The On-Demand Economy is here. To recap from my On-Demand Economy blog entry, the On-Demand economy is composed of people-to-people transactions facilitated by technology companies (aka smartphone apps), in which people order goods or services and other people deliver/provide that good/service.
In order to rise to the opportunity the On-Demand Economy presents, Drover is proud to announce Drover Delivery, a service by which app users will be able to order food (and hopefully other goods) delivered to them by our drivers.
The Concept
Services like UberEats, Postmates, OrderUp, etc have operated in this space for a couple of years. The basic concept is people will be able to, via the Drover app, browse the menus of local restaurants and businesses and order food and goods from those establishments. Then, their order will be delivered to their location by our drivers in a timely manner.
So, the process goes: Hungry customer places an order at their favorite participating restaurant on their smartphone app --> Drover picks up the order at the restaurant --> Drover drives order to the customer at their location. Just like Drover's rideshare service, this transaction will be completely cashless with payments processed and completed through the app.
Drover Delivery Improves Your Life
Drover Delivery will improve your life. Think about it -- only a handful of restaurants actually offer delivery services. This is for practical reasons, having a fleet of dedicated delivery drivers is expensive and difficult to coordinate. As a consequence, your order-in options at home are severely limited to chain pizza places and a handful of other delivering establishments. Drover Delivery expands your order-in options to every restaurant in your city that participates with our service. Restaurants in your area will love to partner with us because we take away the entire cost of staffing and maintaining a delivery fleet by providing up to thousands of willing and able drivers ready to pick up and deliver food from their establishment. This means more variety for you and your family when you want to get food delivered at home, greater selection during your lunch break at work, and everything in between.
Why Drover Delivery?
As I alluded to earlier, there are already a couple of companies operating in the on-demand space. We feel, however, that Drover has something unique to offer to this arena. The commitment to service and quality that Drover expresses in our rideshare platform will only be amplified in our upcoming delivery service. Additionally, Drover Delivery will provide us an additional way to serve the communities we operate in and ensure the greatest possible positive impact. How will Drover principles play out in Drover Delivery?
1) Focus on Charity - as with our rideshare service, 2% of our profit on every successful Drover Delivery will go to charities operating in the areas we serve. To clarify, this 2% will NOT be deducted from driver profits, but instead from our profits/fees from the delivery. To remind, 2% of every Drover Rideshare fare will also be donated to non-profit organizations, similarly from our profits without cutting into the margins of our esteemed drivers.
2) Drive When you Want - with our Rideshare service, drivers will be able to work the hours that suit them, simply turning on "driver mode" on the app whenever they want to begin work, and simply turning it off when they are ready to be done. Similarly, Drover Delivery drivers will be able to drive when they want and for as long as they want. Coming home from work and want to make some extra money? Fantastic. Want to put in a lengthy shift and get several hours worth of delivering in? You can certainly do that as well. The only restriction I can forsee on driving hours is the physical hours of operations of the restaurants we partner with. Unlike rideshare which can feasibly run 24/7 because people always need rides, Drover Delivery will be limited to the operating hours of our partner restaurants. For example, let's say we partner with Chipotle. Chipotle in Nashville on 21st avenue closes at 10pm. Consequently, our drivers would not be able to fulfill/deliver orders from Chipotle past 10pm. More likely than not, the app will signal this by fading the names of locations that have closed or, if you're an early bird, are not open yet.
3) Cashless transactions - I already touched on this, but it's super important. All Drover Delivery transactions will be cashless, with payments fulfilled through the app. This saves you any discomfort from handing cash to your drivers. You will also be able to tip through the app.
4) Drive from the comfort of your own car - you will be driving your own car!
5) Focus on the Environment - in line with Drover Rideshare's focus on sustainability, green energy, and low environmental impact, Drover Delivery will similarly aim to support and protect the environment. This will most likely play out in the vehicles we approve (high fuel economy/efficiency), emphasis of electric vehicles, and working with restaurants to send food out in recyclable or biodegradable containers and bags.
That is just a rough outline of what Drover Delivery will be all about, and as we get closer to launching the app we will have many more exciting updates, so stay tuned and comment if you have any questions!
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Patrizio Murdocca is Chief Web Architect at Drover Rideshare, a student at Vanderbilt University, and President of Interfaced Ministries.
