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I worked for a food delivery company (Uber Eats / Doordash / Deliveroo / Just Eats / GrubHub — one of them), and while I can't argue with what you are saying, t

I worked for a food delivery company (Uber Eats / Doordash / Deliveroo / Just Eats / GrubHub — one of them), and while I can't argue with what you are saying, the company wasn't making any money either. I think after 5-10 years of working there they finally managed to make like 20 pence per order. No one is winning with food delivery, not the restaurant, not the rider, not the company. We would have loved to have reduced the % taken and pay our riders more, but customers wouldn't pay it — they'd just go to Uber instead. Oh the hypocrisy of people picketing in the streets against gig work but not willing to pay more than 3 or 4 bucks for their food to be delivered... I found it incredibly frustrating because we truly weren't the bad guys. Sigh.

nothrabannosir 1y ago
Most people I know who lampoon delivery services were around for the days before they came upon the scene, and they think that was better. Restaurant owners I've heard on the subject, tend to agree. The economics should not work out, delivery services should allow for economies of scale, but greed and anti competitive pressure eat it all.
- Larrikin 1y ago
  There is no scale to be had at local delivery. Between various services, banks, and credit cards, I get the paid tier of all the delivery apps for "free", so I am paying the absolute minimum. It makes no sense to me for these "scalable" companies to pick up my food, drive in the wrong direction, wait at another restaurant, then continue to drive in the wrong direction to drop off that order, and then get me my cold food that I still paid more for than menu price with an expected tip the driver can see before they even pick up my order. I gave up on the whole concept once I moved somewhere with more than two places that are walking distance. Not all of them are great but it's still a better deal than a terrible delivery from an amazing place at a huge mark up. The worst time line is the cheap places that used to offer free delivery growing up having their delivery handled by a lightly skinned version of DoorDash. If you think you can use a coupon for a discount you actually are just paying the full price of their delivery fee without the delivery service discount you get directly from DoorDash.
  - jorvi 1y ago
    > The worst time line is the cheap places that used to offer free delivery growing up Its not even a vague old memory. Until COVID, free delivery with low minimal order € and regular prices were the norm, Now it's €3-5 for delivery, €20 minimum and 25% markup on item prices. Pooling together delivery drivers should make things better for the customer, instead of significantly worse.
    - inferiorhuman 1y ago
      Pooling together delivery drivers should make things better for the customer, instead of significantly worse. Sure, if Doordash operated at a loss.
      - Dylan16807 1y ago
        No, no loss. If things were working well, pooling drivers would reduce costs and doordash would charge some percent of that reduction.
        inferiorhuman 1y ago
        Yes, loss. No matter how much efficiency (lol) Doordash were bringing to the equation there's always the matter of profit and paying back the vulture capitalists.
        Dylan16807 1y ago
        The way they achieve profit is by charging money. Which I accounted for. If your reduce your client's costs by $3000 and you charge $2000 to do it, everyone is happy and you can make a nice profit. And remember the "efficiency" is relative to tons of restaurant-specific delivery drivers. It's possible.
        Larrikin 1y ago
        Door Dash famously was not profitable during the time period when everyone was locked inside their homes and couldn't go to restaurants directly. It's a fake business where the only play is to be a middle man that causes prices to go up so they can deliver cold food.

nothrabannosir 1y ago

Most people I know who lampoon delivery services were around for the days before they came upon the scene, and they think that was better. Restaurant owners I've heard on the subject, tend to agree. The economics should not work out, delivery services should allow for economies of scale, but greed and anti competitive pressure eat it all.

Larrikin 1y ago
There is no scale to be had at local delivery. Between various services, banks, and credit cards, I get the paid tier of all the delivery apps for "free", so I am paying the absolute minimum. It makes no sense to me for these "scalable" companies to pick up my food, drive in the wrong direction, wait at another restaurant, then continue to drive in the wrong direction to drop off that order, and then get me my cold food that I still paid more for than menu price with an expected tip the driver can see before they even pick up my order. I gave up on the whole concept once I moved somewhere with more than two places that are walking distance. Not all of them are great but it's still a better deal than a terrible delivery from an amazing place at a huge mark up. The worst time line is the cheap places that used to offer free delivery growing up having their delivery handled by a lightly skinned version of DoorDash. If you think you can use a coupon for a discount you actually are just paying the full price of their delivery fee without the delivery service discount you get directly from DoorDash.
- jorvi 1y ago
  > The worst time line is the cheap places that used to offer free delivery growing up Its not even a vague old memory. Until COVID, free delivery with low minimal order € and regular prices were the norm, Now it's €3-5 for delivery, €20 minimum and 25% markup on item prices. Pooling together delivery drivers should make things better for the customer, instead of significantly worse.
  - inferiorhuman 1y ago
    Pooling together delivery drivers should make things better for the customer, instead of significantly worse. Sure, if Doordash operated at a loss.
    - Dylan16807 1y ago
      No, no loss. If things were working well, pooling drivers would reduce costs and doordash would charge some percent of that reduction.
      - inferiorhuman 1y ago
        Yes, loss. No matter how much efficiency (lol) Doordash were bringing to the equation there's always the matter of profit and paying back the vulture capitalists.
        Dylan16807 1y ago
        The way they achieve profit is by charging money. Which I accounted for. If your reduce your client's costs by $3000 and you charge $2000 to do it, everyone is happy and you can make a nice profit. And remember the "efficiency" is relative to tons of restaurant-specific delivery drivers. It's possible.
        Larrikin 1y ago
        Door Dash famously was not profitable during the time period when everyone was locked inside their homes and couldn't go to restaurants directly. It's a fake business where the only play is to be a middle man that causes prices to go up so they can deliver cold food.