Uber Shutting Down Alcohol Delivery Service Drizly (axios.com) 36
Uber is shutting down alcohol delivery service Drizly three years after the company acquired it for $1.1 billion. Axios reports: Drizly was always a bit of an odd match for Uber, in that it didn't hire or contract its own delivery workers. Instead, Drizly provided backend tech that let local liquor stores provide their own deliveries. The bigger issue, however, might have been cybersecurity. Drizly in 2020 confirmed a hack that exposed information on around 2.5 million customers.
What it didn't say, however, was that the company had been aware of the security flaw for two years without fixing it. That information was discovered by the Federal Trade Commission, after Uber's acquisition of Drizly, and led to an FTC order that restricted the types of customer information that Drizly could collect and retain. "After three years of Drizly operating independently within the Uber family, we've decided to close the business and focus on our core Uber Eats strategy of helping consumers get almost anything -- from food to groceries to alcohol -- all on a single app," said Pierre-Dimitri Gore-Coty, Uber's SVP of delivery. "We're grateful to the Drizly team for their many contributions to the growth of the BevAlc delivery category as the original industry pioneer."
What it didn't say, however, was that the company had been aware of the security flaw for two years without fixing it. That information was discovered by the Federal Trade Commission, after Uber's acquisition of Drizly, and led to an FTC order that restricted the types of customer information that Drizly could collect and retain. "After three years of Drizly operating independently within the Uber family, we've decided to close the business and focus on our core Uber Eats strategy of helping consumers get almost anything -- from food to groceries to alcohol -- all on a single app," said Pierre-Dimitri Gore-Coty, Uber's SVP of delivery. "We're grateful to the Drizly team for their many contributions to the growth of the BevAlc delivery category as the original industry pioneer."
local liquor stores provide their own deliveries?? (Score:2)
local liquor stores provide their own deliveries? that was not part of an Uber Eats or Instacart?
Like what local store will want to pay for that vs say doing it own there own like who pizza has been for an long time.
Re: local liquor stores provide their own deliveri (Score:2)
It sounds like it may have represented a threat to Uber, so they bought it and then killed it. Basically they just let the business hire delivery drivers however they choose, and they just pay for the app and server infrastructure without needing to hire developers or IT staff.
This. (Score:3)
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When I was at uni there was a local company called "Dial-a-Drink". This was back when Facebook was still new, people were still wondering what the point of Twitter was. There was no such thing as calling an Uber. There has been a market for delivering booze to people for a very long time, but the difference between takeaways and off-licences is that people can have a preference for the former while a bottle of whatever is the same no matter which shop you buy it from. It wasn't a large company because the s
Marketing Data? (Score:2)
How much of Uber's revenue is from selling your data to marketers?
If that is restricted do divisions become unprofitable?
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How much of Uber's revenue is from selling your data to marketers?
If that is restricted do divisions become unprofitable?
Uber has never made one penny. Since the company was founded, they have lost about $2,000,000,000 EVERY QUARTER.
They currently have no articulable plan or path to profitability. Just an unfathomable sunk cost. Sometimes they mutter about replacing the drivers will self-driving robotic cars. Yeah right.
Re:Marketing Data? (Score:5, Informative)
Uber has never made one penny. Since the company was founded, they have lost about $2,000,000,000 EVERY QUARTER.
Huh? In their most recent quarterly report, Uber reported [cnbc.com] $221M net income. They had higher net income the previous quarter.
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Uber has never made one penny. Since the company was founded, they have lost about $2,000,000,000 EVERY QUARTER.
Huh? In their most recent quarterly report, Uber reported [cnbc.com] $221M net income. They had higher net income the previous quarter.
Oh! You're right: they are doing better since I last checked. This quarter they apparently have a profit of $221 MILLION. For such a large company, that's peanuts. But it is better than the same quarter last year they had a Loss of $1.2 BILLION.
I do not know how that "profit" is accounted for with their having to service roughly $120 BILLION in accumulated debt (not counting 15 years of interest on that amount). Did they make that back yet, or is this "profit" an accounting trick?
Check your data about Uber (Score:3)
This suggests the financial position isn't what you say
https://www.macrotrends.net/st... [macrotrends.net]
This mess is partially the result of stupid laws (Score:3)
What infuriated me is the local shithole liquor stores banded together and ran ads when we had a referendum on expanding the number of licensing saying that it would lead to drinking and driving...yes, if you could buy wine at a grocery store, your kids will be killed...just like this family and this family (cue sad last photos of dead kids)...forget that this is legal in most of the country and they have similar fatality rates. Unfortunately, the stupid people bought it, the very sensible and conservative expansion law was barely defeated...and local retailers can charge whatever they feel like because they have no real competition.
