Is UberEATS worth it? Let's go.
The way UberEATS works is you start by
receiving the request and it says on it delivery.
UberEATS can be surging, but it's unclear whether or not that shows on the
heat map. If it is surging it will say that it's a surge with 1.4x or
whatever. If you accept the request, it will then take you to the food establishment,
usually fast-food. There you will need to park before going in to retrieve the
item. You'll have an order number which is very important as establishments are
supposed to check for it. You don't want to end up with the wrong order.
Restaurants are supposed to be ready but they usually aren't and fast-food
restaurants usually don't start specific parts of the process until you've gotten
there. This is because if they do, then maybe the fries will be cold or the
milkshake will be melted. Once you've confirmed and picked up the order you
then go to the passenger. This is where you actually start getting paid. UberEATS
has a pickup fee, a drop-off fee, and the time and distance from when you have
the food in your hand to when you drop it off. At drop off there may be specific
instructions, but oftentimes it is curbside so they are expected to come
out. Passengers don't necessarily know this though. Now let's start with the
pros. A big question I often see, especially for women, is whether or not
you're allowed to bring someone with you when you're doing rides. The answer to
this is no. That person has not been vetted by Uber so it is a huge liability.
it also makes passengers uncomfortable, means that you have one less available
seat, and will get you deactivated as soon as is reported. When driving
passengers you are allowed to bring dogs, but it's not necessarily recommended. But
with UberEATS you can bring your husband, your dog, your kids, no one cares!
So that's better because a lot of people will feel safer but it's also nice for
working parents who want to make some money while they're watching their kids.
However, do not leave your dogs or kids in the car, especially in summer. This is
extremely dangerous and we do not need people dying! although some passengers
don't want to talk, most of them do so a big pro for UberEATS is that you don't
really have to talk to people. None of
that awkward small talk, no answering the same
questions a million times about how long you been driving, whether you have
another job, blah blah blah. This is especially good for people who have
anxiety disorders or just aren't very social. People who aren't very
comfortable with their English skills, people who are d/Deaf or hard of hearing.
Minimal communication is the number one reason I see that people enjoy UberEATS.
Occasionally you'll get some free food. Sometimes the person that you're
supposed to drop off to doesn't grab it or sometimes there's a long wait time at
the restaurant and they feel bad. McDonald's will almost always give me a
free coffee around 3 a.m. So if you don't have a super particular
diet or anything, that can definitely be a pro. On UberEATS you can sometimes get
multiple orders to pick up, which is awesome.
You only get one pickup fee, but you still get two drop-off fees and you're
paid for the entire trip from the pickup to the last drop off. So the passengers are
only paying for the mileage between each order. Customer one is paying for pickup
to their drop-off, customer two is paying for drop-off there to their
drop-off, etc etc. An additional pro is that the ratings and comments are
separate from passenger rides. They are also as I think ratings should be. They
are thumbs up and thumbs down. This is great because if you're someone who
really cares about your rating, it's not going to negatively impact it if you have
a bad day on EATS. Now the cons, which people definitely talk about a lot more
than the pros. There is a lot of waiting. Waiting at the restaurant, waiting for
the passenger to answer their door or come out to the car. As someone who
doesn't like waiting, this is particularly a nuisance for me. People
rarely tip on UberEATS. This is both because people rarely tip delivery
drivers in general but it's also because overeats is really bad at actually
showing the tipping pop up. Like if you think Uber is bad, which it is, EATS is
even worse. When they do tip it's really not much. It usually sucks for the
restaurant workers especially if their server is working a server wage. In case
you don't know, most servers in the US are paid less than minimum wage and that
additional is paid by their tips so when a server is working on eats orders,
they're not working on their tables or maybe they still have tables and they're
spending less time on them. And that negatively impacts their tips. So
although that might not suck for you, it is something to be aware of because
sometimes the servers are kind of rude to us. Finding parking is terrible. This
is true for anywhere ever. If the restaurant doesn't have its own parking
you may actually have to pay for parking at a meter and no one likes that. Whether
or not EATS is worth it is totally up to you. Some drivers only want to do EATS,
some drivers will never turn it on. But if you are going to do it here's a
couple of tips to help you do it best. Get a hot and cold bag. Some people don't use
them but there are restaurants that will not allow you to pick up without one
or they'll rate you poorly for professionalism. I know they seem really
unnecessary, but they really do make a big difference. They help the food stay
hot or cold, they can affect your tips because customers are happier when their
food is the temperature it's supposed to be, and, this one is huge, if you're doing
Uber and UberEATS, using the hot and cold bag and actually zipping it up can
trap in the smell. This is essential because when you get your next passenger
and they come in and it smells like McDonald's, they're gonna
want to stop. Or they're just gonna rate you poorly cause it smells funny. Trapping
in the smell can also help you personally which leads to my next tip
which is eat first! Having all that food around is going to make you hungry so
eat something. Don't accept far away trips, especially if they're for fast-food
restaurants such as McDonald's. Passengers are usually going to be using
a restaurant close to them. A 10 minute drive to go pick up McDonald's is
probably only gonna be three minutes to drop it off at your passenger and that's
the part you're actually getting paid for. Follow the directions for drop-off.
If there are specific directions, they will show up so make sure you're paying
attention to that. They sometimes can be hard to find but this is going to be the
difference between a tip or not a tip. I hope this was helpful! As always feel
free to find me at my other links in the description. Please don't find me in
other ways besides those links. Questions and comments are always encouraged and I
will see you next time!