A local man has come up with an innovative idea to provide delivery and shipment services to Calgarians on-demand and even though the company is just a month old it already has hundreds of clients.
Väestö caters to people who need things picked up or delivered and is a bit like UBER in that it uses independently contracted drivers and charges the users’ credit card for the on-demand service.
The company is the brain child of Calgarian David Lee who came up with the idea last year when he noticed a demand while completing an errand of his own.
“I bought some stuff on kijiji and I had to go to Okotoks to get it and I didn’t have a truck so I went to borrow my friend’s truck, drove all the way to Okotoks, loaded up the playset for my kids, that I bought, and drove back so on the way back to my house, I wished just one other car could help me do it and that would save me a day of work, so I looked around and there’s no other services for individuals to use for couriers so me and my friend, we decided to start a service,” said Lee.
It took about three months to create an app and website for the service and the company already have hundreds of clients.
Users create an account online or through the app and add a valid credit card or PayPal account to take care of the charges.
The dispatch software sends the nearest courier to the user’s location and the client is charged a base fee and mileage costs from the pick up to the drop off point.
The drivers don’t work directly for the company but pay a percentage to be listed and all are subjected to a background check and are required to carry commercial insurance.
“The only thing that we deliver is goods and all our drivers have commercial insurance to cover the loss or damage of goods so we are legally operating and we are not transporting passengers,” said Lee.
The Väestö app is available for free from the Apple App Store, Google Play Store and BlackBerry App World.
For more on Väestö and how it works, click HERE.
(With files from Lea Williams-Doherty)
