"Non-Tippers" YOU SUCK!

Ok, first and foremost, before I get judged for sounding like I'm apathetic to the impoverished, I want you to know that at one point in my life (12 years ago), I was piss ass poor, had no money to my name and lived off state food benefits for a short period of time.  So I am not apathetic.

But during that time, if my wife and I couldn't afford food delivery (Which we strongly believed in tipping drivers), we didn't order it.  We knew better.

To all you customers out there ordering food delivery and purposely don't tip. SCREW YOU! 

Food delivery platforms like UberEats, GrubHub and DoorDash are not charitable organizations ok.  The people like me who make deliveries signed up to make money, not deliver food at our expense to feed your fat ass! Got it?

If you can't afford to tip a minimum of 18% to your driver then DO NOT EVEN THINK OF GETTING FOOD DELIVERY.  And you also do not deserve the right to complain when your food arrives cold and late.

Let me give you a little inside information for all you non-tippers:

First of all, most drivers with half a brain in their head WILL NOT DELIVER orders with no tip.  And yes, we know exactly when those orders show up on our phones.  

When we get a ping on our phone to deliver your McDonalds or Taco Bell slop for a $2.25 payout..we know damn well it doesn't include a tip.  We can't help but chuckle and hit the 'Decline' button. Would you deliver A Big Mac for $2.25 5 miles away in 30 minutes time? That works out to be under $5 an hour!!! I DIDN'T THINK SO!!!

You know what happens when one or more drivers decline orders?  It get's passed around until either some sucker who doesn't know any better accepts it or finally a driver accepts it, but by that time (The food is probably already cold or melted) the payout has increased to an acceptable level.  There have been numerous times where I've gone to pick up food at the same restaurant several times within several hours and seen the same order sitting there getting cold and old waiting to be picked up because the customer is too DAMN CHEAP TO TIP.

So if you want your order delivered hot (Or cold if it's ice cream), on time and per your instructions with exceptional service then YOU NEED TO TIP YOUR DRIVER AT LEAST 18%!!!!

If you do not do this, then you get exactly the service you deserve.  Because drivers who accept no tip orders are incompetent to begin with.

Now, this doesn't apply to you customers who tip graciously (And for some unknown reason the driver never receives the full amount).  That's not your fault or the drivers fault and I encourage you to take it up with the app service.  Better yet, I encourage you to tip at the door (Leave a note in the order that you will be providing a cash tip).

But I will say a DOUBLE SCREW you if you bait and switch a driver by putting in an order with a decent tip, then taking it away after delivery even though the driver gave you exceptional service.

MAY YOU ROT IN HELL.

Also, this does not apply to you if a driver gives you shitty service. In UberEats you can take away the tip.  In the other app platforms you usually can get a credit towards your next order.  

DRIVERS THERE'S NO EXCUSE NOT TO DELIVER QUALITY SERVICE TO YOUR CUSTOMERS. If you want to avoid providing bad service due to low tipping-DECLINE ALL NON-TIPPING ORDERS.

So do not give them a reason to excuse shitty or no tip orders.

'Nuff said!

Delivery Driver App Review: UberEats

I used to not be too big a fan of UberEats back when DoorDash was a better platform to use for drivers. But that's starting to change. The only downside to UberEats is that they offer more relatively low payout amounts compared to the other two major driver apps.  But not all the time.

The thing I like about using UberEats is their app is pretty straight forward and for the most part - pretty stable. You also can jump in/out whenever you want to (Unlike 'DoorDash where you have to 'Pause' and only for 35 minutes if you want to keep the same 'Dash').  You can also basically, work anywhere in the country without having to jump through hoops.

Another major flaw that I've heard is their driver support services.  I'm not going to ding them on it though because I haven't had any need for it yet.  Perhaps that's a good thing? But based on feedback from others who have used it, I'm told it's the worst. Driver support is mainly done through texting, and it appears to be bot oriented.  Which sucks!

