4 ms·

I wonder - what usually determins delivery costs is how many deliveries a person does per hour. That usually depends on the georphical density of deliveries.

by petra 7y ago

I wonder - what usually determins delivery costs is how many deliveries a person does per hour. That usually depends on the georphical density of deliveries. And cars are faster. So that means more deliveries. So order aggregators should have better economics. This should allow them to take some fees while still offering a better deal. Why isn't that the case ?

radicalbyte 7y ago
That really depends on where you live. Take for example a Domino's here in Arnhem: https://www.google.nl/maps/place/Domino's+Pizza+Arnhem/@51.9675683,5.902009,15z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x47c7a5d2d2ceb6f1:0xed325dfd74e36623!8m2!3d51.9668189!4d5.9085128 https://www.google.nl/maps/place/Domino's+Pizza+Arnhem/@51.9... That outlet is in the middle of a residential area (with a lot of flats). On the map I can see dozens of pathways that cut off a large amount of distance travelled. In this case a bike (or scooter) is going to be much faster than a car. If you're in the countryside then the math is totally different.
ekr 7y ago
I don't know about Domino's but in many European cities, finding parking is a nightmare in the centers, and usually just walking from where you've parked to the customer takes so much time, that cycling usually is very competitive (sometimes faster).
- Insanity 7y ago
  I live in one of those European cities where cars are just about banned from the city center. (They can access parts of the city center, but driving is limited to 30kmh and mostly one-way traffic. There's 3 dominos near me and they all use scooters. Bikes wouldn't cost them a lot of extra time. The furtest one away from me is about 10-15 minutes by bike. And that's at a comfortable pace. Deliveroo (delivery by bike) is already quite popular here.
  - ekr 7y ago
    Funnily enough, Deliveroo has just announced today they are exiting the German market. It's interesting how in so many places there's just one big player left (in Austria there's mjam, in Germany there's takeaway/lieferando). Maybe the market is not big enough for several competitors?
    - derefr 7y ago
      At least one player in each market is executing the "take investor money; earn huge losses in the first five years to kill competition and corner the market; then crank up rates to become profitable" strategy right now. The thing with that strategy is, you can only do it once, using your initial capital. After you've set your new prices, new players are free to enter the market and compete with you on cost, driving you back out of profitability.
timfrietas 7y ago
Cars are often not faster in dense cities. In NYC most deliveries are by e-bike.
Obi_Juan_Kenobi 7y ago
Cars .. faster? Not in the city, and not even close. Even pedal-power bikes are usually faster. And these bikes are probably 500W nominal, which is already 5 times as powerful as a typical human rider. US limits top speed to 20mph, sure, but you can still peg that pretty easily, even up hills.

by petra 7y ago

radicalbyte 7y ago

That really depends on where you live. Take for example a Domino's here in Arnhem: https://www.google.nl/maps/place/Domino's+Pizza+Arnhem/@51.9675683,5.902009,15z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x47c7a5d2d2ceb6f1:0xed325dfd74e36623!8m2!3d51.9668189!4d5.9085128 https://www.google.nl/maps/place/Domino's+Pizza+Arnhem/@51.9... That outlet is in the middle of a residential area (with a lot of flats). On the map I can see dozens of pathways that cut off a large amount of distance travelled. In this case a bike (or scooter) is going to be much faster than a car. If you're in the countryside then the math is totally different.

ekr 7y ago

I don't know about Domino's but in many European cities, finding parking is a nightmare in the centers, and usually just walking from where you've parked to the customer takes so much time, that cycling usually is very competitive (sometimes faster).

Insanity 7y ago
I live in one of those European cities where cars are just about banned from the city center. (They can access parts of the city center, but driving is limited to 30kmh and mostly one-way traffic. There's 3 dominos near me and they all use scooters. Bikes wouldn't cost them a lot of extra time. The furtest one away from me is about 10-15 minutes by bike. And that's at a comfortable pace. Deliveroo (delivery by bike) is already quite popular here.
- ekr 7y ago
  Funnily enough, Deliveroo has just announced today they are exiting the German market. It's interesting how in so many places there's just one big player left (in Austria there's mjam, in Germany there's takeaway/lieferando). Maybe the market is not big enough for several competitors?
  - derefr 7y ago
    At least one player in each market is executing the "take investor money; earn huge losses in the first five years to kill competition and corner the market; then crank up rates to become profitable" strategy right now. The thing with that strategy is, you can only do it once, using your initial capital. After you've set your new prices, new players are free to enter the market and compete with you on cost, driving you back out of profitability.

timfrietas 7y ago

Cars are often not faster in dense cities. In NYC most deliveries are by e-bike.

Obi_Juan_Kenobi 7y ago

Cars .. faster? Not in the city, and not even close. Even pedal-power bikes are usually faster. And these bikes are probably 500W nominal, which is already 5 times as powerful as a typical human rider. US limits top speed to 20mph, sure, but you can still peg that pretty easily, even up hills.