Digital platforms can algorithmically change rules, prices, and recommendations on a per-user, per-session basis, a practice called "twiddling." This leverages surveillance data to maximize extraction, such as raising prices on payday or offering lower wages to workers with high credit card debt, which was previously too labor-intensive for businesses to implement.

A restaurant's 'off night' isn't about being too busy, but about every customer arriving at once. This simultaneous demand overwhelms production lines (bar, kitchen), forcing rushed work and leading to a drop in quality. It's a peak throughput problem, not a total throughput one.

Customers often rate a service higher if they believe significant effort was expended—a concept called the "illusion of effort." Even if a faster, automated process yields the same result, framing the delivery around the effort invested in creating the system can boost perceived quality.

The common frustration of a dropped customer service call is often not an accident. Call center agents are measured on "average handle time" and are penalized if calls are too long, incentivizing them to hang up on complex calls to avoid punishment.

The market often misjudges companies like DoorDash by focusing on the high-level service (food delivery) while missing the massive, compounding value created by its obsessive focus on fine-grained logistical details. These small, chained-together improvements create a powerful, hard-to-replicate moat over time.

Tipping creates an 'economic surplus' because consumers mentally discount its cost (a $1 tip feels like 80¢) while couriers inflate its value. This inefficiency gives tipping-enabled platforms a competitive advantage, making the feature almost inevitable for any delivery app to maximize revenue and compete effectively.

Companies intentionally create friction ("sludge")—like long waits and complex processes—not from incompetence, but to discourage customers from pursuing claims or services they are entitled to. This is the insidious counterpart to behavioral "nudge" theory.

Platforms first attract users with a great service, then pivot to monetizing those users for business customers, and finally extract all value for themselves, degrading the experience for everyone else. This cycle, termed "inshittification," is enabled by locking in users and businesses who become too dependent to leave.

Travis Kalanick claims delivery app tipping isn't about service feedback but is a tool to maximize consumer price. He posits that consumers are economically irrational, perceiving a $1 tip as costing only 80 cents, while couriers perceive it as being worth $1.20. This psychological gap creates an economic surplus that competitors can exploit to gain market share.