Postmates takes on UberEats with launch of 15-minute food delivery service

Postmates is looking to take on UberEats and other on-demand food delivery services with an express offering of its own. The company today unveiled Postmates Pop, which will deliver pre-prepared (but freshly made) items to you within 15 minutes for a $1.99 delivery fee.

Starting every weekday at 11 a.m. and going until the inventory is gone, users will see a Pop icon appear at the bottom of their Postmates app. The menu will vary and will include a handful of options from the service’s 3,000-plus in-network merchants. At launch, Postmates Pop will only focus on $10 lunch specials, which makes sense — the service is limited to the South of Market neighborhood of San Francisco, which empties out after work hours.

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Although Postmates promises that food will get to you within 15 minutes, it says it’s seen an average delivery time of 7 minutes during initial testing.

The company is planning on expanding Pop into new markets, but hasn’t said where it’s going next. Eventually its couriers will not be carrying around just food — in the future non-food items will be an option, possibly as a way to leverage its partnership with Walgreens and other non-food establishments.

Postmates Pop certainly makes sense, since the company is already known for its incredibly fast food deliveries, but it’s also necessary — the company is facing tough competition from Uber, Sprig, Square’s Fastbite, and possibly even Amazon. With everything available on-demand, it’s a battle to see who can get it to you the fastest.

Let’s compare the approximate delivery time and delivery fees for some of these “express” services:

• Postmates Pop: 15 minutes and $1.99
• UberEats: 10 minutes and $3.00
• Square’s Fastbite: 15 minutes and $2.99
• Sprig: 15 minutes and $2.00

While Uber claims its service as fastest among the abovementioned companies, its delivery fees are slightly higher (although it’s important to note that while in its soft launch phase, the company is waiving its delivery fee in San Francisco). Postmates may have a leg up on its competitors in that it has already established relationships with many of San Francisco’s restaurants and has the delivery infrastructure in place.