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Have you ever been infuriated by "gig" transport mega-apps?
Of course you have..... or you wouldn't have clicked on this advert.
So we're not going to list all the ways that Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, Skip, GrubHub, and InstaCart are exploitive to every single stakeholder from driver to customer to restaurant.
Instead let's talk about a real-world solution:
How about restoring accountability to those who actually care about delivery?
Good drivers exist.
Good customers exist.
DeliveryCats Cooperatives has a plan to bring the two together while cutting out the middleman.
All the benefits of on-demand "gig" transportation - but with local organization.
See more about us here.
See our 30-page plan here.
Our app is free and open-source, meaning we don't charge profit-driven subscription rates for local groups to use it.
Additionally we are finalizing a business template for those who wish to organize a neighborhood.
We want to empower drivers and customers with a set of tools and best practices that amount to a rising tide that will raise all boats.
If we work together even a little bit, we can collectively make it better. Generations to come will appreciate it.
Simple things that one person can do:
• Don’t lose faith in honest people on the other end: good customers/drivers
• Discuss these things with your friends in casual conversation
• Join activist groups’ free mailers (ours or others) - numbers are important
Medium things that one person can do:
• Share activist posts (ours or others) when they express your sentiments
• Join activist groups’ official membership (ours or others)
• Keep your radar up for (and try) independent services coming to your area
Difficult things that one person can do:
• Write original posts on mega-app social media, expressing your concerns
• Volunteer/Donate with a group (ours or others)
• Start discussions among friends/peers
Are you exceptionally pissed off at the status-quo?
• Write a letter or file a complaint with an appropriate agency (FTC, SEC, attorney general)
• Think about *organizing* a local delivery co-op (our group is making a template for that)
If we work together even a little bit, we can make it better.
Simple things that one person can do:
• Don’t lose faith in honest people on the other end: good customers/drivers
• Discuss these things with your friends in casual conversation
• Join activist groups’ free mailers (ours or others) - numbers are important
Medium things that one person can do:
• Share activist posts (ours or others) when they express your sentiments
• Join activist groups’ official membership (ours or others)
• Keep your radar up for (and try) independent services coming to your area
Difficult things that one person can do:
• Write original posts on mega-app social media, expressing your concerns
• Volunteer/Donate with a group (ours or others)
• Start discussions among friends/peers
Are you exceptionally pissed off at the status-quo?
• Write a letter or file a complaint with an appropriate agency (FTC, SEC, attorney general)
• Think about *organizing* a local delivery co-op (our group is making a template for that)
Have you ever been infuriated by "gig" transport mega-apps?
• Not being able to count on a ride, when you really need it
• Being hungry, ordering food delivery with high fees, getting jerked around
• Shopping orders never delivered, endless babysitting for substitutions
• Ads that say “be your own boss” or “free delivery” when neither are true
• De-activations for lying customers, while bad drivers cause all tips to decline
• Apps hiding tips and pairing low bids with higher bids that get cold in the car
• Not being able to choose a smoke-friendly or NON-SMOKING car
• Being offered $3 for 20 minutes work including expenses (how the hell??)
• Being allowed to order from OR sent to closed (or insanely busy) restaurants
• No accountability from the mega-apps while they grab everyone’s cash
It's important that interested parties speak up.
We don't think the problem is over-saturation of drivers.
We believe the reason for the overall decline is orders is that customers are not going to keep paying so much, for so little, with a 50/50 chance of getting DECENT service.
And it's a shame. There are customers who want to pay for these services. And there are drivers who want to give good service.
The current
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- Vision
- Neighborhoods
- Sizing of local co-ops
- Forums and Civility
- We're not gatekeepers
Vision
Good customers exist
Good drivers exist
Let’s get together
It’s not just a cliche. Gig delivery has proven hugely popular. But the current system... sucks.
