Uber is teaming up with Office Depot to deliver on-demand workplace and school supplies to the Uber Eats platform. It’s the latest effort by the ride-hailing firm to diversify its delivery choices past takeout and groceries.
Starting at present, Uber Eats clients can place orders from 900 Office Depot and OfficeMax places throughout the nation. “From ink and toner, to backpacks, binders, and extra, customers will be capable of store for 1000’s of things and have them delivered proper to their door,” the corporate says.
In addition, members of Uber’s month-to-month subscription service, Uber One, will obtain particular advantages, like free delivery and a 5 % low cost on all orders with a $15 minimal buy.
Uber has been pushing into new delivery classes for a number of years because it seeks to broaden its picks as a technique to higher compete with rivals like DoorDash, Grubhub, and Instacart in addition to the brand new crop of ultra-fast grocery startups like Gopuff and Fridge No More. (Although it could be that the second has already handed for these firms.)
To assist gasoline its grocery delivery enlargement, Uber has acquired a variety of smaller startups in latest months, together with Postmates, Cornershop, and Drizly. The firm additionally partnered with Gopuff, which makes a speciality of delivering “important” or “immediate want” objects like liquor, magnificence and pet merchandise, snacks, and over-the-counter medicine.
Using Uber the old-school manner — to get a trip someplace — is dearer than it’s ever been. Fares are up by as a lot as 40 %, however the firm additionally lately reported $382 million in free money circulation for the primary time ever, a sign that the rideshare firm’s “hardcore” effort to rein in prices is beginning to repay, even within the midst of a cooling financial system.