As well as working as an engineer, "Warren" works as a part-time
courier, delivering cakes, sandwiches and coffee in his Toyota Wish
before and after work - and even during his lunch hour.
The 30-year-old signed up to on-demand delivery service CarPal
three months ago and earns between $250 and $500 a week in extra
income.
Warren (not his real name) told The Sunday Times: "I like to drive
and I can use the car to generate income rather than wasting time
at home."
CarPal and its larger competitor RocketUncle are among a host of
on-demand delivery start-ups to have sprouted up in Singapore over
the past year.
They use apps and websites to link their clients with third-party
drivers - much like how taxi booking apps match passengers and
cabbies.
But while firms like Easy Van and GoGoVan prefer their drivers to
have a lorry, van, or motorcycle, CarPal and RocketUncle also
target regular car owners who may have little experience in
logistics.
CarPal founder Maarten Hemmes said 80 per cent of its 150
registered drivers belong to this demographic. They range from
cabbies and Uber drivers, to real estate and sales agents, and
others who want to make extra income on the weekends or
evenings.
"The idea is that when you are going from point A to B for your
work or any other reason, why not take a package along? From a
couple of cars in a courier company's fleet, we are expanding our
resources to millions of people who have a vehicle."
The Dutchman launched CarPal here last May. About eight in 10 of
his orders involve perishables and fresh items, likes flowers,
cakes, juices and food.
RocketUncle, which launched here in January last year, has almost
5,000 drivers - about half of them car owners.
Founder Noam Berda said most are shift workers with extra time on
their hands.
Each earns $5 to $15 per package delivered depending on its size.
RocketUncle now handles an average of 3,000 deliveries a day,
mostly documents from offices and parcels from shops. It has even
helped hair salons deliver shampoo to customers who want to buy an
extra bottle.
"Every job has a price and location - drivers can then decide if
they want to fulfil them," said Mr Berda, a 39-year-old Singapore
permanent resident.
He added that all its drivers are screened and are either
Singaporeans or Singapore residents.
A driver can also be locked out of the system if his or her
performance is not up to par.
RocketUncle will launch in Manila next month.
One of its drivers, who wanted to be identified only as Mustaqim,
said he does up to 10 jobs a day in his Mitsubishi Lancer. The
33-year-old sales agent juggles the work in between meeting
clients.
After discounting his petrol costs, he can earn about $40 to $50 a
day.
Mr Zayed Talib, from online shawl retailer Adlina Anis Selections,
has been using RocketUncle since last June. His company used to
have two delivery drivers on its payroll, but let them go because
"it was too expensive". He and other colleagues then started doing
deliveries themselves but ran into problems with consolidating
orders.
"We were tied up with meetings and it was difficult because the
delivery information was not housed in one place," he said, adding
that RocketUncle handles about 20 same-day deliveries for his
company every day - a service that costs about $1,000 a month.
"That's cheaper than hiring drivers, who sit around doing nothing
between deliveries. If they didn't turn up for work, it was a huge
blow to operations."
But while doing deliveries can help some make a quick buck, General
Insurance Association of Singapore executive director Derek Teo
said that under a private car motor insurance policy, the use is
restricted to "social, domestic and pleasure only".
If the vehicle is used otherwise and the driver has an accident,
the insurer is likely to decline liability since there is a breach
of policy condition.
Mr Teo said: "If the driver had used the vehicle for a paid
delivery, it is clear that he is discharging a commercial
transaction, which would mean the vehicle had been used for
business purposes."
Both RocketUncle and CarPal advise their drivers to check with
insurance providers about coverage. Both companies cover goods
delivered by up to $500 and $250 respectively, in the event they
are damaged or lost.
Meanwhile, GoGoVan's country manager for Singapore, Mr William Ban,
said his firm is not ruling out using car drivers. "Depending on
the market demand in (the) future, we foresee other types of
transportation may also play a role in this space, such as sedans,
bicycles and even on foot!"
Traditional courier firms such as ixpress647, which has been around
for four years, said its business has not been affected by the new
start-ups.
Owner Aznan Zainal, 29, said: "I do more contract services, rather
than ad-hoc orders. The items can be worth a few thousand. From a
business perspective, they will not want a random person coming to
pick up their goods. We arrange the deliveries and have full
control over our drivers."
http://bit.ly/1DVgYUY