Ask HN: Why isn't there a Swiggy for Hardware in India?

1 pointgingabriska1 comment

I love getting deliveries for food through Swiggy but if I need to buy some hardware like PVC pipes, MDF boards or aluminium rails. These are either too long or too heavy, i need a truck to haul them to my place.

Sometimes I just want 10 liters of wood glue delivered to my place.

You can't buy these from Amazon India.

Why isn't there a startup which takes care of hardware delivery?

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Such a solution would be Uber for Pickup Trucks, or alternatively the stores you are buying from (Home Depot or Lowe's in the USA) offer delivery for some items like that.

Running such a business requires not just an app but also capital risk: what happens if the driver doesn't deliver $1000 worth of construction materials? Who absorbs that cost? The business would need to negotiate insurance contracts for such a problem.

So yeah, until someone has the courage to start a biz like that and acquire all the resources needed to run it, it will remain just a dream and the Home Depot will just tell you "get your own pickup truck and drive over here and buy it and take it home yourself, sorry!"

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