"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.

UberX: What's Taking You So Long?

 I've been doing food delivery for UberEats since April.  They're the first food delivery platform I ever went with.

Recently, I've decided to do Rideshare and have been doing rides for Lyft.  It's been great and I love it. So I've also signed up to start taking rides with Uber.  I've been through the process already, background check, document submission etc...so why has it been 3 weeks (And then some) and I'm still waiting for approval?  Is the market saturated?  You would think since I already do deliveries for them the process would be instantaneous right?

I guess not!  

Uber. What's taking so long?

Delivery App Platform Review: GrubHub

I signed up for GrubHub sometime in May of 2021 and was put on a waiting list.  Word on the street was that GrubHub was the best delivery app and I thought "Well if that's true, then no wonder the wait".  At the end of June I was finally given the green light from GrubHub but didn't start using them until a few days later.

On a hot summer Saturday afternoon, I decided to do a trial run with GrubHub.  I was a tad bit hungover, but not so much that I couldn't do deliveries and was slowly coming out of it.  I was able to take the butt end of a 2 hour block that day and went on about 1:30pm sitting in a commuter lot near a regular hot zone I normally sit in (Across the street from a restaurant).  Within seconds of logging on I received my first ping.  It was my intention that on this test run I wouldn't decline any orders and I didn't. In 2 hours I made $80.  I thought "Not bad" for a Saturday afternoon.

Block Scheduling Versus Working Off Block With GrubHub

There are two ways to work GrubHub.  Either schedule yourself a block (Usually in advance) or you simply slide the 'Available to take orders' option and work off block.  Blocks normally run 1 1/2 to 2 hours in length, which is usually how much time I devote each time I do deliveries anyway (I do food delivery gigs as a part time side hustle).  

Now when it comes to blocks, as a beginner level user, you're limited as to when you can schedule them.  But if you maintain a certain status level (Such as a high acceptance rating, order completion rating and low block drop rating) you are given a broader selection.

The difference between working off block versus on block is that when on block you're supposed to be given first selection of orders.  Working off block (Without GrubHub actually using the terms) you get the bread crumbs of rejected orders. 

When working on block, it's almost impossible to multi-app.  At least in my market, because I usually receive a ping for the next delivery just prior to completing the one I'm currently on.  I like the fact that it keeps the money wheels spinning, but I'm not really thrilled with the idea that in order to maintain block status, you can't decline too many orders because it will affect your acceptance rating.  So it limits you.  As a 1099 worker, I don't like that kind of limitation.  Yes it's strictly voluntary, but still it's not entirely voluntary if you know what I mean.  I also don't like the fact that you can't work a certain area within your specified zone.  And the zone is broad.  For example, I usually like to stick to a particular town near where I live because of familiarity and because of short delivery distances.  Yes that area is within my GrubHub zone BUT so are about 4-6 other town that are a lot further away.  While on block, you really don't get to pick and choose if you want to maintain block scheduling privilege's.  I find this a hindrance to my freedom as a 1099 worker.

But if you work off block, you can choose more freely, and if you don't care about block scheduling (Which I learned to not care about it and I'll explain that in a moment) then you can decline all you want and stay within the area you wish to work.  

My experiences with working on block versus off block is that working on block is way overhyped.  I've received equally great orders on block and off block.  There were times where working on block, I got lousy offers and sometimes it was slow and there were times I made more money off block than on block. So really block scheduling is just a scheme for GrubHub to get you to be their bitch for 1 1/2 -2 hours .  Totally counterproductive to what 1099 work is supposed to be about.  So I no longer worry about my acceptance rating when working GrubHub because block scheduling no longer interests me.

The GrubHub App

Of the 3 major platforms I find the GrubHub app to be the least stable.  It often freezes up and as far as connectivity is concerned it's very shaky.  When an order comes in a cowbell rings.  In my market area (Though this might be changing as I write this), GrubHub does not divulge to you the total mileage of an order.  You can zoom the map on the order to locate pickup/drop off points, but they don't give you the drop off address until after you've arrived at the restaurant for pickup.  So you have to literally guess distance based on the map.  I haven't used GrubHub in over a week, but I'm starting to see others from around the internet saying that they are now showing mileage.  

