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UberEats could be underpaying delivery drivers on 21% of trips

businessinsider.com

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Re: UberEats could be underpaying delivery drivers on 21% of trips

#131

Post by treeman79 »

mrweasel wrote: post #103
cortesoft wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I get so frustrated when people act like these food delivery services aren’t a WAY better user experience than the old version of having to call for delivery. So many times, I will be super busy with the kids, or work, or housework, and I will just pull up DoorDash with one hand (while the other is feeding a hangry 1 year old) and hit ‘reorder’ on one of my past meals. Literally 15 seconds and food is on the way. Com…

Sure, if that's how food delivery works where you live, then I'm sure that the SF/Silicon Vally type services works better. But that's because the service suck where you live. Most fast food place either use JustEat or Hungry to accept your order and take your credit card information, if they don't have their own website or app. They will have their own drivers, employed and paid directly by the restaurant and they d…

Most local places have a very strong accent.

Tastier the food, stronger the accent.

Several places we flat out can’t communicate with.

The worse is a local pizza joint with the thickest Indian accent I’ve every heard. I work with Indians, and I still can’t understand them. Really good pizza.

Ask the whole kid angle. Kids screaming, work screaming, wife screaming...

Re: UberEats could be underpaying delivery drivers on 21% of trips

#132

Post by s1artibartfast »

jacquesm wrote: post #55
danpalmer wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agree with the part about profitability, but middlemen can definitely add value. I’d say that Uber’s wide reach is valuable, the fact that they likely exist in the city you’re visiting, the fact that they likely have enough cars to pick you up in under 5 minutes. These are valuable things that don’t come from individual drivers or small taxi companies, but rather from big aggregators.

Small taxi companies could still have general dispatchers.

The best ubering I have ever done is in foreign countries. I don't have to speak the language and get significant reduction on tourist prices. Scale provides tremendous value.

Re: UberEats could be underpaying delivery drivers on 21% of trips

#133

Post by doesnt_know »

svrb wrote: post #127
ABCLAW wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I feel like there has been a backlash against time saving tech It isn't a luddite backlash. It's just that in many cases the value-add for customers doesn't justify the price difference. There are certain benefits to apps that exist, don't get me wrong. Discoverability, flexible pricing, direct-to-consumer-marketing, etc. But most of those don't apply to me at the consumer level. Do I want to pay 20% more for the c…

> It's just that in many cases the value-add for customers doesn't justify the price difference. Hold on, why does your opinion about the value-add get to determine whether I should be allowed to pay for that convenience?

You should be allowed to pay for that convenience, but at the moment you're not because it's being susidized by run-at-a-loss startups that exploit their workers.

Re: UberEats could be underpaying delivery drivers on 21% of trips

#134

Post by sumedh »

ABCLAW wrote: post #125
cortesoft wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Again, I am not saying it isn't doable to order the old fashioned way, but the newer system is CLEARLY easier and faster. There is simply no way you could order and be done with a call in order in 15 seconds. Your argument (that it is not much of a barrier to use the old way) can be made for so many of the quality of life improvements we have made over the course of human history. Not every advancement is an entire n…

> I feel like there has been a backlash against time saving tech It isn't a luddite backlash. It's just that in many cases the value-add for customers doesn't justify the price difference. There are certain benefits to apps that exist, don't get me wrong. Discoverability, flexible pricing, direct-to-consumer-marketing, etc. But most of those don't apply to me at the consumer level. Do I want to pay 20% more for the c…

> It's just that in many cases the value-add for customers doesn't justify the price difference.

Let the market decide that.

Re: UberEats could be underpaying delivery drivers on 21% of trips

#135

Post by sumedh »

propogandist wrote: post #128
cortesoft wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Again, I am not saying it isn't doable to order the old fashioned way, but the newer system is CLEARLY easier and faster. There is simply no way you could order and be done with a call in order in 15 seconds. Your argument (that it is not much of a barrier to use the old way) can be made for so many of the quality of life improvements we have made over the course of human history. Not every advancement is an entire n…

by using Uber and virtually all delivery apps, you're eating into the restaurant's margins and allowing a big corporation to shaft the delivery guy and really everyone in the supply chain. You're also enabling a parasitic corporation to generate more revenue, when it should be shuttered with nearly a billion in losses every quarter.

> you're eating into the restaurant's margins

Some restaurants in Australia have higher menu prices for delivery services.

