FWIW, Eater published an article 5 days ago that discussed examples of New York eateries who are either OK or annoyed with being listed without permission<p><a href="http://ny.eater.com/2015/11/6/9678206/door-dash-delivery-nyc" rel="nofollow">http://ny.eater.com/2015/11/6/9678206/door-dash-delivery-nyc</a><p>> <i>But not all restaurants on DoorDash know that they're listed. Tommy Ferrick, owner of Delilah's Steaks in Greenpoint, says he rejected an offer from a DoorDash salesperson months ago due to a 20 to 25 percent commission fee. More than 50 percent of his cheesesteak business is from delivery, and he's already paying GrubHub a commission that ends up being three times higher than his rent every month. He's currently trying to get more people to just order directly through the restaurant. But a few weeks ago, his business started getting pick-up orders from DoorDash. He looked on the site and was shocked to see the Delilah's Steaks logo and full menu listed as an available restaurant, with significant price markups. A cheesesteak costs $11 in the shop, for example, but DoorDash charged $16.95 for it. "I was livid," says Ferrick, who worries about quality control for deliveries he doesn't know about.</i><p>Doughnut Plant seems meh about it:<p>> <i>Still, DoorDash lists three of four Doughnut Plants shops on the site without the company's permission — but PostMates, Doughnut Plant's preferred delivery merchant, did reach out before posting the menu, according to the bakery's creative director Jeff Magness. The Doughnut Plant logo DoorDash posts is also incomplete, Magness adds. "I don't like [that] it makes it look like we are working with them," he writes in an email. "That said, we haven't received complaints from customers."</i>
I am not a fan of DoorDash's business techniques. DoorDash sent a flyer to my house false advertising a coupon code. I spent half an hour creating an order only to realize that the coupon they sent me was different from what the flyer said. When I called to complain they acknowledged their error but said they wouldn't do anything and that I should just place an order anyways.
> Fast food restaurant In-N-Out, known for its delicious burgers and secret sauce, is suing food delivery startup DoorDash, TMZ reported earlier today. In-N-Out, which filed the lawsuit on Nov. 6, 2015, claims trademark infringement and unfair competition. Basically, In-N-Out wants DoorDash to stop delivering their delicious food because of concerns around quality, food handling and safety.<p>Why using so many times the word delicious? Moreover, that's not really the scope of the article.
This does not seem outrageous to me on either side. DoorDash wants to satisfy demand and grow their business; In-n-Out wants to protect its brand.<p>The details will determine who is right -- hence the lawsuit.
Services like this have taken off in Sydney (HungryAndLazy, Menulog, etc)<p>It's made getting delivery food here SO much better, as it's many smaller family owned stores that now get massive business if they have better food
Trademark stuff, ok, it makes sense they can't use their logos and such. But the whole quality control, food handling, meh. Soon as it's paid for and in the customer's hands, it's the customer's business what happens to it next, not In-N-Outs, it's not theirs anymore.
When someone represents themselves as an agent of another merchant but don't have a relationship with that merchant you're literally just buying something from the back of a van.<p>In-n-out gets exposed to liabilities and bad pr. No brainer.<p>Funny enough by suing DoorDash actually gets bad PR which to them is still good PR. A lot more people will know about DoorDash than before. Pretty naughty to agree to stop then renege on it, then disregard all attempts there after. Almost as if it was deliberate...<p>But getting a $5 burger in your mouth in 45 minutes with a $3 delivery fee is the boring part. The larger context of all this is how companies use terminology these days.<p>Per DoorDash marketing:<p><i>Through the DoorDash marketplace, people can purchase goods from local merchants and have them delivered in less than 45 minutes - thanks to our revolutionary logistics technology.</i><p>Per DoorDash TOS:<p><i>THE COMPANY DOES NOT PROVIDE LOGISTICS OR COURIER SERVICES, AND THE COMPANY IS NOT A LOGISTICS CARRIER. IT IS UP TO THE THIRD PARTY COURIER OR LOGISTICS PROVIDER, COURIER OR VEHICLE OPERATOR TO OFFER COURIER SERVICES WHICH MAY BE SCHEDULED THROUGH USE OF THE SOFTWARE OR SERVICE. THE COMPANY OFFERS INFORMATION AND A METHOD TO OBTAIN SUCH THIRD PARTY COURIER SERVICES, BUT DOES NOT AND DOES NOT INTEND TO PROVIDE COURIER SERVICES OR ACT IN ANY WAY AS A COURIER, AND HAS NO RESPONSIBILITY OR LIABILITY FOR ANY COURIER OTHER THAN STATED HEREIN SERVICES PROVIDED TO YOU BY SUCH THIRD PARTIES.</i><p>Per Postmates marketing:<p><i>Postmates' revolutionary urban logistics & on-demand delivery platform connects customers with local couriers, who purchase and deliver goods from any restaurant or store in a city.</i><p>Per Postmates TOS:<p><i>THE COMPANY DOES NOT PROVIDE LOGISTICS OR COURIER SERVICES, AND THE COMPANY IS NOT A LOGISTICS CARRIER. IT IS UP TO THE THIRD PARTY COURIER OR LOGISTICS PROVIDER, COURIER OR VEHICLE OPERATOR (COLLECTIVELY, THE “POSTMATE”) TO OFFER COURIER SERVICES WHICH MAY BE SCHEDULED THROUGH USE OF THE SOFTWARE OR SERVICE. THE COMPANY OFFERS INFORMATION AND A METHOD TO OBTAIN SUCH THIRD PARTY COURIER SERVICES, BUT DOES NOT AND DOES NOT INTEND TO PROVIDE COURIER SERVICES OR ACT IN ANY WAY AS A COURIER, AND HAS NO RESPONSIBILITY OR LIABILITY FOR ANY COURIER.</i><p>And of course the grand daddy of them all:<p><i>By seamlessly connecting riders to drivers through our apps, we make cities more accessible, opening up more possibilities for riders and more business for drivers.</i><p>And per Uber TOS:<p><i>The Services constitute a technology platform that enables users of Uber's mobile applications or websites provided as part of the Services (each, an "Application") to arrange and schedule transportation and/or logistics services with third party providers of such services, including independent third party transportation providers and third party logistics providers under agreement with Uber or certain of Uber's affiliates ("Third Party Providers"). YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT UBER DOES NOT PROVIDE TRANSPORTATION OR LOGISTICS SERVICES OR FUNCTION AS A TRANSPORTATION CARRIER.</i><p>A lot of aerobatics to contort and redefine words so that one gets the branding benefit of the word's previous meaning but suffer none of word's consequences.<p>Is this a better or worse turn than the naughtiness of YouTube hypergrowth days shielded by DMCA safe harbor? Or how Facebook drags their feet dealing with users that steal content because it allows them to juice up their view counts?
You know what I wish would happen? Everyone would just get along - the burger guys, the tech guys. Just deliver the things with drones already guys, mmkay? I need that. I live in Europe. I haven't had a proper burger in decades.
"...concerns around quality, food handling and safety."<p>I completely understand. I used DoorDash exactly once to order from a local Chinese restaurant. The food was delivered by a dude who looked disinterested, and the containers were crushed and leaking lots of brown sauce into the plastic bag. It wasn't a great experience. Whose fault was it? I dunno. But I haven't ordered from DoorDash or that Chinese restaurant since.
I don't know how DoorDash could make In-N-Out food worse. Seriously their food is not good. I see the trademark angle but the quality? Please they should start with making something worth while.