The High Price of Delivery App Convenience | Hacker News Reader

The High Price of Delivery App Convenience

nytimes.com

27 pointsdnetesn19 comments

If you're bargain hunting, do your own damn shopping. I can't imagine why anyone would use Instacart for a trip to Costco, you lose half the benefits of your Costco membership PLUS you have to pay a heavy fee for that kind of cargo movement.

This whole article rings to me like "You mean I have to PAY people to bring things to my door at my convenience at a moments notice? No one told me that!" No fucking shit. Even a pizza guy gets paid for delivery and that's all he does!

That's why we need drone delivery! /s

At first I thought "high price" was related to the treatment of workers on these platforms, or the perils of the workers who flock to them. Less intriguing now that it's just complaining about the markups on goods.

The item prices are relatively clear, and obviously carry a markup for convenience. Same as buying a mattress through a physical store vs Casper - more players in supply chain means more markups. A user can decide if the convenience is worth the markup. Manual entry systems sometimes lead to mistakes, but will disappear as databases become more complete.

This article is so contrived.

> "Instacart states upfront that it has markups for some stores, including Costco. But the app neglects to show the actual retail cost of each item compared to the markup, making it tough to assess just how much more you’re paying for the service."

If I'm buying something to be delivered to me, I don't really care what the price is, as long as the total is not outrageous. I'm paying for convenience, full stop. If I care about price, I will go to Costco and get the damn dental floss myself.

IF I care about price, I'll use Google Express, and get convenience and the same price as I'd get direct from Costco. (Instacart charges a premium for Costco not for the convenience of delivery, but for the "convenience" of not having to buy a Costco membership; Google Express just lets you enter your Costco membership info and use it.)

"Brooke Hammerling, a tech start-up publicist based in New York, recently paid $113 to Postmates for three orders of cheeseburgers and fries on a rainy day.

It turned out, after Postmates investigated the order, that the courier had punched in the incorrect price for the food, which should have been $39.78. The company issued a refund for the difference.

“I should’ve known they weren’t showing the actual prices,” Ms. Hammerling said. "

That pretty much summarizes the customers of these apps.

Postmates charged me $140 for a $10 burrito once ($14-ish with fees). I didn't notice for a few days, since the estimate was not that high, and I usually don't close out immediately. I called their support, and they immediately refunded the entire balance of the meal. Their support has been generally fantastic in my experience, and their high prices are really the only way to make the model work.

In this case she saw the $113 charge for three orders of cheeseburgers and fries and didn't think twice about it. To her that price seemed logical.

Not to mention how unfriendly to the environment these apps/services/companies are.

I get it, they are offering a convenience for those people who can't be bothered to properly manage their lives. But every time someone has to go out and buy items individually for you, like this woman's cat food, it uses resources. It uses someone's time, and often involves delivery of an item that could involve having someone use their car.

What I don't understand, is why don't these people make a shopping list like everyone has been doing for years, and replenish said items once a week or at whatever schedule? Make the effort. Go to the store yourself.

It irritates me that people think their time is so valuable they are unwilling to do life's most basic tasks, and to properly manage their lives so they aren't constantly in instant-need all the time and reaching for their phones to provide them a solution to their own sloth.

I'm not convinced that these services are necessarily worse for the environment; they might even be better in some circumstances.

Having dedicated delivery drivers who can, for instance, go grab groceries at Whole Foods for five people who all live in the same neighbourhood and then deliver them is likely better for the environment than each of those five people getting in their own car and driving to Whole Foods separately.

Shopping once a week like people have "been doing for years" also means you don't get fresh ingredients. I don't want to make dinner with herbs that have been sitting in my fridge for a week on top of however long they were at the store; I want ones I picked up (or had delivered) that day. And people who live in small apartments don't necessarily have the space to "stock up" on stuff in advance.

This appears at first glance how people would use them, but, casually, you will start to see a pattern emerge that allows people to use the services more and more, and for more ad hoc uses, gradually divulging into "I need something right now" mentality, and complete and utter lack of any planning. That's what all my friends do who use these services.

I would argue that if you want fresh ingredients, such as herbs, you should adopt a simple herb garden in your home. If you can't be bothered to do that, then I suppose you could shell out $20 every time you need some fresh basil, but I think now I'm being pedantic.

"It irritates me that people think their time is so valuable they are unwilling to do life's most basic tasks, and to properly manage their lives so they aren't constantly in instant-need all the time and reaching for their phones to provide them a solution to their own sloth."

HOW DARE SOMEONE USE THEIR TIME DIFFERENTLY THAN ME

Ops, I forgot shaving cream. Do I A) wait a week, B) spend 45 minutes going to the store, or C) pay someone 15$ and have in tomorrow when I need it.

Option C is not always going to be the winner, but doing something even twice a year * 100,000 people is a real market.

I mean plenty of people spend 20+$ extra on a meal when they could make food at home in less time.

PS: 15 minute drive, 4 minutes parking, 2 minutes shopping, 5 minutes checkout line, 15 minute trip home, 4 minutes parking = 45 minutes.

Why didn't you remember in the first place? That's the root of the problem. Is it that hard to really make a list of things you need?

In the last year have you really never forgotten something when shopping, when making this list, or in the shaving example run out in the middle of the week?

Granted, I don't use this type of home delivery. But, I often pay a crazy markup to use the tiny convenience store in my apartment building.

What if you don't remember to make a list of things to remember?

I don't have a car and don't dig on carrying a huge bag of cat litter around when I go shopping. I also don't want to pay the higher price of smaller bag, so I just order it ahead of time on Amazons normal retail site.

No insane markups and still requires some planning else my puss will be pissed.

Overall I think it's good that we now have a pretty direct way to pay upfront for increased convenience of faster delivery time. This value is akin to the (opportunity) cost of actually going out to physically buy something if you want/need it almost immediately but starting to increase the market of goods beyond just that you can get in local shops.

Minor niggle: They mention the Amazon Prime Now $8 fee for one hour delivery but neglect to mention there is no additional fee for delivery within only two hours. There is of course the recommended "tip" which sits at around 10%, but for a fairer comparison with the other mentioned services generally providing delivery within a day, I think the free option within two hours is more comparable.

Why no Google shopping express in the comparison? Also the theme of the article is clickbait-ish.

I kind of figure that someone is lugging around my 50lb bag of rice order for delivery that it might cost me a bit more...

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