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That is the happy path. It has a lot more possible sources of error/time consumption than the app and there are many benefits to the app. 1. The line is busy.

That is the happy path. It has a lot more possible sources of error/time consumption than the app and there are many benefits to the app. 1. The line is busy. The app is next to never busy. 2. The line has static and you are not heard correctly. Especially problematic for delivery or complicated orders. Or they may get your name wrong. My first name is common and my last isn't great over the telephone. 3. You have to remember what you ordered each time. Apps let me quickly re-order. 4. You cannot easily pre-pay (irrelevant if you have cash, but if you are like me and wish to never use cash again, having to pull out the card is annoying rather than just grabbing the pizza). 5. Most places now seem to be on DoorDash, so you can just order from there and avoid the additional friction. You also know you can get excellent customer service from DoorDash while a new restaurant is an unknown.

Spooky23 5y ago
Weird. Literally the opposite of my experience. I don’t do delivery except pizza because I don’t want to pay a premium for cold food. Websites always have built in timers that take longer. Usually 45m. Meanwhile I can call a pizza place, have pizza and wings ready in 15m, pay cash or whatever and have hot food. Order online, chances are it’s sitting there for 10m to avoid getting penalized on the SLA for online order pickup. Plus, shitty middlemen like DoorDash are gross. Why would I want to have someone take a vig off my business and have a worse experience by any measurement?
- zenithd 5y ago
- shagie 5y ago
  Dominos has a patent on this - https://patents.google.com/patent/US10262281B1/en https://patents.google.com/patent/US10262281B1/en - and its rather accurate. The "its done" in the app or web page and it is within a minute or so of being able to walk out the door with it or have it show up. And ordering with Dominos you get a dominos driver - not a middleman.
  - Spooky23 5y ago
    Dominos is tough as their systems are awesome, but the product itself is… not so much.
    - SOLAR_FIELDS 5y ago
      Dominos is interesting to me as a product because it’s the result of decades of bean counters trying to strip everything good away from a product while still trying to make it appealing. Nowadays the technology itself seems to me like it’s more of a product than the pizza.
    - bobthepanda 5y ago
      Tough is a good word for the dough sometimes.
  - 300bps 5y ago
    Ironically, I picked up Dominos pizza for the first time tonight in many years. The app and the screen on the wall said that my order was ready for 10 minutes while I stood there waiting for them to finish my order. The food was terrible. Their chicken actually used to be good! Tonight the whole thing was just gross.
    - uoaei 5y ago
      Where is the irony? I note only a coincidence.
  - boomboomsubban 5y ago
    It's funny that this is a patent, as all that happens is every order gets put into the system, when the cook puts the order in the oven they hit an enter key. ~7 minutes later it says it's done. That's how long it takes to get through the oven. Their ability to have every franchise and user connected to one site is impressive, and the recent addition of a driver tracker app is neat/creepy, but really it's a fancy timer.
- alar44 5y ago
  Sounds like your proximity to the restaurants is the issue, not using an app.
  - Spooky23 5y ago
    Nope. I live in the middle of a small city. I’m probably within 10m of 100 food outlets.
- Turing_Machine 5y ago
  > Plus, shitty middlemen like DoorDash are gross Hmm... do you feel the same way about the middlemen who make it possible for you to buy bread without ordering the wheat direct from a farmer in 5,000 bushel lots, storing it, grinding it into flour, and then making it into bread? Everyone hates "middlemen", but if they're really not adding value they tend to get disintermediated fairly quickly. I remember the bad old days before Amazon where if I wanted some weird bit of kit I'd have to go to the library, blow a few hours doing research to figure out what companies might make the thing (not always successfully!), then blow more hours making long-distance phone calls (very expensive back then) to try to find a company that a) had what I needed and b) would sell it in quantity one. It sucked. Massively. > Why would I want to have someone take a vig off my business and have a worse experience by any measurement? Because then you don't have to hire your own drivers and maintain your own online ordering system. Not all restaurants participate in DoorDash, by any means. Presumably the ones that do find that it adds value. Also, I disagree that the DoorDash experience is worse. Strongly. To name just one advantage over the old ways, there was no GPS app that showed me when the driver was nearby so I could be prepared.
