Yahoo – AFP,
12 May 2015
Ride-sharing service Sidecar on Tuesday added medical marijuana to the list of goods it will promptly deliver to customers in San Francisco (AFP Photo/David Mcnew) |
San
Francisco (AFP) - Ride-sharing service Sidecar on Tuesday added medical
marijuana to the list of goods it will promptly deliver to customers in San
Francisco.
"Now,
you can order medical marijuana and a Sidecar will deliver it to your
door," the San Francisco-based startup whose list of backers includes
British tycoon Sir Richard Branson said in a blog post.
Early this
year, Sidecar began delivering flowers, groceries, hot food and other items in
its hometown as it began expanding the same-day service to other US cities.
At the
time, Sidecar co-founder Sunil Paul said that he expected same-day delivery
services to represent half the company's business by the end of this year.
"Our
vision is that one day any business will be able to take an order and get it to
the customer in an hour, and Sidecar will be the service that powers this
capability," Paul said.
Half of
Sidecar trips in San Francisco now involve deliveries, according to the
company.
Sidecar
teamed with Meadow, which runs a website where people can order medical
marijuana from licensed dispensaries.
Orders are
secured in lock boxes for trips, and drivers are card-holding medical marijuana
patients who are also members of local collectives shipping the pot, according
to Sidecar.
Deliveries
are promised within an hour of ordering.
"The
delivery of medical marijuana, with its layers of complexity, is the perfect
use case to highlight the power of our delivery service," Sidecar said.
"We
are capable of handling the same-day delivery of anything, if it's legal and
fits in a car."
Sidecar
charges for "on-demand" deliveries start at $5 and climb with
distance and during commute or late night hours, but come with fees waived if
items don't arrive on time.
Paul has
maintained that moving people along with packages enables Sidecar to charge
bargain delivery prices while getting items quickly to destinations.
No comments:
Post a Comment