Yes, there are going to be a lot of startups trying to capitalize on Valentine’s Day. Postmates, however, has the advantage of doing something cool — something that involves free chocolate.
When the app launched last year at TechCrunch Disrupt, the coverage described it as the “Uber of packages.” On its face, the comparison might sound a little silly (at least, it did to me) but in the same way that Uber works because town car drivers often have downtime, Postmates is trying to take advantage of the fact that couriers and bike messengers aren’t always scheduled to make deliveries, and can instead take last-minute delivery requests via the Postmates app.
To try to get a little Valentine’s Day love, and also to help Bay Area residents give a nice surprise to their sweeties, Postmates is giving away 250 boxes of Christopher Elbow artisanal chocolate, delivered for free. Just download the Postmates app, enter “VALENTINES” as a promo code, then your location and your Valentine’s address, and finally “#valentines” as a description. The promotion will run until all 250 boxes are gone, and it starts … now.
Postmates service is currently available San Francisco, South San Francisco, Oakland, Emeryville and Berkeley. More details about the promotion are available here.