  - ec109685 5y ago
    Biggest issue is that DoorDash lies about how much you’re paying for delivery. They show you some of the fees, but hide the fact that the menu prices are often jacked up by 50% or more.
    - Turing_Machine 5y ago
      > hide the fact that the menu prices are often jacked up by 50% or more. Wheat in metric tonne lots direct from the farmer costs about $350-400/tonne, or about $0.35-$0.40/kg. Kroger enriched white bread costs about $3.00/kg, more than seven times as much. There are a lot of middlemen in there, each of which raises the price. On the other hand, I don't have to store a metric tonne of wheat, and maintain my own milling and baking facilities (I do make my own bread, but that's actually more expensive than buying cheap white bread... worth it, though). Similarly, with DoorDash I don't have to interrupt what I'm doing, go to the restaurant, stand in line/wait for a table, then travel back home. Those are costs I avoid by using Dd. Is it worth it? It depends on the individual. But no one is being forced into the transaction, and they are clearly adding value for many.
- makeitdouble 5y ago
  > this is the happy path Your experience is what parent refered to by that I think. If you have the opposite of complicated orders, hard to orally convey name/address, no order to be remembered, and don’t want to prepay, yes your experience will probably be the opposite.
- ozim 5y ago
  Websites have built in timers but restaurant is setting it based on how busy they are. In my area I don't think I ever had anything ordered via phone or even walking to the counter ready in 15mins it is always at least 30 mins to 45mins, because they are busy with other orders. On the page I usually see they are setting it for 1h and then deliver earlier. In the summer going to a normal restaurant was 1h waiting time for food as they were short staffed and not hiring more people because of pandemic.
notatoad 5y ago
Other likely scenarios which aren't a problem on the web - the restaurant is busy, nobody answers the phone. - the restaurant is busy, somebody does answer the phone but they can't hear you over the noise of the patrons. - the person who answers the phone marks down your order incorrectly
- halostatue 5y ago
  - the restaurant is busy, they forget to check the printer(s) - the restaurant is busy, the printer ink or thermal paper smudges
  - throwawayboise 5y ago
    - The restaurant is busy, they don't answer the phone, so you call somewhere else that isn't busy. - The app takes your order, because apps are never busy, but the restaurant is busy and they don't even start making your food until an hour later.
    - mmcgaha 5y ago
      Ordered sushi online and the site said it would be ready in 15 minutes. I get there and they tell me an hour. Next time I will call it in. On the other hand Chipotle is always ready when I get there.
readams 5y ago
Door dash would be nice if they didn't have the system where you have to blind bid in a "tip" auction to be able to actually get food.
- MattGaiser 5y ago
  I have only ever encountered this issue with Uber actually, not DoorDash. And I am talking about Pickup here anyway.
- ec109685 5y ago
  Baffling you pay the tip and have no way of changing it.
SECProto 5y ago
My typical phone order for pizza lasts about 20-30 seconds, and goes as follows: > "Hey could I get a large house special for pickup?" > "Yeah it'll be ready in 15-20" Then I go to the shop, tap the card while they grab the box with my phone number on it, and I leave. If it's a Friday, the time estimate is usually longer. Sometimes I'll order two.
- madaxe_again 5y ago
  Man. I phone, I order, I arrive 30 minutes later, and only then do they start making the pizza, so I sit and stare for 40 minutes, and then I pay my $40 and swear I’ll never do it again, until two weeks later.
  - iso1631 5y ago
    1) Why is it so expensive 2) Why does it take 40 minutes to make 3) Why didn't you just have it delivered
    - madaxe_again 5y ago
      1) That’s what it costs for a large pizza here. It’s also the only pizzaria in a 30km radius. 2) Shrug 3) They don’t deliver
  - SECProto 5y ago
    That's unfortunate. I did have an experience recently where I ordered on a Friday and they gave me a "45-50" time estimate. I got there at 45 and they told me it'd be another 5 or 10. Saw a steady stream of app delivery people in and out the other door as I waited. Usually I order on a Tuesday when they aren't busy and that's why I get the short and accurate time estimate - they likely start putting it together almost immediately.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

