LOCAL’d Initiative 71 Delivery Service Review

Overall, LOCAL’d was a positive experience–even an above average one. Ordering wasn’t the most fun but the waiting time was very low and prices weren’t bad.

1 $55 Music CD, with delivery and a $5 tip came to $70. The flower we chose, Snow Cone, was on their lower of the 2 tiers offered. We were explicitly told that all flower here is ‘top-shelf’.

The bud smelled mainly of oregano (not a bad thing, but a little boring) and it hit me as more of a medium-shelf, if the top shelf terminology is to mean anything.

Inconsistent Levels of Customer Service

Their website didn’t help me understand how to order at all. There was no ‘how it works’ page and the FAQ page doesn’t explain where to find the gifts.

I did have to call to get the gift menu.

I dialed in, got a robot, pushed a button, and was taken to a polite gentleman. He informed me that he’d tell me the available strains and I could write in the strain name when ordering.

Here’s an image of the product page on LOCAL’ds website. I could select ‘Up’, ‘Down’, or ‘Both’ on the ‘Mood Indicator’ when I add the product to my cart, if I wanted to indicate sativa/indica/hybrid preference but didn’t care which strain.

The delivery person was driving an old, beat-up car, which doesn’t knock off points. However, they were unkempt, and literally had smears of dirt on their face. It was unprofessional, and off-putting according to our secret shopper.

They didn’t say a word as they pulled way too close to our car, and sketchily handed the gift bag to our shopper. It would have benefited both parties for the driver to be more outwardly friendly.

Generic But Functional Presentation

The actual deliverables arrived in a generic brown, paper bag. The flower was kept fresh in a small mylar bag shown at the top of the page. The thing we purchased was a music CD but a CD drive was not around while making this review.

The process wasn’t pain-free though, and that’s my biggest criticism of LOCAL’d. They introduce needless friction because you don’t know what to expect at a place like this.

They could be considered the best value around if they didn’t claim all their flower was top-shelf. We’d give them a 4/5 had that been the case–and a 4.5/5 if they would have also been even baseline polite/friendly during the actual delivery.

They have a professional sounding phone guy, unprofessional driver. Decent quality gift, low quality website experience. It’s a mixed bag, which brings us to their biggest strength.

Speed: LOCAL’d’s Biggest Strength

It could be a fluke; maybe they just happened to be in the area with what we needed. But they processed our order and got it to us in 31 minutes. That’s quick!

They claimed the delivery would take from 5 minutes to 1 hour. We ordered at 3:27p.m. and the order had arrived by 3:58p.m.

We will come back and update this for posterity next time we secret shop here.

Quality of Flower: Pretty Good

The $55 CD was eligible for a gift of 3.5 grams of Snow Cone.

For delivery pricing, the results weren’t bad. It was a nice, medium strength bud with a simple oregano flavor profile. Note, the delivery fee was $10 and we left an additional $5 tip.

The throat feel was smooth but this batch was very heavy on the chest. Not a good aftertaste either.

Very energetic buzz though–we were told this is a sativa-dominant hybrid so that checks out. This would be an excellent daytime strain but you may not love the taste.

They Have a Non-Cannabis Sister Company

LOCAL’d does have a non-cannabis arm: LOCAL’d Essentials. They deliver local essentials, aka snacks and alcohol from businesses in the area. This is not an initiative 71 delivery company so you won’t be getting any cannabis gifts with your order.

Most of the snacks come from companies that are located in DC–which is neat, though most of the alcohol is not local. Some of the items we saw can also be found at whole foods, Kroger or CVS.

Summary

LOCAL’d isn’t the best in the city but they are far from the worst. They have serious potential and can vastly improve by learning to make the customer feel safe and comfortable.

They have been around since 2017, so they’re doing something right. We suspect it’s the speed, and value, which were by far the most impressive aspects of their service.

However, calling all flower ‘top-shelf’ overpromises and underdelivers–they need a middle-shelf option. I’d use their service in a pinch.