The maps like DoorDash and GrubHub show hotspots and indicate any peak pay amounts that arise.  It's easy to navigate and it connects with 3rd party navigation systems like 'Apple CarPlay' fairly easy.  

I really don't have too many issues with UberEats actually.  I just think that of all the major delivery platforms they send drivers the most low ball orders (Though DoorDash is starting to catch up to them). However, to their credit, when it's good -it's good.  Sometimes the orders are fairly decent and there were many times when UberEats came through for me when the other driver platforms couldn't.

A lot of drivers complain that UberEats has a lack of tip transparency but such is not the case at all.  They just payout tips a bit differently.  For example, when you order food from UberEats, customers are allowed to change the tip amount (Up to an hour) after the order has been delivered.  And to be honest with you, this is smart.  If a customer is satisfied with your service, you get the full payout amount (Which is showed when the order comes in), if they are beyond satisfied they can increase the tip amount, if they are unsatisfied, they can lower the tip amount or eliminate it altogether.  

So when an order comes in it shows the full payout amount (With tip) provided the tip amount remains unchanged.  However, drivers will only see the payout amount (Minus the tip) after completion of the order because they are still giving the customer time to decide on the final tip amount and this can be startling to drivers.  So it takes one hour after the completion of an order for the final tip amount to be credited to the driver (And the driver can thank the customer through the app, which I think is cool).  

The only downside to this method of tipping is that customers who have no intention of tipping at all, can pull a bait and switch on the driver just to get them to deliver the order.  In other words, they can promise a good tip initially, but take it all away after the order has been completed. These people are scumbags who do this and should be banned from the platform.  Food delivery is a luxury service not an entitlement!  UberEats should look into a way to prevent this from happening if it's possible.

Overall, I give high marks for UberEats.  Not just their app but their overall operation in their relations to drivers.  Of course no app platform is perfect and UberEats has it's flaws, but it seems to be continuously improving as time progresses and overall I find it to be driver friendly.

Is DoorDash Stealing Tips?

The least transparent food delivery driver app of them all is by far DoorDash. But they claim to be the opposite (Which couldn't be farther from the truth). 

Usually they're good with mileage (Though they have fooled me more than once) and good with the estimated time it would take to complete a delivery, but I have some serious concerns about the way they pay their drivers tips.

DoorDash claims drivers keep 100% of customer tips.  But how do we really know this is the case?  For example, when they hide the final earnings amount from you before completing an order.  Yesterday I had several of these.  I accepted an order that came in for $9 (And to be honest with you if the amount had stayed at $9 it wouldn't have bothered me.) BUT..after I completed the order, it ended up increasing to $11.  Why? Because of a 'Hidden Tip'.  Does that sound like full transparency DoorDash?

My issue with this is that if they are 'Hiding Tips' on us, how do we know they're not stealing them as well?  How do we really know we are getting the full tip amount from the customer if they're being shady about it?  Have you ever used DoorDash for food delivery as a customer?  There is no option to change the tip amount after you receive your order!

I don't know how many times drivers have been asked by customers if they have received their generous tip upon order completion, when the answer was simply "No" or "No, not that amount".  That right there tells you that DoorDash is probably STEALING TIPS.

Another issue I have is that for example, GrubHub will pay out sometimes twice the amount for a driver to go to the same restaurant, deliver to the same customer with the same items (It's happened to me) while DoorDash's payout is significantly lower.  Something stinks to high Heaven about that.

To be fair, none of can know for sure, unless the customer tells us, if ANY of these platforms are hiding/stealing tips.  I mean how do we know that they're not just making up a number?  We really don't know most of the time.  But we DO KNOW when it appears obvious or if we even have to question it.

My advice to customers is that if you want your delivery driver to receive the full tip amount, to tip IN CASH to the driver - in person, upon receiving the food.  That way there's no way that apps like DoorDash can hide or steal tips. Even leaving an envelope outside the door if you can't be present.

UberEats won't show you the full tip amount until one hour after the completion of the order and in my opinion that makes the most sense.  Simply because customers are given the choice to either increase/decrease or eliminate the tips/amounts depending on the quality of service they get.  

