How Uber Is Fixing Online Shopping’s Most Annoying Problem

Leave it to Uber to give you another rationale for online shopping during your lunch break (...or drunk, or because #TGIF, or whatever). Today, Uber launched Returns, a nifty new feature which was basically created with habitual online shoppers in mind. UberRUSH will pick up any items you’ve ordered from any store — after you’ve prepped the goods you’re bidding farewell to with the return label and such. Then, Uber will magically get them returned for you, whether that involves a FedEx pitstop or a regular post office run. Your first return is free this week (through August 19). After that, returns sans any schlepping will run you $4 per return. The service is available solely in NYC from today through the end of September. The process, in a nutshell: Enter the promo code "Returns;" then, fetch whatever you’re sending back; set the pickup address; and finally, request "Returns." The fun part? You can creepily watch your package make its way back to where it belongs — not in your abode, evidently — while sitting on the couch wrist-deep in some Ben & Jerry’s or whatever you’re doing instead of making the return yourself. (No judgement.) Hey, it’s basically a sauna out there as summer winds down (#wahhhhh) and September inevitably kicks off on an equally steamy note. Whether or not you’re dashing around between shows for fashion month’s New York kickoff, Uber's new service leaves no excuse for letting those unloved impulse purchases languish past their return dates.