What should be a totally awesome feature on the app turns out to be a disappointment.  Some restaurants will notify you through the app when an order is ready for pickup and it will ping your phone.  And some restaurants actually do a great job of that.  In my area, one particular Japanese restaurant that I like to pick up from, has specific instructions for the driver to wait in their car until they hear the 'Order ready for pickup' tone, then proceed to the building for pickup.  They use it properly.  But 95% or more of the other restaurants will send that notification out to you before they even start working on the order so you think that you'll just walk in, pick it up and walk out only to find out you might have a bit of a wait ahead of you.  I'm not sure if GrubHub sometimes sends those pings out but it doesn't matter their highly unreliable in most cases.

Now back to app stability.  The app for some reason, disconnects from the internet often even when in a full service range.  I don't know why this is but it's a damn nuisance (And it always seems to do this at the most inconvenient times-which gets my conspiratorial wheels spinning).  One time I tried to unassign myself from an order (I think it was the only order I ever tried to unassigned myself from using that app) and the app cut out on me.  It said 'Out of range' or something of that sort.  Even though all the other apps, texting and calling worked just fine, the GrubHub app froze up.  I couldn't unassign myself.  I couldn't even contact driver care by calling or through texting.  I had no choice but to stick the order out.  Then lo and behold as soon as I got the order, it became fully functional again.  Very shady GrubHub!  I also ended up losing money on that order because of the whole ordeal. It really upset me and I figured, since GrubHub is costing me money right now, I'm going off block and shutting down the app.  I made up the difference with DoorDash that night.

Also, I've missed a few pings because of connectivity issues.  If that weren't bad enough, GrubHub penalizes your acceptance rating as a result of it.  Like it's my fault!  I remember one order came in for a $30 payout.  Of course I was going to accept it!  But as I hit 'Accept' the app cut out for about 15-20 seconds and it never received my acceptance of the order.  Then I received a notification that I need to move to a better service area because I've missed some pings?? Really?? I was in a 5G full bar area!  Not good GrubHub! Get your shit straight!

Earnings and Transparency

One thing I will give GrubHub credit for, is that, even though they're not 100% transparent they are indeed the most transparent out of all 3 major platforms (Uber Eats and DoorDash being the other two).

Basically, the earnings amount for each order that displays on your screen is what you will make after completing the order. There's no guess work.  What you see is what you will get.  It includes tip, mileage, bonuses and base rate.  It's fully transparent when it comes to that (And I find it interesting how GrubHub's payouts are usually always better than the other 2 platforms based on tips alone-which makes me highly suspicious of UberEats and DoorDash when others accuse them of hiding or stealing tips-just saying!).  

Now you won't see the break down of the order until after it's completed but you can't help but notice the payout amounts are indeed higher, even for fast food, than the other 2 major platform delivery apps.  Now if only they show mileage when an offer comes in, then they deserve even higher marks for transparency, because I'll admit GrubHub has tripped me up on the mile:pay ratio due to their lack of transparency in that area.  But for the most part (95% of the time) I've always earned a higher pay:mileage ratio at the end of my shift.  ALMOST to the point where you don't really have to worry too much about it.

I also find that very few orders they send me are worth declining.  Most of the time when I declined a ping is because I either didn't want to end up in that particular area of town due to the neighborhood or I just don't like the restaurant.  Normally, its normally never anything to do with low pay.  And to be honest, I've rarely ever seen a ping come through that's under $5.

Driver Support

It's not perfect.  It can be a little better, but compared to DoorDash and UberEats they win the most points in this area.

