New kid shakes up Tehran’s courier market

Ali Maserrat, founder of an Uber-style courier called Peykyab, is disrupting the traditional parcel carrier model in Iran’s capital city of Tehran, and is now looking to spread his operation throughout the country.    Ali Maserrat, founder of an Uber-style courier called Peykyab, has shaken up the traditional courier model in Iran’s capital city of Tehran, and is now looking to spread his operation throughout the country.
   Maserrat, who received a finance degree from Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada, developed his courier app in 2016 in response to growing frustration among businesses with Iran’s traditional courier services. It’s estimated that in Tehran alone that as many as 400,000 parcels are shipped daily.
   “Most courier services schedule multiple orders in a single trip, meaning the customer’s parcel is just one of many in a queue of pickups and deliveries. Peykyab, available for Android and IOS, changed the model by using freelance couriers,” the company said in a statement.
   “Each order is handled individually, by a single agent, with no multiple stops. Moreover, because Peykyab couriers use motorbikes, they outpace traffic on Tehran’s heavily-congested streets,” the company added.
   The Peykyab app allows customers to schedule pickups in advance and offers a tracking tool that both the sender and receiver can use to monitor their package in transit. 
   Maserrat said he’s already developing new features for the app, which he noted follows Agile development methodologies used by Facebook and other Silicon Valley giants. 
   “The app’s API (application program interfaces) connection to e-commerce sites is a plus for online e-businesses and Instagram stores looking for a simpler, more affordable way to ship their goods,” the company said.