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I’m so confused by DoorDash’s sudden rise. I think I may have used it once. What is separating DoorDash from UberEats, Postmates, Grubhub etc?

by mm202018 7y ago

zippergz 7y ago
My experience is that it's somewhat regional, but it doesn't feel sudden at all to me. I've used DoorDash for years, and it's because in my area they have much more selection of restaurants, and often faster delivery (which I assume means more drivers). Uber Eats doesn't even deliver to my house even though Uber covers my area.
tdmule 7y ago
When Grubhub acquired Eat24 from Yelp and removed the group order feature in favor of signing up for a "corporate" account, it sent much of my business to DoorDash.
amiantos 7y ago
I’m not an expert but I know that DoorDash partners with large established chains, they power Chipotle and Wendy’s delivery services. GrubHub is getting in in this too: they power Taco Bell’s new delivery service. I bet these deals lead to a more simpatico relationship monetarily. I bet it also avoids stuff like what is said in this comment https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20588348 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20588348
Symmetry 7y ago
Personally, Foodler had some nice features I like and Grubhub bought and killed them so I'm not going to be using Grubhub. Can't say I have a strong opinion among the others.
- shados 7y ago
  Foodler had some nice features such as not being completely horrible. I miss Foodler so damn much.
gandutraveler 7y ago
I use doordash 2-3 times a week. It's convenient and cheaper than Uber eats with dashpass. Just remember that if your too amount is less than 6$ it doesn't go to the drivers. It's better to too them with cash
- onwardly 7y ago
  They just changed that in response to the backlash of the article from the NYT.
  - ghostbrainalpha 7y ago
    They just announced they plan on changing the policy. It has not changed yet. Also they announced they were "investigating the issue" for 4 months before, and then didn't make a change. So let's not congratulate them until its been confirmed to be actually working as drivers and customers expect.
    - hnuser132 7y ago
      While this was definitely not clear to the consumer, it ended up being a preferable model for the drivers as they would get a higher pay on most orders. Not saying that it should be that way, but saying they did that just to steal tips is not true. It was used to guarantee a minimum amount on orders that don't make sense financially.
      - jonfw 7y ago
        What the company should have done, ethically, is to just increase base compensation for drivers. You shouldn't be able to dynamically change base compensation based on the quality of the tip that the driver is rewarded, that is pretty antithetical to the entire idea of a tipping economy.
        hnuser132 7y ago
        That's a very valid viewpoint and what's done by Grubhub or Caviar I believe. But it results in lower pay for the drivers overall because the guaranteed minimum is lower than the one DoorDash usually offers.
superfrank 7y ago
Honestly, more than anything it's just user preference. There are some restaurants that are exclusive on certain platforms (UberEats for example is exclusive with McDonalds), so if you want that, there's only one game in town, but most people I know who use these platforms regularly (myself included) aren't using them for a specific restaurant. It's more like, "I want sushi! I wonder what is available on my platform of choice?" Beyond they all have slightly different pricing models, but at the end of the day they all cost about the same.
- subsaharancoder 7y ago
  The exclusive deal between UberEats and McDonalds is no more https://www.theverge.com/2019/7/16/20696711/mcdonalds-doordash-deal-houston-uber-eats-exclusive https://www.theverge.com/2019/7/16/20696711/mcdonalds-doorda...
  - superfrank 7y ago
    Ah, I was unaware that that had changed
closetohome 7y ago
I don't get it either. They're considerably more expensive than Postmates, and have consistently acted shady in my dealings with them.
jacksproit 7y ago
DoorDash offers a lot of coupons and promotions and allows as many accounts as you care to make.
eridius 7y ago
What separates them is the ridiculous amount of VC funding they took and have used on a combination of marketing and buying exclusives. Every actual experience I've had with DoorDash has been rather poor though, and they've gotten in trouble many times (they even got sued by In-N-Out a while back when they re-listed In-N-Out against their wishes using a knockoff logo to avoid trademark infringement). The only reason I ever use them is if I really want something that they have an exclusive on, and even that is rare (usually I'll eat somewhere else rather than order from DoorDash).
Marsymars 7y ago
> I’m so confused by DoorDash’s sudden rise. I think I may have used it once. What is separating DoorDash from UberEats, Postmates, Grubhub etc? Network effects are pretty strong. Locally, I don't know anyone who uses anything other than SkipTheDishes.
- bytematic 7y ago
  EatStreet or GrubHub here
- tootie 7y ago
  So weird. I never even heard of that one. I've been using Seamless forever which was bought by GrubHub years ago but it has a strong brand in NYC.
  - aiddun 7y ago
    +1 for Seamless in the city, at least within my family/close friends. Might be because NYC has a strong fast delivery network within most restaurants and doesn't truly need a decentralized delivery network. The big draw to these apps to most of my friends has been the delivery of previously undeliverable food (Chipotle, McDonalds etc).
- taktoa 7y ago
  How are there network effects in delivery apps? It's a bipartite graph, and the number of restaurant companies is tiny compared to the number of users.
  - beefalo 7y ago
    Once an app reaches critical mass for a location, the restaurants all go where the users are.
arcticbull 7y ago
My understanding is that each service dominates a set of markets. Caviar owns SF, Postmates owns LA, Seamless has NY (to the best of my knowledge).
umeshunni 7y ago
Here's a recent article that shows relative marketshares: https://www.vox.com/recode/2019/7/11/20688108/postmates-acquisition-ipo-doordash-walmart-uber https://www.vox.com/recode/2019/7/11/20688108/postmates-acqu... Looks like Doordash doubled its US marketshare in the last year mostly at Grubhub's expense while others have remained more or less flat.
Operyl 7y ago
I dunno, compared to drivers dedicated to a specific business, I've yet to have an experience with UberEats/Postmates/Grubhub/DoorDash that wasn't leaving me with food that was cold, either because they did not use insulated bags, or they simply took way too long to get to me. When a joint is 15 minutes away, it'd take the driver a literal 60 minutes to drive from the restaurant to me. Your mileage may vary, depending on your region, but it's just a waste of money and time if you ask me.