Spooky23 5y ago

Weird. Literally the opposite of my experience. I don’t do delivery except pizza because I don’t want to pay a premium for cold food. Websites always have built in timers that take longer. Usually 45m. Meanwhile I can call a pizza place, have pizza and wings ready in 15m, pay cash or whatever and have hot food. Order online, chances are it’s sitting there for 10m to avoid getting penalized on the SLA for online order pickup. Plus, shitty middlemen like DoorDash are gross. Why would I want to have someone take a vig off my business and have a worse experience by any measurement?

zenithd 5y ago
shagie 5y ago
Dominos has a patent on this - https://patents.google.com/patent/US10262281B1/en https://patents.google.com/patent/US10262281B1/en - and its rather accurate. The "its done" in the app or web page and it is within a minute or so of being able to walk out the door with it or have it show up. And ordering with Dominos you get a dominos driver - not a middleman.
- Spooky23 5y ago
  Dominos is tough as their systems are awesome, but the product itself is… not so much.
  - SOLAR_FIELDS 5y ago
    Dominos is interesting to me as a product because it’s the result of decades of bean counters trying to strip everything good away from a product while still trying to make it appealing. Nowadays the technology itself seems to me like it’s more of a product than the pizza.
  - bobthepanda 5y ago
    Tough is a good word for the dough sometimes.
- 300bps 5y ago
  Ironically, I picked up Dominos pizza for the first time tonight in many years. The app and the screen on the wall said that my order was ready for 10 minutes while I stood there waiting for them to finish my order. The food was terrible. Their chicken actually used to be good! Tonight the whole thing was just gross.
  - uoaei 5y ago
    Where is the irony? I note only a coincidence.
- boomboomsubban 5y ago
  It's funny that this is a patent, as all that happens is every order gets put into the system, when the cook puts the order in the oven they hit an enter key. ~7 minutes later it says it's done. That's how long it takes to get through the oven. Their ability to have every franchise and user connected to one site is impressive, and the recent addition of a driver tracker app is neat/creepy, but really it's a fancy timer.
alar44 5y ago
Sounds like your proximity to the restaurants is the issue, not using an app.
- Spooky23 5y ago
  Nope. I live in the middle of a small city. I’m probably within 10m of 100 food outlets.
Turing_Machine 5y ago
> Plus, shitty middlemen like DoorDash are gross Hmm... do you feel the same way about the middlemen who make it possible for you to buy bread without ordering the wheat direct from a farmer in 5,000 bushel lots, storing it, grinding it into flour, and then making it into bread? Everyone hates "middlemen", but if they're really not adding value they tend to get disintermediated fairly quickly. I remember the bad old days before Amazon where if I wanted some weird bit of kit I'd have to go to the library, blow a few hours doing research to figure out what companies might make the thing (not always successfully!), then blow more hours making long-distance phone calls (very expensive back then) to try to find a company that a) had what I needed and b) would sell it in quantity one. It sucked. Massively. > Why would I want to have someone take a vig off my business and have a worse experience by any measurement? Because then you don't have to hire your own drivers and maintain your own online ordering system. Not all restaurants participate in DoorDash, by any means. Presumably the ones that do find that it adds value. Also, I disagree that the DoorDash experience is worse. Strongly. To name just one advantage over the old ways, there was no GPS app that showed me when the driver was nearby so I could be prepared.
- ec109685 5y ago
  Biggest issue is that DoorDash lies about how much you’re paying for delivery. They show you some of the fees, but hide the fact that the menu prices are often jacked up by 50% or more.
  - Turing_Machine 5y ago
    > hide the fact that the menu prices are often jacked up by 50% or more. Wheat in metric tonne lots direct from the farmer costs about $350-400/tonne, or about $0.35-$0.40/kg. Kroger enriched white bread costs about $3.00/kg, more than seven times as much. There are a lot of middlemen in there, each of which raises the price. On the other hand, I don't have to store a metric tonne of wheat, and maintain my own milling and baking facilities (I do make my own bread, but that's actually more expensive than buying cheap white bread... worth it, though). Similarly, with DoorDash I don't have to interrupt what I'm doing, go to the restaurant, stand in line/wait for a table, then travel back home. Those are costs I avoid by using Dd. Is it worth it? It depends on the individual. But no one is being forced into the transaction, and they are clearly adding value for many.
makeitdouble 5y ago
> this is the happy path Your experience is what parent refered to by that I think. If you have the opposite of complicated orders, hard to orally convey name/address, no order to be remembered, and don’t want to prepay, yes your experience will probably be the opposite.
ozim 5y ago
Websites have built in timers but restaurant is setting it based on how busy they are. In my area I don't think I ever had anything ordered via phone or even walking to the counter ready in 15mins it is always at least 30 mins to 45mins, because they are busy with other orders. On the page I usually see they are setting it for 1h and then deliver earlier. In the summer going to a normal restaurant was 1h waiting time for food as they were short staffed and not hiring more people because of pandemic.

