Instant Delivery Startups Test a New Tactic: Slower Delivery (theinformation.com) 37
Instant-delivery startups promising to ferry groceries to customers in 15 minutes or less have rushed to expand in major cities like New York and Chicago in the past year. But they're burning far more cash in the U.S. than in other countries where they operate, causing several of them to test major changes to their business model -- including longer delivery windows that could allow the startups to pack in more orders per trip. The Information: One example is Jokr, last valued at $1.2 billion on paper, which told investors in the fall it would experiment with slower delivery times and a subscription service to reduce its heavy losses, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter. In the month of August, the one-year-old startup was losing $159 per order in the U.S., according to internal data sent to investors in the fall, viewed by The Information. Buyk, a smaller instant-delivery startup, may also introduce longer delivery windows, its CEO said in an interview. And Fridge No More, an instant-delivery firm founded in 2020, plans to introduce a new private-label offering for items like olive oil and milk and to sell prepared foods such as pizza to similarly boost margins, according to a fundraising document seen by The Information. The pressure to change strategy so soon after launching illustrates the challenge of operating an instant-delivery business in the U.S., where intense competition from other rapid-commerce startups and more-established delivery firms like Instacart make it more expensive to attract customers. Labor and real estate costs are also much higher in the U.S than in developing markets like Brazil or Turkey, where some startups first set up their rapid-delivery operations.
Maybe I'll Go Myself (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: Maybe I'll Go Myself (Score:1)
Re: Maybe I'll Go Myself (Score:4, Insightful)
Try walking a mile to the grocery store in a foot of snow, and then walking back with your groceries, and THEN see who's a lazy sack of something.
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I've started getting Amazon packages delivered to a nearby shop, just to give me an excuse to go there. The cat doesn't seem interested in walkies.
I never buy anything in there, it's just too get my daily step count up.
back door way to force WIC to cover delivery? (Score:3)
back door way to force WIC to cover delivery? Say there are no in-person grocery stores so now WIC / EBT must cover deliver fees?
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Remember, a nice thick zip-tie tied around the brake lever of a delivery guy's bicycle causes no permanent damage or physical harm
Explain to me how a bike rider going down a hill suddenly discovering his brake lever is tied and he can't stop causes "no permanent damage or physical harm."
I'll wait.
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Go back to your safe space, you snowflake.
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the club 2.0
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Solution looking for a problem to solve (Score:3, Interesting)
I really don't know why VCs think the "groceries in 10 minutes or less" is where the big money is, because if you run a well-managed pantry it's a complete non-problem. It's also quite expensive, and apparently not even profitable. But it does fit in the narrative that "cash is going away anyway". This is something banks like a lot, so they've increased costs for cash handling with malice aforethought, and so more and more retailers are following suit. But it's not demand-based; neither the damning of cash,
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Remember, a nice thick zip-tie tied around the brake lever of a delivery guy's bicycle causes no permanent damage or physical harm, but will slow things down considerably.
5 seconds to whip out my pocket knife and cut through a zip tie counts as slowing things down considerably?
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Better mousetrap meets better mouse. (Score:2)
Metal-reinforced duct tape is a thing...
Decent Swiss-Army knife are also a thing.
Just saying.
As a Swiss resident.
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Metal-reinforced duct tape is a thing...
So now we're duct taping instead of zip tieing? Firstly, that's starting to cross the line into permanent damage (leaves sticky residue). Secondly, link me the most cut resistant tape you know of and if it's not horribly expensive I'll buy some and test it out.
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I'd pull out my .45 and shoot it off.
subscription service on top of markup + force tips (Score:5, Insightful)
subscription service on top of markup + forced tips?? Or you can just use the 1st party in house service that some stores have.
The Dead Milkmen (Score:4, Funny)
...including longer delivery windows that could allow the startups to pack in more orders per trip
Oh the delicious irony, I hope that at least one delivery vehicle is full of nothing but milk orders.
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I was actually thinking that a "soda truck" might make sense. A service that regularly (at least once per week), delivers heavy consumables, mostly beverages (scheduled, not on demand).
No perishables, no toiletries (not heavy, too bulky).
I'm surprised local distributors haven't started something like this (they probably can't offer retail, so a third party would need to do this).
Just a way to try and get VC money... (Score:3, Insightful)
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For one it's not necessary, two it's too expensive and the only way it works is if someone else (other than the end customer) is paying for it.
I just had this conversation with my dad over the weekend when there was a commercial for DoorDash. I explained to him using these services will effectively double the cost of your order when you include the delivery charge, the company charge, any other fees, plus the tip.
And then you get to hear fat, lazy Americans complain they never have any money.
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I just had this conversation with my dad over the weekend when there was a commercial for DoorDash. I explained to him using these services will effectively double the cost of your order when you include the delivery charge, the company charge, any other fees, plus the tip.
And then you get to hear fat, lazy Americans complain they never have any money.
I use Skip a lot and usually look for restaurants with free delivery (or sometimes free over $xx), in which case the only extra charge is the driver's tip, which is totally fair since I don't have to drive myself.
I blame COVID for much of this nonsense .... (Score:3)
I've been doing food delivery (and even some Uber) since before the whole pandemic really started, and the whole push to try to stay home and avoid crowds gave a HUGE boost to the use of these services. Tips for delivery went up by probably 100% or more with all the rhetoric about service economy workers "putting their lives on the line to get you the things you needed" and people buying into it.
By the time things calmed down some (people got fatigued by all the media and press coverage, and it going on and on)? Many people were now in the new habit of ordering groceries and restaurant orders online for delivery. Tips weren't as high, but the customer demand was established.
Nobody needs their groceries delivered in "15 minutes or less" .... but obviously, people love having things at the snap of a finger if it's an option for them. So I assume these new services with unrealistic business models like that are just trying to squeeze out the competition. (If you're going to pay about the same price for delivery from company A or B, but B offers the super fast delivery - you're probably going to use B.) It's a big money burn, trying to hold out long enough to starve the other guy.
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I blame legal weed. Seems to me the people who are inexplicably hungry but can't be arsed to get off the couch are the prime target demographic for this sort of service. Which is probably good, if it keeps them off the roads and in their houses where they belong.
IIRC, "GoPuff" was one of the earlier entrants to this industry.
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Haha I have some Rasta neighbours who make the most of Uber Eats. Just one data point, but it does support your theory.