I’m so confused by DoorDash’s sudden rise. I think I may have used it once. What is separating DoorDash from UberEats, Postmates, Grubhub etc?

zippergz 7y ago

My experience is that it's somewhat regional, but it doesn't feel sudden at all to me. I've used DoorDash for years, and it's because in my area they have much more selection of restaurants, and often faster delivery (which I assume means more drivers). Uber Eats doesn't even deliver to my house even though Uber covers my area.

tdmule 7y ago

When Grubhub acquired Eat24 from Yelp and removed the group order feature in favor of signing up for a "corporate" account, it sent much of my business to DoorDash.

amiantos 7y ago

I’m not an expert but I know that DoorDash partners with large established chains, they power Chipotle and Wendy’s delivery services. GrubHub is getting in in this too: they power Taco Bell’s new delivery service. I bet these deals lead to a more simpatico relationship monetarily. I bet it also avoids stuff like what is said in this comment https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20588348 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20588348

Symmetry 7y ago

Personally, Foodler had some nice features I like and Grubhub bought and killed them so I'm not going to be using Grubhub. Can't say I have a strong opinion among the others.

shados 7y ago
Foodler had some nice features such as not being completely horrible. I miss Foodler so damn much.

gandutraveler 7y ago

I use doordash 2-3 times a week. It's convenient and cheaper than Uber eats with dashpass. Just remember that if your too amount is less than 6$ it doesn't go to the drivers. It's better to too them with cash

onwardly 7y ago
They just changed that in response to the backlash of the article from the NYT.
- ghostbrainalpha 7y ago
  They just announced they plan on changing the policy. It has not changed yet. Also they announced they were "investigating the issue" for 4 months before, and then didn't make a change. So let's not congratulate them until its been confirmed to be actually working as drivers and customers expect.
  - hnuser132 7y ago
    While this was definitely not clear to the consumer, it ended up being a preferable model for the drivers as they would get a higher pay on most orders. Not saying that it should be that way, but saying they did that just to steal tips is not true. It was used to guarantee a minimum amount on orders that don't make sense financially.
    - jonfw 7y ago
      What the company should have done, ethically, is to just increase base compensation for drivers. You shouldn't be able to dynamically change base compensation based on the quality of the tip that the driver is rewarded, that is pretty antithetical to the entire idea of a tipping economy.
      - hnuser132 7y ago
        That's a very valid viewpoint and what's done by Grubhub or Caviar I believe. But it results in lower pay for the drivers overall because the guaranteed minimum is lower than the one DoorDash usually offers.

