Uber which bought its big delivery competitor Postmates for $2.65 billion announced quietly in March that the Postmates Fleet App will be going away; What that means is starting next month there will be no more Postmates drivers all deliveries will be made by Uber Eats drivers on orders from the Postmates app.
For Postmate drivers that meant that they had to apply to Uber to continue to drive if they wanted to continue delivering for the Postmates app. Even though the Postmates Fleet App will be gone the customer facing Postmates app will still be operating for the moment although eventually i can see the app going away.
Less delivery apps likely means higher fees for customers and restaurants as less competition usually drives up the cost for customers. In the short term you likely won’t see huge changes although over time i can see the selection of restaurants on the Postmates and Uber Eats apps looking more similar. Eventually I’m sure Uber will shut down the Postmates service and, combine everything in a Uber app as it seams to be combining slowly Uber Eats and the maIn Uber app together.
In markets such as Southern California where i live Postmates was much stronger than Uber but with Postmates eventually gone from the market Uber will be the dominant name in food delivery in Southern California and many markets. Consolidation in the food delivery market has been coming for some time and, instead of five or six big players its likely we will end up with town or three bigger ones.
