When his clients requested delivery by the end of the week, Jack, the owner of The Big Chandelier in Atlanta, realized he needed to find a quick, affordable way to send four chandeliers to his clients in Florida more than 300 miles away.
Between packaging costs and a tight shipping deadline, Jack couldn’t afford to send with a traditional carrier and needed to find a fast, affordable alternative.
That’s where Roadie came in.
Rather than paying $300 for traditional shipping, Jack would only need to pay $60 to send with Roadie. He posted his Gig — what Roadie calls a delivery — Monday morning before work. Later that day, Matt happened to be leaving for the Gulf Coast with a SUV and offered to deliver the chandeliers by dinnertime.
And just like that, Jack sent four chandeliers from Atlanta to his clients in South Florida same-day for a fraction of what he would have paid with a traditional carrier.
Roadie’s “on-the-way” delivery network connects people who need to send their items with drivers already heading in the right direction, making it even easier to get stuff where it needs to go — whether it’s last-minute cupcakes for a customer, antique furniture for clients out-of-state, or even the tennis racquet your kid left across town.
For small business owners in particular, Roadie provides more accessibility to low-cost delivery when shipping items to customers across town or even across the country.
While consumer demand for same day, next day, and out-of-the-box shipping continues to grow, a new model has yet to emerge to give small businesses an alternative to traditional carriers for their hard-to-ship or last-minute products.
As the newest entrant in the sharing economy, Roadie solves delivery problems facing the $90B shipping industry and creates a community that gives consumers and businesses a more cost efficient, faster and greener shipping option.
Some might find it surprising that UPS invested in Roadie last January, the first time a stalwart of industry had invested in a sharing economy company. With the challenges the shipping industry faces, it’s no wonder UPS wants to be part of the innovation that could one day disrupt its very industry. Looking back on it, Marriot probably wishes they had invested in Airbnb.
And now, Roadie and UPS have taken the next step in their collaboration. Through UPS Capital®, every delivery in the Roadie network (up to $10,000) will be backed by the very same protection as packages delivered by UPS.
For business owners, this collaboration gives them a cheaper, more convenient alternative to traditional shipping and couriers, while still providing them the confidence they need to send their products with Roadie.
So, for Shirley at Sweet Cheats or John at French Market Flowers, getting cupcakes or bouquets to their customers becomes easier and cheaper than using a courier. And for Andy at S&S Fire Pits, he no longer needs to spend a fortune to send a 120lb fire pit overnight 400 miles away. All three can safely place their items in the car of a trusted Roadie already heading in the right direction.
Each day, Roadie continues to unveil a transportation heat map created by all the places we go and the patterns people drive. Think about it: there’s somebody leaving everywhere going everywhere else all the time. That excess capacity is practically a natural resource.
At any given time, people are heading to school or work, taking road trips across the country, visiting friends at college or just running errands. Roadie gives them a way to earn extra cash and other benefits along the way, including free roadside assistance, the ability to write-off miles, and even free Waffle House waffles.
For people and businesses who need to send items, Roadie provides an efficient way to get their stuff wherever it needs to go, whether it’s last minute, over night, or even on weekends.
Simply, Roadie makes it easier for people to take care of each other and get their stuff from here to there. People helping people lives at the heart of what Roadie does, and while Roadie plans to disrupt the shipping industry, the team also hopes to build a profound new way of connecting within our community and with each other.
