Pablo Luna
In the face of the growing spread of Coronavirus, many food and grocery delivery services have introduced no-human-contact deliveries where orders are delivered without any human contacts whatsoever. Some of the delivery startups have updated their websites to show that orders placed with them will now be dropped at customers’ doorsteps to prevent human interaction with staff.
Grocery delivery startup Instacart introduced the “Leave at My Door Delivery” feature so that interested customers can have their orders dropped at their doorsteps at specified time-frames. The startup said they would have rolled out this feature several months ago, but the spread of coronavirus has made most customers demand its implementation.
Another grocery delivery company, FreshDirect, announced to customers that their “delivery personnel will bring your order up to your door, but cannot enter your home at this time.” Even though they did not elaborate on the reason behind this development, it is obvious that this is a necessary precaution taken to stem the tide of coronavirus.
Food delivery service Postmates also stated that customers can now choose the “dropoff options” where orders are delivered to their doorsteps. Other startups such as DoorDash, Uber Eats, and GrubHub may also consider taking the same route since this is now the in-thing in China where the coronavirus epidemic started.
“This is obviously a complex and fast-moving situation,” a spokesman for GrubHub disclosed. “We are focused on prioritizing the health and safety of our drivers, diners, restaurant partners and employees during this challenging time. We will continue to monitor the situation closely, including assessing and analyzing the potential impact on our business.”
Many businesses in China have now adopted “contactless deliveries” so that coronavirus doesn’t spread further. This is a model where drones or robots are used to deliver orders to customers, or couriers deliver the orders to peoples’ doorsteps without any human contacts whatsoever. It is however not clear if delivery companies will continue to provide no-human-contact deliveries if the world eventually conquers coronavirus and sends it back to hell where it belongs.
Source: click2houston.com
