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points by themightyquinn 13 hours ago | 0 comments

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.

[–] IncRnd 7 hours ago

I think your first instinct about antitrust is correct.

Out of the group of people who have food delivered, that food mostly comes from restaurants or grocery stores. Instacart/DD will be a behemoth of food delivery.

[–] flanz_10 7 hours ago

Whenever this comes up, I really don't care if there is antitrust or not. Delivery is a luxury service.

Whenever I bring this up, someone always goes "so disabled people should starve"? What did they do before delivery apps? Many restaurants still offer delivery that they do themselves (seriously, look it up). But more importantly, meals on wheels and other services are still a very large, established network.

Anyways, I guess I could be convinced that this is bad for restaurants. But so many restaurants, especially in cities, are offering delivery services where 10 and 20 years ago there were none. And the infrastructure is not set up to handle that.

As a result, city streets are frequently blocked by delivery drivers. I genuinely would love if my city passed a resolution that prevented restaurants within the city center from offering DoorDash/Ubereats unless they had a dedicated parking lot.

[–] asdf88990 5 hours ago

Delivery is a luxury service until:

- you have school kids and a full time

- a medical condition

- work 2 jobs because economy is fucked.

- can’t drive of old age.

And a million other reasons. In old times with a working community, delivery was a luxury, in “modern” days, it is often a necessity for lack of alternatives.

When was the last time you offered the old people down the road if they need help?

[–] halamadrid 4 hours ago

On demand delivery where you pay a premium of 30-40% over the actual cost (sometimes even more) is definitely a luxury to me. I can probably afford to do this but I still do pick ups along with my other errands. Only is rare circumstances I get one off deliveries and it hurts me to see the cost each time I look at it!

Doing it regularly is probably wasting money especially in this economy.

Kids + full time - pick up the food on your way home? Medical condition - arrange for a routine cost effective delivery (like those meal delivery services who tend to deliver on their routes for free even?) work 2 jobs - pick up along the way somewhere can't drive? - use that routine delivery or find a way to cook or use a weekly meal delivery service etc.

But buying one off every other day paying the premium seems definitely a luxury. YMMV.

[–] goosejuice 5 hours ago

There are more social services for people that need this than there were in the 70s and volunteering appears roughly flat since then.

Meanwhile, people have been getting old, having kids, two jobs, medical conditions and so on for a little while now. A tremendous amount of America isn't even in a food delivery area unless you count McDonald's.

Eating out is a luxury. Getting that food delivered even more so. This isn't about basic needs.

[–] johnnyanmac 5 hours ago

>volunteering appears roughly flat since then.

>people have been getting old, having kids, two jobs, medical conditions and so on for a little while now.

well you explained the phenomenon pretty concisely.

[–] goosejuice 4 hours ago

Indeed, in the good ol days people were worse off. But I suppose you forgot to quote that part.

[–] komali2 2 hours ago

Having nicer products or the overall state of technology being greater now than before doesn't mean people are automatically overall better off. Yes we can cure more cancers now. Yes we have less lynchings now, by the public or police. But people are, objectively, less financially secure. Cost of home ownership being 5x median income now vs 3.2x in the 90s, trending higher decade on decade, is a decent enough single number to point to. The long and short of it is that these benefits are being concentrated, as anything regarding wealth inevitably is, in the hands of a few.

https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/reports/fil...

[–] johnnyanmac 3 hours ago

You forgot to mention it so I could quote it.

Nonetheless, I don't see the productivity in arguing over generational lifestyle here. I just wanted to highlight that making people work more than ever means less people volunteer. Whether that is a good thing or not is up to the reader.

[–] nostrademons 1 hour ago

Having kids, a medical condition that doesn't kill you, or getting to old age is increasingly a luxury.

[–] tptacek 3 hours ago

All these conditions were common (some of them nearly universal) before Instacart ever existed.

At least with Uber, you could point to the regulated taxi system that was being displaced. That logic doesn't work at all for Instacart.

[–] gregglain 3 hours ago

And luxuries have a cost. I won't pay it until I'll have to choose to.

[–] DANmode 2 hours ago

Are we talking about the $3 delivery charge from the Chinese joint around the corner,

or the effective $13-$33 charge per order from the major delivery apps, after up charge to be using it plus delivery?

Let’s make sure we’re talking about the same stuff, here.

[–] selcuka 2 hours ago

> As a result, city streets are frequently blocked by delivery drivers.

How is it different than customers driving to the restaurant? Are you suggesting that there should be less restaurants, or people should use public transport to pick up food?

[–] komali2 1 hour ago

Customers don't necessarily drive to restaurants, they walk, bike, or take public transit. Most frequently they walk to whatever is nearby when they're hungry, in most functional cities.

I just had some American friends visit me in Taipei and now that they're back in the States they're telling me that if they want food they have to drive 20 minutes, so I understand the situation is different for most Americans, but the suggestion then seems to be the obvious ones: the USA should modernize its urban infrastructure.

[–] bobbylarrybobby 3 hours ago

Delivery is a luxury for diners but not restaurants, who now have one fewer vendor.

