It’s the little things that you don’t think about when your whole routine gets flipped on its head. With the arrival of Wes we quickly learned how little time we had to plan out meals, go grocery shopping, and spend a relaxing evening cooking dinner. Thanks to our incredible friends and neighbors bringing over prepared meals, we haven’t starved to death. But there are times when there’s just no chance we can get out the door to even grab some takeout. Enter Postmates.
Postmates is a pretty new service to Austin that is basically a 3rd-party food delivery service. While delivery services are nothing new, the beauty of Postmates is in the details. The app is super simple to use and has quite a few local restaurants keyed in with their menus, so it’s easy to just tap what you want. If what you’re hungry for isn’t there, just type it in. Your credit card gets charged directly, so no money physically changes hands when your food is delivered, and any tip you decide to give to the delivery person goes 100% to them. You can also track your delivery person on a live map to see how far away they are. Throughout the process you get text message updates too.
The one downside, which is understandable, is that the delivery zone is somewhat limited. But that’s a general logistics issue (I’m looking at you, Austin Traffic). I’ve used Postmates four times already when things looked bleak and ::gasp:: we could have missed a meal!
The first trial run was ordering Easy Tiger while we were still at the hospital with a 24-hour old baby. It was the least successful experience I had and almost turned me off to the whole service. The food arrived about 30 minutes late, and the sandwiches we ordered were all messed up. I called the support line and they apologized and immediately credited back my account. Alright, so not a good start, but relationship salvaged and left me open to trying again.
With family in town visiting Wes we placed some big orders for dinner, each from places that aren’t typical takeout spots. Clay Pit Indian, Second Bar + Kitchen, and TRIO at the Four Seasons each had no problem packaging up some large meals and handing them over to the Postmates delivery person. That dinner from TRIO was a gourmet steak dinner for four, and the food arrived in perfect condition.
In addition to fast, reliable delivery on-demand, Postmates has been offering free goodies about once per week. Just log in during the specific time (usually announced via email a few hours in advance) and place your order. So far I’ve successfully received free breakfast tacos from Peached Tortilla, a pint of Blue Bell ice cream, and a dozen donuts from Shipley Do-nuts!
I’d highly recommend Postmates, if for nothing other than those free goodies! But the service has been solid and makes life much easier with an infant. If you want to sign up, consider using my link and referral code flfu3, which will get you a free $10 credit!
Note: I have no affiliation with Postmates and they didn’t ask me to write this blog post. I just like the service and wanted to share my experience.