Re: UberEats could be underpaying delivery drivers on 21% of trips

#136

Post by sumedh »

pintxo wrote: post #110
cortesoft wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Again, I am not saying it isn't doable to order the old fashioned way, but the newer system is CLEARLY easier and faster. There is simply no way you could order and be done with a call in order in 15 seconds. Your argument (that it is not much of a barrier to use the old way) can be made for so many of the quality of life improvements we have made over the course of human history. Not every advancement is an entire n…

My preferred Sushi place will recognize me by my phone number and take my order within seconds. Payment in cash at the door. There is no reason why the process could not be quick and hassle free, even using the phone.

> My preferred Sushi place will recognize me by my phone number and take my order within seconds.

What about a new restuarant?

Re: UberEats could be underpaying delivery drivers on 21% of trips

#137

Post by ABCLAW »

svrb wrote: post #127
ABCLAW wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I feel like there has been a backlash against time saving tech It isn't a luddite backlash. It's just that in many cases the value-add for customers doesn't justify the price difference. There are certain benefits to apps that exist, don't get me wrong. Discoverability, flexible pricing, direct-to-consumer-marketing, etc. But most of those don't apply to me at the consumer level. Do I want to pay 20% more for the c…

> It's just that in many cases the value-add for customers doesn't justify the price difference. Hold on, why does your opinion about the value-add get to determine whether I should be allowed to pay for that convenience?

I don't see how you got that from what I said. Are you looking for an explanation of how a demand curve works? Sorry, a bit confused here.

Re: UberEats could be underpaying delivery drivers on 21% of trips

#138

Post by danpalmer »

jacquesm wrote: post #55
danpalmer wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agree with the part about profitability, but middlemen can definitely add value. I’d say that Uber’s wide reach is valuable, the fact that they likely exist in the city you’re visiting, the fact that they likely have enough cars to pick you up in under 5 minutes. These are valuable things that don’t come from individual drivers or small taxi companies, but rather from big aggregators.

Small taxi companies could still have general dispatchers.

Sure, but that dispatch is a "middleman" for the service provider. The bigger that middleman becomes the more they may be able to offer. The dispatcher will take a cut of the taxi fares.

Re: UberEats could be underpaying delivery drivers on 21% of trips

#139

Post by iso1631 »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #94
iso1631 wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We bought a second car at the weekend, I phoned up my insurance company and asked them to put it on. They did so, and it was cheaper than the quote I'd got online - £180 for 9 months vs £290 for 12 months. So I immediately tipped the person on the phone £45 How ridiculous does that seem?

I’ve even started asking my friends and family for tips anytime I do anything for them. US culture of tipping is so ridiculous that I think people actually derive enjoyment from tipping by giving themselves an ego boost when they do, as some sort of charity or having role played as an extremely rich person being benevolent with their wealth.

That's the point. There's a friend episode where Rachel and Ross go out for dinner with her Dad. He pays the bill ($200 or so - fancy resturant) and goes to the bathroom. Ross comments he'd 'only' tipped 4%, and leaves some cash.

Great putdown when the father comes back, sees the tip, rips up the credit card receipt and tells Ross to pay the whole bill if he wants to be the 'big man'

Re: UberEats could be underpaying delivery drivers on 21% of trips

#140

Post by curryst »

zepearl wrote: post #86
rrrrrrrrrrrryan wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't go so far as saying they're "fundamentally unprofitable". They have a couple long-term options: the often-discussed one is autonomous driving (though it's becoming increasingly obvious this is many years out), but the less discussed one is vertical integration. It's not hard to imagine them choosing to pursue Amazon-style vertical integration where they own the "restaurants" themselves. I put "restaurants"…

> It's not hard to imagine them choosing to pursue Amazon-style vertical integration where they own the "restaurants" themselves. I always wondered something about those meals that are available on airplanes: in the past I liked quite a lot most of them (e.g. a small piece of meat/fish/other, some vegetables and/or rice, a slice of bread, a small dessert) => wouldn't it be quite profitable to have a similar delivery…

I use a company called Snap Kitchen for that (no affiliation). They have a menu, I pick what meals and how many I want. Twice a week they cook the food, package it up, and deliver it to my door. Let's you pick how many calories per day you're aiming for, and if you're on one of a couple dozen diets they support they'll limit the auto-suggested meals for you.

The food tastes pretty good. It's better than frozen food, but still a far cry from a freshly cooked meal. It's not terribly cheap either. If I did all 3 meals from them 5 days week, it cost somewhere around $8 a meal. I ended up quitting because of the price. It's too expensive to use for many meals, and has to short of a shelf life to keep around as a backup if I don't want to cook.

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