superfrank 7y ago

Honestly, more than anything it's just user preference. There are some restaurants that are exclusive on certain platforms (UberEats for example is exclusive with McDonalds), so if you want that, there's only one game in town, but most people I know who use these platforms regularly (myself included) aren't using them for a specific restaurant. It's more like, "I want sushi! I wonder what is available on my platform of choice?" Beyond they all have slightly different pricing models, but at the end of the day they all cost about the same.

subsaharancoder 7y ago
The exclusive deal between UberEats and McDonalds is no more https://www.theverge.com/2019/7/16/20696711/mcdonalds-doordash-deal-houston-uber-eats-exclusive https://www.theverge.com/2019/7/16/20696711/mcdonalds-doorda...
- superfrank 7y ago
  Ah, I was unaware that that had changed

closetohome 7y ago

I don't get it either. They're considerably more expensive than Postmates, and have consistently acted shady in my dealings with them.

jacksproit 7y ago

DoorDash offers a lot of coupons and promotions and allows as many accounts as you care to make.

eridius 7y ago

What separates them is the ridiculous amount of VC funding they took and have used on a combination of marketing and buying exclusives. Every actual experience I've had with DoorDash has been rather poor though, and they've gotten in trouble many times (they even got sued by In-N-Out a while back when they re-listed In-N-Out against their wishes using a knockoff logo to avoid trademark infringement). The only reason I ever use them is if I really want something that they have an exclusive on, and even that is rare (usually I'll eat somewhere else rather than order from DoorDash).

Marsymars 7y ago

> I’m so confused by DoorDash’s sudden rise. I think I may have used it once. What is separating DoorDash from UberEats, Postmates, Grubhub etc? Network effects are pretty strong. Locally, I don't know anyone who uses anything other than SkipTheDishes.

bytematic 7y ago
EatStreet or GrubHub here
tootie 7y ago
So weird. I never even heard of that one. I've been using Seamless forever which was bought by GrubHub years ago but it has a strong brand in NYC.
- aiddun 7y ago
  +1 for Seamless in the city, at least within my family/close friends. Might be because NYC has a strong fast delivery network within most restaurants and doesn't truly need a decentralized delivery network. The big draw to these apps to most of my friends has been the delivery of previously undeliverable food (Chipotle, McDonalds etc).
taktoa 7y ago
How are there network effects in delivery apps? It's a bipartite graph, and the number of restaurant companies is tiny compared to the number of users.
- beefalo 7y ago
  Once an app reaches critical mass for a location, the restaurants all go where the users are.

arcticbull 7y ago

My understanding is that each service dominates a set of markets. Caviar owns SF, Postmates owns LA, Seamless has NY (to the best of my knowledge).

umeshunni 7y ago

Here's a recent article that shows relative marketshares: https://www.vox.com/recode/2019/7/11/20688108/postmates-acquisition-ipo-doordash-walmart-uber https://www.vox.com/recode/2019/7/11/20688108/postmates-acqu... Looks like Doordash doubled its US marketshare in the last year mostly at Grubhub's expense while others have remained more or less flat.

Operyl 7y ago

I dunno, compared to drivers dedicated to a specific business, I've yet to have an experience with UberEats/Postmates/Grubhub/DoorDash that wasn't leaving me with food that was cold, either because they did not use insulated bags, or they simply took way too long to get to me. When a joint is 15 minutes away, it'd take the driver a literal 60 minutes to drive from the restaurant to me. Your mileage may vary, depending on your region, but it's just a waste of money and time if you ask me.