Killian Duffy, who has developed the website and app DropToU.

World rally co-driver launches revolutionary delivery service

CLAREMORRIS resident Killian Duffy has launched a people-powered delivery network website and app that allows businesses and individuals to send and receive packages, writes Tom Gillespie.

The unique part of his solution is that it works by connecting people who need a package with people who are in a position to collect and deliver it.

Killian explained: “The simplicity of the idea is that all collections/deliveries are made by people who already are making the journey. By taking a package with them they are getting paid for a journey they are making already.

The sender pays €10 (+VAT) per package, the courier receives €8 per package, and €2 goes to DropToU per package.”

Killian unveiled the app at a web summit in Lisbon recently where it was very well received and where he met potential investors.

The app is available on the Google Play store and the Apple App store.

A secondary school teacher by profession, Killian is the largest commercial supplier of race pacenotes in Ireland and is a co-driver in the World Rally Championship with Qatar driver Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari.

He is a former Irish National Rally champion and finished runner-up in the 2013 World Rally Championship 2 category while achieving a ranking of 11th best co-driver in the world that year.

Killian said: “I used to teach in Dublin. Then I went co-driving semi-professionally at world championship level. I was teaching from 2005 to '08. My wife was working in the hospital in Castlebar and I thought I would get a teaching job in Mayo, but to no avail.

I saw an opportunity making pacenotes for car rallies. I do all the pacenotes now for all the rallies in Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man.”

The idea of DropToU came about after Killian encountered many frustrating years dealing with official courier providers in distributing rally pacenotes to regular customers who require pacenotes and stage DVDs to be sent to them.

Killian explained: “On regular occasions packages were not delivered and the first time I would hear of it was when a customer phoned to say their package wasn't delivered.

By the time I had established where the package was and/or decided to resend the notes, the customers would have had to wait up to two extra days for their pacenotes and DVDs.

I thought of the idea over 18 months ago. I was on a flight to the UK and I thought of all the travelling I do, maybe 50,000 or 60,000 kilometres a year, and I thought why don’t I deliver the packages. And there are so many people like me - sales reps and people driving vans on the roads - all over Ireland.

After I got off the plane I started looking up if there was anything identical like this in the world. There were broadly similar things but mine was clearcut, with set pricing.

It is our hope at the end of the first year to have a third of one per cent of the Irish market, moving 1,000 packages a day in Ireland. We want to build up our network of carriers first, hopefully 1,000 early in the new year. Then we are going strategically to get the customers.

We have a lot of marketing plans in place to get packages and show businesses that we can do it and show the carriers what they can make from doing it on journeys that are making anyway.

I knew what I wanted to do. My wife Michelle works in the hospital in Castlebar and whenever she was on an overnight and I had the kids in bed I would stay up all night designing it as I would not have any distractions.

We have a good few investors and we are working with them at the minute. We want to see what is the opportunity for them and for us.”

On many occasions Killian posted on Facebook asking whether anyone was passing his house who could take a package to a customer that evening.

Every time there has been somebody who could bring the package,” Killian said.

He added: “Traditional courier companies only deliver Monday to Friday, but most businesses now operate a six- or seven-day week, so why stop the distribution network when there is a pressing need for deliveries?”

Killian explained how DropToU works: The person who needs the package delivered, ‘sender’, creates an alert on the DropToU website/app.

The courier answers that alert and the website/app connects both parties.

The courier collects the package from the sender and delivers it to a specific person or address.

The person who received the package signs the delivery page on the courier's app and the sender immediately receives an alert that the package has been delivered successfully.

Finally, the sender is prompted to leave feedback on the courier. The reason for this is to reward the best couriers.

Businesses or individuals will have multiple courier options when looking to send a package - this will enable them to select the courier with the best rating.

In Ireland alone, DPD handle 25,000 packages per day, Nightline handle 35,000 per day.

Killian, from Elm Park, Claremorris, estimates that within one year, DropToU will have the largest database of couriers in the county and will facilitate the delivery or collection of 20,000 items per day.

Killian admitted: “So 20,000 items a day with a commission fee of €2 will gross DropToU €40,000 daily in Ireland alone.” He continued: “There is currently no delivery system in the world that operates like DropToU. It brings people together, benefiting both sides of the arrangement to get a package delivered efficiently.

It will carve new channels on the way goods are distributed globally. I am happy where we are at and I see massive potential out there.”

 

Killian Duffy can be contacted on (087) 6355088, email killian@droptou.com or killianduffy@yahoo.ie.