This article will present the pros and cons of UberEats driving. Let's get right into it:
Pros:
- You can work your own hours, which means you decide when to start and when to finish and how many times a day you want to work.
- There is no limit to the hours you drive, just make sure you don't drive when you are tired and fatigued since accidents will occur.
- There is no limit to how long you work for UberEats. The contract is an independent contractor, so you are not an UberEats employee, and as long as your ratings are high, you will continue to work for them for as long as you decide.
- You don't have a boss or supervisor, the only time you need them is when you need help, or when your ratings are low, and then you have to defend your status.
- You meet some interesting people while picking up deliveries at the restaurant, and can make some friendships that way, and drop them off with customers that can grow to appreciate your level of service.
- You have instant pay, not one or two days, but instant as in a few seconds after you make the transfer. There are some variations between different banks, but the process and waiting time is similar.
- You can work for some companies, not just limited to UberEats. Some people do make this their full-time job, but UberEats was intended to be a part-time filler job so more, and more drivers would be available to UberEats at any given moment of the day.
- If you have a job, UberEats is a great supplementary income source.
- Try working on boosts and other incentive moments; it can more than double your earnings per hour. In fact, if you can manage your time to work during boost hours and area's you can constantly double your income per hour.
- You get guaranteed income incentives but need to perform the limits that are set by UberEats, this is good in lull times, and you assure (guaranteed) a basic income level per hour. These guarantees are usually set from 5 pm to 9 pm, and to qualify for this minimum income level would be accepted at least 80% of all the orders coming in.
- Cash bonuses are offered on other occasions; this means accepting at least one and a half deliveries per hour. Another incentive included performing seven trips in a two to three or four-hour period, and then you get a cash bonus of $30 or $45
- Finding out where the best food is. Based on the number of orders from different restaurants can show you where the best food is coming from. The more orders a restaurant gets from different customers will show you how popular that restaurant is. It also shows you where new places are being opened up, sometimes in such out of the way locations that you would not normally check out.
- Learning to navigate the city as well as the outskirts, by working for UberEats you get to learn on how to drive in and out of downtown and all over the city limits, which adds up to saving a lot of time in the future. As well as keeping an open eye on all kinds of shops and places which offer sales and unusual or collectible items, which is all very useful for personal and family needs.
- Referral bonuses, when you add a customer or driver, you get a cash bonus, usually a discount of $5 for the first order, and you also get a discount, so it's worthwhile using your referral code as often as possible. You can also give someone your referral code, and if they sell it well, you could find yourself earning $100 to $500 in a week, just from someone helping you refer new customers. For drivers, if you refer a new driver, they must make a certain number of trips before you begin to see the money from them, but it's worth it. The more drivers you refer into UberEats, the more income you generate.
Cons
- The Uber fee is taken off the income, it seems too steep, set at around 35%, I guess that this will fluctuate up and down until Uber gets its act sorted out. Its rideshare side is making so much loss that they need to leverage as much as possible from different income sources to cover these losses.
- Waiting times at restaurants, sometimes after an order has been placed and you get to the restaurant on time, you still have to wait for the food to be prepared and packaged. You also have to check to see if the order is full and correct and make sure there are enough condiments and utensils. It takes time to do all those things and UberEats does not pay you for time, only a set pickup fee.
- Traffic, well this is a con for any delivery service. The app is OK since the map has had time be developed and proven via the Uber ridesharing side. You get a good estimated time of arrival (ETA) which helps both you and the customers' expectations. However, remember that your income is not fully time-based but distance based. You do get a small income per minute waiting, something like 15 cents a minute after the first five minutes, but that only means if you wait 15 minutes you earn another $1.50 but your customer is getting angry and could cancel the order.
- Unknown destinations till order pickup, one problem, which was solved in the Uber rideshare app is a destination. If the customer would put in the destination, then the driver could plan the route ahead of time. However, since many drivers might not take a problem location, Uber prefers to hide this feature, and then you take a chance when accepting an order. Cancellation rates are against t you, and you cannot cancel more than 20% before you get into trouble with Uber.
- House locations, usually it's a curb to curb delivery, but what happens when it's a door to door delivery. Then you have to deal with weird locations and finding a door in a building complex. This can lead to short 2-3-mile deliveries taking over 30 minutes. Add to that that there are no tips and it's a mile based service, and you end up earning $6 for an hour's work.
- Parking is another issue when dealing with door to door deliveries. You will need to find a parking space, this costs money, and might not be near the location.
- Tips, there are no tips, and you are not allowed to take tips.
Conclusions
Working for UberEats is a good source of income when you do long hours, if you're only in it for short hours, then you might get stuck with a lull, or low boosts and your income will suffer. Your car expenditure can make the whole job one big loss because you have to factor in depreciation, gas and other yearly costs for maintaining a car. If this is a part-time job, it's great. If you need to supplement another income source, it's also good. You can also work for more than one delivery service, so if one is slow, you can transfer to the other.