Of Course Uber Wants To Deliver Groceries

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By  Aimee Levitt

Not content merely to transport people or bring them restaurant food (and sad fast food swag), Uber is now getting into the grocery delivery game. Last Friday, the rideshare company announced that it's buying a majority stake in Cornershop, a grocery-delivery company in Latin America and Canada. The deal is expected to be finished early next year; after that, The New York Times reports, Uber plans to expand delivery service to the United States. Oh, we have so much to look forward to!

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi announced the deal via a GIF on Twitter, which was followed by a more traditional press release.

Cornershop is based in Santiago, Chile, and currently delivers in Chile, Mexico, Peru, and Toronto. Walmart tried to acquire it last year but was blocked by Mexican antitrust laws; it did, however, strike a deal with Cornershop for grocery delivery in Canada.

In its report on the deal, NPR pointed out that Uber has still yet to turn a profit. It's also facing pressure from a law passed in California last month that would require app-based companies to classify gig contractors as employees with benefits.

Does this foreshadow a not-so-distant future in which Uber goes to war with Amazon to determine which company will be the first to be all things to all people? (Amazon probably has the edge at the moment, thanks to Alexa, but who knows what the next few years will bring?)

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