The laws are so stupid and vary so much, it's a minefield to set up a nice alcohol delivery service, but it is sorely needed. As anyone who has ever thrown a party that had more guests than expected can tell you, liquor delivery is a LIFESAVER. I didn't like having to keep a collection of wine and beer around "just in case" we had surprise guests that day (back before kids when my wife and I had a much more vigorous social life)
Drizly became a popular service after I quit drinking, so I never really got to take advantage of it. I'm sad they're shutting it down, but I am not surprised given how much of a shitshow Uber was and apparently still is. I hope a superior service takes their place. It makes shitty laws we can't really change much more bearable. My team relies on Drizly to deliver booze for small team parties...beats trying to find the one standup guy who has a huge car and can stop by the store on the way in (our office is in a downtown district with expensive parking and everyone takes the subway). So I guess there's going to be a lot less booze in the office....giving me one less reason to come in more often.
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In my state, the only place you can buy liquor is from a state-owned-and-operated outlet. Private sales or importation is not allowed at all.
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Sounds like Alabama. No Sunday sales either.
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This law is still enforced. People convicted of violating it are required to register as sex offenders.
The state supreme court upheld the ban, but it's easy to find ads for stores that seem to sell sex toys in Alabama, including retail locations. One of them has a clickthrough pop-up that says buyers attest that "your purchase and any resulting sale of the product is for a bona fide medical, scientific, educational, legislative, judicial, or law enforcement purpose", but others don't. (Maybe they have a similar disclaimer at checkout? My "research" did not extend that far.)
Do you have any evidence that th
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I certainly see what you mean. But look at it a bit differently.
In Tennessee, you could (until recently) only hold one retail liquor license and you had to be a resident of that county. This led to a proliferation of Mom & Pop liquor stores which often catered to particular tastes (cult wines, whiskey heavy, whatever). The result kept out big retailers such as Total Wine, etc. but kept the money local. These laws have been this way for many, many years. I am not commenting on the wisdom of such rules, o
Drizly? (Score:2)
What terrible name.
Evokes "grizzly" ... ""dribbling" ...
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The name describes the aftermath of getting overserved by one of their drivers: When you black out in your recliner and the drool oozes from the corner of your half-open mouth, you've become a bit "drizly".
Back To Drinking & Driving. (Score:1)
Why do bars have parking lots?
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I can't speak to American bars but on the other side of the pond we have "pubs", which are places where you can go to just drink to excess or to have a family meal that may or may not be accompanied by a glass of wine or half a lager. It's such an old tradition that we have buildings with a bar that stretches across two rooms: one room has things like pool tables and dartboards, another with tablecloths and children running riot. Do you have places like that?
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the family meal thing never really caught on instead they are considered more a restaurant that has a large bar area. So if you are out parting with a group you might go to one of those and then after eating go to actual bar.
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Unfortunately, not in the US.
Pubs sound like a wonderful community asset.
In the US we just have "bars" which range from "groovy" pick up places to grungy dark places that you don't really want to visit.
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It was doomed from the start (Score:2)
The service NEVER worked from the start for me. No coverage in your area, outrageous fees, orders that get cancelled after you place them because a 5th of Captain Morgan is somehow "out of stock." Not to mention the prudish municipalities that blew a gasket when they found out it existed. The one order I did successfully get was delivered a second time an hour later by a very confused delivery driver (which I got to keep for free which was pretty cool.)
It was a good idea but it need a lot more talent on the
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A billion here, a billion there... (Score:1)
The M&A frenzy is out of control, and it is always about looting. Buy a company, chop it up, sell it for spare parts. Buy a company, to remove it as a competitor. But a company, take its IP, hand it a pile of debt, and declare it bankrupt. From the other side, run a company in a way that makes it a ripe target, in hopes of wealth and riches. None of this has anything to do with running a healthy business - it's all short-term thinking, and is provably detrimental to both governments and individual consu
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It really needs to be stopped. At the very least the buyer should be banned from taking loans out against the acquired company and leaving it in debt, essentially guaranteeing its death. This hurts everyone, the creditors, the employees, the physical waste from closed facilities and society in general. It is a scummy, short term, parasitical practice.
Damn (Score:2)
They were a fucking awful service before Uber. (Score:2)
No idea how they were after. I only tried to use it once. No same day delivery defeats the entire purpose. There are local liquor stores now that have their own employees deliver.
The big nationals like Instacart will list shit and then not sell it to you in my pearl clutching red state that only recently allowed sales on Sundays.
I don't drink much but it's fucking annoying. Largely mitigated by some good local places at this point.
Too many restrictions (Score:2)
Too many states restrict liquor sales so right off the bat they were limited. Then on top of it the demand for hard liquor isn't that great, you can't run it off of just the hardcore alcoholics. People buy it, maybe, on a monthly basis at most. Beer and wine are easy to get in most states at grocery stores. As others have said here you also have liquor stores that provide their own delivery services.
What I'd really love is if every state let you ship a few bottles legally to your home. My state is a gr