I Just Tried Uber's New Delivery Service, 'Rush' And It Got Me My Package In 20 Minutes

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bike delivery

Reuters/Keith Bedford

In the future, Uber may not just be an on-demand car service. Instead, it could be a logistics company that delivers all sorts of products to your doorstep quickly.

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Uber has already run on-demand tests for ice cream, roses, helicopter rides, flu shots and most recently, deliveries of small packages with its New York launch of Uber Rush.

Uber Rush uses bike messengers to bring small items from point A to point B. It launched in April.

Finally this week, I had a reason to try it. I forgot a raincoat at a downtown meeting in Manhattan last week, and it wasn't convenient for me to retrieve it. I logged on Uber and saw a biker was eight minutes away from my rain coat.

uber rush

Uber Rush


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So I hailed one. It was 10:45 AM, and the person holding my coat for me needed it to be retrieved before an 11:30 meeting.

After hailing the Uber Rush biker, I started crafting a text message to him with instructions. He beat me to it.

uber rush

Uber Rush


I told him what to do once he arrived at the downtown building, who to get my coat from, and where to drop my coat off.

At 11:00 AM, I received an email from the friend who had my coat, saying he had given it to the biker.

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And within ten minutes, I had a text from the bike messenger saying he was downstairs.

uber rush

Uber Rush


The coat delivery cost me $11. Taking the subway there and back would have cost half the price, but it was a totally reasonable price to pay for the convenience.

uber rush

Uber Rush