Re:I'm disappointed by Instacart
by 2arrs2ells on Tuesday April 02, 2013 @03:09PM
(#5481460)
I would prefer "no markup, no tip and a single, and a higher delivery fee" - but offering "no markup" on grocery items (without direct access to inventory systems) is probably hard, since prices change so frequently.
In theory, you could market it as a fixed price delivery like Postmates does for some stores, and not show actual prices on the items, just say they will be delivered "at cost" along with a receipt. A challenge with doing this is charging someone who orders 75 items more than someone who orders 10 items.
It would indeed be very hard to do this without charging a markup if you want to show customers the price in the app before they buy. This seems like a pretty important feature.
On the other hand, the challenge with a higher delivery fee (say $10/delivery) with no markup is that a competitor could simply charge a higher but opaque markup, and a lower delivery fee (say $3.99/delivery) and appear to be "cheaper". The only way you'd find out for sure is by comparing item by item between the two competitors - which most people are loathe to do.
Since it seems like you (and probably many other users) would prefer a "single fee with everything rolled in", would you prefer to have no markup, no tip and a single, but higher delivery fee? Or would you prefer a higher (but opaque/variable) markup with no delivery fee and no tip?
Personally, I wouldn't put too much stock into what one driver says. The claim that some service employees are getting a commission seems unusual and surprising. Commissions are usually reserved for jobs with a sales component.