Last updated 1 November 2026
What makes a delivery service reliable in Nairobi, and what makes somebody choose one over another?
Coverage, more than anything. The long-distance delivery companies in Kenya have always competed on it — a traditional operator tries to be present in as many counties as possible, because that is what gives a customer a reason to use them for anything. The ride-hailing and courier platforms were adopted so quickly for the same reason: a customer could get a runner in Ruaka, not only in the CBD.
A new idea is worth exactly as much as its ability to serve a customer where that customer actually is. For a network of Pods, that makes placement the whole game.
What goes into the decision
Kenya's last census, in 2019, counted 4.4 million people in Nairobi County, spread across more than a hundred estates. You cannot put a Pod in all of them at once, so the question becomes which places serve the most people with the fewest boxes.
Three things decide it:
- Traffic. High-traffic residential areas and business districts come first, because a Pod is only useful if people already pass it.
- Movement, not just residence. Where people live matters less than the routes they travel between home and work. A Pod on that route gets used; a Pod three stages off it does not.
- How estates group. Neighbouring areas that share shops, schools and matatu routes can often be served well by one well-placed Pod rather than three poorly placed ones.
Where the first 35 go
The network is being deployed across the Nairobi metropolitan area, starting with 35 locations.
They run from the CBD and Westlands out through residential areas — Kilimani, Lavington, Langata — and as far as Ruiru, Kitengela and Rongai, among others. In residential areas the Pods go where people already stop: malls and supermarket car parks, like the locations around Thika Road Mall.
The CBD gets more than one, because it moves more parcels than anywhere else and because people enter it from different directions. Popman House covers the lower end of town, which suits anyone coming in off Thika Road. Royal Palms on Ronald Ngala Street serves businesses and individuals arriving through that side.
And when you cannot get to one
A Pod is the convenient option when you already pass one. When you do not, a runner comes to you instead, and takes the parcel either to your receiver's door or to a Pod near them.
The list on the coverage page shows what is open now. It is generated from live data, so it will always be the shorter and more honest of the two numbers on this page.