DoorDash confirmed it’s testing a brand new characteristic referred to as “Return a Bundle” that enables prospects to make use of the service to return packages to the closest submit workplace, UPS or FedEx location. The characteristic is a part of a small beta check and isn’t but broadly obtainable, DoorDash stated, and declined to share which markets are providing the choice.
To make use of the characteristic, a buyer will first choose the choice to return a package deal within the app. They’ll have to have their package deal already absolutely sealed with the pay as you go transport label hooked up. A DoorDash supply individual will then arrive to select up the package deal and ship it to the closest bodily retailer or submit workplace. They received’t drop off the packages at standalone drop packing containers.
“DoorDash is at all times eager about new methods to supply the communities we serve with entry to unparalleled comfort and alternative by means of our platform,” a DoorDash spokesperson advised TechCrunch. “We regularly discover and check new improvements to supply extra worth to our prospects, Dashers and service provider companions.”
A screenshot offered by DoorDash explains that courier monitoring could also be completely different for this supply possibility, which isn’t a shock as a result of, in contrast to most DoorDash orders, you’ll be sending a package deal versus receiving an order.
“This retailer decides if its courier or a Dasher delivers your order,” the screenshot additionally says. “The shop and its courier could obtain your title, handle, supply directions, and cellphone quantity to assist ship to you.”
By way of compensation, Dashers dealing with package deal returns are paid in the identical method they’d be paid for every other market order, the corporate stated.
With this new characteristic, DoorDash says it desires to assist prospects keep away from the tedious activity of taking a package deal to a submit workplace with a view to fulfill a return. The corporate notes that though returns are frequent, they are often time-consuming, which is why it wished to create a strategy to simplify the return course of by leveraging its present native logistics infrastructure. DoorDash additionally stated supply individuals on its app are at all times in search of new methods to earn by means of the platform and that this new characteristic will give them a further possibility to take action.
DoorDash isn’t the one supply firm that has labored to supply such a service. Again in 2015, Uber supplied a “limited-time” possibility for patrons to ship return packages to submit places of work. The characteristic was referred to as “Returns” and was powered by UberRush, which shut down in 2018. Equally, a former on-demand transport startup referred to as Shyp supplied a service that picked up packages and delivered them to their vacation spot. The corporate ended operations in 2018 after struggling to discover a scalable mannequin past its launching level in San Francisco.