We’ve already adjusted to the consumer utopia of buying just about everything online with a single click, but waiting for it to show up is still the hardest part. eBay Now pulled it off in a few places, and it’s not easy; just ask the couriers who are making it happen.
Fast Company decided to follow around of a couple of the eBay Now runners who get those packages delivered so fast, and the craziness of the whole operation just goes to show exactly how much room there is for improvement. From Fast Company:
Surprisingly, eBay’s Kmart affiliate was not much help. I figured the process would be similar to that of FreshDirect, with grocery items boxed and readied for shipment. But I was shocked to learn that [the courier] was treated no differently than any other person in the store — he was simply shopping on the behalf of this eBay Now customer, picking out items one by one.
Our final destination is in Brooklyn Heights, which means we have to hop on the train to the Clark Street stop, six subway stations away. We grab a seat on the train, next to a UPS deliveryman heading home from work, and finally have a second to relax.
It’s certainly a bit of haphazard operation, one that would be very hard to scale beyond a few select cities in its current form. Hopefully, someone else can get things slightly more streamlined. Send in the drones! [Fast Company]
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