It has launched a personalized service that delivers goods to the desired place in a short time, and it is continuing its growth based on the demand of the wealthy. Recently, the New York Times introduced “Tote Taxi,” a delivery service start-up that completed about three hours of delivery from a famous bakery in Brooklyn to a hotel in East Hampton, Long Island, and received $500.
Tote Taxi is a company that provides premium customized delivery services between New York and Hamptons. The basic fare starts at $275, and Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van is used for delivery. Daniela Candela, founder of Tote Taxi, said such premium delivery leads to hundreds of millions of won worth of sales annually.
Candela came up with the idea of starting a tote taxi while living on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in 2017. He said that the inconvenience he felt in and out of his family on Long Island became the starting point of his business.
Candela, who participated in a startup competition in Southampton in November of the same year, won $15,000 for the idea of a delivery service. After that, he purchased a sprinter van with an additional $5,000 from his father, who was in the landscaping business, and started the business the following spring.
At that time, there was no specialized delivery of daily necessities to the upper class of Hamptons, such as well-butrin (antidepressants), dog medicine, golf putters, dresses, and keys.
The demand was so high that people came to buy a bag of apples from New York to East Hampton, but most of the items could only be carried home by mail bus or a driver. Candela saw through this gap. “Some people call it genius,” he said. “But it’s just ‘pick up and deliver the goods’.”
Tote Taxi operates three full-time employees, contract drivers, and two sprinter vans. Although the customer list was not disclosed for security reasons, it is said that some famous celebrities also use it. I once contacted the U.S. Secret Service, and at the time, what was in the back of the vehicle was an artwork.
The $895 summer temporary migration service, now called “mini director,” is the core of the sales of tote taxis. Candela explains that many customers prefer “small and flexible” services instead of large moving companies.
Tote taxis are expanding their businesses in wealthy areas in the United States. In 2022, it entered Palm Beach, Florida, and recently started delivering luggage to campgrounds. Additional delivery services for snack baskets at Redhall Market are also offered for $150.
Candela is planning a route between the pet shuttle and the Boston-Cape Code as her next expansion. “I want to be a ‘people’s name,'” Candela said.
SALLY LEE
US ASIA JOURNAL
