With Christmas coming up, you might want to send that turkey to your mum’s door, so she doesn’t call you, griping that you’ve forgotten about her this Christmas. Don't forget the healthy food too, lest she blames you for getting her fat.

But whatever you do, pick the right courier.

	Lalamove	Grab Express
Pricing	Roughly the same	Roughly the same
Availability of riders/drivers	Faster	Whilst Grab can boast the largest network of Grab drivers, they
Reliability of delivery personnel	Very reliable, with both occasions resulting in fast pickups and communication.	There’s a current loophole where the person who has accepted the job may just refuse to do the job, leaving you hanging. For me, the uncle said he had too much to do and yet refused to cancel the job from his end. Apparently this did not stop him from getting more orders.
When you should use it	Probably every time	Only during good weather

I used both

I stared at my screen, scarcely believing what I saw.

Did the driver from Grab just refuse to pick up the package, without me receiving any notice?

Beware being cancelled, without any notification

Grab is a platform that connects the rider/driver, to the buyer (you.) But their system can be hopelessly confusing.

That sunny morning, my delivery was still ongoing, but it was way past the delivery time. When I called the driver, he mentioned that he wouldn’t be picking it up.

But I received no notice, until I checked at the delivery time.

And I couldn’t cancel it from my end because the driver had accepted the job. But the driver was not picking it up. He just didn’t want to, and there was nothing I could do.

After going through the customer support for 30 minutes, they allowed me to book another rider.

But this time, because of the rain, no one picked up the package

I couldn’t believe it too. Again?!

I waited for 2 hours for the system to match me, but they didn’t manage to.

Sure, there was heavy rain. But surely there were drivers in cars that could pick it up? Apparently not.

Cue Lalamove

Not knowing what else to do, I just went to book a Lalamove. In 15 minutes, I got a driver.

And what’s more, I didn’t have to prepay anything, to get the driver moving.

Why Lalamove?

Cash on delivery increases reliability

My favourite thing about Lalamove is that they offer cash on delivery. This makes the driver a lot more invested in making sure the delivery is done, rather than just accepting jobs, and not doing them.

Which is something that Grab has a loophole in, because there’s no such option on Grab Express, for now.

Pay extra to get a higher chance of a rider

But what’s more important is that on Lalamove, the riders can be incentivised to pick up your job, with you offering a tip (or priority fee). For example, on rainy days, when I couldn’t find a rider, I raised the price of what I was willing to pay and immediately got a rider.

Again, it’s not something you can do on Grab Express.

Get the right courier this year

Whatever you do, getting the right courier will probably make you happier. The choice is clear for us.

With better reliability, pricing, and a greater incentive to deliver on-time and on-target through the cash on delivery method, Lalamove is probably the better option.