From pumpkins to paint, Roadie’s partnership with The Home Depot means more doing, less driving

It was bathroom tile day at our family condo in Florida. On my way down from Atlanta, I’d stopped for a quick bite at a roadside dive outside of Montgomery when my phone rang from the contractor. He was calling to let me know my bathroom tile had arrived, but it was all smashed to bits.

At the time, there was no option to get replacement tile delivered same day. The contractor ended up shipping my tile with a traditional carrier, delaying my bathroom project by a full week. Today, thanks to Roadie’s new delivery partnership with The Home Depot, someone else’s tile job is on time and on budget. In fact, America’s largest home improvement retailer now offers their customers express delivery on more than 20,000 items in 35 markets nationwide — with even more to come.

For Home Depot, express delivery can be a game-changer, especially in the competitive home improvement retail industry. As Home Depot EVP Mark Holifield said, “This is just the beginning of our expansion of improved delivery options, but it's a significant milestone in the way we're serving customers.”

Back at the roadside dive in Montgomery, my tile problem was the classic entrepreneur's dilemma: With thousands of cars and trucks on the road that day, I knew someone was already driving down I-65 South, heading the direction my tile needed to go. If only I’d known who they were, surely they’d lend a helping hand and let a box of tile ride shotgun for $20. And from that simple idea, Roadie was born.

Most of us know all too well the pain of starting a home improvement project only to realize we have to stop and drive back to the store — not just once, but multiple times. Whether we’re DIYers or seasoned pros, at some point we all buy the wrong part, forget something, or simply don’t get enough in the first place.

Of course, a partnership is only as good as the people in it, and we’re especially excited to be working with a an innovative player like The Home Depot. Together, we’re making last mile delivery easy and cost-effective, not just to customers in NFL cities, but to folks in smaller towns and communities where volume isn’t always predictable — delivering everything from pressure washers and paint to pumpkins and holiday decor, all in as little as a few hours.

At Roadie, we’re crowdsourcing employees, customers and nearby drivers to create a “just-in-time” logistics network that enables retailers to launch same-day and urgent delivery with the flexibility to meet unexpected spikes in demand and scalability for bulky, oversized items. For many retailers, we’re building a hyper-local supply chain optimized for fast, flexible, and efficient last-mile logistics. And with the holiday season just around the corner, we could all use a helping hand doing more and driving less.

As a Home Depot customer myself, door-to-door delivery means my next project will stay on time and on budget, and best of all, I’ll never be stuck on the side of the highway with a half-finished bathroom again.