1stscience/kacaolur

Android app to connect customers with nearby couriers who can bid on and fill their orders for any locally available product

KacaOlur

Kaça Olur is an android app built with small Turkish communities in mind. The relatively homogenous and informal culture of rural and semi-rural Turkish towns and villages inspired a platform to connect people who need something from a local shop with a "courier" in the area who has the time and means of transportation to fetch it for them.

The first step of the process, after phone number verification, is placing an order. Customers fill in a form that has a required field for the item name and an optional field for an item description, which they can use to specify type, brand, amount, or their preferred store. They also have the option to attach a picture.

Kaça Olur uses a bidding system to assign orders to couriers. After a customer places an order, couriers place bids with two parts: delivery price and delivery time. The price is what the courier will charge for their service, not including the cost of the item. The delivery time is a promise, which, if broken, will give the customer the option of not paying the delivery fee. During the bidding process, couriers are able to ask publicly visible clarifying questions.

After a bid is accepted, a private messaging window opens, with a countdown based on the promised delivery time. When the courier has the item in hand, but before it is purchased, they will take a picture of the item and note its price. That information is sent to the customer, and the countdown timer is paused. If the item or the price is rejected, couriers are required to try one additional time to find an item that meets the customer's requirements. If they are unable to, they have the option of cancelling the order without penalty. If the customer accepts the item and the price, the timer is restarted and the customer is charged the item price as well as the delivery fee. The money is held in escrow until the item is delivered.

The courier purchases the item (with money out of pocket) and proceeds to the customer's specified location. When the courier reaches a point within a hundred meters or so, they are considered to have arrived, and the timer stops. If there is any confusion as to the customer's exact location, the courier is not penalized. They can communicate via in app messaging, but the courier will also, at that point, have the option of calling the customer with both phone numbers masked.

Once the courier arrives, the customer inspects the item. If there are any problems, the burden is on the customer to show that the problem was not apparent from the picture the courier originally sent. Otherwise, the customer approves the order, their payment is released from escrow, and the order is completed. If one of their phones is unable to connect to the internet for the conclusion of the transaction, the customer can use their app to generate a code for the courier to take note and later use to prove that the order was successfully completed.