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The underlying issue is that these VC backed companies break the law to gain a business advantage and face no real consequences, especially if they are successf

The underlying issue is that these VC backed companies break the law to gain a business advantage and face no real consequences, especially if they are successful. But if individuals and small companies attempt to break these very same laws they get crushed. It's almost as though if you've been to Stanford and are backed by well-connected VC's, you're able to recklessly break the law in the name of "disruptive" technology. But I wouldn't place the blame on these people. It's the whole system, which appears to be getting exponentially more rotten as each day passes.

GVIrish 9y ago
What has effectively happened is that VC-backed startups have discovered a weakness in the US legal system. Basically, if you have enough funding and gain enough traction, you can ignore the law with little consequence. There may be pushback eventually but once the startup is big enough they can implore customers to fight the law on their behalf. Established big businesses flout the law in service of profit too, but often they're using lobbyists to get the law bent to their benefit. Whoever has the gold makes the rules as it were.
amelius 9y ago
> The underlying issue is that these VC backed companies break the law to gain a business advantage and face no real consequences You don't even need to break the law to gain a business advantage. Just making a large pile of money can be sufficient to start dominating a market. Take for example Uber-eats. Small restaurant owners suddenly had to give up control over their sales channel to a big player, and are now forced to pay a large monthly fee just to stay in business, where the benefits don't outweigh the costs.
- walterbell 9y ago
  What’s the fee? Can they advertise cheaper options, e.g. include a printed menu with each delivery?
  - ben509 9y ago
    Of course they can, there are several competitors in that space, and if you order from eat24 or ubereats, you'll often get a menu that directs you to their preferred service.
- iliketosleep 9y ago
  Yes, there's a massive trend towards centralization where it's winner takes all, almost like unregulated private monopolies. Government regulation can't keep up and these corporates get richer and more powerful, at the expense of the businesses they "serve". We do seem to have reached a peculiar extreme of capitalism.
  - walterbell 9y ago
    What’s stopping a metasearch engine for food delivery services, with various attributes, including the restaurant’s preferred service ranking? Google Maps has started quoting ride-hailing pricing, which is a step in that direction.
    - 345655433 9y ago
      Two things: a) The current players would refuse to cooperate. Making web services accessible to end-users but impossible to scrape efficiently is a solved problem. b) You're hungry and tired and you're about to spend $30-$50 on takeout food rather than cook yourself. Do you care that much about a $.50-$1 saving that you search for food search engines on your meta food search engine search engine? In insurance, a market where people are much more price conscious, there are several different price comparison sites which all aggregate slightly different subsets of the insurers.
    - iliketosleep 9y ago
      That's a good point, these markets are still in their infancy and windows of opportunities will open up. This is the upside to all this "distruption".
- gringoDan 9y ago
  Restaurants don't pay a large up-front cost to be on these food delivery services. All of the services make money by taking a percentage of the revenue (generally 15-30%) from the orders they fulfill. As long as the revenue from delivery exceeds the food cost (marginal cost of preparing an order) it is beneficial for restaurants to be on AS MANY of these delivery services as possible. This is why you'll walk into some places and see 5 iPads next to the register - they're working with not only UberEats, but DoorDash, Eat24, Postmates, GrubHub, etc. I do have many issues with these food delivery services, but the restaurants aren't getting the short end of the stick here - the drivers are.
  - thisisit 9y ago
    > but the restaurants aren't getting the short end of the stick here - the drivers are. Exactly. Drivers are getting the short end of the stick. Restaurants are affected but given the exposure they get, it might be worth it.

GVIrish 9y ago

What has effectively happened is that VC-backed startups have discovered a weakness in the US legal system. Basically, if you have enough funding and gain enough traction, you can ignore the law with little consequence. There may be pushback eventually but once the startup is big enough they can implore customers to fight the law on their behalf. Established big businesses flout the law in service of profit too, but often they're using lobbyists to get the law bent to their benefit. Whoever has the gold makes the rules as it were.

amelius 9y ago

> The underlying issue is that these VC backed companies break the law to gain a business advantage and face no real consequences You don't even need to break the law to gain a business advantage. Just making a large pile of money can be sufficient to start dominating a market. Take for example Uber-eats. Small restaurant owners suddenly had to give up control over their sales channel to a big player, and are now forced to pay a large monthly fee just to stay in business, where the benefits don't outweigh the costs.

walterbell 9y ago
What’s the fee? Can they advertise cheaper options, e.g. include a printed menu with each delivery?
- ben509 9y ago
  Of course they can, there are several competitors in that space, and if you order from eat24 or ubereats, you'll often get a menu that directs you to their preferred service.
iliketosleep 9y ago
Yes, there's a massive trend towards centralization where it's winner takes all, almost like unregulated private monopolies. Government regulation can't keep up and these corporates get richer and more powerful, at the expense of the businesses they "serve". We do seem to have reached a peculiar extreme of capitalism.
- walterbell 9y ago
  What’s stopping a metasearch engine for food delivery services, with various attributes, including the restaurant’s preferred service ranking? Google Maps has started quoting ride-hailing pricing, which is a step in that direction.
  - 345655433 9y ago
    Two things: a) The current players would refuse to cooperate. Making web services accessible to end-users but impossible to scrape efficiently is a solved problem. b) You're hungry and tired and you're about to spend $30-$50 on takeout food rather than cook yourself. Do you care that much about a $.50-$1 saving that you search for food search engines on your meta food search engine search engine? In insurance, a market where people are much more price conscious, there are several different price comparison sites which all aggregate slightly different subsets of the insurers.
  - iliketosleep 9y ago
    That's a good point, these markets are still in their infancy and windows of opportunities will open up. This is the upside to all this "distruption".
gringoDan 9y ago
Restaurants don't pay a large up-front cost to be on these food delivery services. All of the services make money by taking a percentage of the revenue (generally 15-30%) from the orders they fulfill. As long as the revenue from delivery exceeds the food cost (marginal cost of preparing an order) it is beneficial for restaurants to be on AS MANY of these delivery services as possible. This is why you'll walk into some places and see 5 iPads next to the register - they're working with not only UberEats, but DoorDash, Eat24, Postmates, GrubHub, etc. I do have many issues with these food delivery services, but the restaurants aren't getting the short end of the stick here - the drivers are.
- thisisit 9y ago
  > but the restaurants aren't getting the short end of the stick here - the drivers are. Exactly. Drivers are getting the short end of the stick. Restaurants are affected but given the exposure they get, it might be worth it.