To reduce person-to-person contact, local authorities, mayors, and governments have called upon residents to use delivery and pickup services as much as possible. In the food industry, this practice is ever more critical now, as many places don’t allow people to sit in restaurants and limit the number of people entering grocery stores to combat the coronavirus.
Here’s how three major, innovative delivery-brands are going about offering contact-free delivery options.
DoorDash
The San Francisco on-demand prepared food delivery service, DoorDash, not only offers contactless delivery options across the country. It teamed up with more than 2,000 grocery stores to offer free delivery to those aged 60+.
On the other side of the spectrum, the company speaks to a younger, more tech-savvy crowd in a sensitive, helpful way that is keeping them super relevant.
The #Doyourpartchallenge, an initiative by Anastasia “Stassie” Karanikolou and Timeline Management, was launched to “unite communities by delivering food and necessities to those in need while supporting local restaurants and businesses.”
And numerous, top-notch celebs loved the idea and joined the project. The delivery platform will be contributing gift cards for celeb participants to give to their followers with their #OpenforDelivery initiative.
“What I have witnessed over the past couple of weeks has been nothing less than extraordinary. It has been humbling to watch DoorDash merchants, customers, and Dashers come together to support each other,” Tony Xu, CEO/Co-founder, wrote.
Postmates
Another excellent example of an American company that promotes contact-free couriers to deliver goods locally is Postmates. The company has taken a proactive measure to encourage its couriers to be on top of their health.
Our Postmates community is always our top priority. We're actively monitoring and putting in place new solutions for our customers, Postmates, and local restaurants: https://t.co/TXOIeJ1ouv
— Postmates (@Postmates) March 17, 2020
Postmates also promotes a new option for customers – the “contact-free delivery” option – when ordering food directly on the app.
“We’re launching Drop-off Options — a brand new way to receive your deliveries,” Postmates tweeted. “You can choose to meet your Postmates at the door, curbside, or go non-contact and have your delivery left at the door.”
Curbside pickups are already an evident trend with Best Buy limiting its US stores to contactless curbside service, allowing only employees into its stores.
It was encouraging to see that Postmates took its initiatives a step further. With more of a personal approach, reaching out to its customers who are currently stuck at home – they sent an email that offered cool trivia questions, karaoke apps to have fun with, and other entertaining ideas to get through these tough times together, alone.
Just being there and offering value – that seems to be the leading direction.
Uber Eats
Launched by Uber in 2014, Uber Eats also offers contactless deliveries and is maintaining regular rates for its deliveries. Which is great for customers that may be struggling financially due to the coronavirus crisis.
Additionally, the company is providing financial assistance for up to 14 days to couriers and drivers who have been diagnosed with COVID-19 or have been asked to self-isolate. Uber Eats explained that the aid would be based “on your average daily earnings over the last six months.”