This was such a fantastic article, Klaus. It was funny and informative and--my favorite of all--totally reframes the problem so that we readers say, “Of course! THAT’S what’s actually going on!” I’m the case of these apps, they’re not solving a problem. They’re just adding an (unprofitable) layer of commerce.
Speaking of that economist joke, about thirty years ago, when I was a grad student at the University of Chicago, I found a $5 bill (about $10 in today’s money) on the ground on two separate occasions in a single week. This seemed so weird to me that I assumed they were there for a scientific experiment being conducted by Chicago economists, who were all acolytes of Hayek and Friedman. I gave the money to two homeless guys I was friendly with. Take that, Chicago School economists!
If we're ever going to get food delivery drones they'll need to come from building management companies rather than restaurants or middle men. A new-build residential skyscraper could include a food delivery escalator into its design then buy the drones and create a custom app to handle the orders for its local area. Maybe existing buildings would retro-fit the same design once it took off.
Right now we've got drone companies trying to sell to residents in buildings that each have different impediments between the road and the customer's front door, which is basically impossible to solve.
Yeah, I mean, it sounds like a disaster to implement. My point was that the idea was one that seeks to actually solve a problem, rather than just "put the problem on a 3 inch screen."
Yeah, I wouldn't want to be the one risking my money on it. Last week I ordered a pizza and the guy handed me the box upside down, but it would still take a pretty impressive drone to replace him. For my building he had to buzz through a security door and then climb some stairs, probably in the next one he'll need to use an elevator, etc... The journey from the street to the customer's front door is too variable to be reliably automated.
The advantage of the app is that it not only told him where to go but also when I opened the box I could take a picture of it in the app and get a refund. Co-ordinating human actions is probably the best that tech can do for a whole host of activities. The step to getting tech actually performing the actions is just too great. We might have already picked all the low-hanging fruit
Oh, and your point about the casinos was so interesting! I’m reminded of a problem with NJ public schools. One reason NJ spends so much money on them, making NJ property taxes the highest in the nation, is that each township--about 600!--has its own separate school district, with its own bureaucracy, administrative facilities, superintendent, etc. Our town of 28,000 was surrounded by several towns of similar size, all of which were wasting money on their own bureaucratic apparatus. But it was totally impossible to get towns to consolidate and share services. (As you can imagine, the rich towns didn’t want to include the poor towns.) Madness.
Maybe this is an idea to share with people at the likes of Mainvest, Honeycomb Credit, and other local business-focused crowdfunding portals that often host funding campaigns by people launching or expanding restaurants, food trucks, home-based food production – and yes, even also ghost kitchens? They could kick Klaus's concept around with some of their clients and explore its practicality.
“I enjoy getting restaurant food delivered to my house, even if it’s not always the food I ordered.”
Haha! But on a more serious note:
It’s hard to imagine that this is not profitable when it costs $37 to get a cheeseburger delivered to your house. I assumed GrubHub and UberEats were drowning in money.
This was such a fantastic article, Klaus. It was funny and informative and--my favorite of all--totally reframes the problem so that we readers say, “Of course! THAT’S what’s actually going on!” I’m the case of these apps, they’re not solving a problem. They’re just adding an (unprofitable) layer of commerce.
Speaking of that economist joke, about thirty years ago, when I was a grad student at the University of Chicago, I found a $5 bill (about $10 in today’s money) on the ground on two separate occasions in a single week. This seemed so weird to me that I assumed they were there for a scientific experiment being conducted by Chicago economists, who were all acolytes of Hayek and Friedman. I gave the money to two homeless guys I was friendly with. Take that, Chicago School economists!
If we're ever going to get food delivery drones they'll need to come from building management companies rather than restaurants or middle men. A new-build residential skyscraper could include a food delivery escalator into its design then buy the drones and create a custom app to handle the orders for its local area. Maybe existing buildings would retro-fit the same design once it took off.
Right now we've got drone companies trying to sell to residents in buildings that each have different impediments between the road and the customer's front door, which is basically impossible to solve.
Yeah, I mean, it sounds like a disaster to implement. My point was that the idea was one that seeks to actually solve a problem, rather than just "put the problem on a 3 inch screen."
Yeah, I wouldn't want to be the one risking my money on it. Last week I ordered a pizza and the guy handed me the box upside down, but it would still take a pretty impressive drone to replace him. For my building he had to buzz through a security door and then climb some stairs, probably in the next one he'll need to use an elevator, etc... The journey from the street to the customer's front door is too variable to be reliably automated.
The advantage of the app is that it not only told him where to go but also when I opened the box I could take a picture of it in the app and get a refund. Co-ordinating human actions is probably the best that tech can do for a whole host of activities. The step to getting tech actually performing the actions is just too great. We might have already picked all the low-hanging fruit
Oh, and your point about the casinos was so interesting! I’m reminded of a problem with NJ public schools. One reason NJ spends so much money on them, making NJ property taxes the highest in the nation, is that each township--about 600!--has its own separate school district, with its own bureaucracy, administrative facilities, superintendent, etc. Our town of 28,000 was surrounded by several towns of similar size, all of which were wasting money on their own bureaucratic apparatus. But it was totally impossible to get towns to consolidate and share services. (As you can imagine, the rich towns didn’t want to include the poor towns.) Madness.
The ghost kitchen idea truly makes sense.
I thought that was brilliant. If only I were a venture capitalist.
Maybe this is an idea to share with people at the likes of Mainvest, Honeycomb Credit, and other local business-focused crowdfunding portals that often host funding campaigns by people launching or expanding restaurants, food trucks, home-based food production – and yes, even also ghost kitchens? They could kick Klaus's concept around with some of their clients and explore its practicality.
That's really interesting. I hadn't heard about any of these orgs.
“I enjoy getting restaurant food delivered to my house, even if it’s not always the food I ordered.”
Haha! But on a more serious note:
It’s hard to imagine that this is not profitable when it costs $37 to get a cheeseburger delivered to your house. I assumed GrubHub and UberEats were drowning in money.
I loled at the Pizza Hut has been delivering since before humans domesticated horses.
Same!