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Comments (464)

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  whyenot
  During Covid, I used DoorDash to get a pizza delivered. The prices were so inflated. They wanted $70 for a large pizza from Round Table. When, much to my admitted stupidity, I went ahead and ordered, the pizza arrived cold. Then, I felt I needed to tip the driver. The whole thing felt like a ripoff. Incredibly expensive and low value. I have not used them or any food delivery service since.
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  resters
  I've been an instacart customer since it launched in NYC, and I've generally been quite happy, but the quality has been gradually on the decline.- in the past few years, orders are frequently not received.- in the past few years, fruit/produce is often covered in mold, rotten, or otherwise unacceptable.- in the past few years, delivery time estimates are frequently missed.- in the past few months, customer support got significantly worse and came to resemble the bad attitude and general grudging unhlelpfulness of AirBNB's support team.I think the main issue has been a big shortage of supply of workers who are willing to do the job and who can do it well. Often times the person delivering the order (and the order itself) smells strongly of cigarette smoke, and increasingly I've had drivers refuse to bring the order to the door, etc.Add to that the impact of the labor shortage on grocery stores that makes stocking less reliable and results in no availability of bags, greater chances of rotten produce, etc.Instacart does stand behind it service and I have received full refunds for the non-delivered orders and the rotten produce, but such things must take a great toll on the profitability of the business.
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  skyberrys
  I was a constant instacart user, never liked door dash though. What changed is that now instead of using Instacart I have a regular person who comes by to help me out at home with all sorts of chores and for me now it makes much more sense to pay her to also do the grocery shopping. I get much better service too, she knows my preferences and also does the inventory beforehand and puts everything away for me.I found her for free on Facebook posting in a community group. It is a high trust situation but I realize a lot of these extra fees are because we try to operate in a low trust environment, which is really not optimal. Being able to trust your community is much better for everyone.
• scoofy
  Anti-trust legislation is all well and good, but worthless when politicians are corrupt.
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  themightyquinn
  My initial take to this news was “what about anti trust?!” But I was surprised to learn that DD is essentially non existent in grocery delivery and instacart’s non grocery deliveries are powered by Uber Eats. For two massive brands they really don’t offer the same product.(edit: not effectively, at least) If anything maybe this helps Instacart/DD compete in grocery with the real giants in Walmart and Amazon. I wouldn’t be mad to see DOJ block this but I was just surprised to learn about the landscape of grocery delivery.
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  swed420
  Surely any benefits will trickle down to employees and end users.
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  browningstreet
  I’ve literally never ordered from any of these 3 companies.I do wonder what percentage of their orders are McDonalds. I lived near one and the car traffic of vehicles with delivery placards was significant.Which makes me wonder about pricing pressure that is often reported re: McDonalds, and yet people end up paying $30-40 for a $15 McDonalds order.Don’t get it.
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  joshstrange
  > DoorDash to Acquire Instacart to Help Local Stores Win> to Help Local Stores WinAny local store will tell you DD is a necessary evil they put up with but strongly dislike overall. From the % of sales they take to the incredibly rude delivery drivers, DD is not well liked.On multiple occasions a family member's employees (or they, themselves) have had a DD delivery driver cut to the front of the line, interrupt the cashier, and shove their phone in their face. No words, no anything, just "here is the code/screen/whatever I need to show you to pick up the order". DD doesn't let stores rate delivery drivers so there isn't any recourse.
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  clcaev
  Could we have more discussion of our current legal/business environment, specifically, the economic opportunities it affords/constrains?If this merger is approved via consumer welfare standard, should it be contingent upon some constraints? For example, should DoorDash be restricted from participating in the market it coordinates? If it’s a near monopoly in some regions, how will price be controlled without market pressure?Historically, antitrust action also considers economic opportunity: Bell/AT&T licensed Unix source code for a nominal fee, largely because the 1956 consent decree restricted Bell/AT&T from selling products outside telecommunications.
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  ashu1461
  Doordash as an app or a business model always feel scammy and full of dark patterns.With this merger I have a feeling that things are only going to go worse.
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  thamer
  Since some other people are posting links about DoorDash, here’s one: https://www.nyc.gov/mayors-office/news/2026/09/mayor-mamdani...From the NYT version of this story:> DoorDash said the median payment to be returned to workers amounts to around $48. > City officials said about 700 workers are owed more than $10,000 each; more than 27,000 workers are owed more than $1,000; and more than 4,000 workers are owed more than $5,000.DoorDash also spent (from what I can tell) (1+1.4+1.8) million dollars to campaign against Mamdani.