Normally (With a few exceptions) I found dealing with their driver support specialists to be mostly pleasant and respectful.  They also are somewhat reasonable.  For example, I was sent to a pickup location for a restaurant that didn't exist at that address.  When I contacted driver support they verified it didn't exist at that address and cancelled the order.  Which of course had me thinking 'Why would I get an order for a restaurant that doesn't even exist? Hmmm'.  Anyway, that's a side issue.  I told them that I drove 7 miles to get to it and that's a waste of time and gas and that I really needed to be compensated for it.  Well, they did compensate me for it (Though it was too low.  They told me $4, I ended up getting $3.50....but for 7 miles? Come on man!).  

Another time, a customer put in an order for a pickup at a pizza place on a Tuesday night.  When I got there the pizza place was closed (The sign on the door said they last minute decided to close on Tuesday's instead of Mondays).  So I'm thinking they closed the restaurant but didn't go offline with GrubHub-therefore the mix up. Driver support was pleasant to deal with and compensated me $5 for my time (The original payout would have been $11). I still made money on that one because when I received the ping I was only a few miles away.

Compared to the other 2 app delivery platforms, while there still can be some improvements made, GrubHub beats DoorDash and UberEats in driver support.

Other Thoughts

Does GrubHub live up to their hype?  Honestly, while they are slightly better than DoorDash and UberEats I have to say no.  They just sin differently.  Drivers are often lured in by high payout amounts only to find out that it takes them far out of the area they wish to work in and since mileage transparency is non-existent, it sometimes fools drivers that the mile:payout ratio is worth it.  That's a big problem as a 1099 worker in my opinion.

I also don't like that they hold their 1099 workers to higher standards as if they were employees.  They find ways to trap you so you can't multi-app, the limit you to a broader area rather than a more localized area, while you won't get deplatformed for maintaining a low acceptance rating you do get penalized in other ways.  If you schedule a block then decide to drop it, you risk losing block scheduling privilege's (Even though blocks are overrated) and that's a big problem being an independent 1099 worker who enjoys the freedom of picking and choosing when and where to work.  And unassigning orders are a bigger 'No-No' than other platforms.  While all 3 platforms can indeed deplatform you if you unassign too many orders, GrubHub's tolerance is a lot lower.

If you really sit down and do the math, the payouts aren't really THAT much better than the other platforms.  Yes, they're more transparent, but completing an order can be more time consuming and put more wear and tear on your car.

As I've said in a previous post, all 3 food delivery app platforms are basically the same in nature.  They all sin the same, just at different moments. GrubHub just sells you a different brand of snake oil even though it's really the same snake oil.  

The Summer Panic Is Ending: My Thoughts

 A month or so ago, a lot of people had become frustrated with the Summer slowdown in food delivery.  Many simply stopped doing deliveries (Or flat out quit) and went to regular W-2 jobs.  Others had nothing better to do than blane the deliver app platforms for the lower payouts and low order volume.

At the end of July, we had a (Pathetic) Dasher strike, which seemed counterproductive to me.  I mean, people complaining about low wages but instead of working that day, decided to strike by not taking orders.  Ridiculous. Supposedly, upset with the Dasher payout method, these strikers who often complain how difficult it is to make ends meet decided to make no income at all that day (Or at least eliminate one of their options by blacklisting DoorDash).  Where's the logic in that?

Which brings me to my next point.  A lot of the Summer slowdown has led to a summer panic.  This shouldn't have surprised Dashers who know better. It's always slower in the Summer.  People are out and about more, going on vacations, day trips, firing up the grill, etc...the demand for food delivery drops in the Summer.  That's just common sense.

It's the middle of August right now and I've noticed in the past week or so, the order volume increasing.  As expected.  It seems a lot of Dashers overreacted.  Which makes me wonder about the caliber of Dashers that are out there.  I personally, found the Summer slow and even though it took me a bit longer to reach my personal quota's.  I made them.  And so did a lot of other Dashers.

When it gets darker out earlier, when the kids return to school, when people start spending less time outdoors and more time indoors (Plus the new Covid Scare), volume is going to naturally increase.  We need to learn patience instead of panicking .  I don't know what some people were thinking.

