Thinking about offering a shopping delivery service

[mickle]

Cargo bike with lockable box. Also electric assist.

Or just go sign up for Uber Eats.

 

[classic33]

Delivery charges for me are typically £1.50 from Asda and Morrisons, never more than £2.50, because I never choose the most expensive delivery slots. Also, regular shoppers can buy long-term delivery passes which makes it even cheaper per delivery. And the supermarkets typically make a loss on the actual delivery.

Then you've got the issue of payment. Do you visit the customer and get their cash upfront? Why would they trust a complete stranger? You pay up front first? What do you do when they dispute the goods, don't want what you've delivered, won't pay?

I really can't see this working, sorry. At least not well enough to earn more than a couple of pounds an hour at best.

I'd also caution against pro-bike thoughts of how nicely environmental it all is - remember, this forum has a pro-bike bias naturally. Cold hard economics must come first.

Best single answer on here.

Starting out is going to be the hardest part. You'll be needing upwards of £100 of your own money for each trip.

Done similar, but only for people I knew initially. Then got asked by others if I could get theirs. Hardest part was the actual payment. If they say you've got the wrong item, damaged an item, what do you do?

 

[Leodis]

Could you collect a bag from someone and deliver it to someone else? Asking for a friend.

 

[mjr]

Could you collect a bag from someone and deliver it to someone else? Asking for a friend.

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or

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?

 

[Tin Pot]

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or

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?

Surely all men are de facto sperm delivery vehicles?

 

[Globalti]

Sounds like a complete non-starter. What have you got to offer customers that they will value enough to want to pay money for? 99% of the population think cyclists are arrogant nutters and don't share our sanctimony, they want choice, speed of delivery and a service backed by corporate lackeys whose job is to sell the service and secure regular orders, which means kowtowing to the idiots, time-wasters and mind-changers. You'll be in a slow steady spiral into poverty and when something expensive goes wrong you'll be goosed.

Ask yourself: why has nobody else done this? It might work for high-margin pizzas in a compact city centre but not for low-margin, heavy, bulky groceries over several square miles.

 

[BoldonLad]

Difficult to see how you could compete with existing outlets delivering for around the £2.50 mark. Perhaps a market with people who either do not have bank account and/or internet access and/or not technically capable, so, cannot use existing service(s).

 

[ColinJ]

I used to be a regular buyer of beer at a shop in Hebden Bridge. I started to notice that a private hire driver was coming in at the same time as me most evenings and buying a couple of cans of Guinness. He was ahead of me in the queue one particular evening and after he had gone I made a comment to the owner about it being a bit dodgy that the driver might be knocking back a couple of beers every night while he was driving ...

It turned out that the taxi driver was actually taking them up to an old woman who lived in a village on one of the hills surrounding the town.

I said that it was an expensive way of buying Guinness, costing more for the taxi than for the drinks themselves. Why not get him to buy them in bulk, say eight 4-packs, once a fortnight, and drop them all off in one trip?

The shopkeeper said that the old woman rarely got to see anyone, and it was the highlight of her day to chat to the driver for 10 or 15 minutes when he dropped the Guinness off ... How sad is that!

So, maybe a delivery service with a personal touch could be viable, but wouldn't you feel guilty charging a lonely OAP for it!

 

[Slick]

I used to be a regular buyer of beer at a shop in Hebden Bridge. I started to notice that a private hire driver was coming in at the same time as me most evenings and buying a couple of cans of Guinness. He was ahead of me in the queue one particular evening and after he had gone I made a comment to the owner about it being a bit dodgy that the driver might be knocking back a couple of beers every night while he was driving ...

It turned out that the taxi driver was actually taking them up to an old woman who lived in a village on one of the hills surrounding the town.

I said that it was an expensive way of buying Guinness, costing more for the taxi than for the drinks themselves. Why not get him to buy them in bulk, say eight 4-packs, once a fortnight, and drop them all off in one trip?

The shopkeeper said that the old woman rarely got to see anyone, and it was the highlight of her day to chat to the driver for 10 or 15 minutes when he dropped the Guinness off ... How sad is that!

So, maybe a delivery service with a personal touch could be viable, but wouldn't you feel guilty charging a lonely OAP for it!

There's a lot more than OAP's that are lonely.

 

[Slick]

Anyway, that's just anecdata.

Sorry, couldn't help it.

 

[Milkfloat]

A friend of mine used to offer a late night service to people in Coventry. Delivering beer, cigarettes and a lot of snacks and Rizzlas. He was charging about £3 a trip and actually had the stock himself. He only lasted about 6 months, he could not make it pay and had too many problems with the obvious drunks and stoners.

 

[classic33]

I was doing my shopping at the same time. So very little extra effort required on my part.

Often those who asked if I could get theirs, were unable at the time, to get out to do their shopping.

 

[Biff600]

Would you still offer the service if someone wanted just a loaf of bread or does it have to be a minimum spend/amount of items.

Also unless you have a lockable box, you'll have to cart the already purchased goods around the other shops if you intend to do a multi-collection type service

 

[vickster]

I used to be a regular buyer of beer at a shop in Hebden Bridge. I started to notice that a private hire driver was coming in at the same time as me most evenings and buying a couple of cans of Guinness. He was ahead of me in the queue one particular evening and after he had gone I made a comment to the owner about it being a bit dodgy that the driver might be knocking back a couple of beers every night while he was driving ...

It turned out that the taxi driver was actually taking them up to an old woman who lived in a village on one of the hills surrounding the town.

I said that it was an expensive way of buying Guinness, costing more for the taxi than for the drinks themselves. Why not get him to buy them in bulk, say eight 4-packs, once a fortnight, and drop them all off in one trip?

The shopkeeper said that the old woman rarely got to see anyone, and it was the highlight of her day to chat to the driver for 10 or 15 minutes when he dropped the Guinness off ... How sad is that!

So, maybe a delivery service with a personal touch could be viable, but wouldn't you feel guilty charging a lonely OAP for it!

I think there are already charitable organisations that offer the elderly help with the shopping, take them to the shops or deliver to home. Don’t think a backie on a bike will be an incentive

 

[classic33]

I think there are already charitable organisations that offer the elderly help with the shopping, take them to the shops or deliver to home. Don’t think a backie on a bike will be an incentive

The journey down might be fun though. Getting the timing of the lights right, before the turning circle and back to Hebden Bridge.