Portland approves 10% cap on fees that food delivery apps can charge restaurants • Hacker News Board

Re: Portland approves 10% cap on fees that food delivery apps can charge restaurants

#251

Post by amyjess » Thu, Jul 09, 2020, 3:32 PM UTC

_sbrk wrote: post #249

amyjess wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quarantine means quarantine. It sounds like you're failing to properly observe quarantine. 1. I don't have a vehicle of any kind. 2. I am at severely high risk for COVID-19 complications due to multiple medical problems, and I cannot enter a building other than my house under any circumstances. 3. Masks do absolutely nothing to protect you; they protect other people from you. You should wear a mask in case you're sic…

[flagged]

I'm not talking about lockdown laws. I'm talking about observing proper quarantine procedures. If you are leaving your house for any reason, you are not properly quarantining even if you aren't violating lockdown laws, and you are actively _part_ of the reason your state "has one of the highest new-cases-per-day number". I am under a proper, strict quarantine.

> Your choice. You failed to plan, so you planned to fail.

Hi, I have considerable disabilities and cannot operate a motor vehicle under any circumstances. Engaging in victim blaming really doesn't make you look good.

Re: Portland approves 10% cap on fees that food delivery apps can charge restaurants

#252

Post by briandear » Thu, Jul 09, 2020, 3:34 PM UTC

MisterTea wrote: post #143

inkaudio wrote: post #99

This is a regulatory response to Silicon Valley’s implementation of predatory pricing. Let me explain: Predatory pricing is defined as “the pricing of goods or services at such a low level that other suppliers cannot compete and are forced to leave the market.” For silicon valley startups like Doordash and Grubhub this is accomplished by acquiring customers at a significant loss in ways that may often seem idiotic. e…

> The End game is to be the dominant food ordering platform in any given town where you get to dictate rates like 25%. You fight back by calling your order in and having them deliver it or pick it up yourself. I do this 99%* of the time as I refuse to pay a web server $8+ order+delivery fee for a meal that costs the same. It's absurd to think that people are so lazy that they cant pick up a phone or walk a few blocks…

> It's absurd to think that people are so lazy that they cant pick up a phone or walk a few blocks/cycle/drive to get their meal.

You don’t have kids. Calling me lazy because I don’t have time to load up for small children in the car to drive a few miles then have to wait 0-25 minutes — potentially having to get out of the car and unloading said four kids to pick up the food, then reloading them to return home. Such an assumption that I am “lazy” is just bullshit and represents a failed understanding of a good portion of the market. We aren’t all childless adults sitting around smoking pot playing XBox waiting around for a key lime pie to be delivered. (Not saying you are, but that people who value their time more than the delivery costs are “lazy” is exactly the point you are making.)

I am happy to pay 25% for the time I am saving. It’s the same reason I don’t wash my own car: sure I could do it, but I have more valuable uses for my limited time.

Re: Portland approves 10% cap on fees that food delivery apps can charge restaurants

#253

Post by giarc » Thu, Jul 09, 2020, 3:34 PM UTC

C1sc0cat wrote: post #167

giarc wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's likely the only path to profitability; making deliveries more efficient by saying we'll deliver your food, but it'll be sometime between 5-8pm.

So several hours old food that's sounds like its going to be really delicious NOT

No. If the delivery service knows that they need to send 4 orders to a single neighbourhood, instead of sending a driver back and forth 4 times, they instead can have the restaurant prep the 4 meals at the same time and send the driver to that neighbourhood once. Pizza places do this all the time. You'll often see them with multiple delivery bags in their car.

Re: Portland approves 10% cap on fees that food delivery apps can charge restaurants

#254

Post by ghaff » Thu, Jul 09, 2020, 3:35 PM UTC

austhrow743 wrote: post #221

colinmhayes wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand why people in central areas of the city order delivery. There are 10 amazing restaurants within easy walking distance of me, why order delivery when I can walk for 5 minutes instead?

5 minute walk then 20 minute wait then 5 minute walk back. When you're earning $50+ an hour, which many in cities are easily clearing, it starts to make a lot of sense to pay someone else to do your waiting for you.

Call ahead?

