[jchw]

What I personally dislike about this is that it hides the cost of Doordash. It's not intuitive that the prices of items is silently higher on Doordash: it's not like online retailers having different prices for the same SKU, it's the same restaurant. I'd prefer the overhead to show up as its own line item, rather than obscuring the actual cost of the service. I have a feeling less people would choose to Doordash as often if they realized just how much more things cost through it. (Not everyone, but, there are a lot people who really do just do it for convenience, and they could just drive and go pick up their own takeout.)

[tredre3]

> it's not like online retailers having different prices for the same SKU, it's the same restaurant

But those online retailers are supplied by the same distributor who is supplied by the same manufacturer.

    - ManufacturerA -> (Amazon|Walmart) -> Customer
    - RestaurantA -> (Pickup|Doordash|Uber) -> Customer

Isn't it exactly the same? Online retailers add their cost and profit requirements in their pricing, Doordash does the same.

> I'd prefer the overhead to show up as its own line item, rather than obscuring the actual cost of the service.

Me too. Especially that they already ALSO add a service fee in many (most?) locales, in addition to the delivery fee and the tip.

    - Item priced 30% higher
    - Delivery fee
    - Service fee
    - Tip

The first three should be folded in a single line item so that customers realize how much price gouging Doordash is really doing.

[jchw]

You have a point, but I just think it's less intuitive for consumers. Manufacturers often don't even do direct sales, so the only "canonical" price is the MSRP, which is just that, a suggestion. Consumers go shopping at Walmart or Amazon, they don't go "shopping" at Doordash: the menu they're seeing on Doordash is the restaurant menu. In some cases, it is the only online menu that some restaurants even have. To me it is not terribly intuitive that these prices differ.

There is another analog for this, too, though: some retailers indeed would have more or less expensive prices for the same thing when ordering online versus in-store. I think the argument that it isn't unprecedented is pretty solid.

Despite not being entirely unprecedented, I'd still prefer to see this practice ended for food delivery services so it is easier to see the actual true overhead of food delivery services. It really does feel a bit manipulative the way it is right now.

[infecto]

Just because you don’t like it should not make it illegal.

[AlexeyBelov]

Is their position simply that they don't like it and that's it?

[chronci739]

> I'd prefer the overhead to show up as its own line item, rather than obscuring the actual cost of the service.

While that’s what you prefer, the market (most other users, including whale spenders) doesn’t care to know the actual cost.

[jchw]

Without regulation, "the market" wouldn't care about a lot of things. It's actually a good thing that a small minority of people hold the line for people who don't have time to care about issues like this kind of manipulation!

[bitdivision]

I don't think that's true, however doordash surely know that some users might think twice if they saw that number separated out.

[jimbokun]

No.

That is what large corporations want and in the US especially they are the ones that write the laws.