Postmates - Food Delivery

Review by eFreeware

If you want dinner from a restaurant you like without leaving the house, or you need groceries and household basics brought to your door, Postmates is built for exactly that. The app comes from Uber Technologies and covers restaurants, supermarkets, convenience stores, pharmacies and even pet stores, so the same place you order a burrito can also supply diapers, milk and shampoo.

That range is the main draw. Rather than keeping one app for takeout and another for groceries, you browse nearby options, build a cart and choose when it arrives. The developer says the service runs around the clock, every day of the year, which matters if your schedule does not line up with normal store hours.

I'd expect this to appeal most to people who value convenience over planning: busy households, anyone without a car, or someone who would rather pay for delivery than spend an evening shopping. It is free to download, with ads in the app and no in-app purchases.

Ordering from restaurants, menus and all

The restaurant side is the core of the app. You browse what is nearby and pick from a broad spread of cuisines, whether that means pizza, sushi, burgers, burritos or Chinese food. The idea is to order from any menu, add items to your cart with a few taps, and skip the line or the reservation that a table would normally require.

Timing is flexible in two directions. Orders can be placed for immediate delivery or booked ahead for a chosen time slot. That second option is the one I'd lean on for a planned dinner or a lunch that needs to land at a specific time rather than whenever a driver is free.

The practical benefit is that you are not locked into a single restaurant's own ordering system. One app covers the menus of many places, which keeps your ordering in one spot instead of scattered across several ordering pages.

Beyond takeout: groceries and everyday essentials

Postmates is not only about prepared food. The app also covers grocery stores, supermarkets, convenience stores and pet stores, which turns it into a general errand service. You can order staples such as bread, eggs, milk, meat, fruit and vegetables, along with baby food, diapers, pharmacy items, beauty products and cosmetics.

That mix is what separates it from a plain restaurant delivery app. A single order can cover dinner and the household items you forgot to pick up, and the developer pitches the service as getting you what you want, when you want it. For anyone managing a home, that combination is the most useful part of the offering.

The trade-off is that this is a delivery service, so what you get depends on which stores near you participate. The developer notes that store availability is based on your location, which is worth checking before you count on a particular shop being listed.

Tracking, pickup and doorstep drops

Once an order is placed, you can follow it in the app. The tracking screen shows the estimated delivery time to your address, and you get a notification when the order arrives. For anyone who has stood by a window wondering where dinner is, that visibility is the feature that makes the service feel manageable.

There are two alternatives to a standard handover. Pickup lets you order food ahead, add items to your cart and collect it at the restaurant yourself, which suits people who are already out and about or who would rather not pay for delivery. The no-contact option has deliveries left at your doorstep instead of handed over in person.

Neither option is complicated, and both fit the same app and the same cart. Pickup in particular is a sensible middle ground when you want the convenience of ordering ahead without the delivery step.

What it needs, and the costs to weigh

Everything here runs on your location. The developer ties both store and offer availability to where you are, so the catalog you see is the catalog you can actually order from. Before committing to the app as your main way of shopping, it is worth confirming that the restaurants and stores you care about are covered in your area.

The download is free, and the app contains ads. There are no in-app purchases, but the service itself is not free: tax and fees still apply to orders, and the offer is limited to one use per customer.

There is a welcome promotion for new users, billed as up to $10 off a next order. The terms are narrow: it applies when you download and log in to the new Postmates app, it cannot be shared or transferred, and it must be used within 14 days of logging in. Postmates reserves the right to change or end the offer at any time, so I would treat it as a nudge to try the service rather than a reason to plan around it.

The app has been available since early 2014 and carries a 4.5 average from more than 237,000 ratings, which suggests a large and generally satisfied user base. The app is refreshed regularly with performance and reliability improvements, and new features are highlighted in the app as they arrive.

Who gets the most from Postmates

This is an app for people who want errands handled rather than optimized. If your week is full and the choice is between cooking, shopping and ordering in, Postmates is designed to make the last option quick: browse, tap, track, done. The combination of restaurant meals and grocery runs in one place is what makes it more than a takeout app.

It also suits households that need a mix of things at once, since the same order flow covers dinner, diapers and pharmacy items. And because pickup is offered alongside delivery, it works for someone who wants to order ahead and collect in person without paying for a courier.

Where it asks something of you is in the setup and the geography. You need to be in an area the service covers, with the stores you want listed. Anyone unwilling to pay a premium for convenience will find the math less appealing.

For people who mostly cook from what they already have, or who live somewhere with thin coverage, the value is harder to justify. The app is at its best when it removes a real errand from your day.

A delivery app that covers dinner and the diaper run

Postmates earns a place on the phone of anyone who wants restaurant meals, groceries and household essentials delivered without juggling several apps. The range is the strongest argument: one cart can cover a Friday dinner and the items you would otherwise pick up on the way home, with tracking, pickup and doorstep delivery all built around the same flow.

The reservations are the usual ones for a delivery service, so the convenience comes at a price beyond the download.

I would suggest it to busy households, people without easy access to a car, and anyone who would rather schedule a delivery in advance than spend an evening on errands. If your needs are occasional and your neighborhood is well served, it is a straightforward install.

What's new

Thanks for using Postmates! We update our app regularly to make ordering even faster and easier. Every update includes improvements in performance and reliability. As new features are released, we’ll highlight those for you in the app.