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  getfacl
  My new years resolution for 2026 was to quit using 3rd party delivery companies. It was annoying at first but I've kept it and life is better without them.
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  bherms
  I feel bad for anyone who joined post 2021... They raised at like $39b that year, then another qtr billion later that year at an undisclosed valuation. This is effectively a "down round" here and everyone who got shares at a $40b+ valuation is getting screwed. I interviewed with them many years ago and ultimately decided against it - their dilution was insane, looked to keep going, and the valuations were absurd at the time already given how few people were actually using it... I think they had maybe a $4b value at the time though. Honestly I think COVID was a huge boon to the company and finally gave them some much needed revenue/membership growth.
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  boringg
  Am I on the wrong side of perspective? I imagine of these companies are at big risk in a turn down with low margin - competitive space. The model is a tough one to workMerging reduces platform inefficiencies and drivers can work both situation.I am actually amazed both companies are alive and making a profit.
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  giwook
  Why are so many people commenting things like "I don't get why people use these services"?First off, okay that's great but no one is telling you to go use them. You can continue living your life exactly as you were without needing to judge others who live their lives differently from yours.Second, clearly there are plenty of people who do use them judging from this $17b acquisition that just happened.
• morelandjs
  Man, can only imagine this is more bad news for delivery drivers.
• minraws
  Personally a doordash and instacart are like utility platforms if we are planning to use them to replace conventional means of delivery and discovery.So I honestly think they should be under heavy govt regulations or be co-owned by everyone in the supply chain. Or firm regulated to avoid overcharging for useless stuff, everyone loses out including these companies as in needing to compete with eachother they have to offer dozens of benefits offers etc to customers, and customers get shafted when they are the most desperate because making money from the desperate is the best money making formula in the valley atm.
• anon
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  bko
  One thing I don't understand is how the rise of food delivery has gone up so much and is terrible for everyone.For context, I used to deliver pizzas in a the early 2000s. I made$4-5 an hour+ $1 per delivery+ tips (~$3 average)My typical night made me about $20/hour (3-4 deliveries per hour). Someone would order $20 pizza, pay $4 for delivery fee and tip (16% markup). Restaurant paid $1.5 per delivery (amortized $5/h). Everyone was happy.If you look at it today, the typical take home for delivery people is still $20 (same from 20 years ago, not inflation adjusted).Here is what typical order looks like today:Pizza cost: $20Delivery fee: $3-5Service fee (10-15%): $2-3Optional tip (15-20%): $3-4Possible small order fee: $0-2Total customer cost: $28-34 (40-70% markup)Restaurant commission (15-30%): $3-6Restaurant makes less, customer pays a lot more.And these companies managing this workforce still manage to lose money! So where the hell is the money going??I wrote more about it herehttps://mleverything.substack.com/p/what-happened-to-food-de...
• danielodievich
  I was at Snowflake supporting Instacart as main technical account architect and saw them polish things into place to get to a decent-sounding S-1 and then to go public. It sure was an interesting experience seeing battles between some people just not giving any care to costs and others trying to make money from these little itty bitty consumer transactions. Epic political battles, I tell you.
• pianoben
  Man, what a sad end for Instacart. The leadership team that took over in 2021 absolutely squandered the amazing machine the founders had built, filling the top spots with cronies and sycophants, none of whom had very much interest in the actual core offering of Delivering Groceries. They brought Facebook-lite management and drove out the actual product and business acumen.By the time the CEO bailed to OpenAI, the damage was done - billions of dollars of opportunity, totally wasted. She left an organization gripped with paralysis, apparently too broken to fix and remain independent.
• ocd
  I saw this show up in my newsreader and first thing that crossed my mind was the textbook example of eBay / PayPal acquiring everything, leaving us with probably the worst situation possible for auctions and payments.
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  the__alchemist
  Hey - dumb question that is probably a derail: Is there a practical reason in the US to use Instacart over one of the Amazon services? It seems like they are fighting an uphill battle - Amazon has its own grocery warehouses (Prime food), and owns Whole foods. I haven't cross-shopped recently, but am having a hard time imagining them competing on price with either of those services. I suppose the obvious reason is you aren't limited to those two stores, so if you want specialty items, nice baked goods etc you would use Instacart?
