Uber launches Courier Bakkie in South Africa

Uber South Africa today announced a new offering for people looking to move their big packages. Courier Bakkie, as you might have guessed, allows you to make use of a spare bakkie to transport large items like furniture or big appliances that won’t fit in your family sedan.

With the update, Uber also said it is rebranding its ‘Uber Package‘ product to ‘Courier’ to “better align with the growing range of transportation services made available to Users by independent contractors, via the Uber App.”

Uber’s Courier Bakkie rolls out

It isn’t often that South Africa is the first to try something, but Courier Bakkie joins the list of new things tested first in SA. Uber says this is a significant milestone for the company, but with the number of bakkies already on the road, it probably isn’t that big of a deal for most South Africans.

“South Africans love their bakkies because they are practical, versatile and make it easy to haul larger items. We are glad to grow our product offering, which has already seen significant uptake on the delivery of smaller packages like documentation or forgotten personal items,” says Mnotho Mtshali, Senior Operations Manager for Uber Middle East and Africa.

It probably will be a slightly bigger deal for anyone who doesn’t own a bakkie and has tried to move a large item. It can become quite a costly endeavour, not to mention the time and effort it takes. Why not hand off that hassle to someone else?

You’ll need to reside in Johannesburg to try it out for now, although Uber says support in Cape Town and Durban will “follow soon.”

Of course, with a larger vehicle comes a larger fee. Your fee will vary depending on the usual factors, like the time and distance of the trip. Although, the weight of your package doesn’t seem to make a difference, so long as it can fit on the back of a bakkie and weighs less than a tonne, you should be good to go.

Joburg residents who want to move something large need only log into the Uber app and scroll down until they see Courier Bakkie after selecting their destination.