Dive Brief:
- UPS' Roadie will extend its recently launched fast delivery service for big and bulky items into new markets in the coming months, according to an announcement from the crowdsourced delivery platform on Wednesday.
- The service, named RoadieXD, taps into company cross-docks, or facilities where goods are given to drivers immediately, to enable quick delivery from retailers' distribution centers to the end customer in the same day. Orders are delivered the same day they reach a cross-dock, per Roadie's website.
- First launched in metro Atlanta, the solution is now active in New York, Miami and Dallas. Facilities supporting RoadieXD are set to open in Los Angeles and Chicago in the coming months, with more locations to follow, the announcement said.
Dive Insight:
Roadie says it has 200,000-plus drivers on its platform, enabling local same-day delivery to more than 97% of U.S. households. Its RoadieXD service, launched earlier this year, is positioning itself as a more efficient way to deliver large items quickly compared to traditional methods.
RoadieXD can handle full truckload and less-than-truckload pickups directly from distribution centers. Leveraging distribution center inventory allows retailers to offer a wider range of SKUs to customers compared to large item delivery from stores, Roadie Founder and CEO Marc Gorlin said during a presentation Wednesday at Home Delivery World 2024 in Philadelphia.
"Stores are not fulfillment centers," Gorlin said. "They don't have a lot of the SKUs that actual DCs have, and they also have people in there working, picking, packing, putting stuff up, taking it down. It's very costly and they're not spending any time with the customers."
Retailers using RoadieXD can offer same-day delivery up to 100 miles from cross-dock facilities located throughout the U.S., according to the announcement. The service is currently available for items up to 200 pounds and up to 12 feet in length.
RoadieXD's expansion adds to Roadie’s momentum since being acquired by UPS in 2021. For example, the company announced a partnership with Parts Town in May to grow the equipment distributor's same-day delivery reach.