It's always the DoorDash apocalypse everywhere you go on the internet.  But it's simply not true.  My advise is to stop listening to these click bait enthusiast who just want you to visit their blog, like their tweet or like their YouTube videos.

Understanding The Driver App Platforms And Your Relationship To Them As A 1099 Worker

 Especially if you're having a bad or slow day, it's easy to get frustrated over app platforms like DoorDash or UberEats.  I get it.  And sometimes the frustration is definitely warranted because there has been times where due to the incompetence of driver support staff, they ended up costing me money rather than making me money.

However, I see a lot of drivers on internet forums, that simply put, never have anything good to say about these platforms (Especially DoorDash).  I think that part of it is because they fail to recognize what their professional relationship is supposed to be with them.

Let's start with the very basics.  First and foremost, you signed up with them.  Nobody forced you to do so.  You asked for their permission to use their platform as a source of job sourcing as a 1099 worker.  So they are allowing you to use their service to you.  Each one of these platforms are under no obligation at all to keep you on as a person who can utilize them as a resource.  It's specifically stated in their terms of service.  Now sure, as long as you abide by their terms of service, chances are you won't be deplatformed, but you risk being deplatformed even at the slightest violation.  Remember you did agree to their terms of service which obligates you to abide by their rules.

However, there's a difference between abiding by their terms of service and making business decisions that are best for you.  Which is why you are under no obligation to accept every order that is sent out to you.  They also make this abundantly clear in their terms of service.  Keeping that in mind, you are given free reign over what work you decide to take on and what work you feel isn't going to benefit you.

There's also a flip side to this.  Like you, they are also trying to make a profit and that is their main goal.  They need drivers such as yourself in order to do that but they will not make any business decisions that will not benefit them.  They will even make business decisions outside the scope of their terms of service (Not necessarily in violation of them) in order to push you to do work for them that you have no intention of doing because it would not be profitable.  And you're not going to like me saying this-but they're allowed! Just like you are allowed to reject their offers.

So it's a constant battle back and forth between you and them.  Both of you are trying to make money and using each other to ones own advantage.

Bottom line is if you don't like the way they're treating you then nobody is forcing you to keep them on as a source of income.  Nobody.  

One thing I learned in dealing with the employees of these platforms is that they really are not concerned about your financial well being and in some regards even you're overall well being.  All they are concerned about is making sure things run smoothly on their end and making a profit in the meantime.  Everything else is secondary.  The sooner you understand this, the less you will learn to expect from them.  And it's completely reasonable.

Remember you're a 1099 worker and NOT their employee. They have no obligation to you other than paying you for your work.  

I personally operate under the concept of equal reciprocation.  I will only reciprocate in the same way they do to me.  If they pull some shenanigans on me like unassigning me from an order without notifying me (And not paying me for it when it's in progress) then I am under no obligation to feel bad for unassigning myself form certain orders.  And it's happened to me before a few times.  There are numerous times where I have found each one of these platforms in violation of their own terms of service and if they're going to do that at my expense, then I won't think twice about doing it back.  On the other hand, if they treat me with respect, I will return respect. And as far as going above and beyond, I will do it for my customers, but I won't do it for the platforms unless they give me reason to. 

I think that everyone who is a 1099 worker needs to operate this way.  As long as you are pulling your weight morally and ethically  then there really isn't more for you to do.  The business is really simple.  Accept an order, pick it up, drop it off and get paid for it all in a timely and professional fashion.  It really need not be more complicated than that.

My advice to those who lets these app platforms get under their skin is to stop, take a step back and re-evaluate your relationship with them.  Having a personal beef against them versus having a professional beef are two separate issues. They need to be separated.  Nobody is forcing you to stay with them.  A lot of these people who do nothing but complain never seem to leave.

