Discussion
  • Read More
    MolierthanthouHamilton Nolan
    3/11/16 3:50pm

    I have never heard of this before but I’m super excited to go to their website. Anything is better than Peapod!

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      NicoMolierthanthou
      3/11/16 4:09pm

      Most grocery stores will deliver to you, no need to go through a third party that underpays its employees and still doesn’t manage to turn a profit.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      HanoumatoiNico
      3/11/16 4:22pm

      My wife and I enjoy Safeway for this reason. They often don’t even charge for delivery (if you spend enough/buy a few specific items), and their workers are unionized and reasonably paid!

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    benjaminalloverHamilton Nolan
    3/11/16 3:33pm

    The company, which was valued at $2 billion by investors last year, had previously made up some of its costs by selling products for more than what the grocery stores charged. Customers complained, and Instacart backtracked.

    Wait a minute- this is a $2 billion company that has yet to stumble upon the basic elements of its profit structure? Yikes.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      phunkshunbenjaminallover
      3/11/16 3:36pm

      And people laugh when I say speculative investing...heck, investing in general is degenerate gambling with better accoutrements.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      Doofenschmirtz, Inc.benjaminallover
      3/11/16 3:37pm

      Not only that, but for a company with no profit it seems to have a value of BILLIONS.

      And not for nothing, but if they’re losing money because their costs are too high, maybe they shouldn’t have office space in SF.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    butcherbakertoiletrymakerHamilton Nolan
    3/11/16 3:49pm

    This business model of grocery delivery has been a loser since, well, forever. There’s a reason why literally nobody has been able to make it work on any reasonable level of scale.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      citecheck2butcherbakertoiletrymaker
      3/11/16 3:55pm

      Fresh Direct seems pretty successful no?

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      EvenBaggierTrousers4butcherbakertoiletrymaker
      3/11/16 4:06pm

      Because people actually like going to the grocery story and shopping? I mean, the stores are laid out and designed in a way specifically to excite that special region of your brain that brings happiness. People may complain but most I suspect actually like going to the store themselves.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    Tidal TownHamilton Nolan
    3/11/16 3:35pm

    The thing is a service like Instacart or Uber or etc. could really thrive as a co-op. The problem is the people motivated to start such services don't want to do the actual work of the service; they want to be CEOs and get rich.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      e30s2kTidal Town
      3/11/16 4:49pm

      I was having an internet argument with some dude about this same thing - specifically relating to Uber. The technology is great and useful - if only they weren’t in the business of trying to fleece everybody in sight. Once regulations get solidified and all the drivers have realized what a fucking scam Uber & co. are - maybe we’ll have more realistic and sustainable localized co-op rideshare services...where the goal isn’t to make the founders filthy rich, but for the owner/operators to be able to make a decent living while also providing a convenient service at a reasonable cost. Of course this will also have to wait until Uber runs out of money to be able to undercut everybody in sight and buy off every legislator in town...which may very well be never.

      Of course the other dude just kept yelling at me about how complicated the technology is (pretty sure it hasn’t really changed at its core since inception, like 5+ years ago) and how much overhead it takes...well yeah, it takes overhead because Uber is a goddamn ponzi scheme where the logistical nightmare is their own creation, as a result of their ever-increasing desire to keep expanding and “gaining market share”. The conclusion of the conversation was that I was just a fucking idiot and Travis K is a visionary and only he can make this work. At which point of course I just agreed wholeheartedly and carried on with my day.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      This_right_heree30s2k
      3/11/16 5:54pm

      if only they weren’t in the business of trying to fleece everybody in sight.

      Respectfully, they built a brand new business model from nothing because the taxi industry refused to adapt. On top of that, they had to change people’s perception of ridesharing to make it more acceptable to hop in Joe-schmo’s Prius for a ride from the airport. Yes, they are undercutting Taxis by paying drivers diddly-squat, but that’s the cost of building this business. Riders are paying less than they would with traditional transportation and get more benefits (e.g., zero friction transcaction, on average cleaner cars than taxis, etc.) The only person in this cycle getting “fleeced” is the driver.

      maybe we’ll have more realistic and sustainable localized co-op rideshare services

      Uber has constantly refined their pricing model and extended their business model to test the market and to maximize their bottom line. Given this, the speed of innovation is high and it’s this speed that has kept them relevant and growing (although I heard they’re still unprofitable as a whole). I don’t think a co-op would work as effectively because the incentives to grow and to get more riders is very different. What’s interesting is that in the face of lower take home pay, Uber hasn’t really had issues with supply (i.e., drivers). Drivers have just gotten smarter and have diversified into services like Lyft and have essentially come to terms that being an Uber driver is not a profitable profession. However, Uber’s demand is healthy because ridership keeps increasing. Ridership increases because prices are low and the service is preferable to other modes of transportation. Uber is a low-skill, low-wage business - it’s not a social impact opportunity.

