Uber is catering for on demand delivery services of various businesses

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While you can get a car when you want, why you can’t get your food, clothes etc, this is what is called on-demand. Though it sounds comforting for customers it is not the same for sellers. It involves ridiculous amount of planning and execution by the service provider to complete this.

The company needs to have a tech team and a fleet of delivery vehicles and a complete system to monitor all the deliveries and stock. Even if it is a tough job, more and more business are trying to give this comfort to their customers. This will let them gain more number of customers and spread their operation beyond the geo-location constraints, in case of brick and mortar business.

The pioneer in the on-demand delivery service is uber; the company has inspired a lot of companies to shape their instant services. Today there a bandwagon of taxi companies which have copied Uber and managed to rise as a big company. This shows that the model of Uber is far reaching and is loved by many customers, such that our societies have been able to accommodate more than one uber.

Now the company has created its UberRUSH service which will let sellers and merchants use it to complete their delivery process. There are companies which have completely relied on this service for all their delivery.

This is a win-win situation for both the companies involved. Uber will get new business and the companies do not need to maintain an entire set-up for logistics. It is similar to outsourcing part of their functions. Uber with a huge fleet of cars under its belt finds it an easy job and gives its drivers an additional job apart from ferrying people.

Uber has a dedicated API for major retailers, which is integrated into the brands application, the popular ones and their services are:

T-mobile delivers smart phones on a super fast mode to dwellers in San Francisco

Nordstrom flagship store in Michigan Avenue in Chicago use UberRUSH

1800 flowers in New York City delivers floral and gourmet gifts through this instant service.

Rent the Runway, offers designer outfit for every occasion.

Food industry is the major utilize of this platform with more than 25,000 restaurants using UberRUSH.

Providing instant services even to logistics giants like Bergen Logistics and Trade global. Though actually speaking uber is eating into their business, the power of instant delivery is what keeps them up in the game.

How can business use this facility?

At present UberRUSH has introduced its API to be integrated with their application and provide instant delivery. It is upto the companies to provide UberRUSH for instant delivery and normal delivery during check-out. Customers can choose which delivery they want to choose. Alternatively the companies can have UberRUSH as the only option.

Earlier only larger companies like Nordstrom, 1800 flowers and Rent the Runway had this integrated with their business, but now on UberRUSH is available to all in their uber app for use.

Customers had the option to choose their delivery mode that is instant or not in their check-out session or companies by default provided faster delivery for within city dispatches.

You can charge your customer for the instant delivery or choose to cover it with the existing bill.

This means even if you don’t have the API you can still send out your deliveries through Uber. So not only start-ups and business can use this but any person who needs to send out things to another person living in the same city can exchange goods.

Availability

At present the service is available in three cities of the United States of America, San Francisco, New York and Chicago.

How to avail the service?

As mentioned earlier it is an option available in you is conventional uber application.

To request for a delivery place the pin at the pick-up addresses. Your messenger will be present within a short time to pick up the delivery.

The messenger should be given with details regarding the delivery address.

You can track the movement of your item through the application and also share your location with recipient of the delivery.

Pricing

The cost of the service is $3 base fare and an additional $4 per mile so summing to a minimum of $7 per delivery.

Quality of the service

The drivers or messengers chosen to deliver are subject to stringent background checks and an in-person interview and screening will be held. Thus ensuring maximum safety to your products and you can track the course of your package.

Messengers                                                         

In Chicago the messengers will use a mix of both bike and car

In Chicago only cars will be used.

In New York a combination of cars, bicycle and on foot messengers will be used.

This means the Uber will be requiring a large share bike riders and car drivers. As of now the passengers and courier service will not be intermingled.

Restricted items

Any items listed in the below category will not be taken for delivery:

  • People or animals of any size
  • Fragile goods
  • Illegal goods
  • Very expensive or rare items
  • Dangerous items(weapons, explosives, flammable etc)
  • Stolen goods: Things which do not belong to the sender
  • Over sized items

If the messenger refuses delivery of any item for the above listed reason, a cancellation fee will be applicable and they reserve the right to refuse or accept any item.

Guarantee over delivery of products

Uber will guarantee lost or damaged items up to 250 in case of negligence by the messenger. This is applicable only if the goods do not belong to the restricted category.

Communication with the messenger

The sender can text detailed information about where to pick up the delivery with address and landmarks

During the delivery journey one can call the messenger at any time by tapping the arrow next to the info of messenger provided at the bottom of the application.

Receiver

Make sure there is someone at the receiver end to get the delivery. Messenger has to send a confirmation text to the sender regarding the recipient of the delivery.

If there is no person available at the receiver’s end the delivery will be sent back to the sender and full delivery fare added with the cancellation fee will be charged.

A delivery which does not require a recipient at the receiving end should be stated at the time of sending itself.

Future

Earlier RUSH API was given to select partners; now even small business can integrate them into their application. The operations are expected to spread other cities as well apart from the present cities. London is mostly likely to be the next city of choice where they would be venturing into postal delivery.

The company if it manages to balance supply demand and efficiency it can very well grab the market share of delivery giants like FedEx and UPS. Users will jump to fast and cheap services like Uber.

Bottom-line

Moving goods from one part of the city to another should be affordable and reliable than getting in your personal car to pick it up yourself.