Live data from Hacker News

DoorDash from Application to IPO

blog.ycombinator.com

111–120 of 277 posts

Re: DoorDash from Application to IPO

#111
post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've found UberEats to be a similarly mixed bag with timing (and the only service where I've had the driver steal the food). Pre-pandemic eats drivers would also almost never come to the door or get out of the car. Doordash drivers tend to be find the door more reliably in my experience and the service is usually more reliable. They're all a kind of weird business for me - I don't see how the margins work, but I use…

I use UberEats fairly frequently, and while there have been a few bad experiences, they are usually fine. The most common annoyance IMHO are restaurants not honoring the utensils option (i.e. not providing them even though you asked them to, or to a lesser extent vice-versa). The other minor annoyance is that they don't update the status of the order correctly when you opt to pick up (it will often sit in "preparing"…

my wife always tells me to not mess with utensils option (on any delivery services) as we almost seem to not get any.

when we leave it at default, always get atleast 1 pair of cutlery.

when we specify we want more, normally end up receiving none.

i have done doordash pickup. the estimated wait was 45 minutes.

i called the restaurant after about 20 minutes as i have ordered there directly over the phone before, and its only been 15-20 minutes wait for phone ordered.

they like oh yea, its already ready, we just punched 45 minutes into door dash just in case...

Re: DoorDash from Application to IPO

#112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's my first week with him; he hasn't had all his shots and I don't want to stress him out with too many new things all at once. Right now it takes around 5-10 minutes to just get him comfortable with a car ride to begin with, so even that's not a fantastic option. In the future that's definitely the plan but it's just not practical right now.

Thanks for the answer. Still sounds like a lot of fun raising a puppy! Please give him some pets from me :-)

Alternating between an absolute blast and grueling, yep.

He'll get tons of pets and belly rubs when he wakes up, don't worry! :)

Re: DoorDash from Application to IPO

#113
The most interesting data point here for me is that they went from nothing to IPO in about 7 years. That seems to be much shorter than the typical or median time to IPO of other startups these days. Am I correct on this? What does the distribution of time to IPO look like for more recently IPO'ed tech companies?

Re: DoorDash from Application to IPO

#114
post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Users get something, restaurants lose, delivery people are abused and underpaid, but the founders will be very rich. Looking at the entire system there was very little added, there's just a lot of money being shifted to a small group of people.

At least in DoorDash's YC application, they pitched that delivery drivers wanted to make more money. When the drivers worked for one restaurant only, they would be sitting around most of the time waiting for an order. By delivering for many restaurants at once on DoorDash, they would be able to make more money and have less idle time. I'd love to see data, but I can intuitively imagine this being true, and the common…

I like how the drivers are always depicted as underpaid yet... they flock to the app!

If it paid more to have a minimum wage job, why are there so many drivers on the platform?

Re: DoorDash from Application to IPO

#115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> raising a puppy, I can't really leave him alone right now Off topic, but why not take the puppy to pick up the food? Might even be a decent walk, if there are sidewalks along the way.

If puppy is really small (under 18 weeks) and didn't have all the vaccines yet, you should avoid putting them directly on the ground if don't know the environment. If they come into contact with leftover feces of other dog that cary disease, they can some deadly ones, like Lepto. Which is also tricky, as at the same time it's when you have to socialize the puppy. Things they haven't been exposed to under 18 weeks, th…

It can be very tricky. In my case I got a rescue puppy, 5 months old. Didn't have any shots. And wasn't spayed - and we couldn't due to her state - got to us full of all kinds of parasites and malnourished, not to mention the previous "owner" left the poor thing locked up in a dark garage ALL DAY, plus punishments whenever the dog would poop.

Needless to say, there were issues. Still, we were lucky that family members had pets (all sorts of pets), so we could socialize in a controlled environment.

Now we got a well-adjusted pet (minus some separation anxiety issues we have managed to control, but not eliminate). That is, well-adjusted, provided there's enough exercising :)

Re: DoorDash from Application to IPO

#116
post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use UberEats fairly frequently, and while there have been a few bad experiences, they are usually fine. The most common annoyance IMHO are restaurants not honoring the utensils option (i.e. not providing them even though you asked them to, or to a lesser extent vice-versa). The other minor annoyance is that they don't update the status of the order correctly when you opt to pick up (it will often sit in "preparing"…

my wife always tells me to not mess with utensils option (on any delivery services) as we almost seem to not get any. when we leave it at default, always get atleast 1 pair of cutlery. when we specify we want more, normally end up receiving none. i have done doordash pickup. the estimated wait was 45 minutes. i called the restaurant after about 20 minutes as i have ordered there directly over the phone before, and it…

Oh yeah, estimated time for pickups are usually way too conservative. Most of the time, I will show up 5-10 minutes after ordering (basically I hop in my car as soon as I order) and I can almost always walk away with my food right away or within a few mins.

Re: DoorDash from Application to IPO

#117
post #15

As a customer, DoorDash is just consistently a terrible experience. I have the DashPass, which was advertised as free delivery for many restaurants. Turns out it only works if you spend $12, and even then sometimes it doesn’t apply. If you check prices between the app and the actual restaurants’ websites, there’s often an extra $2-3 added on for each item on DoorDash (I don’t blame the restaurants). When it’s all sai…

Wow, everyone doesn't like doordash here.

I've personslly had no problems and they have a much better selection of resturants than the other apps in my area.

App is a bit buggy at times though

Re: DoorDash from Application to IPO

#118
post #57

"... a delivery courier’s income, which ranges from $300 to $800 a week for those who work 12-hour days, seven days a week." https://www.thecity.nyc/work/2020/12/6/22157730/nyc-food-del...

Yeah but with all that cycling they won't need to visit the doctor anytime soon so they save a lot of money not paying for health insurance. /s

Re: DoorDash from Application to IPO

#119
I still question the viability of the delivery apps once the pandemic is over. In that sense, this is a great timing for their IPO. However I wouldn't buy. I am happy to lose any potential gains if I am wrong but I am way too skeptical to jump in. I really think the market for delivery is not there to the extent we see now. In fact they will have a severely depressed couple of quarters once people get the vaccine. It will take some time for it to pickup and even then I would expect the traffic to be around 50% of what it is now.

Re: DoorDash from Application to IPO

#120
post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All other platforms like UberEats and Postmates do the same thing for their "passes" and all the upcharges or else they wouldn't be profitable. Not saying it's good for consumers and users and I personally don't like it, but it has become the standard, not just DD.

Which is confusing, because the premise of these delievery services is that the advanced routing algorithms would make it cheaper to provide delivery than it had been before.

It very well might. Doesn't mean that it turns it into a long term business.
Post reply on HN