Uber Experiments With A Courier Service In New York City

I was expecting the service to utilize uber drivers between picking up and dropping of traditional customers the same way commercial jets carry airfreight. None the less I think it will be interesting to see if business will switch to uber from their traditional couriers.

Is it a no questions asked delivery as long as it is within the size limit? (Drugs?)

This may be a classic "bad idea" without some additional layers of security for precisely the reason you might intuit, drugs and other contraband. I have been a heavy user of courier services in the recent past (having been involved with media/PR agencies) and I know from experience that courier services in NYC do not and will not work with you if you haven't set up an account and/or don't have a physical place of business for them to pick up from. Try walking into a courier company's office with a package in hand and they won't take it from you without an established account.

Granted, you could argue that makes for a business opportunity for Uber, but in my experience as a long time NYC resident when you see safety measures and precautions like that which are ubiquitous to business practices there's usually a reason, namely that if there's any way at all to take advantage of a situation in this city there will always be 11 people lined up to do it within seconds.

Can I send my kids to daycare through this?

How is it different to existing courier services - just has a better consumer reach, or will it be cheaper/available where couriers are not today? Are they disrupting any existing regulation? Is my stuff insured when they take it? Can i track the courier on a GPS?

Interesting idea, but it feels very weird to have it in the Uber taxi app. They need to get a better strategy if they want to continue diversifying.

This should be interesting - especially with all the delivery startups which were created following uber's success.

I would not be surprised if they scoop up and acquire Postmates in the next 12-18 months.

Oh that's uber innovative.