      In sum, your internet adversary was onto something...

      I am just a fucking idiot

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    WhatthefoxsaysHamilton Nolan
    3/11/16 3:42pm

    Reading about the realization that these companies are not worth their insane valuations is giving me flashbacks to an argument I had with a banker at DLJ (remember those guys?) about the valuation of stamps.com.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      dothedewWhatthefoxsays
      3/11/16 4:02pm

      I hope he told you that you were wrong by pointing to pets.com and toys.com. Although a postage stamp with the price printed right on it is probably difficult to mark up at all. Sort of like that company that was shipping rolls of quarters to people for a markup.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      Whatthefoxsaysdothedew
      3/11/16 4:13pm

      It was a very condescending “You don’t understand the market” kind of thing. We were both recent grads but he was an analyst and I was on my way to law school so I “had no idea what I was talking about.”

      Honestly, the decimation that will be visited on all these tech workers if the Fed continues to raise interest rates will be hard to watch but no one can claim that they didn’t see it coming.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    tito_swinefluHamilton Nolan
    3/11/16 3:36pm

    Wait, wait, these aren’t employees, they’re independent contractors. Make sure you keep that straight. It’s that independent contractor status that allows them to be paid less than minimum wage and saves Instacart (and Uber/Homejoy/Task Rabbit/etc.) all that sweet social security and payroll tax money.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      martypantstito_swineflu
      3/11/16 3:49pm

      The CEO of Uber is looking at Instacart and wondering if he could start paying his ‘contractors’ a quarter for every pickup now.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      BSTrainertito_swineflu
      3/11/16 4:23pm

      It also strikes me that it means that if they cut the already low pay by 65%, most of them, particularly anyone willing to do the job with any degree of integrity or customer service, will just fuck off and do something else. But I guess if 60% of your deliveries are unprofitable, you reduce your losses with each delivery request you need to turn away because no one is willing to do it for what you’re offering to pay.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    Sid and FinancyHamilton Nolan
    3/11/16 3:31pm

    They’ll make it up in volume. The volume at which they scream at workers, “Do more for less!”

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      HanoumatoiSid and Financy
      3/11/16 4:23pm

      http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots013…

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      mike in So CalHanoumatoi
      3/11/16 7:34pm

      Reminds me of the “always sunny” episode where they were selling “paddys dollars” good for bar purchases

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    IAmNotADamnWriterHamilton Nolan
    3/11/16 3:52pm

    Just walk to the damn grocery store. You’re that busy? Most of them deliver, you know.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      EvenBaggierTrousers4IAmNotADamnWriter
      3/11/16 4:04pm

      Seriously. I realize grocery shopping can be a chore, but it’s kinda escapist fun too. Just meandering mindlessly through the aisles, coming across stupid products and wondering who the fuck would buy that shit. Making fun of people...How else am I gonna wordlessly judge a heavyset man with size cases of Diet Mountain Dew Code Red in his shopping cart. If I didn’t have that I don’t know what I’d do.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      Ara_RichardsIAmNotADamnWriter
      3/12/16 12:35pm

      The national chains all seem to deliver, but I don’t think they have the cache of these other twee delivery services. Who wants to say they ordered things from safeway when they can say they ordered them off whatever site is popular at the moment.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    Dogs and Cats Living TogetherHamilton Nolan
    3/11/16 3:33pm

    However, its calculation for profitability doesn’t include the cost of office space, the cost of acquiring shopper workers, or the salaries of its executives, engineers, designers, or other employees based at its San Francisco headquarters.

    Ah yes, the old Silicon Valley adjusted income trick.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      ghostandgoblinDogs and Cats Living Together
      3/11/16 3:59pm

      The idea that a company can brag about how they are profitable if you don’t include their costs is just hilarious. Like “thanks Obama” hilarious.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      Dogs and Cats Living Togetherghostandgoblin
      3/11/16 4:06pm

      It’s pretty common for SV companies to adjust income to exclude stock-based compensation (which is a questionable albeit common practice in itself), but I’ve never seen a company just flat out ignore fixed costs from an income calculation and do it with a straight-face to boot.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    Major ShadeHamilton Nolan
    3/11/16 3:43pm

    What I don’t get is, why aren’t the neighborhood grocery stores and supermarkets providing this service to their customers who need it? If the service was available from my local favorite store, would most people choose that over a national company like Instacart? There does seem to be a need for this service, and there should be some way to provide it efficiently and profitably.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      NicoMajor Shade
      3/11/16 4:12pm

      Hannaford has a pickup option where they bring it right to your car, price chopper has a delivery option shops4u, and savealot also delivers....

      Reply
      <