• seizethecheese
  Since the reaction here seems to be universally negative, I’m curious what people see as the benefit of having several gig worker delivery platforms.As a thought experiment, we currently have a duopoly for ride share. Would we be better off if Uber were broken up into two platforms?Obviously having one platform would be bad, since there would be no price competition, but what’s the optimal number? Surely, too many platforms would be bad, as the concentration of delivery workers would be terrible on each app, making the whole system inefficient (setting aside whether one things the system should exist at all).
• zach
  Seems like it should be “DoorDash (YC S13) to Acquire Instacart (YC S12)”, if only to emphasize that this is by far the largest merger of YC companies.
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  ortusdux
  The DoorDash subreddit is an interesting read. Lately, users are reporting being sent to retail stores to work for 30 minute stints. One anecdote: a person described taking a $25 gig that amounted to going to a Target and stocking one specific brand of shampoo. The stockers there had already filled the shelf, so he took a bottle down and then took a picture of himself putting it back.
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  Liuser
  Uber does both food and grocery delivery on top of rideshare.I wonder if DD is going to make a play for Lyft next, which they’re already in close partnership. The market consolidating to these 2 players (Uber and DoorDash) seems natural(?), for lack of better terms. Either way, it wouldn’t surprise me.
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  ivegottapocketf
  I used to use DoorDash and Instacart almost daily. Then I got a retail job.I see and interact with hundreds of people a day. DoorDashers are the worst of the worst, by a mile. I cannot wait for the day DoorDash ceases to exist.I can spot a DoorDasher from a mile away. There are three types of DoorDashers.The first is the kind who is most likely not here legally. They come barreling into the store with their speakerphones turned up to the max as they yell into the phone to their wife/girlfriend in some other language (Venezuelan/Cuban?) the entire time. Without any attempt to look on their own, they find every worker they see and shove the phone in their face demanding and begging to have us do their job for them and find the items. Then they get in line, phone still blasting, and ignore you when you smile and say hello or ask them to touch a button on the screen or say “thank you, have a nice rest of your day”. This kind makes up probably about 70% of DDers. Mind you, I interact with non-English speakers all day. They make eye contact, they smile, they make an attempt. DoorDashers make zero attempt whatsoever and are extremely brash and rude.The second is the citizens who cannot get a job anywhere else. These are all very clearly drug addicts and former convicts straight out of the halfway house who shop and deliver under the influence of every mixture of drug you can imagine. Really, really rough people. These people, too, also beg you to complete their entire shopping trip for them, but at least they understand English and make eye contact with you. These are about 20% of DDers.The last group are the “okay” ones. These are decent everyday people who talk to you like a human being, smile, and are friendly. They only ask for help after they’ve clearly made an effort to find the items on their own. Unfortunately, this group makes up only about 10% of adders.We got along just fine a few years ago when DoorDash didn’t exist. DD contributes to the anti socialization of the world, and it’s not a good thing.
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  jesse_dot_id
  Food/grocery delivery should be a municipal service like garbage/recycling with no tipping and service provided by full time government employees with good benefits and use of city vehicles. Many, many new jobs, and a public service that everybody would love.
• anon
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• mithr
  I'm mostly hoping this doesn't end up affecting Costco delivery, which works reasonably well and uses Instacart behind the scenes.
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  prologic
  Why? Wha does Doordash have to do with Instacart? How are these even remotely in the category of merging and buying the other?
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  peter422
  The deal is for $65/share but Instacart is trading at $57. Why? Shouldn’t it be a lot closer to 65?
• dzonga
  the best grocery delivery experience was from UK supermarkets - tesco.none of this instacart nonsense. because it's the actual grocery shop delivering your order - you're not up-charged, your groceries tend to be of good quality no breakage etc cz they want you to return.with instacart it's pervase incentives all the way down - spoiled fruit - instacart can blame the grocer, breakages same. grocer doesn't even know who ordered.
• JohnHaugeland
  oh no :(
• badlibrarian
  Girl in Atlanta got chopped into pieces on a DoorDash delivery. I predict the same outcome once private equity gets its hand on this mess in 5 years.
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  getfacl
  Repeating my comment from the dupe: My new years resolution for 2026 was to quit using 3rd party delivery companies. It was annoying at first but I've kept it and life is better without them.My previous experience was any time something went wrong, no one would take accountability for it and at best I might get a partial refund but never a replacement order.Having to do a bit more planning for meals is worth eliminating that aggravation from my life. Not to mention the shocking amount of money I'm saving.
