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Comment by 999900000999 | Hacker News Reader

What if you’re disabled and need to order food ?

The way this was handled before these gig economy food delivery companies sprang up. People didn't automatically die of starvation because they were disabled and became adults prior to DoorDash. Medicaid and Meals on Wheels fill in some of the gaps depending upon age and state.

These companies springing up put the old ones out of business. For example check the number of restaurants that hire their own drivers now. There's no going back to the "old way" when it doesn't exist. And now this kind of consolidation means they get to jack up prices however they want.

Those restaurants simply didn't deliver at all in those days.

Pizzarias and other traditional delivery food businesses still hire their own drivers in many cases.

> For example check the number of restaurants that hire their own drivers now.

Before DoorDash, other than pizza places (who still run their own drivers), what restaurants delivered? McDonald's tried delivery for a short period of time, but other than that, nobody delivered.

Individually some restaurants did hire their own delivery workers. I distinctly remember this being more common in larger cities with Chinese restaurants for some reason being most prominent, maybe because takeout led to packaging food in easily transportable containers, so an intuitive evolution seems probable, though the practice dates back at least a century in India.

How many of their customers fit this description?

I had a co worker who was deaf.

Luckily he came of age just as texting took off. I guess in theory he could of relied upon a translator to make phone calls for him, but his life was much improved by modern communication.

Even if new technology makes things easier for 99% of people who are lazy, but is essential for that last 1%, it's a net positive.

Consolidation in this industry is horrible for everyone. Less competition means higher prices and lower pay.

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