I also find that fundamentally there really is no difference between DoorDash, GrubHub and UberEats.  They all operate at times in a very shady manner such as hiding tips, underreporting mileage, sending you to restaurants that are closed or don't even exist etc...it's just that some days one is better than the other.  None  of them are fully transparent. You just need to learn how to work around those issues and utilize multiple resources.  It's not good to throw all your eggs in one basket when you're doing 1099 work.  I personally at this moment utilize 9 gig app platforms to pull jobs from.  How many are you using?

Vent Post: Gig Drivers (UberEats, Uber X, Lyft, DoorDash and GrubHub) YOU ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM: STOP IT!!!!!

 I frequently browse the internet (Sites like Reddit for example), Twitter and YouTube to keep up to tabs on the gig economy and I am perplexed at what I'm seeing from some drivers.  A lot of drivers are acting like spoiled little brats who cry when they don't get their way.  It's annoying!

These same drivers (Who probably don't work a W-2 job because of poor work ethic) are the ones declining 65% or more orders that come to them and complain how they're not meeting their own personal payout standards.  Like I mentioned in a previous post.  The $1-$2 per mile standard needs TO GO.  For a lot of practical reasons.  Enough about that.

I see posts where drivers are making late deliveries, badgering customers about leaving poor or no tips and priding themselves at not following customer instructions when it comes to drop offs.  And they are wondering why pay remains so low and why they risk getting deplatformed??? Really??

First and foremost as a 1099 contractor you have to answer to someone ok.  Yes, you are you're own boss, but at the end of the day you're also working for someone.  This isn't the stock market or an investment club.  At the end of the day, when it comes to food delivery you're working for the CUSTOMERS. Not the app platforms and not the restaurants.  You're money is coming from the customers.  If it weren't for the customers, you wouldn't have these types of gigs.  

Also, when it comes to the restaurants, as a driver, I totally get the frustration at long wait times and other types of shenanigans they try to pull with drivers.  On the other hand, there's absolutely NO NEED to disrespect restaurant workers.  You always have the option to unassign and if you know you're area well, you know which restaurants to avoid.  These restaurant workers DO NOT WORK FOR DRIVERS.  It's not their job to give you what you require on demand ok.  Like you, they are also working for your customers, so any beef that comes from slow wait times is between them and the customers. NOT YOU.  Also, some drivers are so rude when picking up orders I've read stories where restaurants literally complain and ban them!  

My fellow drivers this needs to stop.  What incentive does DoorDash, UberEats or GrubHub have to throw us a bone if we act like this?  It's unprofessional.  YOU ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM SO STOP! JUST STOP IT!!!

Nobody is forcing you to work these gigs. GOT IT!  If you are unhappy with this line of work then do something else.  Just because you are you're own boss when it comes to gig work, does not give you carte blanche over everyone else.  There are moral and ethical standards you need to go by.

When it comes to rideshare. I personally limit my interaction with my passengers.  Sure, I'm friendly and try to make them feel as comfortable as possible when they're in my vehicle, but I don't do what a lot of drivers do and that's interact with them at a level that's overreaching.  In fact, I would rather prefer a silent ride over a conversation filled ride, because it's easy to inadvertently come across as being inappropriate to the passenger the longer you engage with them.  Especially in today's world, where everyone is offended by everything and everyone seems to be on edge. The more you engage with a passenger the greater the chances you open yourself up to a heated conversation turning into an argument or turning them off by something you said or did thus resulting in no tip or low ratings.  You're better off just picking them up and dropping them off.

I urge all drivers, whether your doing food delivery or rideshare to conduct yourself professionally.  There's no excuse for a dirty car, poor hygiene and bad driver etiquette.  None.  If you're having a bad day don't take it out on the passengers.  Sure, you might get drunk ones, obnoxious ones, smelly ones etc..but suck it up buttercup.  Bite your bottom lip and if worse comes to worse you can either decline a ride on site or (In a worse case scenario) kick them out of your car if you feel the ride is unsafe for you.