With GrubHub, what you see is what you get.  Any order you receive inside the app contains the exact amount you will receive from GrubHub.  The only way that differs is if you receive an additional cash tip upon delivery by the customer during your physical presence.

My question then is 'Why is DoorDash being (At the very least) so shady?'  and 'Can we really trust DoorDash?'.  

I'd imagine that there's going to be class action lawsuits coming down the pipe for DoorDash sooner or later.  Eventually, they're going to get caught out and piss off the wrong driver.

Rideshare or Food Delivery?: My Personal Fall/Winter Forecast for 2021

 As the final chapter of the summer of 2021 comes to a close, food delivery is starting to crawl out of it's summer slump and (At least in my market area) things are picking up slowly but steadily.  It's been a lot easier to meet my daily/weekly goals the past few weeks than it has been all summer now.

I anticipate that as the days get shorter, schools get back in session and the weather gets cooler that food delivery will likely increase as will the opportunity to make more money (If the app platforms don't oversaturate their markets with drivers).

Without trying to get too political, there's appears to be another ongoing covid scare (Just in time for the fall/winter) and that probably means good news for drivers.  I read an article in a local online news site, that in my area, more and more people are becoming hesitant to eat out and gather in social settings, which (At least in the short term) is going to work to our benefit.

If (And God forbid) there should be another round of lockdowns coming, depending on what restrictions are imposed, it could be very profitable for us food delivery folk.  But if lockdowns are more stringent like limiting restaurant hours, curbside pickup and when people can/can't leave the house (As well as redefining what makes an 'Essential worker') it can spell disaster for us.  Throw in vaccine mandates for gig workers, many of us who will refuse to comply will be out of the job.  Something we need to be really wary of as the days/months approach us.

During the 2020 lockdowns ridesharing suffered.  Because people were afraid to leave their house unnecessarily and drivers were afraid of exposure to covid, the industry basically came to a standstill and it's taken almost an entire year for things to slowly even to start to recover.  Rideshare is hopping right now, but how long will that last if strict pandemic measures are once again reinstated?  It's something to think about.

Best case scenario (If there's such a thing), if lockdowns happen again, they would be almost identical to the ones that happened in 2020.  Rideshare would suffer (And understandably so) but food delivery will flourish.  

Worst case scenario, curfews imposed on residents, hours of operation limited (Or completely ceased) at restaurants/stores, vaccine mandates for all gig workers, rationing of times people can go to the store to get food (For example, people whose last name starts with A-D can go to the store on Monday, people whose last name starts with E-G on Tuesday etc...).  I know it sounds conspiratorial, but I'm simply throwing the idea out there.  'What if" is the picture I'm trying to paint for gig workers.

What are your contingency plans during these uncertain times?

What Are Your Personal Goals In Working The Gig Economy?

I might have mentioned this in a previous post, but I hold a regular 7-3. Monday through Friday job that pays (And treats) me well.  I simply do food delivery/rideshare on the side for two reasons.  The first reason is that I have nothing really better to do (During the week) when I get out of work and I'm bored and the second reason is that I want to sock as much money away possible for future goals (Like owning a house, moving out of state and saving for retirement).  I mean, as long as I'm doing something in my free time, I might as well make it worth it right?  Unfortunately, most of my friends also work during the week, so hanging out with them is not really an option until the weekend (Which I do).

As a part time gig workers, I must admit that I don't feel as pressured to make a lot of money the way someone who does rideshare/food delivery for a main source of income.  So it's not as stressful to me.  And I do encourage people to get a regular full time job (Even if it doesn't pay really well) and rely on gig work as a side hustle.  You will see how your perspective on food delivery/rideshare might change as well as your attitude towards it.  

