What happened to the University of Tulsa’s food delivery service?
The disappearance of Starship delivery robots from campus was just one of the many changes that occurred over the summer. However, unlike other more prominent changes, like those made to the meal plan or tuition, the decision to take the robots off campus was not made by TU administration, but rather Starship itself. While Starship served a network of over 60 universities that it has been accumulating since it started on campuses in 2018, it announced this summer that it was moving on to try different markets. While colleges provided a great starting ground for Starship, the contracts were seasonal and not very consistent. Other delivery markets, however, provide the tantalizing offer of year-round demand.
For this reason, according to Food On Demand, Starship is relocating the 1,200 robots it had serving college campuses (out of about 3,000 robots) to instead be used for grocery delivery in urban areas. While the data from campus operations was very useful for Starship, it cites a test in Finland as its reason for pulling out of college campuses and moving into urban grocery stores. Grocery delivery in Finland has been very successful, with a fleet of about 800 Starships accounting for 20% of Finnish grocery deliveries. While the company has not yet announced any specific deals with American retail companies, it claims to be in the process of securing deals with several major U.S. chains.
Regardless of the reason why, TU no longer has its own delivery service. For some students, this is very sad news. Starships offered the convenience and accessibility of getting food delivered with several button presses. Junior Thea Rohlwing said that, “I used Starship a lot more my freshman year, probably like once or twice a week, because I was living in Lottie Jane which is pretty far from ACAC.” She also noted that, even when she lived closer to the Union, she still used the robots. “If I was very low on time or didn’t want to get fully ready to be in public and see lots of people, I ended up using it more as opposed to getting my own groceries or ordering food from somewhere else.” When asked if she would like a replacement for the Starships on campus, she responded, “Definitely! It would be great … I honestly miss seeing them around; they were kind of cute and easy to get attached to.”
On the other hand, some students are glad that the delivery robots are gone. Junior Political Science student Korbin Shahan is not at all upset by the fact that the Starships are no longer at TU. “I never used Starship,” he said. “I generally found the robots a nuisance, and our campus is so walkable that it would probably take longer to order via Starship.” When asked if he hoped there would be a replacement for them, he responded, “I hope robot delivery services stay off our campus. It’s nice just seeing people walking around and utilizing public spaces … and [I] wouldn’t understand the logic of contracting another service given how tight budgets already seem to be.” As of now, it seems that Shahan and those like him may get what they want — TU has made no announcement of a plan to replace Starship’s delivery service on campus. So, for now at least, students must keep on marching on — especially to get their food.
