The dark side of food ordering apps 

You’ll know for next time 😀

What do you have in mind when you say institutional?

@@polysee There are probably multiple options when it comes to this specific issue. However a more general solution, which I'm in favour of, is market socialism or (for those who are scared of "evil socialism") economic democracy. Which would decrease the need for infinite growth and profit which shareholder capitalism demands, while keeping companies independent. By handing over governance of a company to those who work there or who otherwise financially depend on it (like restaurants). Then they could work out an ideal solution in a fair and democratic way, which would benefit both of them (perhaps by compromising on a specific rate so deliverers earn enough while not crippling the restaurants or maybe adjusting rates depending on how much money a restaurant has, however that should be for them to decide). It might also be worth considering also giving voting rights to customers, so prices remain attainable for them as well. You don't have to agree with me on this take, I might be missing something crucial, who knows. Take it as an example for what I meant by "institutional", perhaps you have your own ideas of what to do to improve these kinds of problems. But I think trying to appeal to consumer choices is a bit hopeless.

​@@schlaumayer3754 certainly not against such ideas. I tried to form a platform co-operative in Dublin a couple of years ago called Proper Order, an idea that was espoused by academics such as Prof. Trebor Scholz, but I quickly learned that the economics of it don't work so I had to shut it down. Tough to beat these giants. I think taxis in Dublin tried a taxi app co-operative a few years ago but, similarly, they don't have the capital or expertise to compete with the digital giants. And there's the collective action problem of who's going to do all this work to benefit others. The rationale for this episode's ending is that (I think) appealing to consumers' self interest (i.e. discounts) is more likely to succeed than asking them to use a co-operative for philanthropic or social reasons. But if some group can make a co-operative work, I salute them!

The whole time that I was watching the video, the thought going through my head was that industries with monopolistic or oligopolistic tendencies are best run by the government. In many places, we run utilities entirely through the government, or have a government run company that competes directly with other companies in the oligopoly. In this case, it means that they are not incentivised to have massive returns, or may even be ok making a loss sometimes. Any profits go back towards the taxpayers (which could actually be used to subsidise or incentivise more restaurants), and the competition forces the rest of the oligopoly to drop their prices too. I think this really applies well to any oligopoly, including the food aggregator market.