Scoop: Uber shutting down alcohol delivery service Drizly

(L/A)
Uber has decided to shutter Drizly, an alcohol delivery service it bought three years ago for $1.1 billion, Axios has learned.
The big picture: Drizly was always a bit of an odd match for Uber, in that it didn't hire or contract its own delivery workers. Instead, Drizly provided backend tech that let local liquor stores provide their own deliveries.

• The bigger issue, however, might have been cybersecurity. Drizly in 2020 confirmed a hack that exposed information on around 2.5 million customers.
• What it didn't say, however, was that the company had been aware of the security flaw for two years without fixing it.
• That information was discovered by the Federal Trade Commission, after Uber's acquisition of Drizly, and led to an FTC order that restricted the types of customer information that Drizly could collect and retain.

What they're saying: "After three years of Drizly operating independently within the Uber family, we've decided to close the business and focus on our core Uber Eats strategy of helping consumers get almost anything — from food to groceries to alcohol — all on a single app," Pierre-Dimitri Gore-Coty, Uber's SVP of delivery, tells Axios exclusively.

• He adds: "We're grateful to the Drizly team for their many contributions to the growth of the BevAlc delivery category as the original industry pioneer."

 

[Return of the Freaker]

I remember getting email from uber when they launched drizly. Knew right away it was going to flop but kinda surprised it lasted this long

 

[neverendingmidi]

I suppose Drizly must’ve worked somewhere, states that don’t have licensed liquor stores, but when I checked it purely out of curiosity there were only the spirits you could get in a grocery store, nothing higher (in Ohio). And even then it was a tiny selection, not the whole available variety in the physical store. I can only imagine it’s even more restricted in places like Pennsylvania.

It really seemed like it was something set up in a state with very relaxed liquor laws, and then became a tangled mess of regulations once they tried to expand beyond that one state.

 

[TowinKarz]

Never knew this was a thing, now that I do, I can only think that's a stupid name.

I can only imagine it’s even more restricted in places like Pennsylvania.

For those who don't live in the aforementioned Commonwealth, it didn't become legal to sell beer in gas stations/groceries until the last 5 or so years, and even then, only if you also offer sit-down seating and prepared foods, making you technically, a restaurant.

PA liquor law is an arcane mess that I swear has a wizard running it all.

 

[XYZpdq Jr.]

yeah I can see how this sounds like a brilliant plan until you start reading how fucking insane and retarded laws about liquor distribution are and how MASSIVE the differences can be from county-to-county, much less state-to-state

beer in gas stations/groceries until the last 5 or so years

in-law had moved down to Florida from some yankee shithole and we're showing him around, he wants to get some beer and asks about the local ABC and we're like "lol no we'll just walk to the gas station on the corner" and he was like "no way. shut up there is no fucking way you can just buy beer at any gas station"
he was immediately a lot less concerned about the change from his old haunts

 

[WarJams]

I could never imagine being so drunk I uber a beer instead of just driving to the liquor store like a responsible adult.

 

[SBG]

Couldn't you use Ubereats to order alcohol already? So they were using a separate app just for funsies?

 

[neverendingmidi]

Couldn't you use Ubereats to order alcohol already? So they were using a separate app just for funsies?

Was Uber able to deliver whole bottles of higher proof alcohol before they bought this out? I’m wondering if the backend of it was what they bought, and they just never shut down the specific app.

 

[User names must be unique]

I don't get the point of them buying that app, does Uber not do pick ups and deliveries from grocery stores in the US?

 

[neverendingmidi]

I don't get the point of them buying that app, does Uber not do pick ups and deliveries from grocery stores in the US?

If it was already set up with all of the restrictions and laws for each state regarding liquor sales, that data alone would be worth it just to not have to create it themselves. As @TowinKarz mentioned, the laws can change not just from state to state, but county to county, or even town to town. Not having to recreate that on their own would be a major boon.

For example, in Ohio you can buy beer, wine, and low proof alcohol (I think the limit is 90?) in grocery stores, but not things like whiskey, vodka, or tequila. Those have to be bought in State Liquor Stores. Pennsylvania on the other hand can’t sell any alcohol in grocery stores, and just barely started selling even beer in gas stations.