notatoad 5y ago

Other likely scenarios which aren't a problem on the web - the restaurant is busy, nobody answers the phone. - the restaurant is busy, somebody does answer the phone but they can't hear you over the noise of the patrons. - the person who answers the phone marks down your order incorrectly

halostatue 5y ago
- the restaurant is busy, they forget to check the printer(s) - the restaurant is busy, the printer ink or thermal paper smudges
- throwawayboise 5y ago
  - The restaurant is busy, they don't answer the phone, so you call somewhere else that isn't busy. - The app takes your order, because apps are never busy, but the restaurant is busy and they don't even start making your food until an hour later.
  - mmcgaha 5y ago
    Ordered sushi online and the site said it would be ready in 15 minutes. I get there and they tell me an hour. Next time I will call it in. On the other hand Chipotle is always ready when I get there.

readams 5y ago

Door dash would be nice if they didn't have the system where you have to blind bid in a "tip" auction to be able to actually get food.

MattGaiser 5y ago
I have only ever encountered this issue with Uber actually, not DoorDash. And I am talking about Pickup here anyway.
ec109685 5y ago
Baffling you pay the tip and have no way of changing it.

SECProto 5y ago

My typical phone order for pizza lasts about 20-30 seconds, and goes as follows: > "Hey could I get a large house special for pickup?" > "Yeah it'll be ready in 15-20" Then I go to the shop, tap the card while they grab the box with my phone number on it, and I leave. If it's a Friday, the time estimate is usually longer. Sometimes I'll order two.

madaxe_again 5y ago
Man. I phone, I order, I arrive 30 minutes later, and only then do they start making the pizza, so I sit and stare for 40 minutes, and then I pay my $40 and swear I’ll never do it again, until two weeks later.
- iso1631 5y ago
  1) Why is it so expensive 2) Why does it take 40 minutes to make 3) Why didn't you just have it delivered
  - madaxe_again 5y ago
    1) That’s what it costs for a large pizza here. It’s also the only pizzaria in a 30km radius. 2) Shrug 3) They don’t deliver
- SECProto 5y ago
  That's unfortunate. I did have an experience recently where I ordered on a Friday and they gave me a "45-50" time estimate. I got there at 45 and they told me it'd be another 5 or 10. Saw a steady stream of app delivery people in and out the other door as I waited. Usually I order on a Tuesday when they aren't busy and that's why I get the short and accurate time estimate - they likely start putting it together almost immediately.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]