After driving for GrubHub for a month, and only a beginner, I decided I would take the time to share my brief experience and knowledge with you if you are considering joining the GrubHub team.
Guaranteed Income
I started out by working in an area where the minimum payment is $12 per hour. Now, why is this important to know, well it's to do with workloads. I work a 40-hour week, and that means if I earn a minimum guaranteed income of $12 per hour, I earn $480 in 40 hours. Add to that my tips, and if I make less than $12 per hour, GrubHub will meet the difference. So, this point is a major pro for GrubHub driving. Your only prerogative is to accept all the deliveries offered during your shift.
Flexibility
The work is close to home and the hours are flexible, although if you prefer to increase your income, you should work the hot hours, that is usually lunchtime and evenings. If you prefer a more laid-back way of life and lower income, then you fill in during all hours of the day. That's the second pro; time is flexible to your liking. I prefer to work the night shift, it's easier on the road, and you get a lot of night deliveries.
Payment
Payment is weekly, direct deposit into my account every Thursday, so I know when I am being paid and I can usually calculate how much I have earned.
1099
The downside or cons are the 1099 status, which means you are an independent contractor and not an employee. So, all the expenses, insurance coverage, medical insurance, and other stuff come out of your income, and you have to make an end of the year tax reports. So, while you earn $12 an hour, you must factor in the taxes, even after expenses and be prepared to pay anywhere up to 30% of your net income. This leads you to lease a fuel-efficient car, which is the cheapest option for financing your services and all expenses are tax deductible. It also means you can include all kinds of expenses such as eating during work hours, gas and oil and maintenance, etc.
Schedules
Another downside is scheduled if you are not a premier driver you get last dibs at picking the schedule. This means that you have to accept all your requests, deliver on time and get good reviews, which will bump you up to a higher level. Once you are at the higher level, you get to pick your schedule on Thursday night, rather than Saturday which is the lowest level. The only way to maintain your lead is to comply with the requirements, and this is vital for picking out the schedule you want.
Block Dumping
There is an issue with block dumping, so sometimes you find out that someone has dropped their block, you get a chance to take an extra block during the week, and this can be an opportunity to fill in for some extra time if you have it.
Bad Customers
One of the worst features of GrubHub is the customers that scam you. These are people that place an order without a tip and call you up to say they will tip you in cash. Since tipping is the app, you try to persuade them, but they come up with some kind of excuse. You end up delivering to the customer, and they don't tip you anything. This means that you only get the delivery fee and nothing else. On the other hand, you do get the GrubHub guaranteed minimum hourly income, so if it is a slow time, you don't lose out on that. Another thing is you now know which customers are full of shit and don't take them, in fact, you let everyone know anonymously who is a scammer, so they get dumped.
Late Requests
Another thing that really sucks is those late requests that are already overdue since a driver canceled or didn't deliver on time and is transferred to you. Now you are already late, you have a fifteen-minute drive to pick up, and I usually call the customer to apologize for GrubHub and state that it will take a bit longer to arrive. Usually, the customer cancels the order, and you end up taking the blame. You also end up wasting gas, time and missing an actual delivery.
Pickup
When you arrive at a merchant and state the name of the customer, you are picking up the order for. Such as "Hi, I'm here for Steve's order" or whichever name happens to be at the top of the order request.
The next thing you do is check all the boxes; you don't have to open them yourself if you don't want to contaminate them with germs. First, check off the list according to what is ordered and what the merchant says is in the box. Then get the merchant to open each one to make sure it has the exact item in it. Make sure you have plenty of knives, forks, spoons, whatever and also make sure you have all the condiments too.
Delivery
Don't waste time at the restaurant, the longer you waste, the more frustrated the customer will become and will cancel the order. If you are in a long line or queue, call the customer to make sure it's OK that you might be delayed. Once you have the order, drive off immediately and notify the customer that you have the order and it's on its way.
Once you reach the customer, don't waste more time, give them the order and leave, it shouldn't take more than 10 seconds. If the customer is not answering their door, then text and call them, if they don't answer your attempts at contacting them then call driver service support.
Summary
Basically, it's all down to meeting all requests and delivering everyone on time. I reached about $600 a week, nowhere near the $1,000 being marketed, but I guess that is not having the premium schedules, which takes time to reach.