Delivering ‘whateva’ always fun for Coralville business

A typical day's work for Anthony Jones, 24-year-old owner of Coralville-based “Whateva We Can Deliva” is a testament to the blistering pace of modern life.

Could he pick up a car in North Liberty, drop it off in Mason City and bring another car back?

He did, although it took him until 1:30 a.m.

Could he move the contents of an entire print shop 10 miles to a nearby town?

It took three days, a helper and the biggest rental truck he could find.

Could he pick up a shelf at the University of Iowa surplus store and deliver it to the buyer's house?

Yep, and it earned him a $100 tip for putting it where the customer wanted it.

Then there are the frequent requests for food and alcohol.

“Here's one I had the other night, ‘Can you pick up a bottle of rum and then get four tacos from Taco John's and go to Walmart and pick up four games of Scrabble?'” Jones said.

Jones attempts to honor every request because it offers a chance to help people and to occasionally keep intoxicated drivers off the road. About the only requests Jones routinely refuses are to deliver “mystery packages” with no questions asked on the chance they involve illegal substances.

Whateva We Can Deliva charges $7 for routine food deliveries, $8 for alcoholic beverage deliveries and $10 for keg deliveries, with extra charges for things like longer-distance deliveries, heavy objects and truck rentals.

Brothers Edgar and Clark McGuire decided to start a delivery business in 2004 after Edgar, who was working in a convenience store, witnessed an obviously rushed mother dragging her child in from a vehicle in the rain, looking for salad dressing. The memorable name came from their love of Mafia movies and lore.

Business started with about two deliveries per day and grew to more than 50.

“We delivered toilet paper to bathroom doors,” Edgar said. “We delivered goldfish at 2 a.m. to college students.”

The big demand, however, was for beer and liquor. Eventually demand grew so much that the brothers bought the Coralville liquor store where they did many of their liquor purchases, renaming it “Bootleggin' Barzini's.”

The McGuires placed the delivery business in hibernation after finding the company's accounts in chaos due to a slacking bookkeeper.

Jones, a Barzini's customer who came to Iowa City after being discharged from the Army with injuries from a Humvee accident in early 2007, offered to buy the delivery business from the McGuires.

Jones said he enjoys helping people, especially older customers who have limited mobility and need things like prescriptions or other errands run.

Avoiding underage alcohol sales is probably the biggest potential pitfall of the business. Jones said he relies on his past experience as a bouncer at the Union Bar to help him detect customers trying to buy alcohol with fake Ids.

The business employs one full-time and one part-time employee, but Jones expects to hire six or seven more part-time drivers during football season when business really takes off with tailgating and house parties.