Instant Gratification Apps

We live in a society where quicker is better and right now is best. With the popularity of services like Amazon, Netflix and iTunes, having things brought to us in a snap is becoming more and more common. To satisfy our need for “instant gratification” there are some apps that will bring you what you want, when you want it! Most are start ups, and designed for people who work long hours and don’t have the time or energy to check things off their to-do lists themselves.

I’m a big fan of outsourcing and here are some of my favorite apps for this:

Wun Wun – This app allows you to place an order from restaurants, groceries, and liquor stores and they will deliver it to you in under an hour for free. I recently used it when I was craving some Shake Shack, but I didn’t want to have to trek the 22 blocks to get it. I timed it and the delivery guy arrived in 50 minutes, and the food was great. The other delivery services in NYC like Seamless and Delivery.com don’t service this restaurant, so it was the perfect solution for my burger craving. Just a heads up – their messengers’ work for tips. So be generous with your tipping.

Available in – New York and the Hamptons.

UPDATE: This app has changed — full details here.

Priv – At work and need a last minute haircut for an event or date? The Priv app brings beauty and wellness services to you. Services include – make up, blowouts, haircuts, manicures, massage and personal trainers. If several women from work are all going out, you can do a group booking and they will set up in a conference room all afternoon. A great idea if you work in PR or similar and are constantly required to attend important events. The service will also send you a yoga instructor to your home as well. I’m dying to try out that service!

Available in – New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and London

Postmates – Similar to Wun Wun, Postmates is a delivery service that let’s you order from restaurants, supermarkets and shops and they will bring it to you in under an hour. The only difference with Postmates is that they charge $5 for delivery, however they are available in more places than Wun Wun.

Available in – San Francisco, Silicon Valley, East Bay, Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Boston, Austin, Washington D.C., Seattle

Zipments – A bike messenger style currier app that allows you to text or talk to your courier directly. With this app you can choose the location and time of your delivery Using the delivery tracking system you can keep up to date with a real-time status bar and notifications for pickup and delivery. You can even view the proof of delivery signatures from your iPhone. You can use this to send paperwork, pick up dry cleaning or drop off lunch to your kid’s school. They also do restaurant and store pickups like Postmates.

Available in – New York City

Petal by Pedal – This app sources flowers directly from New York farmers and delivers them by bicycle throughout New York City. A nice solution for cutting out the middle man when it comes to flower delivery services. Go from farm to friend in no time flat. However, there are also plenty of other flower delivery services, for example you can order flowers by post from Flowercard.

Available in – New York City

MiniBar – Minibar delivers wine, spirits, beer and mixers to your door. Delivery is free and under an hour in NYC and 2 hours or less in the Hamptons. A wonderful solution if you’re prepping for a party or if you’re mid-party and realize you’re running out of the good stuff.

Available in – select areas of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and the Hamptons.

How would you use these on-demand apps to make your life easier?