[mulmen]

Yes I saw that icon, nothing ever showed up there. No badge and when I touched it I never saw what I had already added. I started by tapping the first restaurant they suggested. I viewed the menu, picked an item and set the quantity and added it to cart. Then I picked another item and did the same. I figured that would feed me so I tried to order it. No evidence of any previous interaction was discernible. The cart was empty. Any time I touched the cart icon I just ended up back on the main page of the app and had to pick my restaurant again.

I thought maybe I was picking a restaurant "outside of my delivery range" so I made sure location services were on. No change. The first thing it does is ask for an address, I shouldn't even have to give it my GPS coordinates but hey, who would test that right? When I enter the address I shouldn't even be able to see restaurants that don't deliver to me so I doubt that was the problem.

It just simply did not work at all. I'm not dumb, I tried to give them my money and couldn't figure it out, maybe I finally got old. Maybe I got hit by a cosmic ray.

I can call the local pizza place and submit a delivery order in under 11 seconds:

"Hello mulmen, would you like to hear our specials?" ~2s

"No, thanks" ~1s

"Ok, would you like to repeat your last order?" ~2s

"Yes" <1s

"Is the card ending in 1234 still valid?" ~2s

"Yes" <1s

"Thanks, we will be at 1234 Main St #1 in 45 minutes." ~3s

<click>

Seriously, I timed it. 11 seconds is my best. They have a local call center for their many locations so they pick up almost immediately. Order takers only take orders. I can place an order on their webpage (they don't have an app, why would they?) in under a minute.

Pickup orders from other nearby spots is similar.

I don't understand the value these delivery services supposedly offer.

[zaroth]

Pizza and Chinese restaurants are famous for efficient phone ordering.

Growing up I could get a pizza ordered in 3 seconds flat.

Finish dialing... doesn’t even ring once. “George’s Pizza”. “Large cheese pickup!” “Ok 10 minutes.” <click>

Now try ordering from Cheesecake Factory. They pickup, and then read a script just to then put you on hold, where you might wait for several minutes before they pickup and make you recite name, phone number (Interrupting you to repeat each segment back as you are saying it), ask you a half dozen questions, finally let you order, insist on repeating it all back to you, etc.

I think it’s funny you’d think a digital menu and checkout cart would increase accuracy. I guess you just can’t win either way.

[mulmen]

The family owned Mexican restaurant across the street is really good too. Something something small business something.

There's another active thread at the moment: "Ask HN: Name one idea that changed your life" [1].

I didn't think I had an answer but now I do:

"This isn't a technology problem."

All our shiny bleeding edge hyper-connected disruptive technology can't hold a candle to the level of service pizza shops and Chinese restaurants have been delivering for basically always. Using a pen and paper. Or maybe just shouting! Best we can offer is "Alexa repeat my pizza order" but is that really even better? It's almost exactly the same experience for the consumer but there's some surprising long term consequence like the pizza shop can no longer make ends meet.

I continue to be happy placing takeout orders over the phone like a caveman. A tech company that provides that level of service to their customers will go very far indeed.

[1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23092657