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Comment by bartread | Hacker News Reader

Quite. Luxe: that is some bullshit right there. It's exactly the kind of nonsense company that gives startup culture and "disruption" a bad name. Whilst it's possible to make money off the back of entitlement, that one certainly feels like at least several bridges too far.

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What's bullshit about Luxe? I mean, besides wondering how they can make it profitable. I never used it but that's because I have an intense distrust of valets, and I don't think their communication about the experience before you try it was sufficiently detailed (like I don't remember if they had an extra charge if your vehicle is a manual or if they mentioned that all drivers can handle both types), but the concept is great. When my office was in Seattle, I found a lot I could pay $15/day not too far away, but cash only, that's about the cheapest you'll find. Without it Luxe would have been more tempting because you could pay them a very similar daily price, drive directly to the office, hand over your key, and work until you're ready to leave and they drive it back right to the office. They also had extra services like making sure your car would be washed sometime during the day.

It's not much different from food delivery (or grocery delivery), but it seems hard to make a profit. Food delivery companies from arbitrary restaurants have been a thing for a long time, it's great that now there's enough floating VC money to support lots of competition, maybe this time one of them will find out how to be profitable. And the VCs of that one will make a handsome return.

Luxe is basically an opposite bet to Uber. To invest in Uber is to be long on a future with no personal car ownership and, eventually, self-driving automobiles available on-demand. Whereas, it seems to me at least, that continued, and growing, personal ownership of cars is practically a requirement for Luxe to become a unicorn.

EDIT: changed "self-driven" to "self-driving"

If Uber and Lux were public then the correct bet would have been to bet on both of them.

In effect that's what VC has already done for us, right?

Not really.

Properly hedging requires constant adjustment of the steak to lock in the "winnings" and replacing the losing company with a different one that does similar things but has better management.

Idk. I personally feel like grocery delivery is in the same bucket as valet service.

don't know about the states, but in the UK grocery delivery is incredibly popular.

Most people I know use it with an 'unlimited' subscription and feel the money they save, by knowing exactly what they will be spending and by not having impulse buys, plus the time saved makes it worth it.

Worth pointing out that here in the UK much, in fact I suspect most, grocery delivery is done by existing supermarkets rather than companies that were originally independent startups.

Ocado might be seen as an exception but even that was started out as a partnership between Waitrose and another company (I forget which). I'm also discounting more niche services, such as Graze, btw.

Grocery Delivery is great. Usually only costs <5 Eur and it saves you a lot of time and hassle. Besides I can put together a list in peace at home and not rush through the store. Personally I'd say its the most useful modern thing there is

I desperately want grocery delivery because I _hate_ grocery shopping, at least for normal sundries. Stores move the stuff I'm looking for every few months. It's crowded. You're being hit with ads constantly. I have to laboriously read ingredient labels when a simple online filter (or, at least, cmd-f) would do the trick. Self-checkout systems tacitly accuse you of theft because you brought a backpack and want to put groceries in it, but it weighs more than 2 oz. It's just effing boring and takes forever. High end grocery stores are nicer, but not where I go for the week's eggs.

Delivery is nice too, but the picking is what I really hate. Showing up, picking up a box, and leaving would be fine too. However, if delivery is the main option, I'll take it.

The fact that I strongly dislike Tesco and STILL just set up an account for grocery delivery so I can pay them to pick groceries and bring them to me, because I hate going shopping so much, suggests that this service is needed by at least some people.

I also wanted to use buymie.eu, but I have an aversion to services that would work perfectly well as websites but insist on an app instead.

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