
London delivery startup Doddle is closing most of its stores - t_prakash
http://uk.businessinsider.com/doddle-closing-stores-laying-off-staff-revenues-click-and-collect-2017-4
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k-mcgrady
Sad to see lots of people losing their jobs. I know I'm looking at this with
the benefit of hindsight (and this is the first I've heard of Doddle) but I
just don't see what the value they were providing here was. The number of
times you need to get something physical moved across the city you are in and
you can't do it yourself (or just do it digitally) must be very small. The
idea of having packages delivered at held by Doddle is you aren't home also
seems pointless. The delivery company will leave it with my neighbor or
RoyalMail will bring it to the local branch where I can pick it up (or I can
have it redelivered on a convenient day, for free, and arranged in minutes on
the RoyalMail website). RoyalMail works well, is cheap, and has offices all
over London and then there are obviously the tons of other delivery companies
(DHL, Hermes, UPS, Yodel etc.). Maybe I'm missing it but can someone explain
to me what Doddle was useful for that these other established services are
not?

