A few years ago, I was in NY for a conference in Manhattan but had switched to a hotel in Jersey for a few days to see a friend. Once I switched back to Times Square, as I was getting dressed for a Broadway show it hit me: I had left all of my dress shirts in the Jersey hotel.
Long story short, I request an uber in the middle of NY rush hour saying that I was at the Jersey hotel. After a minute, I called the driver and explained the situation. He was happy to help and the hotel front desk had the shirts waiting when he arrived. He took them to the resteraunt that I was eating at on Broadway and much to my shock, the hour long process had only cost me $21.
Needless to say I tipped the driver with cash.
I remember thinking: This is going to be a thing VERY soon.
Conversely: "Hey Uber driver? I need you to pick up a duffel bag located at Cicero and X, under the bridge. Do NOT look in the bag. You will be tipped an extra $500 in cash if you obey these instructions."
This happens in LA already a fair amount in my experience. It's perfect for many productions where instead of picking up gear across town and sending a PA back and forth. The only down side is the repeatability and consistency that is valuable with using the same people who know where exactly to go and how to navigate the sometimes odd places.
Very interesting. Assuming that the drivers doing a "Rush" order can gather delivery items from multiple businesses in one geographical area, it could mean greater delivery efficiency (and shorter delivery times) overall. Example: orders come in to 4 businesses within within a few blocks of each other. Businesses send their Rush request in to Uber. Uber Rush driver indicates that they are in that area and picks up all items, then delivers them to target area(s).
Another thing this implies is that that these businesses could switch from a staffed delivery service to a completely on-demand one. One of the things the businesses and their customers could see an improvement with is the case where all their delivery people are out making deliveries, and new orders come in. With this, they just make a new Rush request and get a new delivery person.
This is something I've always thought about Uber- they're just a courier service that happens to deliver people. The reason taxi drivers are unhappy with them has never really made sense to me since the oh-so-expensive taxi medallion gives them the right to pick up people hailing them from the side of the street. All of the problems consumers have with taxis are because they're trying to use them as a car service to schedule rides and go further than just the downtown area of a city.
[+] [-] kingoflosaltos|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Laaw|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] fezz|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] digisth|10 years ago|reply
Another thing this implies is that that these businesses could switch from a staffed delivery service to a completely on-demand one. One of the things the businesses and their customers could see an improvement with is the case where all their delivery people are out making deliveries, and new orders come in. With this, they just make a new Rush request and get a new delivery person.
[+] [-] myhandle|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] alrs|10 years ago|reply
https://www.chownow.com/lp/UberRUSH
[+] [-] holografix|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] toomuchtodo|10 years ago|reply
What? You thought getting rid of jobs gets your business off the hook for helping pay for civilization?
[+] [-] Chefkoochooloo|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] lxida|10 years ago|reply
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