 

[DuckofDoom]

I remember using it exactly once when it first launched. I was fixing my car and didn't feel like walking the mile-and-a-half to the liquor store to make a beer run. The delivery driver never delivered, and the company only refunded my purchase amount, keeping the "service fee" and driver tip. I'm amazed they lasted this long.

 

[User names must be unique]

If it was already set up with all of the restrictions and laws for each state regarding liquor sales, that data alone would be worth it just to not have to create it themselves. As @TowinKarz mentioned, the laws can change not just from state to state, but county to county, or even town to town. Not having to recreate that on their own would be a major boon.

For example, in Ohio you can buy beer, wine, and low proof alcohol (I think the limit is 90?) in grocery stores, but not things like whiskey, vodka, or tequila. Those have to be bought in State Liquor Stores. Pennsylvania on the other hand can’t sell any alcohol in grocery stores, and just barely started selling even beer in gas stations.

Restaurants and stores list themselves and their products on Uber though, If there was any silly liquor law violations it would fall on the business that listed itself not Uber. Or are the laws so draconian they'd ban the transport/delivery of alcohol too?

 

[mold]

I don't get the point of them buying that app, does Uber not do pick ups and deliveries from grocery stores in the US?

US has fucktarded booze laws

 

[User names must be unique]

US has fucktarded booze laws

no meat, no cheese, no booze what do you even keep in your stores?

 

[neverendingmidi]

Restaurants and stores list themselves and their products on Uber though, If there was any silly liquor law violations it would fall on the business that listed itself not Uber. Or are the laws so draconian they'd ban the transport/delivery of alcohol too?

Quite possibly. It was only during covid that some places allowed you to take out wine or mixed drinks from restaurants. Before that I don’t think you could at all.

For example, let’s say somebody lives in a “dry” town. The people who live there drive to the next town over to get their booze. Perfectly legal for them to buy for their own use. However, they are asking for trouble if they bought booze and then re-sold it within the dry town’s boundaries. Now we’re adding delivery to this. Does that count as selling within the dry town and therefore illegal?

I haven’t a fucking clue, but I wouldn’t want to be the legal test subject for it either.

Edit: when I had a gift subscription to Saloonbox- a subscription that sent everything you needed to make two each of two different cocktails- a person 21 years or older had to be available to sign for delivery of it. It could not just be left on the porch.

 

[mold]

no meat, no cheese, no booze what do you even keep in your stores?

HFCS and ammo

 

[Xarpho's Return]

Quite possibly. It was only during covid that some places allowed you to take out wine or mixed drinks from restaurants. Before that I don’t think you could at all.

For example, let’s say somebody lives in a “dry” town. The people who live there drive to the next town over to get their booze. Perfectly legal for them to buy for their own use. However, they are asking for trouble if they bought booze and then re-sold it within the dry town’s boundaries. Now we’re adding delivery to this. Does that count as selling within the dry town and therefore illegal?

I haven’t a fucking clue, but I wouldn’t want to be the legal test subject for it either.

Edit: when I had a gift subscription to Saloonbox- a subscription that sent everything you needed to make two each of two different cocktails- a person 21 years or older had to be available to sign for delivery of it. It could not just be left on the porch.

I know that there was a totally dry part of Houston up until 2016. The gas stations sold no liquor, and the Fiesta grocery store had to put its liquor store (normally in the parking lot) at a spot several blocks away. Of course, there was nothing preventing you from buying drinks and taking them to your own home.

US has fucktarded booze laws

Since the Prohibition, there's a patchwork of laws regarding liquor, there are states where the state is the only one allowed to sell you hard liquor (or even beer & wine), in others, liquor can be obtained at a grocery store.

In Texas, grocery stores can't sell hard liquor (beer & wine only), but you can hardly find a grocery store that doesn't have a liquor store within the same shopping center.

 

[mold]

there are even stupider laws

stupid ass ones about where you can sit, where minors can sit, it all makes me mad

 

[New Fag]

no meat, no cheese, no booze what do you even keep in your stores?

Corn syrup and corn syrup accessories...

 

[PFM]

If it was already set up with all of the restrictions and laws for each state regarding liquor sales, that data alone would be worth it just to not have to create it themselves. As @TowinKarz mentioned, the laws can change not just from state to state, but county to county, or even town to town. Not having to recreate that on their own would be a major boon.

Are you saying that research was worth a billion dollars?