Uber's new courier service will deliver clothes and groceries on demand

Have you ever wanted to cook yourself dinner but you're too lazy to go pick up groceries?  If so, you're going to love the idea of UberRUSH.

The ridesharing company's new courier service is launching in Chicago and San Francisco, and continuing in New York where it started as a pilot program last year. Originally launched as a way for all Uber users to get things picked up and dropped off, RUSH has been reworked as a service exclusively for small business owners.

The company's trying to catch the eye of restaurants looking to expand their delivery zones, or get some help during busy spells, and shops wanting same-day delivery for customers on items like clothing and groceries.

Uber's spokesperson told Road Warrior Voices:

In NYC there are bike couriers and in Chicago its cars but in SF its a bit of a combo ... business owners will be prompted to select small, medium, large packages. If it's a large package then the request would go out to any open delivery driver to accept. On the customer side they receive an email and text message with the tracking information of their delivery.

Packages and passengers will be delivered by separate fleets though, so you'll be glad to know your next ride won't smell like burritos. Every delivery costs $5 to $7, which businesses can either cover themselves or charge the customer. It's a business model that's very similar to the company's most direct competition Postmates, a courier company that delivers for McDonald's, Chipotle and Apple, among others. Postmates, however, gets customers to order from its website directly whereas Uber is only acting as the middleman.

It'll be interesting to see how far RUSH gets ahead in the delivery market, and if FedEx and UPS will have to start chasing Uber to keep up.