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Postmates earned 400% more on a delivery than the delivery guy

news.ycombinator.com

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Postmates earned 400% more on a delivery than the delivery guy

#1

Post by aaronchriscohen »

I used Postmates to buy and deliver a $199 Chromebook for me from Best Buy. The delivery fee was $5, 80% of which went to the delivery guy. Postmates added a 10% "purchase fee" which they do NOT split with the delivery guy. So they made $21 while the guy who actually did the work made $4 (not counting the tip I gave him).

I realize that developing the app that facilitated this transaction is work but for the purposes of a single transaction is it truly 400% as much work?

Does anyone else have a problem with this?

Receipt image: http://goo.gl/z4HBdv

Re: Postmates earned 400% more on a delivery than the delivery guy

#5

Post by mattgibson »

"Does anyone else have a problem with this?"

I imagine the delivery guy does.

It's a free market though, so if that $21 turns out to be far more than is necessary for making the SAAS site, then a competitor will see it as an opportunity and undercut them eventually. Shouldn't take long if the business model is viable.

Re: Postmates earned 400% more on a delivery than the delivery guy

#6

Post by mindslight »

"Meet the new boss - same as the old boss"

These CRUD-on-a-service companies (Postmates, Uber, etc) aren't "disruption" but just an investment land rush to be the new rent-extracting middlemen. Let's just hope they're easily dislodged when an actual p2p economy finally develops.

Re: Postmates earned 400% more on a delivery than the delivery guy

#7

Post by sprite »

No why would anyone have a problem with it? If you want to charge less or pay the delivery guy more you have the opportunity to start your own competitor. No one is forcing the delivery guy to work there either, if he is qualified for a better paying job he can find other work.

Re: Postmates earned 400% more on a delivery than the delivery guy

#8

Post by aaronchriscohen »

mattgibson wrote: post #5

"Does anyone else have a problem with this?" I imagine the delivery guy does. It's a free market though, so if that $21 turns out to be far more than is necessary for making the SAAS site, then a competitor will see it as an opportunity and undercut them eventually. Shouldn't take long if the business model is viable.

ive sinced learned that ebay now would have brought me my chromebook for no additional fee. wun wun also apparently caps the transaction fee at $2.

Re: Postmates earned 400% more on a delivery than the delivery guy

#9

Post by aaronchriscohen »

sprite wrote: post #7

No why would anyone have a problem with it? If you want to charge less or pay the delivery guy more you have the opportunity to start your own competitor. No one is forcing the delivery guy to work there either, if he is qualified for a better paying job he can find other work.

because a startup has structured its business model to keep the vast majority of the profit it extracts from a virtual work force of independently contracted peons
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