The Fantasy of Instant Delivery is Imploding | Hacker News Reader

The Fantasy of Instant Delivery is Imploding

bloomberg.com

15 pointsmfiguiere11 comments

https://archive.ph/2022.10.25-042811/https://www.bloomberg.c...

By 2021 its valuation had risen to a hyperbolic $15 billion, and the founders had cashed out by selling some of their shares to investors. They bought a private plane and decamped from Philadelphia to intracoastal mansions in Miami

1. Start up

2. Cash in

3. Sell out

4. Bro down

Instant delivery only works in cities. But cities also have grocery stores every 500 meters. I just don't see the point.

In Berlin food/groceries delivery companies buy local supermarkets/restaurants to repurpose them as warehouses for their operations, it's a self fulfilling prophecy from here...

People are ok paying money for _perceived_ convenience, you don't get it, I don't get it, but the facts speak for themselves, apparently it's "progress" and progress is always good

They are ok paying 3 Euros. But not the 10+ needed to have it running as an actual business. The VC Model doesn’t work with low margin businesses that don’t improve with the network effect. As long as the delivery is paid for by someone else people love it but when they have to pay for it themselves it will no longer be a mass market service.

Eh. My city has tons of areas without a grocery store within a mile. Poor neighborhoods and fancy ones. I chose my current neighborhood due to grocery stores proximity and variety.

I value my time at ~$500/hour. I will happily pay money to save 10 minutes.

Most of the time I am re-ordering the same basket of groceries so online grocery shopping is a couple of button clicks.

If you always eat the same thing it Might work ok but I find trying to find the right item the first time infuriatingly slow and cumbersome.

Your hourly rate is not the only thing that matters.

I tried instacart once, then never again because I felt dirty and it wasn’t that convenient.

Yeah agreed on not convenient, dirty but also expensive.

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