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Uber plans to deliver everything

April 30, 2015Written by George Anderson

Uber isn't just about picking up people in one place and delivering them to their destination in another. No, according to reports, Uber drivers (and bicycle riders) are, or soon will be, delivering restaurant meals and purchases from merchants, as well.

Uber has launched UberEATS in Chicago and New York after testing the food delivery service in Barcelona and Los Angeles. The service promises to deliver curated dishes from popular restaurants in minutes for a flat fee of $3 or $4. The UberEATS menu changes daily.

Ordering a sandwich is very similar to requesting a ride. The service is in fact available from the same Uber app that the company's customers are already familiar with.

According to Uber's blog, "The response to UberEATS has been amazingly positive. In LA (where it was previously known as UberFRESH) we continue to grow our roster of restaurants, have added brunch service on the weekends, and cut down delivery times to 10 minutes or less. Hot spots like Bay Cities, Bottega Louie, and Canter's have expanded their reach and boosted their business. And our driver partners tell us they love having another way to earn more through the Uber platform."

Uber is also reported to be getting ready to launch a same-day retail delivery service known as UberRUSH. According to TechCrunch, the company is currently in talks with over 400 different merchants, including Cohen's Fashion Optical, Hugo Boss, Louis Vuitton, Neiman Marcus and Tiffany's, about using its drivers and couriers to deliver goods.

An unidentified source told TechCrunch that Uber initially planned to offer the delivery service for large e-commerce retailers such as Amazon and eBay, but discovered that getting goods out of warehouses wasn't cost effective or time efficient. Picking up items from local shops, however, can work "as long as the vendor has control over the amount and type of inventory available in a single day."

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