The reason why I'm saying this is because there are a lot of advantages a W-2 job has to offer over a 1099 job.  For one, a consistent and steady check.  Another advantage is benefits and paid time off if your employer offers it.  Sure, being your own boss as a 1099 worker has it's advantages such as freedom to set your schedule, take time off whenever you want and set the terms of how you intended to operate, but let's be honest, there's no consistent paycheck and if it's your only source of income, there's really nothing to fall back on if things go awry.  Whereas the complete opposite is true if you hold a regular W-2 job where if you lose your job, you'll have gig work to at least replace it temporarily.  

But don't in anyway misunderstand me.  Not only would I jump at the opportunity to take on gig work full time if I lost my regular W-2 job (And I might decide to keep it that way if I think I can make it work better), there are times even now where walking away from my routine regular job tugs at my heart strings.  Not that I have a bad day job-I don't.  I'm even given the freedom to make my own schedule and work pretty much independently as long as operations are running smoothly (And they always are).  I'm the director of operations.  But having had a taste of 1099 gig work, the 'Full Independence bug' does bite me from time to time.

Which leads me to the point of this post.  I can't imagine would it would be like to work a job like food delivery or rideshare without establishing certain financial goals.  It would be like running around with your head cut off.  You wouldn't know if you're making or losing money.

I recommend that everyone in this food delivery/rideshare business set daily AND weekly goals.  For example, in order for this side hustle to be worth my time I must make a bare minimum of $30 each time out or $100/week.  I only go out for 2-hours a clip a few days a week.  Because I'm smart on how I work things, I usually double that weekly amount each and every week (Sometimes, I even triple it).  But If I was just taking any ole' order and not paying attention to my weekly earnings versus weekly costs, I might be in some financial hotwater.

Setting daily and weekly financial goals such as 'How much money do I need to make today?' and 'How much money do I need to make by the end of the week to make this gig worth it?' will keep you focused and on track to successful earnings.

Miles:$ Payout Ratio: Why It's Overrated (In Most Cases)

I've touched on the subject of the miles:$ ratio in a previous post and I'm sorry I just can't let it go.

I'm not sure how the gold standard of $1+ per mile came about, but there's no real logic to it when you crunch the numbers as I have (See for yourself: https://cruz511.org/calculator/calc.html). 

It may seem like I'm taking the side of delivery platforms like DoorDash and UberEats, but the numbers just don't lie.  While, as I stated in an earlier post, if you want to continue to operate under the $1+ per mile standard, then by all means, more luck to you.  I just feel that a lot of drivers (In most but not all cases) are making life more difficult for themselves in doing so.

Based on my calculations, the costs to operate your vehicle (Minus insurance and registration fees' and I'll touch on that in a moment) is far below the $1+ gold standard.  Of course it depends on which type of vehicle you drive and the condition it's in (For some it's far less, for others it's more), but based on the standard vehicle that gets an average of 25 mpgs City and 32 mpgs highway and that the vehicle is in good condition, we're looking at a bare minimum of .85 per mile or less.

Now about insurance and registration fee's.  I don't factor those in, because those are basic standard operating costs.  Even if you weren't doing food delivery or rideshare, you'd be doing something else so those fee's goes without saying.  Let's also not forget mileage tax deductions, which by the way, take into consideration (Depending on what kind of deduction method you use) insurance, registration and overall basic maintenance costs.  So that brings the amount even lower than .85 per mile.

For mileage alone, based on a price of $3.10 per gallon fill up, you're looking at an average of .44-.46 per mile.  Of course that number will be higher or lower depending on fuel prices in your area.  

So why are we using the $1+ per mile "Gold Standard" of the food delivery gig?

To me, it would seem wiser to use the dollar per hour payout ratio in both delivery and rideshare.  Rideshare costs are calculated differently but still, using an hourly rate of pay versus miles:$ is more sensible.

When drivers sit in parking lots, declining order after order then complain how slow business is and complain that they're not getting enough quality orders based on the $1+ per mile ratio, they're hurting the chances of these app platforms giving out better incentives. 