[–] johnnyanmac 5 hours ago

Entertainment is also a luxury service. I don't think that justifies the behemoth mergers/acquisitions we've seen this decade. It's about competition, not necessarily how important the service is to the people.

[–] wry_xy 4 hours ago

Occasionally for fun I'll check the price of DoorDash / Uber Eats for fast food and compare it with the normal menu prices. The difference is insane. I don't think I'd pay that even if I were a billionaire. It's absolutely a luxury and I can't believe normal people pay for it.

[–] themightyquinn 13 hours ago

For context Walmart, Amazon, and Instacart each have about a quarter of the online grocery delivery market with smaller outfits like Kroger and Albertsons eating up the remaining quarter. If you believe this data, that is. https://talkbusiness.net/2025/04/online-grocery-sales-rise-2...

[–] dessimus 9 hours ago

I've had failed or missing deliveries from an Albertson's owned grocery chain and when speaking to the manager of the department, they just subcontract the delivery to DD and UberEats, much like McDonald's does. It's not their own employees doing deliveries.

[–] Johnny555 8 hours ago

A few Albertsons stores do their own deliveries, but it's increasingly rare. I used to love my Abertsons deliveries. Always had the same guy (who was super friendly), and it came in a refrigerated truc, so cold products stayed cold.

I stopped using them when they switched to instacart -- the instacart shoppers really don't care about service, they're just trying to deliver orders as fast as possible so they can more to the next one. They'll pack ice cream with a warm rotisserie chicken so you end up with molten ice cream as it sits in their trunk for 45 minutes while they make 2 deliveries before yours. And in the half dozen or so times I used them, not a single order was correct.

Now I use Amazon Whole Foods because even though they use gig drivers for the delivery, the food is well packed (and they use foil lined bags for cold products that do a decent job of keeping cold foods cold.

[–] KerrAvon 8 hours ago

Amazon/Whole Foods in our area seems consistently unable to pack bananas in a way that doesn't result in bruising. I'm beginning to think they train them to put heavy cans on top of bananas for some reason.

[–] sib 3 hours ago

It protects the cans from denting...

[–] tylergetsay 9 hours ago

When shopping from kroger you can pay extra to get 2-3hr delivery from insta cart. If not your order gets routed through a more efficient planned route that hits multiple houses

[–] bradlys 11 hours ago

It's believable to me. I exclusively use Walmart and Amazon for groceries now. The nearest grocery store is 10+ minute drive away and with gas prices, my time, etc. I'd rather just buy online and wait for someone to deliver to my door. It's much quicker than going around the store looking for items too.

It used to be there was a significant premium for this service and that's why I wouldn't do it but not anymore. In places like NYC - it's actually much cheaper than local options.

[–] vostrocity 9 hours ago

I've worked these 1099 grocery delivery gigs and you get paid around minimum wage to lug these very heavy orders of water and juice up stairs, all while adding miles to your own vehicle and bearing the full risk of injury because you're an independent contractor. I hope you tip them well at least.

[–] BenjiWiebe 9 hours ago

I wish no one would tip them. Then they'd quit working for minimum wage, then the costs would go up, then I could see the actual cost of the service and make a decision to use it or not.

a tip for an unusual order/circumstance would be fine. Say if you ordered a 50lb bag of cat food, and live on the Nth floor, and the elevators are not working.

[–] autoexec 8 hours ago

> Then they'd quit working for minimum wage

I see no reason to think that was the case. They'll work for whatever rate companies pay them. There are many workers in minimum wage jobs who don't get tips at all. I agree that tipping is a bad practice and that it pushes labor costs onto customers. It will take regulation for companies to stop and tipping culture to change. I'm doing my part to try and keep the problem from getting worse by refusing to tip for almost anything except deliveries and being actually waited on. No matter how much companies beg for tips for basic retail purchases and counter service I don't feel at all bad about turning them down.

[–] komali2 1 hour ago

This seems to be you choosing to live in an idealized form of your future vs the actual reality of today. My question is, if you're choosing idealized anyway, why stop at a mundane ideal where anyone has to work for minimum wage at all? Unless you've baked the lower class labor category into your ideal future?

You not tipping doesn't improve anyone's material conditions. You choosing to give money to the exploitative companies does affect material conditions, negatively! To me it sounds like you're trying to doordash your cake, eat it, have it, not pay for it, and get paid for eating it, all at once!

[–] drnick1 2 hours ago

I only tip servers in sit-own restaurants. I don't tip drivers, fast food or coffee shop workers. Sue me.

[–] bradlys 6 hours ago

I don't tip. I don't believe in the practice of tipping and especially with digital platforms I don't trust where the money goes.

If I am tipping, it will be directly and usually in cash and there's only one person who gets that and it's the person who cuts my hair.

Get a different job if you don't like it. Minimum wage jobs are dime a dozen and have joke requirements to get onboarded. It's not like competing for faang or whatever.

[–] komali2 1 hour ago

Why does your personal activism stop after the point that harms fellow humans but not before the step of rewarding an exploitative corporation that subsidizes its labor cost with tips and your tax dollars through welfare to its laborers?

