Yesterday, PickMe users were offered a pleasant surprise. It came in the form of a new feature on the app. PickMe Parcel Delivery. As the name implies, PickMe has introduced parcel delivery to its list of services on offer. So next time you leave something home or you want to get an important document delivered, this might be an apt feature for you.
We’re yet to try the feature ourselves. But from what we’ve seen so far, it’s a same-day delivery service. You have the option to either send or receive a package. Either way, you have to add in both the sender’s and recipient’s details.
One thing to note is that if you’re paying by cash, you’ll be charged at the pickup point and not at the drop off location. With regards to the rates, PickMe is yet to make it public. But adding a couple of test locations from Nugegoda to Bambalapitiya the app showed us LKR 275.35. A PickMe tuk on that route would usually cost around LKR 281. So it’s a little less than LKR 32/km by the looks of it. Mind you this didn’t take weight into account. So, this may very well change once official announcements are made.
You can’t use the service just yet
At the time of writing, the parcel delivery feature has disappeared from the app. We reached out to PickMe and they confirmed that what we all saw was merely a test run of the feature and not an actual launch of the service itself. Speaking to ReadMe, the company stated that the parcel delivery service will likely be live in the coming week.
Right now, the company offers taxis, rentals and food delivery. So this was only a matter of time. PickMe has been toying with the idea of a parcel delivery service for a while now. Back in April, Mithila Somasiri, Chief Technology Officer at Digital Mobility Solutions (Pvt) Ltd., teased the idea as well. “If you forget your charger at home, you can use this service to get it to you quickly and affordably”.
Of course, PickMe isn’t the first to market with this offering. Nevertheless, their massive userbase and the brand’s popularity are definitely two things that give PickMe a certain advantage. But players like Grasshoppers by Kapruka have already been in the market for a while. It will be interesting to see how things playout for the ride-hailing app in the future.
We’ll be keeping a close on things and will be sure to update the article accordingly.