Columbia – Scrambling last minute to find a way to pick-up a great deal you’ve seen at a store, Craig’s List or Facebook Market Place?
Columbia resident Khalief Whetstone has a solution. The 31-year old entrepreneur and South Carolina State University graduate created a short haul on-demand truck sharing delivery service called SHYP Quick.
It’s the first web-based service similar to the Uber business model that connects customers with a truck or van driver in Richland or Lexington counties to pick-up or haul away old furniture, appliances or equipment. Soon there will be an app.
“This will really help university students and people who don’t own a car,” said SHYP Quick President Khalief Whetstone. “It solves a lot of problems. They don’t have to rent an expensive truck or run around and ask the buyer to hold the item until they find someone to pick it up.”
Customers don’t have to spend a lot of money for delivery or hunt for friends or relatives to help load and unload a truck. SHYP Quick will handle all the heavy lifting, hauling, and traveling for them.
Customers are also using the service because it saves time and it’s more convenient. Sometimes they use his service because they don’t want to pick up the item. Whetstone saw a request to pick-up a small item because it was 100 degrees outside. His business also helps sellers.
“One of the biggest reasons why people don’t make purchases is because they either don’t have time or access to a vehicle. My business solves these problems,” said Whetstone.
Whetstone also wants to help the community where he grew up by donating a dollar from every sale towards providing clean water to the residents of Denmark.
“We have a very serious problem. It started in 2008 when they found chemicals in the water and it’s causing a lot of health problems. The water is very dark coming out of the faucet and our pipes need to be replaced but our poor economy can’t cover the costs,” said Whetstone.
He strongly believes that his business will create much needed jobs in his community and in the rest of the country. People can apply to become drivers on the website.
“Our business model is similar to Uber and all drivers are independent contractors. The difference is that all SHYP Quick professional drivers either own trucks or vans. We specialize in delivering and unloading large items on demand when customers hire us,” said Whetstone.
Soon, he plans to expand his business to Greenville and Spartanburg counties and the rest of SC and is looking for a venture capitalist to help him expand nationally.
Whetstone came up with the idea for his business in 2018 after buying a bow flex machine on Facebook Market Place and didn’t have a truck to pick it up.
“A friend of mine came all the way from Orangeburg to Columbia, an hour’s drive away, just so I could pick it up seven miles away from my home. After doing research, I realized other people were having the same problems when buying large products,” said Whetstone.
To place an order click SHYP Quick, click delivery needed and you have a choice of options starting at $9.99 for a pickup and delivery of small items within a 10-mile radius. After that, there’s mileage charge.
For further information or to schedule an interview contact Khalief Whetstone at (803) 383-8777 or kwhetstone@shypquick.com.
SCBIZtv is part of the SC Biz News family, serving 100,000 high-level business execs throughout South Carolina.
Click for more from SCBIZtv.
