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The service will cease at the end of June, Uber told customers and vendors on Friday. “We’re thankful for our partners and hope the next three months will allow them to make arrangements for their delivery needs,” said a spokesman in a statement. He didn’t provide a reason for the unit’s closure.
The company once had high hopes for Rush, expanding it to San Francisco and Chicago in 2015 after a year of testing in New York City. It connected Uber drivers and bike messengers with companies such as Walmart Stores Inc. and Nordstrom for deliveries in as fast as an hour or two.
But Uber never expanded beyond the initial three cities, and focused much of its efforts on the Eats restaurant delivery service, which now has over 200 locations world-wide. Eats signed on with McDonalds Corp. to deliver items like Big Macs and fries, helping speed the Uber division’s growth.
Uber also faced stiff competition in same-day deliveries from a variety of startups and larger rivals, including Deliv Inc. and Amazon.com Inc.
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