For example, the old 'I'm not taking an order under $7' driver is only hurting things not helping things.  If I had a $5.75 order (Like I did last night), can complete it in 10-15 minutes and drive even 5.75 miles, no matter how you compute if you use the correct formula, it's a win.  Take 3 of those in an hour and you're netting $17.25 an hour.  $23 an hour if you take 4 of those orders.  Whereas I can be sitting 30 minutes up to an hour to wait for that $7+ order to come in.  

Yesterday, I put this to a test and took several orders under $7 and not only made my bank for that night (My personal quota), but I made it an hour earlier than usual if I were to operate under the $1+ per mile standard.  If I decided to stay an hour more to complete the time I alloted for deliveries, I probably could have doubled my quota.  And several of those orders by the way included hidden tips, so I more than surpassed my personal quota.  I think I had one order that was over $7 and that was a solid $9 order which was my last one for the evening.  When going over my mileage and vehicle costs spent, based on the proper calculations, I made way more than I spent in operating costs and averaged about $18 per hour (Gross) for a 3 hour time allotment, which I cut short an hour because I met my personal quota and wanted to go home. And I was NOT using the $1 per mile standard.

There are times however, where there are certain orders that you should decline because they just don't make any sense.  Even ones that appear on the surface to payout pretty decent.  Orders I recommend declining are:

-If it takes you out of your zone (And you don't want to stay where you end up) and/or leads you into a deadzone. Completely understandable and legit in my opinion.  I always decline these types of orders.

-Orders that are on your blacklist.  I have a small blacklist of restaurants I simply will not pick up from due to wait times.  I believe there are only 3 or 4 of them, but I learned a long time ago, if I ever decide to violate my blacklist and take orders from those restaurants, I always end up paying the price for it.

-I simply am a firm believer that no order that pays out under $3.50 is worth delivering no matter how quick or how short the distance.  To me it's a damn insult to my intelligence.  These orders are 'No Tip' orders. I have absolutely no sympathy and many bad 4 letter words to describe these types of customers.  The only exception I would make to this rule is if you're in a zone on foot or bike and everything is within close walking/riding distance to one another. Then MAYBE it would be worth taking on.

-Orders that pay out something like $4 for 17 miles driven.  You don't have to be a mathematical genius to figure out just at the top of your head that orders like this aren't profitable.  For example, operating costs for the order I just described would be roughly $7.77.  To me, these orders are offensive when they come in and anyone with half a brain in their head would instantly decline them.  Unfortunately, there are a lot of people out there without a half a brain in their head.

-Orders that take you far away from home at the end of your shift.  There's simply no reason to take these orders. You should strive to do the complete opposite and take orders that will keep you closer not further away. A lot of people will make a compromise if the order appears to be a high payout because well 'It's my last order'.  Why?

Oh and one more thing.  About commute...most people in 1099 jobs or in a W-2 capacity don't get paid to travel to and from work. Some contractors do factor in travel costs if they feel a job far away is worth it, but for the most part, with a few exceptions, most people don't get paid for their daily commute.  It would just be wise to try and make your final drop-off as closest to home as possible unless you feel the payout is worth it to travel further away.  As far as traveling to start your shift, if you start from home, then you have nothing to consider, but if you're like me, who doesn't like to work in his home city (Even though it's a high volume market area for food delivery), try to work somewhere as close to your home as possible to cut back on commute time.  Then again, a lot of people from time to time, like to even work out of state to see what the market is like (Something I've yet to try).  I would imagine most people don't factor in travel to and from costs when they do that either.  So not factor in my operating costs are commutes to and from (Before the start of your first order and after the completion of your last).

Food delivery and rideshare isn't rocket science.  Please stop making it out to be something that it's not.

Food App Platform Review: DoorDash

Lately, DoorDash has gotten a lot of heat from drivers due to several changes made to their payout platform and their seemingly low ball offers for orders.  Their lack of full transparency compared to other app platforms like UberEats and GrubHub is alarming.  