[–] autoexec 9 hours ago

You can be sure that delivery fees will more than cover whatever the cost of gas, the cost of the driver, and the time it takes employees to shop for you so you aren't likely saving money, but the extra you pay may still be worth the convenience.

Have you been careful about making sure that the prices you're charged when shopping online are the same as what's on the price tag on the shelves? Online shopping makes it extremely easy for companies to overcharge you based on what they think you're willing/able to pay and provides them with valuable data they can use to decide when/how much to raise their prices.

You can also run into problems where employees will select for lower quality produce, and about to expire foods that in-store shoppers will commonly pass over. It's nice that it means less food gets thrown away, but can also mean you can end up wasting your money buying food you can't or don't want to eat.

[–] Marsymars 6 hours ago

> You can be sure that delivery fees will more than cover whatever the cost of gas, the cost of the driver, and the time it takes employees to shop for you so you aren't likely saving money, but the extra you pay may still be worth the convenience.

In theory, batching deliveries should delivery economies of scale on vehicle and labour costs.

[–] autoexec 4 hours ago

Judging from other comments, the costs of gas and vehicle maintenance get pushed onto the drivers so probably aren't added to the cost of orders in fees.

[–] bradlys 6 hours ago

So far it saves me money. Nearest Walmart is 10+ miles away.

I haven't really had too many issues with ordering online. It works for me.

I haven't noticed a price difference shopping in store vs online. The local grocers massively overcharge in comparison to Amazon and Walmart.

[–] autoexec 4 hours ago

> The local grocers massively overcharge in comparison to Amazon and Walmart

Those local shops might not have much choice. Walmart has been caught forcing companies to charge every other store higher wholesale prices than what they charge Walmart for the same goods. It's actually illegal, but the FTC doesn't bother enforcing it. Amazon has also been accused of forcing companies to raise their prices elsewhere and if companies refuse amazon removes the “Add to cart” and “Buy Now” buttons from their products pages. Last I heard they were being sued for that, so maybe the situation with amazon will improve.

[–] bradlys 1 hour ago

It's really not the case. I'm talking like 2x the price of products. They basically started charging ridiculous prices because they wanted to gouge on whales. Unsurprisingly, these places are empty when I go into them now compared to ten years ago. They also have no one working at them.

[–] subarctic 12 hours ago

DoorDash has a ton of grocery delivery, it's the only one i use for that now because instacart has a payments bug. Very weird that the only two big competitors in this space in North America can just merge like this

[–] moberemk 9 hours ago

What's the bug? It's gotta be a serious edge case

[–] seizethecheese 13 hours ago

Interesting perspective.

They do serve the same market for gig workers that don’t want to be ride share drivers, though, right? I wonder what their market share is for that.

[–] autoexec 8 hours ago

I'd be willing to bet that a lot of drivers are doing both deliveries and ride shares depending on what's available/most profitable at the time.

[–] a123b456c 8 hours ago

You're describing what economists call multihoming. The antitrust question gp asks - which I think is relevant - is whether the combined entity would have excessive market power in the relevant labor market.

[–] gWPVhyxPHqvk 8 hours ago

DoorDash, at least for a while for me, was significantly cheaper than Instacart for grocery delivery, probably because they were trying to fight their way into the grocery delivery market. Now that they're just going to buy Instacart, this can only mean higher prices to me since they need to pay for their acquisition and they no longer need to compete on price. Great!

[–] munk-a 8 hours ago

And the folks currently in the FTC mysteriously will receive cushy board positions when the administration turns over. Literally everyone wins!

[–] BugsJustFindMe 13 hours ago

> compete in grocery with the real giants in Walmart

In my area Walmart is on Instacart and I've often wondered how that squares with their own delivery service.

[–] themightyquinn 13 hours ago

Might just speak to the competitive advantage of vertical integration. I.E “we make so much off the selling the product we don’t care if the sale originates on or off platform?” It is surprising though that they wouldn’t force users onto their service. They certainly have the power to

[–] runako 9 hours ago

> They certainly have the power to

They tried that with WalmartPay. After about a decade, they gave up[1].

Consumers have a lot of agency. A lot of people get paid access to one of the other platforms by virtue of tie-ins with their mobile carrier, or bank, or whatever. There's low incentive to pay again to use Walmart's delivery service, which will not also bring delicious Thai food for lunch.

1 - https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/21/walmart-to-finally-start-a...

[–] vostrocity 9 hours ago

Walmart asks me to sign up for their Prime equivalent every time I go on their website. I'm never going to do that.

[–] kotaKat 12 hours ago

They're very multi-modal. Walmart will send deliveries out via Instacart, their own in-house drivers (1 year+ employees internally), Spark Delivery, and even Roadie ("a UPS Company"), though Roadie jobs are for oversize things that need a pickup truck or a van like TVs from what I've seen as a Roadie driver.

[–] vostrocity 9 hours ago

I think a lot of businesses have adopted this. I've seen Papa John's orders on Roadie, but I'm sure they also use Uber Eats or DoorDash and their own in-house drivers.

[–] Marsymars 6 hours ago

My car dealership does this with shuttle rides. They've got a couple shuttles with drivers, but they'll book Uber rides for people if there's overflow.