Private car hire service Uber began a product delivery service Aug. 19, only in Washington, D.C.
Its “Corner Store” will be available, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., Monday through Friday, within certain D.C. neighborhoods. There is no service fee and no minimum-purchase requirement for products delivered to your door, as drivers make use of some of their down time.
Announced Uber on its blog: “No need to race to the store after a long day at the office — now you can request allergy medicine, diapers, toothpaste and over 100 other items through the Uber app. This limited-time-only experiment will run for a month.”
Uber’s grocery delivery area is limited and includes Georgetown, Foggy Bottom, Adams Morgan, Upper Northwest, downtown around the White House and Capitol Hill. (No fresh produce is expected to be delivered.)
Other companies that offer same-day delivery include Amazon’s AmazonFresh, a grocery service it offers in Seattle and California. Google offers its Shopping Express, another delivery service which pulls from Costco, Whole Foods and others and operates in San Francisco and being expanded to Los Angeles and New York.
Uber will see how its experiment goes and may later extend and expand the service.
