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This may be a hot take, but I think the gig economy is one thing which could be a pretty solid use of the blockchain. Uber/DoorDash/Lyft are all pretty simple

This may be a hot take, but I think the gig economy is one thing which could be a pretty solid use of the blockchain. Uber/DoorDash/Lyft are all pretty simple CRUD apps at their core, and the companies themselves do very little actual work. Unfortunately, due to the Silicon Valley cult of growth, they are still either unprofitable or barely profitable while also taking a pretty massive cut away from actual workers on the ground. Restaurants are stuck with them due to vendor lock-in, and they have to cut their margins or raise prices as a result. The consumer loses, the drivers lose, and the restaurants lose. Most of the functions of the main delivery platforms could easily be achieved through smart contracts, and then drivers would act as owner-operators instead of "independent contractors". They would also be able to get 100% of the fees associated with the delivery.

alphabettsy 5y ago
The companies exist because there’s a value in a middle-man handling things like vetting drivers, tax and regulatory compliance, and handling disputes like “my food is partially eaten”. You could use the blockchain in some ways, but I don’t see how the companies themselves could be easily replaced.
- moolcool 5y ago
  It would serve as a neutral platform on which clients could be built though. Like instead of a restaurant listing on the existing apps, they'd list their menus on the blockchain and third party clients could exist and race-for-the-bottom in terms of fees. It's like the difference between Twitter and Email
  - jjulius 5y ago
    > Like instead of a restaurant listing on the existing apps, they'd list their menus on the blockchain... ... or just a database?
    - cmckn 5y ago
      Well you wouldn’t want any ~~~centralized~~~ entity having control of the appetizers, would you??? Much better to store every menu of every restaurant on thousands of computers and use menu updates to decimate coral reefs.
  - rvense 5y ago
    > they'd list their menus on the blockchain Why does that need a blockchain? Wouldn't that just be an API?
  - mdoms 5y ago
    > It's like the difference between Twitter and Email What?
m_ke 5y ago
Or a normal database. There are a few worker coops trying to do just this without the waste of everything that comes with the blockchain. Co-op Ride is an example of a driver's coop that's competing with Uber in NYC. https://drivers.coop/ https://drivers.coop/
- maccolgan 5y ago
  How far is this from Taxi Medallions 2?
  - advrs 5y ago
    I imagine the entire idea of it being a worker-owned (and thus democratic) cooperative is pretty different...
brianwawok 5y ago
Sorry blockchain literally does nothing to this problem except maybe get some naive VCs to up the valuation. Which perhaps is the goal anyway so hey..
undefuser 5y ago
Could you please outline clearly how blockchain wil be used in your example? Like what kind of information are stored on the blockchain, how smart contracts are utilized, how do drivers and consumers interact with the system?
bogota 5y ago
“Are all pretty simple crud application at their core”. No. Really no. Your understanding of the complexity of these applications and what they do invalidate everything else you try to pitch.
Ensorceled 5y ago
> Uber/DoorDash/Lyft are all pretty simple CRUD apps at their core, > Most of the functions of the main delivery platforms could easily be achieved through smart contracts, These Crypto conversations always seem to follow the same format: 1. Define a problem, but reduce it to a single, or a few, causes 2. Oversimplify the existing solutions to the problem 3. Propose smart contracts as a solution 4. Hand wave how smart contracts actually contribute to solving the problem 5. Ignore the new problems that smart contracts, and the required market places, would introduce
mdoms 5y ago
If you think the companies are inefficient wait until you see how blockchains work.
winterplace 5y ago
Regarding Lyft and Uber, they are not just CRUD apps in the technology. There is a lot of technical work behind the scenes whenever there is payment involved and whenever there is real time matching between two changing positions that also needs efficient routing for the matched driver to arrive in under 5 minutes.
atleta 5y ago
Customers don't care about the block chain yadda-yadda. The value these companies provide is the uniform and optimized (well, at least for the average) user experience. Users don't install apps and a lot of startups (or just app developers) don't get it. Yes, users on average they will have quite a few apps on their phones (lets say ~100ish), but there are millions of apps out there. And most users will just have one app per (most) category. Not only because it's inconvenient to go and install that new app and then register and maybe enter your card details (if you don't have google or apple pay), but because it's just easier to think "food => DoorDash" (or Wolt, or FoodPanda, etc.), "taxi => Uber" (or Bolt or maybe your local taxi company), "ride => Lime", "search => google", etc. And once you have a lot of customers, the rest is simple. (Getting a lot of customers is hard and, of course, can't happen without building the other side of the business, but that's not the point.) If it wasn't for this, there would be competing delivery companies, multiple per cities, not just one, maybe two.

