• MaxDelivery

  maxdelivery.com

  Remember Kozmo.com, the failed web start-up that delivered videos and snacks to your door? Think of it as a prototype for MaxDelivery, which seems to have ironed out the kinks in Kozmo’s business model just in time for our new age of nesting. MaxDelivery offers DVDs, a Duane Reade’s worth of drugstore items, wine and booze, and a good percentage of the contents of a Manhattan supermarket. The site lets you choose a delivery slot as soon as the upcoming hour, and often gets there within 30 minutes, for a delivery fee of $2.95 (waived if your order tops $75). But the real selling point are the specialized products that you’d normally jump in a cab for—treats from Sugar Sweet Sunshine and Jacques Torres, Murray’s cheeses, loaves from Sullivan Street Bakery, on a moment’s notice. The site also takes requests, and claims that 80 percent of the items people ask for become available. So we have a suggestion: How about a one-click Saturday-night deal? It would contain a bottle of Cabernet, Jacques Torres caramels, a DVD, and a pack of condoms. That, ladies and gents, is the definition of recession-era fun.

From the 2009 Best of New York issue of New York Magazine