Plenty of potential
Uber started a meal delivery service in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Toronto and Barcelona last year, while it also launched a pilot in several American cities for a package delivery service.
Uber used to do this through an app and everyone who uses it, will get a notification when a package can be picked up for delivery. Several packages can even be placed at a driver for storage and whoever is nearby can accept the delivery order.
It has plenty of potential, because Uber has 200,000 active drivers, twice as much as delivery company UPS’s team.
Too many obstructions
The company’s diversification has not yet proven a success, The Wall Street Journal writes. It sees several reasons for the current failure: Uber’s insurance for deliveries only goes up to 1,000 dollars and there is no link between the suppliers’ computer system and Uber’s system. The company is also struggling to get a lot of cars at the same location when needed. On top of that, not everyone needs same day-delivery.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Uber has talked to Apple, Starbucks, Eat 24 and GrubHub, but nothing structurally materialized. Only 6 suppliers had apparently agreed a deal and one of those has already backed out again.
Uber said in a statement that its UberEats service, which coordinates its meal deliveries, is getting mostly positive feedback and will probably be expanded to 15 cities in the next few months.
