If you’re tired of pizza delivery, you’re very fortunate to live in a world of startups who are always trying to earn money by making your life easier and happier. One of my favorite new companies is Postmates, a service that lets you order food and groceries with your mobile device.
The concept is simple. Open the app, choose from the many restaurants or stores, request a delivery and track its progress. When your delivery arrives, sign your name on the driver’s app, add a tip and enjoy your purchases.
They first caught my eye with a coupon for a free delivery. D.J. was coming home from work, and we had nothing in the fridge, so I decided to order dinner from a cool local restaurant called The Promiscuous Fork. Within an hour, we had two amazing, hot burgers for less than $18.
One of the cool things about the service is that they frequently offer promotions, such as $5 delivery of good football food when the Chargers play at home, or a free umbrella. Yep. A free umbrella.
A couple of weekends ago they had a free Slurpee weekend, so I ordered a medium Cherry drink while I was at the hair salon. Cassie H. was the delivery person, and I could watch her progress to my salon.
When she arrived, I grilled her about the job while my stylist and I shared the Slurpee. Cassie said she was asked to pick up all kinds of things from all kinds of places. Postmates will shop for your cold medicine, bring you a bottle of vodka (in certain areas) and take care of a chocolate emergency.
Right now Postmates is available in the San Francisco Bay Area (San Francisco, East Bay, South Bay), New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington DC, Seattle, Austin, Boston, Philadelphia, Miami and San Diego. They promise to expand soon.
