4 ms·

IMO food delivery services are pretty low on the totem pole of things to automate. Surely this money & engineering effort could be better spent on automating so

IMO food delivery services are pretty low on the totem pole of things to automate. Surely this money & engineering effort could be better spent on automating something else. I doubt this makes much of a difference at all, especially to end users.

fy20 5y ago
If anything it's going to be worse, how is this thing going to reach the intercom to call me when it arrives outside my apartment building and pull open the door? I don't want to have to get dressed and go outside when my food arrives to collect it. For non-food deliveries it could wait until you are ready (maybe even hours), or have some kind of robot accessible locker where the package is left, but food you really want brought to your door.
- hytdstd 5y ago
  I simply don't see a problem here. The robot arrives, you receive a text or call, you walk outside and pick up your food. I'm sure that most users will prefer to take the short walk to their doorstep instead of paying a premium for hiring a human to deliver food.
  - bootlooped 5y ago
    > I'm sure that most users will prefer to take the short walk to their doorstep instead of paying a premium for hiring a human to deliver food. I think there is an assumption here that the corporations will not simply pocket the profits from automation. It's not like you pay less when you use the self checkout at the grocery store.
    - iwangulenko 5y ago
      These profits will be reinvested and benefit also the consumer in the end
      - sincerely 5y ago
        Good one
    - jfengel 5y ago
      I'm sure they will. I nonetheless consider it a win that I can go to the grocery store and never wait in line for a limited number of cashiers. There's a huge open question of what we're gonna do when automation crowds out large numbers of jobs, and that's potentially a significant societal shift. But right now we've already got human beings doing jobs effectively as robots, and already not creating real human interaction. Personally, I'd rather be giving a UBI to those people for going off to, I dunno, create art or go on hikes and write about them or whatever it is human beings do when they're off being human. That might let me have some real human interaction, not a forced moment of intersection while they're just trying to get me my groceries so I can be on my way.
  - bradleyjg 5y ago
    If I’m already getting dressed in something presentable, taking the elevator downstairs, and exposing myself to the daystar I might as well just go pick up my own food. The value prop for delivery is it comes to my door.
foobar33333 5y ago
>IMO food delivery services are pretty low on the totem pole of things to automate Are they? Food delivery has become incredibly popular but both consumers feel they are paying far too much and delivery people are getting paid almost criminally low pay and given extreme time pressure causing them to run red lights to make minimum wage. It seems like the prime target for automation to me.
- jfengel 5y ago
  The economics of this baffles me. The restaurants are underpaid. The drivers are underpaid. And the delivery companies are apparently not making a profit, either, but burning VC cash. The customers are paying too much. Money is disappearing into a black hole somewhere.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

fy20 5y ago

If anything it's going to be worse, how is this thing going to reach the intercom to call me when it arrives outside my apartment building and pull open the door? I don't want to have to get dressed and go outside when my food arrives to collect it. For non-food deliveries it could wait until you are ready (maybe even hours), or have some kind of robot accessible locker where the package is left, but food you really want brought to your door.

hytdstd 5y ago
I simply don't see a problem here. The robot arrives, you receive a text or call, you walk outside and pick up your food. I'm sure that most users will prefer to take the short walk to their doorstep instead of paying a premium for hiring a human to deliver food.
- bootlooped 5y ago
  > I'm sure that most users will prefer to take the short walk to their doorstep instead of paying a premium for hiring a human to deliver food. I think there is an assumption here that the corporations will not simply pocket the profits from automation. It's not like you pay less when you use the self checkout at the grocery store.
  - iwangulenko 5y ago
    These profits will be reinvested and benefit also the consumer in the end
    - sincerely 5y ago
      Good one
  - jfengel 5y ago
    I'm sure they will. I nonetheless consider it a win that I can go to the grocery store and never wait in line for a limited number of cashiers. There's a huge open question of what we're gonna do when automation crowds out large numbers of jobs, and that's potentially a significant societal shift. But right now we've already got human beings doing jobs effectively as robots, and already not creating real human interaction. Personally, I'd rather be giving a UBI to those people for going off to, I dunno, create art or go on hikes and write about them or whatever it is human beings do when they're off being human. That might let me have some real human interaction, not a forced moment of intersection while they're just trying to get me my groceries so I can be on my way.
- bradleyjg 5y ago
  If I’m already getting dressed in something presentable, taking the elevator downstairs, and exposing myself to the daystar I might as well just go pick up my own food. The value prop for delivery is it comes to my door.

foobar33333 5y ago

>IMO food delivery services are pretty low on the totem pole of things to automate Are they? Food delivery has become incredibly popular but both consumers feel they are paying far too much and delivery people are getting paid almost criminally low pay and given extreme time pressure causing them to run red lights to make minimum wage. It seems like the prime target for automation to me.

jfengel 5y ago
The economics of this baffles me. The restaurants are underpaid. The drivers are underpaid. And the delivery companies are apparently not making a profit, either, but burning VC cash. The customers are paying too much. Money is disappearing into a black hole somewhere.

deleted 5y ago

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