Feb. 19, 2020—You’ve all been there—stuck waiting on a part. Often, you miss the cutoff for a same-day delivery, so you’re forced to wait until the next day or send an employee to pick it up, which means they’re not able to do the work that you’re actually paying them for.
Roadie, a crowdsourcing delivery model launched in late 2014, aims to eliminate this problem altogether by taking advantage of the existing vehicles on the road. Think of it as a rideshare for parts.
Will Walker, Enterprise Manager at Roadie, says the company has the largest local same-day delivery footprint and reaches 89 percent of American households.
“Instead of having to wait on a courier or a send a driver off, you can use Roadie to set-up a delivery that will allow mechanics to keep working and allow them to get parts within a couple of hours,” Walker says.
How it works, the shop inputs the part that is needed, their location and the timeframe that it is needed in and Roadie matches it with a driver. Then, the shop can track the delivery, much like rideshare, and see exactly when it will be delivered.
Drivers for Roadie have to pass a background inspection and many are drivers for rideshare platforms, like Lyft and Uber. The idea is to use vehicles that are already on the road to create a more efficient delivery process.
Pricing for this service is based on the distance of the delivery and the part size. For example, a smaller part that only needs to travel a few miles may cost between $10-$15.