In recent years, technology has rapidly changed the world for good. It is easier than ever to get anything you want at just the click of a button – whether it is a job opportunity, a ride from a company like Uber, or a hot meal delivered right at your door.
When you are binge-watching your favorite season or working to meet the closest deadline, leaving the house to get yourself lunch or dinner might seem quite difficult. However, with apps like Postmates, you can order your lunch, dinner, or breakfast from your favorite restaurant with just a few clicks.
Gone are the days when people had to choose between pizza or their local Chinese restaurant for takeout – now, they can have food from any restaurant delivered to their doorstep within an hour.
Isn’t it amazing?
Of course, it is. It comes as no surprise why Postmates has become people’s favorite food delivery app within a short period.
While the concept of Postmates may be similar to other food delivery apps, you may still be wondering about the order options, delivery fee, and more features you should expect on the Postmates app. Read on to know everything about this giant food delivery app – Postmates!
History of Food Delivery
Before discussing how Postmates work and how much it charges for order delivery, let’s take a look at the history of food delivery. Food delivery services are not only popular in the United States of America but in every part of the world.
People stuck with 9 to 5 jobs are greatly dependent on these food delivery apps for their mealtimes. However, who came up with the idea of a food delivery service?
The concept of food delivery is much older than you think. Unfortunately, no one knows the origin of food delivery. According to some sources, it started in the 18th century in Korea to fulfill people’s late-night cravings for Naengmyeon (cold noodles).
In Europe, the first food delivery service started in the 19th century when a famous pizza chain in Italy took the initiative to deliver piping-hot pizzas to the King and Queen of Savoy.
Later, many fast-food chains took advantage of the idea and started delivering their food to the public to make higher profits.
Many small entrepreneurs jumped on the bandwagon and created their food delivery apps to make the food delivery process even simpler and faster. However, out of thousands, only a few food delivery apps could make their mark in the industry.
How Does Postmates Work?
One of the cool things about Postmates is that it is beyond a food delivery app. The Postmates website or app idea is that you can get anything delivered at your doorstep.
As a Postmates app or website user, you can avoid the hassle of physical shopping and save a lot of your time.
Besides delivering everything at your doorstep, it also helps you skip the traditional delivery request process, which involves google searches, multiple website visits, and phone calls by compiling a complete catalog of local eateries and their menus on one platform.
With a comprehensive menu comprising different restaurants, you will be able to quickly choose the food you want for your breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Once you have selected your meal, it will take your order only a few taps to reach straight to the restaurant and then to your doorstep.
The Postmates app allows its users to track every part of the delivery process. From preparation to transit, you will be able to keep track of your order throughout the delivery process.
Once the Postmates courier picks up your order, you will be able to see their location in real-time. Therefore, if there is any delay in the food delivery, users will know about it beforehand instead of waiting and getting frustrated.
Getting your order delivered through Postmates may cost you a little more than other apps, but their quality service makes it worth every penny you spend.
What Restaurants Are on Postmates?
The best part about the Postmates food delivery app is that you can order through any restaurant you want.
As long as the restaurant you want to order your food from allows people to pick up food (some restaurants don’t allow takeouts), Postmates will send their courier to pick it up.
It might cost you a little more, but if you love a restaurant and are willing to pay a little extra for your favorite meal, Postmates will let you order from them.
List of Items You Can Order From Postmates
Postmates is a pretty versatile delivery app allowing people to order almost “anything.” So whether you want a fresh shirt for your evening date, a new set of headphones for your virtual meeting, or snacks for a movie night, you can order it all from Postmates.
Here is a list of items that you can order from Postmates:
- Food (Any restaurant)
- Groceries
- Medicines
- Clothes
- Shoes
- Perfumes
- Bags
- Alcohol
- Flowers
- Pet food
- Personal use items
List of Items You Cannot Order From Postmates
As mentioned above, Postmates allows its users to order almost “anything” from their app or website. However, there are still a few limitations in ordering certain items. To help you understand better, here are a few items that you cannot order from Postmates:
- Gift cards
- Live animals
- Guns
- Explosives
- Any controlled or illegal substances
Postmates does not allow the user to purchase gift cards from various brands. However, it does allow users to buy Postmates’ virtual gift card that people can you use at the time of delivery. For sending Postmates’ virtual gift card to your loved one, go to the Options section of the app and click on Send a Gift Card option.
How Much Does Postmates Charge For a Delivery?
The Postmates pricing strategy is quite simple enough to understand. Anything you order can be delivered from any location to your doorstep for $5.99 to $9.99. However, Postmates still offer special deals to its users, making it possible to get a pickup for $1.99 to $3.99.
Here are the following factors that impact the delivery fee of your order before tax:
Order selection
The cost of your meal can be the same or slightly higher than in-store, depending on the prices your merchant has set.
For example, if you order from a cafe or restaurant near your location, Postmates will charge a lower delivery fee. However, ordering from a faraway restaurant from your location will cost you a much higher delivery fee than usual.
Delivery fee
Postmates have all the restaurants divided into two categories – Postmates Partner Merchants and other restaurants. Restaurants that have agreed to become Postmates’ Partner Merchants pay the food delivery service some percentage of profits per each order.
Therefore, you will have to pay only $0.99 to $3.99 as a delivery fee when ordering from Postmates Partner Merchants.
However, other restaurants that have not agreed to become Postmates Partner Merchants do not pay the food delivery app anything. Postmates still allow you to order from these restaurants, but you will have to pay a delivery fee between $5.99 to $9.99.
Service fee
A percentage-based fee that may vary depending on where you are ordering is charged per each order.
Small cart fee
Like other food delivery apps, Postmates also have a minimum order limit (usually $12). Therefore, if your order is below the minimum order limit, Postmates will charge you $1.99 as an additional small cart fee.
Blitz pricing
The delivery fee can be slightly higher during peak hours which usually occur during lunch and dinner. During peak times, many people make delivery requests. Therefore, Postmates facilitate only those willing to pay a little extra for their service.
However, if you want to avoid the hassle of paying during peak hours, you can sign up as an Unlimited Subscriber.
How to reduce the delivery fees on Postmates?
Postmates has undoubtedly become the most popular and reliable food delivery app. However, people do think that it is quite more expensive than the other apps.
Do your Postmates orders cost you a lot? Stress no more. Fortunately, there are a few ways to reduce your Postmates’ delivery fees per order to a great extent.
Postmates know how to attract new customers. Therefore, they give each first-time user free deliveries till their order history crosses a $100 limit. Also, users can get a $25 credit when they refer the app to their loved ones.
If you are a frequent user of the Postmates app, getting yourself registered in their Unlimited Subscriber program is better to save up a lot on delivery fees. By paying $9.99 per month or $99 per year, you will be getting free deliveries on orders between $10 to $15.