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This is amazing. They've created the arbitrage market with reputation management that we need -- it suddenly builds a platform for Cherry, Homejoy, Exec, etc..

by sargun 12y ago

This is amazing. They've created the arbitrage market with reputation management that we need -- it suddenly builds a platform for Cherry, Homejoy, Exec, etc.. I wish they introduced the ability to have structured bids / sell orders for things like food delivery, and even transportation service.

runeks 12y ago
> I wish they introduced the ability to have structured bids / sell orders for things like food delivery, and even transportation service. Yes! That would be very interesting to see. If we could, sort of, commoditize a certain service (eg. transportation), and build a bid/ask order book for it (potential customers are bidders, and transportation services provide the asks). The problem, as I see it, is defining the base unit. In order to have a unified order book, we need a base unit for this order book. What are we selling? Is "1 mile of transportation", or is it necessary to build different order books for different locations? I suspect most transportation service have a base fee plus a $/mile rate. So now you have two variables, and the price of "1 mile of transportation" will depend on the quantity of miles, which makes it a non-commodity (1 ton of iron ore in the spot market will cost roughly the same as 100 tonnes).
- cmapes 12y ago
  Agreed, food / grocery delivery and transportation services would certainly be interesting, but defining the rates based on some sort of a base-cost-unit like mileage and speed of delivery would be extremely challenging to do smoothly for the end user. I think it would end up being non-satisfying for the customer and the sellers. Besides, amazon.com has amazon fresh for the grocery delivery service needs. Why cut into their own business?
  - Kalium 12y ago
    Not all consumers of food transit and delivery services are end-consumers getting groceries. Restaurants need the same services.
    - cmapes 12y ago
      Sure, but restaurants have special needs relating to getting groceries. When they want "avocados" they don't just want any case of avocados. They may want a case of "locally sourced Haas 40's with 4-5 day ripening time with a USDA Grade of #2 Combination, or #2, but not #1". Not just avocados. Instead of wanting "bread" they might need an artisan bread with a gluten free recipe that's standardized to 16oz weight for their lunch sandwiches. So it's not as simple as it seems, which is why there's dozens of huge billion-dollar companies who do this such as Costco, Sysco, US Foods, Shamrocks, etc. You just shop around and stay on top of food costs. And if you're a medium-large chain you lock down trade agreements much farther up the supply chain (producer level) to very low fixed prices for 6 months at a time. So if amazon wants to try to tackle dozens of intricacies for thousands of types of perishable goods that will have variable quality in a market that is heavily regulated by the USDA, more power to them. Source: I own a restaurant on the side.

by sargun 12y ago

runeks 12y ago

> I wish they introduced the ability to have structured bids / sell orders for things like food delivery, and even transportation service. Yes! That would be very interesting to see. If we could, sort of, commoditize a certain service (eg. transportation), and build a bid/ask order book for it (potential customers are bidders, and transportation services provide the asks). The problem, as I see it, is defining the base unit. In order to have a unified order book, we need a base unit for this order book. What are we selling? Is "1 mile of transportation", or is it necessary to build different order books for different locations? I suspect most transportation service have a base fee plus a $/mile rate. So now you have two variables, and the price of "1 mile of transportation" will depend on the quantity of miles, which makes it a non-commodity (1 ton of iron ore in the spot market will cost roughly the same as 100 tonnes).

cmapes 12y ago
Agreed, food / grocery delivery and transportation services would certainly be interesting, but defining the rates based on some sort of a base-cost-unit like mileage and speed of delivery would be extremely challenging to do smoothly for the end user. I think it would end up being non-satisfying for the customer and the sellers. Besides, amazon.com has amazon fresh for the grocery delivery service needs. Why cut into their own business?
- Kalium 12y ago
  Not all consumers of food transit and delivery services are end-consumers getting groceries. Restaurants need the same services.
  - cmapes 12y ago
    Sure, but restaurants have special needs relating to getting groceries. When they want "avocados" they don't just want any case of avocados. They may want a case of "locally sourced Haas 40's with 4-5 day ripening time with a USDA Grade of #2 Combination, or #2, but not #1". Not just avocados. Instead of wanting "bread" they might need an artisan bread with a gluten free recipe that's standardized to 16oz weight for their lunch sandwiches. So it's not as simple as it seems, which is why there's dozens of huge billion-dollar companies who do this such as Costco, Sysco, US Foods, Shamrocks, etc. You just shop around and stay on top of food costs. And if you're a medium-large chain you lock down trade agreements much farther up the supply chain (producer level) to very low fixed prices for 6 months at a time. So if amazon wants to try to tackle dozens of intricacies for thousands of types of perishable goods that will have variable quality in a market that is heavily regulated by the USDA, more power to them. Source: I own a restaurant on the side.