4 ms·

But we've had paid delivery services for decades before the internet even existed, so it's not that customers don't want to pay. What doesn't seem to work, whi

But we've had paid delivery services for decades before the internet even existed, so it's not that customers don't want to pay. What doesn't seem to work, which is a bit surprising, is centralizing the deliveries to reduce costs. The delivery services should be making their money out of those centralized cost savings, but can't. So instead it's coming out of the food, which means the restaurants rise their prices, etc. My local chippy has four different prices depending on which platform you order it through, which vary by up to 60%! The same item: Deliveroo - £11.99 (centralized search, centralized delivery) Uber Eats - £11.99 (centralized search, centralized delivery) Just Eat - £9.99 (centralized search, restaurant delivers) Preoday - £7.99 (restaurant website, restaurant delivery) Preoday- £7.49 (restaurant website, you collect) Why they can't make money out of the centralization is the real question. I know in the UK they seem to be spending huge amounts on prime-time advertising. Central office headcount could be another reason. Call me cynical but I would also bet a lot of takeaways would avoid a lot of tax on cash orders, which you just can't do when it's all recorded electronically.

Night_Thastus 4y ago
The difference is all in what is being delivered. The way customers value food is very different from if they're shipping say, a chair to their home. If a chair costs $100 and you're paying $10 to ship it, no big deal. That's 10% of the cost. If a customer orders $10 worth of food and sees another $10 of fees, their interest in it decreases significantly - and they have many alternative ways to get food with less overhead. You're right about restaurant-specific options though. The economics are somewhat different and may work out more favorably, though I still suspect they're taking losses for the sake of gaining customer interest. There's no way delivery costs them half a pound!

Night_Thastus 4y ago

The difference is all in what is being delivered. The way customers value food is very different from if they're shipping say, a chair to their home. If a chair costs $100 and you're paying $10 to ship it, no big deal. That's 10% of the cost. If a customer orders $10 worth of food and sees another $10 of fees, their interest in it decreases significantly - and they have many alternative ways to get food with less overhead. You're right about restaurant-specific options though. The economics are somewhat different and may work out more favorably, though I still suspect they're taking losses for the sake of gaining customer interest. There's no way delivery costs them half a pound!