I personally feel that DoorDash is indeed being shady (At the least) when it comes to transparency regarding customer tips.  Based on my own experiences and the experiences of others, there are good cases to be made that not only are they hiding tips but they might even be stealing them. Many drivers have been told by customers they have tipped significantly higher than the payouts on some orders.  So where is that money going to?  It certainly has drivers (And customers) scratching their heads.  

The app itself is pretty stable for the most part.  I mean, there's been a few app crashes over the Summer, but it's pretty simple to navigate and use.  Their maps depicting hot zones which updates every 9 minutes isn't 100% accurate but it is helpful and their connectivity to outside GPS devices (Such as Apple CarPlay) is user friendly.

One thing I do not like about the app is having to pre schedule dash times.  As I noted in my prior review in the GrubHub platform, as a 1099 worker, I really don't like having to be committed to any given app at any given time and while DoorDash sometimes does give you the liberty to jump in at random  times (Depending on how busy it is), it still requires you to schedule a 'Dash' for a particular length of time regardless.

Another feature that I find annoying is the 'Pause Dash' option, Unlike Uber Eats and being 'Off Block' with GrubHub, you can't just go offline if you have to take a bathroom break, lunch break or break to multi-app and then jump back in whenever you want.  Instead users are put on pause for 34 minutes (With a countdown timer displayed).  If the timer counts down to 0, you are kicked off your current Dash and have to start a new Dash (If you are given the choice) and it makes it extremely difficult to track your daily earnings.  Compared to UberEats, where you can jump in and out whenever you want, even after being offline for hours on end in a single day, it still displays your current earning totals for the day.  Also, as of late, drivers who decline back to back orders are also being paused (As if it's their fault DoorDash is sending such shitty orders) which is contradictory to their terms of service which clearly indicates that drivers are free to accept/reject any orders they want.  While that is still true, now they are punishing drivers for it. Again, it goes 100% against the grain for 1099 work.

A lot of app platforms cringe at the idea of multi-apping.  I'm not sure why.  If we truly are 1099 contractors, then they shouldn't have an issue with this.  

Every app isn't always busy enough at all periods of time for a 1099 worker to rely on during a single shift.  There are drivers out there who rely on food delivery as their single source of income, by making lame attempts to limit drivers to a single app, they are hindering this process. And not every order is worth taking.  Sometimes, many orders back to back are not worth taking. 

The problem with DoorDash isn't really that app itself.  It has great features such as rating deliveries, being able to state reasons why there's a hold up in picking up at restaurants and having instantaneous options to unassign oneself from an order.  The drop off process is  also simplified and automatic.  You indicate you arrived at the drop off location, a prompt comes up for 'Complete Delivery Steps' and you either snap/upload a photo of the delivery or indicate you handed the order to the customer.

DoorDash the company, itself is the problem unfortunately.  It used to be a really great platform to use and the payouts were the best in the business until the last 6-12 months or so when it started getting shady with tips and extremely (Insulting) low payout offers.  I mean to deliver Taco Bell 8 miles away for $2.00 is an insult!

I also find driver support to be hit or miss.  Based on my personal experiences, I do not have any confidence at all that DoorDash is driver friendly nor cares about them (Their bread and butter).  I've been basically thrown to the dogs numerous times, been unwillingly unassigned orders (Without being alerted to it half way through completing an order) and in some regards, DoorDash has costed me money.

The problem isn't the app itself.  DoorDash isn't trending favorably among drivers these days and if conditions continue to deteriorate, they will not have a future in this business.

To DoorDash's credit however, this past Summer, a lot of drivers have panicked because of the normal Summer slowdown, but as it's winding down, the volume (At least in my market area) is rebounding (As it usually would).  There are a lot of paranoid drivers out there and they just love to make DoorDash the underdog because they made themselves an easy target.

As a driver, I would love to see payout improvements, more tip transparency and better driver support.  All 3 of these things would make it the 'Go To' app in this business.  I am not willing (Yet) to give up on DoorDash, but they are indeed testing my patience. Right now, they are not my 'Go To' app for food delivery.  They were 3 months ago.