Sprint eliminates its Direct 2 You personal phone delivery service

Back in 2015, Sprint tried to differentiate itself from the three other major U.S. carriers by offering a personal delivery service for new phones purchased from the carrier. Each driver in Sprint's fleet was given the job of  delivering a new handset to a customer's location, setting up the device, and showing the subscriber how to operate the phone. The drivers were trained specifically for their job, and the carrier soon had a fleet of yellow and black cars driving around in certain markets. CEO Marcelo Claure said that the program, known as Direct 2 You, was like having 5,000 additional Sprint stores.

Sprint today officially let the air out of the tires on its fleet as it cancelled the Direct 2 You program. This comes days after Radio Shack announced that it was filing for Chapter 11, indicating that having Sprint as an in-store partner was not going to save them.

Interestingly, while Sprint put the kibosh on its plan, AT&T says that its phone delivery service called Enjoy is doing well. According to AT&T Mobility's CEO Glen Lurie,  Enjoy has done very well, garnering exceptional customer feedback. Enjoy was launched three months after Sprint started making personal phone deliveries.

Sprint spokesman Dave Tovar said that Direct 2 You was not only a great program, it also "was a great experience, and a great idea." The company is reportedly happy with the growth it sees in its stores and through other channels. During the fourth quarter, Sprint showed signs of coming back to life with a postpaid net phone addition of 368,000 subscribers. Still, Sprint says that it has to be careful where it "invests its resources." Tovar wouldn't rule out the possibility that Direct 2 You would reboot at some time in the future.

source: FierceWireless