At-home delivery isn’t just for takeout anymore.
Three Gainesville men recently launched Lazy Delivery, a service that can bring items such as groceries and toiletries from the store to a customer’s doorstep within an hour.
The creators, 23-year-old Marc Charbel, 24-year-old Manuel Zelaya and 23-year-old Daniel Zelaya, run the fleet of 12 employees who race around town collecting and delivering orders.
“Nothing like this exists in Gainesville, so we thought that the Gainesville community could really, really benefit from this,” said Manuel Zelaya.
It takes a few steps: Sign in online, order items, indicate where the items should be delivered and confirm. It costs $7 for a scheduled delivery of up to 10 items from one store, and it includes stores like Wal-Mart, Target, Sears, CVS and Walgreens.
For students like Christy Marcroft, a 19-year-old UF history freshman, the service is a stress reliever.
“It’s hard to go to the grocery store and bring the groceries on the bus on the way back,” Marcroft said.
She said freshmen living on campus will probably benefit the most from the service.
“They probably don’t have a car, and some of them are probably too nervous to take the bus,” Marcroft said.
The company’s management team agreed its business model was inspired by students’ needs, but it can also help other residents, such as busy parents.
“You’re buying time to have more time to study or see your kid at the soccer game,” Manuel Zelaya said.
He said a Lazy Delivery app will launch by Friday.
A version of this story ran on page 9 on 1/14/2014 under the headline "New service brings groceries to Gainesville doorsteps"
