Delivery Side Gigs
Door Dash
Grubhub
Bird Charger
Uber Eats
Doordash was my first experience in the gig economy, where I started earning $6 for each delivery along with potential tips. Being one of the early adopters in my area, the initial months brought in substantial earnings considering the time I spent on the road. However, as time passed, Doordash progressively decreased the base pay per trip, and even the tips started dwindling. When I finally decided to quit driving for Doordash, the base pay per trip had dropped to a measly $3. Sadly, the average trip no longer covered the costs of fuel or the time invested.
Grubhub was my next test with food delivery when it launched in my area. The base pay was an immediate improvement by comparison to Doordash. The order volume was certainly lower, but the higher pay made the gaps in time worthwhile. I established a home base of operation and determined the base pay and distance needed to go out. The goal was $30 an hour, and often times this was achieved. Over time, my area became fairly saturated with drivers and I had to subsidize my time with Uber Eats. All in all, my experience with Grubhub was excellent and they were by far the best option to drive for. They provided a ton of helpful delivery items which included a large insulated bag, regular sized insulated bag, and numerous driver personal items during Covid. They would provide masks, hand sanitizer, and other items at no cost to ensure that their drivers were as safe as possible.
I added Uber Eats to the mix shortly after Grubhub. Uber Eats was probably the best App of the three. The UI was simple, easy to use, and had built-in navigation. Pay was somewhere between Doordash and Grubhub, but with an added perk that trips taking longer than the estimated time would yield bonus pay. Uber Eats also offered better incentives than both during busy times. There was a heatmap that would tell you the increased rate for jobs completed within the hot zones and once you were inside of the zone, the extra payout would be displayed on your screen. The downside was that you'd lose this rate if you rejected the next delivery. Overall, Uber Eats was my second favorite app, but like the others saw a downturn in demand and overall pay.
Hands down, this is one of the weirdest things I've done for money. Bird Scooters are a bit heavy, unwieldy, and take up a lot of space. My wife and I enjoyed collecting them though. The pay per recharge ranged from $3-$5 dollars in our area with an occasionally higher option appearing from time to time. We enjoyed driving around the campus of a local college and made a game out of finding them. Locating the birds was sometimes challenging, but when you filled up a car full of $5 recharges it was worth it. Recharging and having the birds back by 7AM was a challenge if you didn't have enough chargers, so having enough to charge 10-15 was the only way to make your money's worth.
Must have Apps for Delivery Gigs
Everlance: https://link.everlance.com/kTgZEXiQrDbhttps://link.everlance.com/kTgZEXiQrDb allows you to track mileage for each of your trips. This is a must when juggling a few different delivery or driver apps at once. At the end of the year, when tracking your expenses and write-offs, you must have all your ducks in a row to ensure you keep as much of your earnings as possible. Each trip you take can be logged to your specific app. Uber Eats largely tracks your mileage, but it does not track your total driving caused by the trip. It only tracks the mileage while you were on the way to the restaurant and then to the customer's location. Total driving to get back home doesn't count. Everlance allows you to track your complete time.
Upside(invite code: BKZ7R) allows you to get cashback on gas purchases. Any delivery or driver gigs will cause you to visit the pump a lot more and every bit of savings you can get back will help you hold onto more of your earnings. I was able to earn approximately $130 in my time as a delivery driver.