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  ipozgaj
  The cost of this acquisition will likely just get passed down to consumers by increasing the already ridiculous delivery and service fees even further... The only reason why I ever use DD is because DashPass is included in the CSR. Otherwise you pay $10 of extra fees for a $12 burrito.
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  gepeake
  Doordash was meant to help local restaurants win, now a large percentage of the "restaurants" on DD are ghost kitchens run by DD. The same will happen to grocery stores. It's the enshittification model happening in plain sight.
• tomsellin23
  Great, just one less competitor in the marketplace.
• hubraumhugo
  I vividly remember the ZIRP era when there was a new food delivery (or e-scooter) startup almost every week.
• anon
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• j45
  I didn't realize DoorDash was so big.Instacart has it's own unique offerings and propositions, hopefully those don't dissapear, they were invaluable during the pandemic.
• Aeroi
  $17b, thats like 1/2 an Instinct.
• seanclayton
  A resounding victory for workers and customers, right?Right?
• marcduck
  I just want to say that the colour contrast on this post is atrocious.#999999 on a white background is a 2.84:1 contrast ratio, when the minimum requirement for body text is 4.5:1. So this page technically violates the ADA and other accessibility laws.
• wat10000
  It's strange that the internet, which reduces friction and allows strangers to talk directly to each other more easily than ever before, has given rise to these massive companies that do absolutely nothing but serve as middlemen. Uber, DoorDash, Instacart, Lyft... in a normal transaction with these companies, nobody who actually works for them ever does a damned thing for me. They exist solely to transmit a few hundred bytes of information from me to the driver, along with some of my money while keeping a bunch of it for themselves. For doing what, exactly?At the end of the day, I guess their real product is trust. I wouldn't give $50 to a random stranger and ask them to drive me to the airport, but I would give $50 to Uber so they can give $25 to the stranger. It sure seems like a lot to pay for trust, though.
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  jesse_dot_id
  That should definitely not go through but probably will.
• inom155
  Wow, really didn't see this one coming.
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  pessimizer
  Major competitors shouldn't be able to acquire each other in any society that cares about healthy markets.
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  whatever1
  Cool they will now charge $50 per delivery and give the drivers -10$ ?There is zero cost of building matching systems (maybe 200$ worth of Claude subscription). Drivers and restaurants will be better off if they build their own ones. These centralized platforms need to die ASAP.
• htrp
  food delivery stayed around, the e scooters not so much
• languagehacker
  I hate this shit. Just another shameless ploy to find choke points in markets and further immiserate all participants in a two-sided market but the rentiers.
• randbyte
  These two slimy companies do belong to each other. Perfect match made in hell.
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  micromacrofoot
  Great, both are generally terrible. Nothing like ordering a pizza and having it sit in someone's car for an hour with a driver who has no attachment to the restaurant, who could not care less about what you think. At least delivery drivers employed by the restaurant had some slight incentive to get food to you while it was still edible.Third party delivery services essentially break the chain of responsibility... food late and cold? tough luck, but please tip in advance. If you don't tip your driver will be very mad at you, maybe they'll text you about it, and we pay them so poorly that it's actually your fault for keeping them impoverished. Talk to our customer service bots and maybe we'll give you a $5 coupon for your next Doordash order.
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  paxy
  I’d cry “antitrust” but who are we kidding at this point. The relevant parties have likely been paid off already.
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  lkey
  "More Choice for Consumers"A truly laughable fig leaf for the non-existent anti-trust regulators.
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  hkhanna
  Instacart fired my wife for running for office. My wife asked for approval to run from her boss, the Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, who approved it and the company was excited for her to run.A couple days after my wife launched her campaign, Instacart did a 180 and told her they had to fire her for running. Bad for business to run for office and criticize a Republican incumbent!My wife was also pregnant and she told them. They fired her the next day.Congratulations on the merger.https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/12/15/instacart...
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  SomaticPirate
  I really don’t understand people who use these? Is it really that hard to go drive to Taco Bell or the grocery store and buy your food there? Every time I have used one of these services I have had a terrible customer experience.Or are people so antisocial now that going and grabbing groceries yourself is too much to handle?And fwiw, I’m not against delivery. I use Amazon fresh frequently but I would argue that is much more efficient. Dedicated drivers and warehouses optimized for grocery is societally useful.Paying an immigrant worker half a dollar to drive some tacos to a member of the upper class when the math has never worked out in the immigrant’s favor seems… bad? Or atleast a good way to turbocharge inequality
• noida
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• aloukissas
  How much do you think the tip was?
• Zestymarble45
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• josefritzishere
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• timodesks
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