL delivery fees were waived so I could order a 5 dollar meal with no delivery fee, then they changed it to $30+ orders were free delivery, and now all orders have fees based on distance + surcharge so I don't order as much as I used too. I still use uber eats every once in a while as it is generally cheaper than other delivery services since tips are not expected and the cheapest delivery fees are currently 2.50$
- mpeg 9y ago
  Customer service is a huge thing, Uber generally sides with the customer while other comparable food delivery services in my region (Deliveroo) are just awful if you have any issues.
toomanybeersies 9y ago
UberEats in Australia managed to sign up McDonalds and several other fast food chains, which has given them a massive advantage over the others.
qrazhan 9y ago
At least within SF, UberEats has become extremely fast in the last few months. I've had food come in as little as 15 minutes, and 20-25min seems average. Compared to other services that consistently take 45min+, this is amazing.
tmh79 9y ago
uber eats is more efficient and therefore cheaper than their competition. 5 dollar delivery fee through uber eats, seems to be 9 dollars through caviar or 7 dollars through grubhub. Also, IIRC uber drivers can do rides and eats, so they generally have more liquidity in their driver market.
Furjrhxidb 9y ago
They can count the cost of meals as revenue, even though they're giving it right to the restaurants.
- eddieplan9 9y ago
  They do not. Cost of meals is counted in "gross booking". Revenue or sales does not include the part paid to driver or restaurants.
askafriend 9y ago
You have to put that $4.5B loss into context. Like someone else in here pointed out - they 2x'd revenue and 1.5x'd costs - which is actually great to see. If they keep that kind of trend going with revenue growth, they'll have an incredible business on their hands. Of course, there are hurdles along the way, but if they did that in 2017 with all that turmoil, then I think they'll do fine under Dara's leadership which seems promising so far.
- Eridrus 9y ago
  Last time I tried to piece it together, they we're losing maybe a dollar or two per ride, it all adds up to large losses, but didn't seem large enough to change my purchasing decisions - unless Lyft has a cheaper price, so my read on the losses is that both Lyft and Uber are burning VC money because it's what they have to do, and rides will get more expensive once the VC money runs out, but not meaningfully more expensive to really change the market. This is just what competition looks like.

HowardStark 9y ago

UberEats has simplicity and convenience over most of the other solutions. After using it every now and then for the better part of a year, I've had limited issues with delivery. By comparison, Postmates has had issues with delivery every time I've tried it. Usually, it comes down to a lack of drivers in my area, which isn't ever the case with Uber.

williamscales 9y ago

UberEats works very well. It's a simple UI and has many restaurants. The food comes quickly and you can see the location of the drive. When I've had issues, the customer support has been good. I haven't used GrubHub myself, but my experience with DoorDash has been considerably rockier than with UberEats. They get the order wrong often or fail to show up and you can't always order from the restaurant for immediate delivery.

mrep 9y ago
> UberEats works very well. It's a simple UI and has many restaurants. The food comes quickly and you can see the location of the drive. When I've had issues, the customer support has been good. 100% yes to all of these and I've ordered uber eats just shy of 100 times now. The customer support has been especially surprising as a few of orders have mixed with other people's a few times (so i got a completely different order) and I got too keep the food and got my money back. Granted, when they first started where I live, ALL delivery fees were waived so I could order a 5 dollar meal with no delivery fee, then they changed it to $30+ orders were free delivery, and now all orders have fees based on distance + surcharge so I don't order as much as I used too. I still use uber eats every once in a while as it is generally cheaper than other delivery services since tips are not expected and the cheapest delivery fees are currently 2.50$
mpeg 9y ago
Customer service is a huge thing, Uber generally sides with the customer while other comparable food delivery services in my region (Deliveroo) are just awful if you have any issues.

toomanybeersies 9y ago

UberEats in Australia managed to sign up McDonalds and several other fast food chains, which has given them a massive advantage over the others.

qrazhan 9y ago

At least within SF, UberEats has become extremely fast in the last few months. I've had food come in as little as 15 minutes, and 20-25min seems average. Compared to other services that consistently take 45min+, this is amazing.

tmh79 9y ago

uber eats is more efficient and therefore cheaper than their competition. 5 dollar delivery fee through uber eats, seems to be 9 dollars through caviar or 7 dollars through grubhub. Also, IIRC uber drivers can do rides and eats, so they generally have more liquidity in their driver market.

Furjrhxidb 9y ago

They can count the cost of meals as revenue, even though they're giving it right to the restaurants.

eddieplan9 9y ago
They do not. Cost of meals is counted in "gross booking". Revenue or sales does not include the part paid to driver or restaurants.

askafriend 9y ago

You have to put that $4.5B loss into context. Like someone else in here pointed out - they 2x'd revenue and 1.5x'd costs - which is actually great to see. If they keep that kind of trend going with revenue growth, they'll have an incredible business on their hands. Of course, there are hurdles along the way, but if they did that in 2017 with all that turmoil, then I think they'll do fine under Dara's leadership which seems promising so far.

Eridrus 9y ago
Last time I tried to piece it together, they we're losing maybe a dollar or two per ride, it all adds up to large losses, but didn't seem large enough to change my purchasing decisions - unless Lyft has a cheaper price, so my read on the losses is that both Lyft and Uber are burning VC money because it's what they have to do, and rides will get more expensive once the VC money runs out, but not meaningfully more expensive to really change the market. This is just what competition looks like.