Slurpees incoming! 7-Eleven begins delivery in public spaces

NEW YORK — Craving a Slurpee but lacking the motivation to get off a park bench?

No worries.

7-Eleven launched a delivery service Monday that will send a Slurpee or almost anything else carried by the chain to public places ranging from parks to beaches.

The company told The Associated Press that more than 2,000 7-Eleven “hot spots” including New York’s Central Park and Venice Beach in Los Angeles will be activated Monday. Customers need to download 7-Eleven’s 7NOW app and select “Show 7NOW Pins” to find a hot spot close by.

7-Eleven believes it will eventually be able to deliver to 200,000 hot spot locations, said Gurmeet Singh, the company’s chief digital information and marketing officer.

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Dominos launched a similar service last year, delivering pizzas and more to over 200,000 public locations.

7-Eleven had begun delivering to homes last year when it started getting delivery requests to places away from home where getting a bottle of water may be more tricky, Singh said.

“We’ve been on this journey to redefine convenience,” said Singh. “This makes it easy for people to stay in the moment.”

The jury is still out on how successful public delivery will be.

Jon Reily, vice-president and global commerce strategy lead at Publicis Sapient, says he thinks Domino’s pizza delivery hasn’t created much of a buzz.

“It’s a neat idea on paper, sort of Ubering pizza to your location, but I suspect that the logistics of the process is pretty complicated in the real world,” Reily said.

The use of drones, however, might be a game changer, Reily said.

There’s no minimum order required for a delivery from 7-Eleven. The chain charges a flat delivery fee of $3.99. And for orders under $15, customers pay an extra $1.99. For all orders, it promises average wait time of 30 minutes.

7-Eleven is partnering with Postmates for delivery to public areas.

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Anne D’Innocenzio, The Associated Press