• Imagine drivers making $30/hr gross or $50/hr gross when running specials
• Imagine customers using tasteful colored lights as a low key beacon for their drivers
• Imagine customers receiving hot food, while it’s still hot
• Imagine passengers being able to make multiple stops, as long as they pay
• Imagine 2x weekly regular shoppers – the efficiency – knowing people’s preferences
• Imagine a platform that takes only $1 from each task, and doesn’t play games
• Imagine a platform encouraging true bartering with fair market labor rates suggested
• Imagine MATCHING smokers and non-smokers (well, separately)
• Imagine everyone being nice, friendly even – as if all were members of the same social club
These things are all possible. Customers already pay top dollar for shitty service. Imagine if we gave them good service! The mega-apps were "first-to-market" and have proven the concept. Gig delivery is here to stay. Specifically, THE MARKET is here to stay. Currently a half-dozen gig delivery mega-apps control almost all of the market share. What have they done with this power?
Ways exist to make it better. Arguments against capitalism aside, “a better way” is sound business.
We envision a system where neighborhoods can organize their own delivery co-ops for passengers, hot food, shopping, errands. A few honest people could oversee a small neighborhood of a few square miles (with caveats). A membership system has numerous benefits. A platform will tie it all together, and use the best qualities of CraigsList, eBay, and current gig apps.
Neighborhoods
Without interested neighborhoods, the entire concept is moot.
The concept is designed for neighborhoods. In almost every suburban neighborhood or small town, there's a center point where most stores and restaurants are located. Off those main roads, in the square miles between each main road with the businesses, are where the people live. Those are the people who order delivery from nearby restaurants/stores.
It's useless to assume. Are people really interested in local independent delivery co-ops in their own neighborhood?
How much do people really order delivery? How many would order if the service was better?
Can we get a head-count (no strings, no cost) of who might be interested in an open-source system for local delivery - for their own neighborhood?
- Head count of those interested in organizing a 3-4 mile local co-op (no strings and no spam... just estimating)
It's important that interested parties speak up.
Prospective Organizers
Drop us a note with your zip code to be counted. (No obligation, just for estimating.)
For the most ambitious among you, keep in mind that we'll need a few prototype areas to test the system. The only investment (when the time comes) is a ridiculous amount of time, communication, and attention to detail.
Further, if you're interested in leadership and already know of a few drivers and a few interested restaurants, in a small (1-4 sq mi) area of about 5,000-10,000 people..... we would appreciate your input in a focus group. We have a busload of ideas already for logistics and marketing (that will only get better through through the public discussion forums) that we are eager to try out once the software is ready. First let's bounce those ideas around real-world neighborhoods.
Please reach out if you want to get involved!
Size of Local Cooperatives
How about that map, eh?
Is that great or what??
Did you zoom it in to your city?
Each little green area or "Metropolitan Statistical Area" is about 50,000 people. That's HUGE! That covers a couple whole counties and a half-dozen individual suburban cities.
If we thought about 3-4 square mile areas, at least five cooperatives would fit in that area.
Should the cooperatives be bigger? How far do customers want the food to travel - for regular Tuesday meals? How will drivers go before it becomes cost prohibitive? In suburban areas, we would guess that most people do business within 3-4 miles from their home.
So we're thinking 3-5 sq mi areas would be most workable, about 5,000+ households each, or 10,000 people.
At first guess we figure there may be as many as 50,000 geographic opportunities. That doesn't count if two co-ops are competing in the same area. (Friendly competition is good, right? Look at McD/BK/Wendy's.)
It will be interesting to see this discussed with more enlightened answers in the round table discussions.
Forums and Civility
The "round table" discussion forums on platform design and best practices will give each category its own sub-forum.
A group of geographic forums will be included also.
What if people have differing opinions?
What if multiple people want to "run" the same area?
Our community expects civility. If people disagree, figure it out like mature adults either by compromise or flip a coin and move on accordingly.
Not Gate Keepers
For the record.... Our role is NOT to divide up and parcel out "areas."
Instead, the role of DeliveryCats Cooperatives is to design and create a system that ANY local delivery co-op can use: an open source platform (app) and an organizational template of suggested best practices.