Comment on The food delivery bubble is bursting — and maybe that's not a bad thing
ChonkyOwlbear@lemmy.world 4 months agoThe normal rules of capitalism don’t apply to the internet because data costs nothing to replicate and is infinitely reproducible. Outside of server costs which could be paid by a nominal surcharge, there is no difference between a delivery app that serves 100 people and one that serves 100 million people.
I think it is quite clear that an array of delivery apps, each with their own separate rules and regulations for drivers and each with various subscriptions and fees for users, only adds complication and cost to food delivery. One singular app with one singular pool of delivery drivers is in every way more efficient than what we have now (with the exception of extracting fees from consumers).
calcopiritus@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Food delivery apps are not just apps though. In fact, the ones I’ve used are absolutely crap. Most of the value of these companies are in the service, which would change if there is a shared pool of government workers.
If the complaint are the apps themselves, the government could enforce an API that allows anyone to interact with any app with any service. So if you prefer Uber eat’s service but glovoo’s app, you could order from Uber eats using the glovoo app. Just like the EU wants to enforce multi-app support for messaging systems.
The claim that a shared pool of workers would be more efficient I’m not so sure. It depends on who runs that pool. Which history has shown that monopolies (government-run or otherwise) tend to get less efficient because of the lack of competition.
If drivers can choose what order to take at any moment from any service that would basically mean a shared pool. But I believe (I never worked on delivery) that that’s what already happens.
ChonkyOwlbear@lemmy.world 4 months ago
I know quite a few food delivery drivers and most work for multiple companies (even if several are subsidiaries of the same parent company). This is by design so labor can be denied the benefits required of a full time job. It’s not only inefficient, it’s exploitive.
Companies that compete do get more efficient, but only at making money. They do not get more efficient at providing service to customers or supporting their laborers. They usually get worse in fact. That is why we have regulations.