An Uber Eats delivery driver has revealed how he plays hardball with orders and has strict criteria on which ones he is willing to accept as he refuses to leave things to chance
A fast food delivery worker may have the answer as to why your takeaway order can take longer at times or why it didn’t even get picked up in the first place.
Many people rely on the services of delivery takeaway companies to satisfy their fast food cravings these days. The roads are full of moped drivers carrying packages with the dinners, lunches and even breakfasts of hungry customers who want their meals pre-prepared, cooked and conveniently dropped to their doors.
Occasionally though you may have been dismayed when your much-anticipated nosh was either delayed, or just didn’t turn up at all. One Uber Eats driver may have the answer as to why, and has revealed why he turns down a huge proportion of jobs he’s offered.
Jay, who works in Philadelphia and regularly posts videos on his @downtownhustle account, uses fast-food delivery driving as a “weekend hustle” to make some extra cash on top of his regular job in the week. He usually does around 10 hours on his moped, working for Uber Eats and DoorDash, according to Business Insider. Despite the relatively short amount of time he clocks in for them, he turns down around 75 per cent of the jobs he’s offered.
Jay will only accept an order if a tip has been offered – if not, it’s not worth his time. He explained that the companies give a basic payment which depends in part on distance and inconvenience, as well as any up-front tips. He can get up to $4.50 (£3.60) payment per order, but if the payment is between $2 – $2.50 (£1.60 – £2), it means the customer didn’t offer a tip. It’s possible they will give one when the order arrives but the driver, who only works in wealthier areas because they tip more, refuses to take the chance.
He says: “I’m not doing this to gamble. I’m doing this to make money. So I’m not really interested in playing the game of, ‘Oh, maybe I’ll do this person’s delivery for a guaranteed $2.50. Maybe it might be more.’ I don’t play that game. And most people don’t like to play that game. That’s what results in their order’s not getting picked up, or it takes a while for them to get their food.”
A British woman, who works for Deliveroo, Uber Eats and Just Eat, recently revealed that she has a secret trick to make up to £2,000 a month delivering takeaways. Atlanta Martin, 23, used to work as a flight dispatcher for EasyJet at Gatwick Airport, but saw an ad on Indeed and decided to make the jump into a different career.
The mum, who says it’s the “perfect” job to fit in with her family commitments, makes on average £10-£15 an hour, but she can make more if she takes jobs that are further away. She told the Mirror: “You’re paid per job rather than hourly, so the more you do in an hour the better. I once had a job that was eight miles away and I was paid £14. It only took me half an hour so it was quite a good one. Normally it reflects on the more jobs you do in an hour the better.”
She explained how you’re paid depending on the distance of the customer’s house to the restaurant, so if they don’t live too far you don’t always get as much. But Atlanta doesn’t mind the short trips as she said they all add up. “The average for me is £10-£15 an hour and I can make £100 a day depending on how long I work for. Everyone has different targets on how much they want to work and I used to work a lot more hours as I don’t mind driving.”
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