Everything dumb is dumb again

I see our venture capitalist overlords are once again funding concepts that make no sense in theory and have failed in practice:

Since Hayoung Park moved to Manhattan last year, he estimates he has taken in more than $400 of free cookies-and-cream ice cream, laundry detergent and other groceries delivered to his door, all courtesy of a wave of rapid-delivery grocery startups offering generous referral and discount codes.

“I have not paid for toilet paper, paper towels, dish soap or hand soap,” said the 23-year-old founder of a small online-auction startup. He said for most orders, his only costs are generally tip and tax. “As a consumer, I think it’s fantastic.”

A venture capital-backed battle is raging in New York City in the burgeoning field of instant delivery. At least six startups, including Gorillas Technologies Ltd., Jokr SARL, Getir Perakende Lojistik AS and Buyk Corp., are vying to win the chance to ferry groceries to customers within 10 to 20 minutes of their order placement on an app.

Prices are similar to grocery stores, discounts are plentiful, and many services don’t have a fee or minimum order, allowing consumers to request a single pint of Ben & Jerry’s delivered to their doorstep. Food-delivery app DoorDash Inc., based in San Francisco, also recently entered the fray in New York City.

While these consumer-friendly offerings have brought surging sales, losses are heavy given the high cost of prolific advertising and paying couriers to hand-deliver potato chips, soap and eggs in a short time frame, industry investors and executives said.

Some of the companies are averaging a loss of over $20 per order when factoring in costs like advertising, those people said.

“We lose money on every sale, but make it up in volume” is bound to work eventually!