
Coffee Delivery Is the Future of On-Demand Ordering - prostoalex
http://www.eater.com/2016/1/14/10758072/starbucks-delivery-dunkin-donuts-office
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aaroninsf
Me, I think 'the future' is resource-intensive delivery services predicated on
blowing 10x the resources to deliver someone else's product to 1/100th the
customer base winking out like so many candles when the venture oxygen tank
runs empty.

But in the meantime bring me the biggest cup of lemur turd latté you can
transport on your Scoot, millennial.

~~~
xlayn
Let's add a question: why? The bubble... which one? the IT one, the startup
one.

I still don't see why it hasn't come to an end.

For example, remind me again why twitter is so valuable? this kind of
companies use to be rolled out as a side service of bigger companies with a
business model.

-Yahoo Messenger (Ads on search engine) -Gtalk (Ads on search engine) .. ..

How it was decided the initial price of Twitter? on the basis of how much
people are willing to pay. So why are we rolling these services? Because there
is cheap money to invest on them...

Q: Why is that money cheap and where it comes from? A: Others people money,
savings, anything where you receive an interest, they take your money and
invest it again under the premise of getting more money.... in the most shiny
thing you can find... the most promising.... "The Future" until things break,
you loose your money and to pay the banks to back up your savings devaluate
the money again so you loose twice....

Thanks Startup Machine!!!! :)

Mind explaining the down votes?

Edit: clarity

~~~
dsp1234
The GP mentioned resource intensive delivery services with high overheads,
outsourced products, and small userbases.

Your reply talks about chat apps, which are pretty much the opposite of that.

You actually seem to be agreeing, but it is very hard to tell due to the
grammatical errors and formatting, which make it hard to understand.

So your post, for those who read through it, turns out to be pretty much the
same thought as the GP, but with a harder to understand message.

~~~
xlayn
Thanks, It's not the first time I receive that comment, I have to work on
better expressing my ideas.

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vectorjohn
This kind of delivery of a small cheap product is never going to work until
the delivery part can be automated. Be that drones or something else. When the
product itself costs $3, you can't afford to add much for delivery.

Of course, people with lots of money could pay for it, but "people with lots
of money" isn't what makes Starbucks popular. Their drinks, while expensive
for coffee, are cheap. Make the drinks $6 and there's just not enough demand
there.

Citations needed.

~~~
bradleyjg
I don't think there's much of a market for a single cup of coffee (though
inside the Empire State Building may be the exception that proves the rule),
but there are a lot of workplaces where _someone_ makes a coffee run once or
twice per day for $20+ each run. Depending on the geography that is a
reasonable amount per order to support delivery services. Don't know about the
"Future of On-Demand Ordering" though.

~~~
semi-extrinsic
At that rate you can buy a really nice superautomatic coffee machine, say a
Jura Impressa J9 OneTouch, and break even in less than one year. The ROI would
be huge; not only are you saving money after just 9 months, you're saving the
time of the person doing the coffee run, and people get fresher and better
tasting coffee. Whenever they want.

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edko
If I want coffee, I want it now; I don't want to wait 15 mins. Also, if I am
in my own office, I probably will have better quality coffee available than
the one that can be delivered by a chain (Nespresso, AeroPress with freshly
ground beans, etc.)

~~~
circa
I was thinking the same thing. Also, how hot can they keep it during the
delivery period? A pizza is one thing but coffee has got to be tough to keep
warm.

~~~
overcast
Delivery company would just have large insulated containers. They would then
fill your cup when they arrive. This isn't rocket science.

~~~
rconti
So now they're carrying an espresso machine with frothing wand, and making
drinks on-site?

Or they're delivering drip coffee which will have even less demand and cost
less.

~~~
overcast
It can't be any worse than shaking up one in a cup as it's transported. The
whole idea of this is silly anyhow.

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slavik81
I don't think the article properly conveys who is really going to use this.
Nobody's going to get a single cup of coffee with a $6 delivery fee.

But, have you guys worked in coffee shops? Every day, there's at least a
handful of people who come in to order 20 coffees, or (more commonly) a few
big containers of coffee for a meeting. Having a delivery service means the
admin assistant doesn't need to take 30 minutes to pick up an order and bring
it back. Essentially, this is just lite breakfast catering.

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edgyswingset
Maybe I'm in the minority, because coffee to me is something I drink when I'm
taking a break from work, or enjoying extended leisure time. The idea of never
leaving my desk and having some lukewarm Starbucks drip delivered to me isn't
exactly appealing.

~~~
cableshaft
Exactly. Grabbing coffee is my excuse/reminder to stand up and stretch my legs
for a few minutes at work. If I had everything delivered to my desk I wouldn't
like it.

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lwyr
The viability of this service is inversely proportional to income equality.

~~~
r00fus
Correct, at the high-inequality side (India) you have chaiwallas.

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chad_strategic
Starbucks / coffee house is nice when unprepared or meeting people.

The best Coffee is always made by yourself.

Coffee on the Go:
[http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/ref=as_li_qf_sp_sr_tl?ie=UTF...](http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/ref=as_li_qf_sp_sr_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&index=aps&keywords=B008TYX1DW&linkCode=ur2&tag=stratoptio09-20&linkId=KURBET56V5OCLFQI">B008TYX1DW</a><img)
src="[https://ir-na.amazon-
adsystem.com/e/ir?t=stratoptio09-20&l=u...](https://ir-na.amazon-
adsystem.com/e/ir?t=stratoptio09-20&l=ur2&o=1)

Coffee at home:
[http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/ref=as_li_qf_sp_sr_tl?ie=UTF...](http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/ref=as_li_qf_sp_sr_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&index=aps&keywords=B00CH9QWOU&linkCode=ur2&tag=stratoptio09-20&linkId=KURBET56V5OCLFQI)

------
jacobbuck
Personally I like my coffee at the same place it's made, at home, work or a
café. Not halfway across town delivered 15 minutes later.

