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Comment by standardUser | Hacker News Reader

The fact that there are many apps competing for this businesses, but the costs to the restaurants are still so high, seems suspicious to me.

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Delivery is expensive and network effects are valuable.

Price-fixing is already illegal

Delivery platforms can stay solvent due to capital markets longer than restaurants and drivers they exploit. Regulation is required.

And they will become irrelevant if there are no good restaurants on their platform

> Food delivery startups: Hey we'll handle delivery for you for a fee, sounds good?

> Restaurants: Ok! / No, thanks.

How is this exploitation? Please.

https://ilsr.org/biting-back-delivery-apps-are-gobbling-up-r...

https://ilsr.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/ILSR_SpecialDeli...

https://thecounter.org/grubhub-domain-purchases-thousands-sh...

https://www.eater.com/22228352/convenience-of-delivery-apps-...

https://www.economicliberties.us/our-work/rescuing-restauran...

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/09/technology/delivery-apps-...

Exactly the point - when apps charge too much, people will complain and alternatives will arise.

From your second source: > "Dozens of locally owned services are proving there's a better alternative"

Absolutely, local platform competitors can pop up, but the network effects of national platforms is powerful and their influence and actions damaging in the interim. We may just disagree on this, and that's to be expected. As previously stated, I believe more regulation is required, even if that puts national platforms out of business.

In the interim is fine. They also provide a vital role in establishing how online shopping for food should work. It's easy to copycat after, as is evidenced by even local providers being able to do it.

Food delivery has been around and profitable for generations. And there are several well-known apps in most markets. And just because a thing is illegal doesn't mean it doesn't happen.

What's suspicious? Isn't it common for the marketplace to avoid competition when possible? Sometimes directly colluding, sometimes indirectly?

I would guess that is because the cost of delivery is very high.

There was a good thread on this topic a year ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23216852

That and Matt Levine's take on it ( https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-05-18/the-un... ) posit the thesis of an entire industry that evolved incorrectly and artifically due to near-zero interest rates and arbitrage.

The cost to deliver meals is high.

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