We can no longer imagine city centres without delivery vans continuously going up and down our streets. Delivery services were meant to make our lives easier, but nowadays there are so many of them that they also create annoying and even dangerous situations in the streets. To solve this problem, several startups are promising us their perfect “Last Mile Solutions”. One of them is Wuunder, that we wrote about last month. Not much later, ViaTim, and Homerr also popped up. But aren’t these delivery service startups all doing the same thing? We took a closer look at Wuunder, ViaTim, and Homerr to find out.
What do last mile solutions startups offer?
Wuunder, ViaTim, and Homerr are three Dutch startups that intend to improve delivery service. They each want to introduce an easier and more efficient way of receiving and sending packages. They all promise us an easy and comfortable way to receive our orders, whenever and wherever we need them. But how do you choose the right one for your delivery needs? First of all you can consider your location. Do you live in the Amsterdam area? Homerr offers its services there. If you live in Rotterdam or around, ViaTim, which operates from Bergen op Zoom, might be interesting for you. In both cities you can also count on Wuunder, which is available throughout the country. But what are the differences that make these individual companies stand out in this niche of Last Mile Solutions Startups?
Wuunder: efficient and fast delivery
We already took an in-depth look at Wuunder last month, but here’s a quick recap: Wuunder offers a service with which the customer can choose when and where he wants to receive the package. Through a chat screen the client can have direct contact with the courier. Instead of receiving five packages on different times of the day, Wuunder makes sure that everything will be delivered at once. Wuunder could be interesting for companies or consumers sending and receiving multiple packages per day.
ViaTim and Homerr: your neighbor as a delivery point
While Wuunder works with couriers, with ViaTim, and Homerr you and your neighbors can operate as delivery points for your packages. This way ViaTim and Homerr also offer a social service. People can sign up to become a delivery point for all the packages in the neighborhood. You will never have to miss your package when you are not at home, because the courier will bring everything to that neighbour who puts him- or herself forward as a delivery point. At the same time this helps neighbors to get to know one another. Some people sit at home a lot, and would like to have some neighbors over. Others have a shop that could use more walk-in customers. It’s people like this who often volunteer to become a Homerr or ViaTim delivery point for packages in their area.
Different approaches
What then, is the difference between ViaTim and Homerr, apart from their regional difference? They have different systems for the delivery points. The Homerr delivery point could change every time you use the service, as it depends on the availability of the Homerrs. The ViaTim point is a structural point close to your home, and is basically always available and accessible. Additionally, while Homerr is really a package delivery service helping you to find the closest available Homerr every time you expect a package, ViaTim’s service is not limited to packages. It also offers other services, such as laundry washing and ironing.
One common pitfall
All three startups offer a way to have a more efficient delivery service in the streets. Making use of their services, there should be less needless driving around, less stress and frustrations, and the packages should get delivered to the right place. When it comes to solving the problem of traffic nuisance and wrongly delivered packages, however, all startups seem to have one common pitfall: to be really effective in solving those problems, an entire neighborhood has to make use of the same service. After all, other couriers and delivery services will continue to deliver the usual way in the same neighborhoods.
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