Re: Portland approves 10% cap on fees that food delivery apps can charge restaurants

#255

Post by chrisseaton » Thu, Jul 09, 2020, 3:38 PM UTC

nabilhat wrote: post #205

chrisseaton wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So the restaurants are getting the option of delivery and the increased customer base and advertising... for absolutely no change to themselves? And the customers who use delivery are the ones paying for it? And if they don't want to pay it they can still go straight to the restaurant who will again make the same money? Sounds like a win to absolutely everyone involved. What is everyone's problem? Why do we want to i…

> Sounds like a win to absolutely everyone involved. Let's pare it down to only you and the unsolicited service - You come home from work and the neighbor kid from six blocks down you've never met bills you for mowing your lawn while you were away. Let's pare it down to only the unsolicited service and the business - Hi, we put out a bunch of ads that say we're you and have a bunch of customers lined up ready to orde…

But Doordash don't charge for an unsolicited service. They aren't charging the restaurant at all in this case. They're paying the restaurant's full price for food. Like anyone could.

Then they charge the customer for an additional service actually rendered - the delivery. They charge this as a delivery fee and a markup that they can vary on more expensive items. This is pretty normal for a retail business to do.

Re: Portland approves 10% cap on fees that food delivery apps can charge restaurants

#256

Post by bawolff » Thu, Jul 09, 2020, 3:42 PM UTC

castlecrasher2 wrote: post #78

bawolff wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I dont really see why its my responsibility as a consumer to police if business deals resturants engage in are "fair". That is the resturant's job. Its part of running a business. Actually its the main part. If the deal doesn't make financial sense - then the business shouldn't make the deal. If the business cannot survive neither taking the deal nor not taking it, then the business is not viable and it should go out…

How would restaurants have a choice, here? As far as they know, Uber Eats/Doordash/etc are just "regular customers" but are really just scalping the restaurant's product.

If they were just regular customers, than there would be no need for the 10% cap. The cap would be 0% because regular customers dont negotiate massive discounts; they pay regular price.

Re: Portland approves 10% cap on fees that food delivery apps can charge restaurants

#257

Post by airstrike » Thu, Jul 09, 2020, 3:43 PM UTC

zild3d wrote: post #237

airstrike wrote: post #86

Why does it have to be a percentage? Taking the food from point A to point B costs the same whether it's sardines or caviar. I never understood this... Seems like charging for the distance traveled and even the time of day would make a lot more sense

> Taking the food from point A to point B costs the same whether it's sardines or caviar orders for 1-2 people yes, but that doesn't handle large orders for parties, etc

Sure, then make it

  f(number_of_items, distance_traveled, time_of_day)

Re: Portland approves 10% cap on fees that food delivery apps can charge restaurants

#258

Post by ceejayoz » Thu, Jul 09, 2020, 3:44 PM UTC

lotsofpulp wrote: post #224

pwinnski wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you misunderstand. There are a number of restaurants listed on Yelp in my area for whom the phone number listed is answered by GrubHub. I refuse to deal with GrubHub, so I make an effort to search for a direct number, but it is often difficult to find. I'm not sure how GrubHub is getting themselves set as the primary number for restaurants in Yelp, but it's happening.

The solution to that is using google maps or Apple Maps or duck duck go or a phone book. If people don’t understand that a middleman adds cost as an adult, then that is an education issue.

> The solution to that is using google maps or Apple Maps or duck duck go or a phone book.

You can try.

https://www.yelp-support.com/article/How-did-the-information...

> Yelp provides Apple with access to some of our business page information

Re: Portland approves 10% cap on fees that food delivery apps can charge restaurants

#259

Post by nerfhammer » Thu, Jul 09, 2020, 3:44 PM UTC

gmadsen wrote: post #36

falcolas wrote: post #11

Are any of these food delivery app services actually making profit right now, or are they just burning VC capital? A news podcast I listened to yesterday made the statement that every food delivery company is doing deliveries at a loss. This seems problematic for making delivery a viable business without forming a monopoly to get the scale required to make things profitable.

drivers bringing restaurant food to individual houses doesn't really seem like something that scale helps. More people using the service requires more drivers.

more order flow means you can pool orders together more efficiently. i.e. several people in the same neighborhood order food from the same restaurant within a few minutes.

Re: Portland approves 10% cap on fees that food delivery apps can charge restaurants

#260

Post by _sbrk » Thu, Jul 09, 2020, 3:45 PM UTC

amyjess wrote: post #242

_sbrk wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could always obtain a TDD terminal, use those facilities to call the restaurant (call TDD, interpreter then calls the restaurant, ..) to place the order. IANAL. You could also sue and see how it comes out.

The ADA requires the restaurant to make the accommodation, not the disabled person. And that still doesn't solve the problem of people with social anxiety who are unable to engage in a conversation with another person.

There is a limit to reasonable accommodations. For instance, restaurants are not required to feed you if you cannot lift a fork.

From my reading, social anxiety has only recently been suggested as a disability under the ADA, in one state. I am unable to locate ADA material which outlines if, and to what extent, accommodations for this disability are to be provided.