~~~
mc32
Hmmm, people in tea drinking places, say China, do order drinks [boba/bubble]
for delivery by scooter, whatnot.

It's a business model and it works well in some places. It doesn't print
money, but it gives the chains a competitive advantage.

~~~
jacobbuck
That's interesting, I wonder if tea travels better than coffee.

I find (black) coffee starts going bitter/sour if not drunk soon enough.

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semi-extrinsic
> I find (black) coffee starts going bitter/sour if not drunk soon enough.

The litmus test of good coffee: is it still nice to drink once it's cooled
down to room temperature? If it's undrinkable when lukewarm, it's bad coffee
hidden by the fact that your taste buds don't work very well at 85°C. Same
goes for people who drink vodka chilled to -15°C, it's to avoid actually
tasting the vodka.

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cpursley
Seriously? It takes me 1 minute to make a _great_ cup of coffee. In the
excruciating 4 minutes that it takes to brew, I check my email. Or just
contemplate.

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glup
Besides the dubious economics of it in places that aren't saturated with
coffeeshops, I don't think I'd want delivery coffee. I always use a run to the
coffeeshop (if I'm coming back to the office) as a way to clear my head and
stretch my legs. Maybe for rainy days?

~~~
angdis
Yep, coffee has very little to do with actual "coffee" as a product.

Coffee is a ritual, and often, a social activity. You go somewhere sooth your
mind on some coffee sipping, people watching, chatting with others, or just
daydreaming, and then get on with your day.

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cylinder
This is an example of so many things wrong in American culture.

~~~
bdcravens
A company responding to customer demands, and the delivery of a restaurant's
product? I get that it's a first world problem because it's "fancy" coffee,
but perhaps I'm missing what's so terribly wrong about this.

~~~
potatolicious
Can't speak for the original poster, but my issues with services like this
isn't that it's delivering fancy coffee to lazy people, but the economics
surrounding it.

There are three broad categories for these types of services:

\- High pricing targeted at wealthy people, paying sustainable wages to the
laborers who provide the actual service.

\- Low-mid pricing targeted at the mass market, paying sustainable wages to
the laborers who provide the actual service. These companies end up dead.

\- Low-mid pricing targeted at the mass market, paying unsustainably low wages
(a small fraction of minimum wage) to the laborers who provide the actual
service.

My problem is with companies in the third category, and there are many of
them. Silicon Valley may not have invented the hollowing of the American
middle class, but it seems to really enjoy building businesses that rely on an
endless supply of desperate laborers to exist. Businesses in the third
category simply cannot exist without extreme inequality, extreme desperation
in the lower classes, and a seemingly inexhaustible low-skilled labor pool,
and in this way they are IMO representative of the worst tendencies of
American culture/society.

~~~
cylinder
Desperate laborers, the fact that we are so unequal that we are becoming like
countries such as India where high earners have "servants" bringing them
trivial things.

Coffee is to be enjoyed and savored, a moment to stop and sense, not to be
quickly "crushed" for the caffeine hit, and cafes are for catching up with
friends or colleagues, talking socially or business.

That we are all so busy (or just pretending to be busy) that coffee/tea breaks
aren't a thing in the workplace here.

How people waste money so recklessly on useless things in this country, not
only a daily coffee from a retail outlet but paying for a person to bring it
to them, when they could just make a French Press in the office or get an
espresso machine or what not, and then we wonder why even high earners live
paycheck to paycheck, why median retirement savings are incredibly low and
express surprise that Americans can't handle a surprise $500 bill.

~~~
ashwinaj
> That we are all so busy (or just pretending to be busy)

I see this in two different contexts: 1\. Urban area: Some people are
genuinely busy, while some are busy doing "busy" work (useless meetings,
facebook, twitter, <insert any app>, et al.). Heavily populated East and West
Coast regions fall in this category. I can see this kind of niche service
being popular.

2\. Suburban area: People who work a fixed schedule (usually 9-5) which is
most of the US. I just don't see why such a delivery service would be popular
(and I'm probably wrong) other than small pockets (which would not make it
economically viable).

On a larger note, I wonder if everyone wants on-demand service (food and
drink, packages, groceries, drivers, etc.) what would a person need to earn to
be able to afford these services? And what is job function of this person that
he/she is unable to run these small errands? Also, if everyone is "ordering
in" and hardly going out, what would it do to the social fabric of society?

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robk
The economics of this are really difficult to add up at scale. You can't pay
sustainable wages on a model like this unless the delivery costs are
prohibitively high for an average consumer.

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lost_name
Well, coffee is certainly _in_ the future of ordering for delivery, but why
wouldn't it be? The article only describes a partnership between
Starbucks/Postmates and Dunkin' Donuts/Postmates/DoorDash. Postmates and
DoorDash provide delivery for things that traditionally aren't delivered (ie,
fast food and coffee).

Frankly it's right up their alley to try this.

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soared
Like this?: One espresso shot delivered right to your desk, for only $1

[1] oneshots.squarespace.com

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GuiA
Nice Starbucks/Dunkin' Donut submarine article.

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Animats
The amount of infrastructure required for coffee is excessive. Starbucks.
K-cups. Delivery services.

First world problem.

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lazyant
still waiting for the fresh bread delivery service, as I had when I was a kid.

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jamisteven
Idea bad. Idea gone

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cpursley
Perhaps the next "world changing" delivery startup should just start
delivering bags of bubbles on demand? Or just get straight to the point and
deliver unmarked VC cash in duffle bags?

