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Postmates: rise of the anti-Amazon

The rise of the sharing economy has transformed the way users access goods and services, whether it be a driver, overnight accommodations, or food.

Postmates, an on-demand delivery service app, is just one example of the success of this new technology-enabled paradigm. Postmates has attracted the attention of Starbucks (SBUX) and Chipotle (CMG), both of which announced delivery partnerships with the app this year.

“We like to think of it as a remote control for your city," says Postmates CEO Bastian Lehmann. Through the app, users can customize orders for items ranging from foodstuffs to footwear, and have them delivered in under an hour.

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While Amazon's (AMZN) delivery system uses large warehouses to distribute inventory, Postmates sources items locally. "Postmates is like an anti-Amazon" says Lehmann. "With Postmates, we believe in using the city as a warehouse. We want to understand the inventory that’s available in a city and redistribute that."

The delivery workers for service apps like Postmates are contractors, which has raised concerns about worker security, salary and benefits.

"We're talking about a different sector of the labor market," he says. "We like to think of Postmates as America's best part time job. It's complementary income."

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