alphabettsy 5y ago

The companies exist because there’s a value in a middle-man handling things like vetting drivers, tax and regulatory compliance, and handling disputes like “my food is partially eaten”. You could use the blockchain in some ways, but I don’t see how the companies themselves could be easily replaced.

moolcool 5y ago
It would serve as a neutral platform on which clients could be built though. Like instead of a restaurant listing on the existing apps, they'd list their menus on the blockchain and third party clients could exist and race-for-the-bottom in terms of fees. It's like the difference between Twitter and Email
- jjulius 5y ago
  > Like instead of a restaurant listing on the existing apps, they'd list their menus on the blockchain... ... or just a database?
  - cmckn 5y ago
    Well you wouldn’t want any ~~~centralized~~~ entity having control of the appetizers, would you??? Much better to store every menu of every restaurant on thousands of computers and use menu updates to decimate coral reefs.
- rvense 5y ago
  > they'd list their menus on the blockchain Why does that need a blockchain? Wouldn't that just be an API?
- mdoms 5y ago
  > It's like the difference between Twitter and Email What?

m_ke 5y ago

Or a normal database. There are a few worker coops trying to do just this without the waste of everything that comes with the blockchain. Co-op Ride is an example of a driver's coop that's competing with Uber in NYC. https://drivers.coop/ https://drivers.coop/

maccolgan 5y ago
How far is this from Taxi Medallions 2?
- advrs 5y ago
  I imagine the entire idea of it being a worker-owned (and thus democratic) cooperative is pretty different...

brianwawok 5y ago

Sorry blockchain literally does nothing to this problem except maybe get some naive VCs to up the valuation. Which perhaps is the goal anyway so hey..

undefuser 5y ago

Could you please outline clearly how blockchain wil be used in your example? Like what kind of information are stored on the blockchain, how smart contracts are utilized, how do drivers and consumers interact with the system?

bogota 5y ago

“Are all pretty simple crud application at their core”. No. Really no. Your understanding of the complexity of these applications and what they do invalidate everything else you try to pitch.

Ensorceled 5y ago

> Uber/DoorDash/Lyft are all pretty simple CRUD apps at their core, > Most of the functions of the main delivery platforms could easily be achieved through smart contracts, These Crypto conversations always seem to follow the same format: 1. Define a problem, but reduce it to a single, or a few, causes 2. Oversimplify the existing solutions to the problem 3. Propose smart contracts as a solution 4. Hand wave how smart contracts actually contribute to solving the problem 5. Ignore the new problems that smart contracts, and the required market places, would introduce

mdoms 5y ago

If you think the companies are inefficient wait until you see how blockchains work.

winterplace 5y ago

Regarding Lyft and Uber, they are not just CRUD apps in the technology. There is a lot of technical work behind the scenes whenever there is payment involved and whenever there is real time matching between two changing positions that also needs efficient routing for the matched driver to arrive in under 5 minutes.

atleta 5y ago

Customers don't care about the block chain yadda-yadda. The value these companies provide is the uniform and optimized (well, at least for the average) user experience. Users don't install apps and a lot of startups (or just app developers) don't get it. Yes, users on average they will have quite a few apps on their phones (lets say ~100ish), but there are millions of apps out there. And most users will just have one app per (most) category. Not only because it's inconvenient to go and install that new app and then register and maybe enter your card details (if you don't have google or apple pay), but because it's just easier to think "food => DoorDash" (or Wolt, or FoodPanda, etc.), "taxi => Uber" (or Bolt or maybe your local taxi company), "ride => Lime", "search => google", etc. And once you have a lot of customers, the rest is simple. (Getting a lot of customers is hard and, of course, can't happen without building the other side of the business, but that's not the point.) If it wasn't for this, there would be competing delivery companies, multiple per cities, not just one, maybe two.