Roadie: The Answer to Your Shipping Prayers

How to ship huge Bubbleballs like this? Roadie did this for an event in Atlanta recently.
How to ship huge Bubbleballs like this? Roadie did this for an event in Atlanta recently.

By Elijah Rivera

Roadie is carpooling for cargo. This tagline sums up a new app that for some could prove to be a great money saver, and is also a great way to earn money for your travels.

Roadie launched its app-based shipping community in the Southeastern US in January of 2015 and launched nationally in March of 2015, and now Roadie has over 150,000 verified drivers and covers 89% of US households; making it the largest local same-day delivery service in the nation.

Roadie's founders suggest sending valuable items using a private car, instead of Fed-X.
Roadie’s founders suggest sending valuable items using a private car, instead of Fed-Ex.

One Billion Square Feet

Roadie’s founders estimate that there is over one billion square feet of excess capacity in passenger vehicles, the foundation of their service. Anyone with but a few of these one billion square feet can sign up as a Roadie Driver and have people bid on using your vehicle to ship items to wherever you’re heading.

Instead of having to take your whole bike apart, if you ship it with Roadie it can go fully assembled.
Instead of having to take your whole bike apart, if you ship it with Roadie it can go fully assembled.

What could be easier than being paid for doing something you were going to do anyway? Roadie connects those who need things delivered, whether across town or across the country, to those headed in their direction.

As a driver, you can sign up for “Gigs,” which are basically appointments to pick things up and/or drop them off.

By self-described “disruptive innovation”, Roadie is tapping into the nation’s $90 billion shipping industry. Most often their customers consist of those looking to ship large, awkward or delicate objects. This only makes sense as their competitors–traditional shipping companies such as FedEx and the U.S Postal Service,  charge a fortune for most things of the sort, especially oversize items.

What They Ship

On Roadie’s blog, they include stories of shipping valuable antique rocking chairs, giant Bubbleballs used for fighting games, (see photo above) and many pets who have been transported sans cage in a comfy private car across many miles.

In addition to a greater level of convenience, representative Jackie Copp of Roadie says the application insures every package for $500, more than any traditional mailing service, and at no cost to the user. On especially busy times of the year for shipping such as holidays this is often a legitimate concern.

Roadie has also expanded its domain over the past few years and now offers shipping on things like groceries, construction supplies, and even lost luggage.

Roadie’s Big Partnerships

In the grocery game, Roadie has recently partnered with industry giant Walmart for a grocery delivery service that Roadie hopes to bring to every community. Roadie.com excitedly states, “Roadie, alongside Walmart’s team of more than 18,000 personal shoppers, will bring the gift of convenience to thousands of customers in the new year. That means no last-minute grocery runs or fighting traffic when you need to restock on eggs and milk.”

The Home Depot has also recently joined the party, as they now offer customers express, same-day delivery on over 20,000 items in select US markets. The website tells, “Through our partnership, customers no longer need to run back and forth to their local Home Depot before or during a project. Instead, they can simply buy materials online and have them delivered that same day.”

Lost Luggage

Roadie has also used its innovative platform to partner with airlines, like Delta, to help return lost luggage to customers more quickly. Travelers can now file lost bag claims on the Fly Delta app and receive their luggage faster and more efficiently from Roadie drivers.

Delta and Roadie have also partnered to offer customers across the country same-day delivery with a partnership of planes and Roadie drivers.

Pet Owners Use Roadie

A big farm table like this would be a very costly item to ship, Roadie just might have a guy with a truck who will do it for less.
A big farm table like this would be a very costly item to ship, Roadie just might have a guy with a truck who will do it for less.

Aside from those shipping oddly shaped, sized or constructed objects, Roadie customers consist of travelers, movers and pet owners.

As a traveler, you can request luggage delivered to you from location to location to avoid carrying to much weight on an adventure. As a pet owner, you can avoid costly airplane fees for pet travel or the risk of stressing your animal in other forms of travel by providing a slightly more intimate form of travel for them.

As someone who is moving, you can take advantage of this application in a number of cases. If you’re trying to make a move in a single trip, trying to avoid the cost of truck rentals and/or labor or simply don’t have enough things to organize a more formal team of movers, Roadie is at your service.

Because the application is not the moving service itself, it is more accurate to describe the servers as the drivers, of which there are over 20 thousand nationwide. Drivers come in all shapes and sizes but serve the same purpose, to deliver what you’d like at an efficient cost and within a reasonable time frame.

Bright Future

Online reviews stay consistent with praise for Roadie and its promising concept. “Feedback from drivers and senders alike has been overwhelmingly positive.” says a representative of the application. Every day senders benefit from the app, as in the case of senders S&S Fire Pits, who constantly ship large and heavy custom fire pits.

They are able to save greatly on the cost of traditional shipping with the use of Roadie. Another, more unique example stems from a mother in Phoenix, Arizona who needed to transport her daughter’s belongings home from college in Michigan. What would have normally cost her $900 shrunk to nearly half of that with the use of Roadie.

Roadie is also primed for a bright future as it has raised over $62 million in investments, and has recently secured over $37 million in their most recent round of funding from investors like The Home Depot, Warren Stephens and Eric Schmidt’s TomorrowVentures, among others.

Roadie often brings out the neighborliness in ourselves, as it allows for a form of more personal interaction between consumer and provider. Who better to deliver a gift to a loved one or a personal item left behind at a hotel or resort than someone within your community–or maybe even someone you know? Furthermore, your money doesn’t go into the pockets of large corporations with questionable profit sharing, but to your neighbor.

Try Roadie the next time you’re trying to send a swing set to your little sister, or perhaps if you’re heading to California from New York in a big minivan with some extra room. Why not make some money from those empty seats?

Visit the Roadie website here.

Download the app for iPhone

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