Using a Delivery App in Dorchester or Mattapan? Good Luck

Dorchester. Photo by Pruet Boonma on Flickr/Creative Commons

A recent review conducted by the Dorchester Reporter has found that many popular on-demand delivery apps like Caviar and Postmates claim to deliver in Boston, but don’t service its largest neighborhood, Dorchester, or Mattapan.

The Reporter polled a number of services and received varying responses. By the app:

• Instacart: Serves two of Dorchester’s three ZIP codes; does not serve Mattapan.
• Favor: Does not serve Dorchester or Mattapan, but plans to expand soon.
• Postmates: Does not serve Dorchester or Mattapan, but plans to expand to Dorchester.
• Caviar: Does not serve Dorchester or Mattapan, but says Dorchester is under consideration.
• Drizly: Does not serve Dorchester or Mattapan, but is currently in talks with Dorchester-based Supreme Liquors to expand into the neighborhood.
• Delivery.com: Serves Dorchester and Mattapan.
• Seamless: Serves Dorchester and Mattapan.
• GrubHub: Serves Dorchester and Mattapan.
• Doordash: Serves Dorchester and Mattapan.

“Any time when I hear about businesses doing deliveries and excluding certain parts of the city it bothers me,” Mayor Marty Walsh, a Dorchester native and Lower Mills resident, told the Reporter. “There’s no difference between people in those neighborhoods. This isn’t new, it’s happened for a while and sometimes these companies will say it’s out of range. But most times that’s not the case. It’s their perception and it’s wrong.”

You can check out the Dorchester Reporter‘s story here.