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DoorDash from Application to IPO

blog.ycombinator.com

251–260 of 277 posts

Re: DoorDash from Application to IPO

#251

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My order from a restaurant that's a 5 minute drive away (raising a puppy, I can't really leave him alone right now) arrived almost 40 minutes after it was picked up. I was given a credit that didn't even cover the delivery and service fees, let alone the tip that they don't let you edit after the order.

This +1000 My food is regularly delivered incorrectly or missing and they refuse to refund the fees. What is beyond fucked up to me; is that they increase the fees based on what I buy. So they charge me for something and then refuse to refund it. I just don't know how it's even legal to bill me for something and then not provide it. I need to write my congressman again and state senators about this shit again. Oh the…

This is what chargebacks/disputes are for. I have had the same experience several times and disputing the transaction always worked.

Disputing the transaction is also the only thing that would actually discourage them from such shenanigans in the future, as it would sour their relationship with their acquirer bank if they get too many disputes.

Re: DoorDash from Application to IPO

#252

This is one of the scammiest companies to ipo in a while. They're dumping shitty stock on the public and doordash will never, ever make a profit. The way they handle tips should be illegal.

Doordash stopped doing the tipping thing over a year ago https://blog.doordash.com/working-to-strike-a-better-balance...

The problem is less about stopping doing it but the fact that such an obviously dishonest and scummy practice was allowed to be done in the first place.

Re: DoorDash from Application to IPO

#253

My 2 cts on the long term play of Doordash: The long term trend is that (primarily take-out) restaurants will decline and be replaced by ghost kitchens. The unit economics of ghost kitchens is much better than paying rent for prime real estate. You can run a ghost kitchen from a warehouse. This trend was already underway before covid [1] (see also Travis Kalanick's investments in this space) but has been 10x accelera…

Do you actually know of any good "take out" only restaurants that don't have people eating there? I don't. I live in a city so maybe that's the difference, but one things for sure, if people could be in there, sitting at a table enjoying food with their friends, they would be.

I think there is a very obvious opportunity here that people seem to be missing.

The first "high end ghost kicthen" to stick a camera in their kitchen and stream their food prep will probably make a killing.

You can probably build an entire social network for foodies around this stuff.

Re: DoorDash from Application to IPO

#254
post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They did something similar to where I live. When I found out just how much of the cost goes to them rather than the business I stopped using them. It is better to support local businesses by just ordering pick up and and tipping them directly.

IIUC you can't really tip the restaurant on doordash either just the delivery person.

I have never ate at or ordered from any restaurant where you can tip the restaurant, it is always the delivery driver / server.

Re: DoorDash from Application to IPO

#255
post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, there's a lot of reasons they might have been stealing food. To presume it must have been because they were so poor and not because they had delicious smelling food in their car and a near-guarantee that theft wouldn't be noticed is, imo, disingenuous To say that the only reason someone steals food is for hunger is to say that nobody has ever stolen food for any reason other than hunger. Otherwise, there woul…

Dude. People don't steal food if they're not hungry. You are trying to justify THEFT . Not IP theft. Not Copyright theft. Real, actual, physical theft. Of someone's food . And there was so much theft that companies retooled their packaging . Go back and contemplate on your ethics. Like ... a lot.

> Dude. People don't steal food if they're not hungry.

I take it you have never worked in the food service industry.

Re: DoorDash from Application to IPO

#256
Doordash, GrubHub and Uber Eats have increased prices for delivery with no increase in value.

I used to be able to order 4 entrees from a local Indian restaurant for $50 + $20 tip.

Now this same order costs $70 with no tip. The same applies to all local delivery now.

These 3rd party vendors are sucking the profit off the top, killing small businesses and increasing costs to consumers.

I thought capitalism made things more efficient, this is rent seeking.

Re: DoorDash from Application to IPO

#257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A good middle ground between a ghost kitchen and a full on restaurant is the food court model. Restaurants get to pay a little less for rent, keep some in person dining but mostly focus on takeout.

I relocated to Singapore earlier in the year, and I have to say that the hawker centres here are amazing. I know the economics require a bit of government intervention (and it only really works in a dense urban environment), but I would love to see more governments embrace this model. That being said, I also expect that implementing this somewhere like Australia would also require a lot more security to deal with dru…

> and it only really works in a dense urban environment

I wouldn't consider Georgetown (Penang, Malaysia) as a dense urban environment.

Despite this food courts there are numerous, immensely popular and fantastic to get a cheap, ultra-delicious meal.

Re: DoorDash from Application to IPO

#258
post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If that's the case, how can one say that, for all of history, they have been underpaid? What is the standard that defines underpaid? Your original statement was: "the common view of "underpaid" being a view that isn't consistent with the history of the space." And this statement is false. Now you're trying to wiggle out of this by pretending that "being underpaid" is undefined because we haven't decided the concept…

> Your original statement was: "the common view of "underpaid" being a view that isn't consistent with the history of the space." No wriggling. :) To me, that statement would be backed by evidence that DoorDash allows drivers to make more than they previously made as drivers for specific restaurants. To you, that wouldn’t satisfy the notion that they are fairly paid, because you believe they have always been underpai…

> through a lens of historical data

You keep saying "historical data" as if that should make everyone node their head in agreement: "hmmm, yes, yes, you're right, historical data".

I'd love to see the "historical data" you allude to.

> but you’re looking at it through a different lens

Nope. I'm looking through the same lens: history tells us that couriers are underpaid and overworked, especially in the US. And they keep being underpaid and underworked with DoorDash and other vultures.

You pretend that DoorDash is somehow good.

Re: DoorDash from Application to IPO

#259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would be a lifeline if restaurants made money from Doordash orders. Some do and for them it's been a lifeline. But many restaurants don't make any profit after the 25% cut. Pre-covid you could write it off as a marketing expense but when in-person dining disappears you're faced with option to close or keep open and make a loss or no money on every DD you get. This is partly why 110,000 restaurants have closed sinc…

How exactly is tech pouring fuel on the fire though? If DD simply didn't exist, what better option would these closing restaurants suddenly have? Like you said here, with DD around it does give some restaurants a lifeline they wouldn't otherwise have. Plus the government gets more tax revenue, over time some large percentage of the currently $60B valuation created by Doordash, which could be used to help the rest of…

2 years ago, I could order 4 entrees from a local Indian restaurant for $50 + $20 tip. The same restaurant is DoorDash only now and the same order is $70 with no tip.

I don't order delivery anymore, for $20 I'll pick it up myself.

Re: DoorDash from Application to IPO

#260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you for the explanation, so ok inequality of outcomes, but not inequality of opportunity. 2 more questions: 1. How is this a "problem"? 2. How would you go about solving it?

> How is this a "problem"? "[a] Stanford professor posits that throughout history, economic inequality has only been rectified by one of the 'Four Horsemen of Leveling': warfare, revolution, state collapse and plague."[1] You can hang on to imaginative phrases like "inequality of opportunity" or an economy that reliably delivers food. I think most people are going to go with the second option. [1] https://www.economi…

And here were are in the midst of a plague and it hasn't helped! I was hoping we'd get UBI out of it!
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