Rideshare Versus Food Delivery: Pro's and Con's

 Yesterday, I started doing rideshare for Lyft for the first time. For a long time, I was dead set against doing Rideshare because I didn't want weirdos in my new car, to have to wear a mask and to put the added mileage on my vehicle.  But things change.  The more I thought about it, I decided to at least give it a try.  Because I'm on a money saving binge right now, in order to save money you have to make money, so adding Rideshare to my repertoire would only provide me with more choices to do just that.  At the very least if I felt it wasn't for me, I'd stick to food delivery and keep Lyft as a backup.  I'm waiting on UberX to give their final blessing as well (Which to me makes no sense considering that I already drive for their behalf using Uber Eats.  I don't know-maybe their oversaturated in my area?).  

I've been waiting on UberX for a few weeks now.  It took my only a few days get the approval from Lyft.

First of all, Rideshare for me was a great change of pace from food delivery.  As much as I enjoy doing food delivery (And I do), not having to wait on restaurants, strain myself to locate address locations and in some cases, go out of my way to drop off an order at someone's doorstep was a bit of a relief.  With Rideshare, I never left my drivers seat.

My first Lyft pickup was actually something I pre-scheduled.  My first passenger was waiting for me not even 2 miles away from my house and his drop off spot was even closer than that!  An easy $3.50 for barely 10 minutes worth of work.  During the ride to drop him off, I received another ping.  Now, one thing I noticed is that, while I appreciate the steady flow of pings that Lyft sent me yesterday, I do not appreciate that you can't automatically accept or decline them.  They just automatically add it to your queue.  What I find annoying about that is that not only can you not automatically decline it, but even if you could, there isn't enough information given to you upfront itself on the ride or the passenger.  I personally feel this can be a safety issue for any driver.  But before I started taking rides, I equipped my car with a top of the line dash cam that records every activity within it's sight (Audio too) and I purposely didn't start taking rides until I installed it.  

So as a Lyft driver, you can't decline an order that's been automatically added to your queue when in the middle of a transport, but you can't unassign yourself after the fact.  However, for me personally, I enjoyed staying busy the 2 1/2 hours I worked.  I received one ride after the other, all but one was in the same general vicinity of the other and the longer drive compensated me adequately.  Overall I made $60 in 2 1/2 hours which comes out to $24 an hour.  But when it comes to food delivery, I would have made half that amount in my area.  So that's a plus right off the bat.  

Sure, I put on significantly more mileage on my vehicle yesterday then I would compared to working food delivery, but crunching the numbers over and over again, I discovered that the compensation for the mileage is indeed profitable.  So, having that in mind, I decided it's better to gauge earnings by the hour than by the miles.  

In other words, I made more money working less.  At least that's what it felt like when I compare it to my food delivery experiences.  I make it a personal goal to make a minimum of $30 (Net) each time I'm out, and I doubled that yesterday effortlessly.  Even though I complain about how difficult Ridesharing makes it to cherry pick, I think that it's really not necessary if you are concerned about earnings.  The only issue I really see with not being able to cherry pick is the issue of driver safety.

Speaking of safety, all of the people I picked up yesterday were great passengers.  I had no issues with any of them.  They were polite and respectful.  I'm not sure yet if I'm ready to (Or even want to) work the bar crowd on the weekends, though I'm probably sure I'll give it a go at some point.  I'm thinking I probably should throw down some type of covering on my seats and have some 'Puke Bags' handy just in case.  But I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.  For now, I just want to work Rideshare a little bit more to get my feet a little wetter (While putting food delivery on the backburner for now) then I'll venture into the late night scene.

In conclusion then, is rideshare worth it?  Yes, IF you have an economical vehicle.  I can't imagine doing rideshare in a gas guzzler or older car (Which is probably why Lyft and Uber have high standards with regards to that).  In my opinion if your vehicle get's 25 City-32 Highway, then it's a good minimum standard to gauge whether or not it'll be worth your time.  It's definitely a different set up than food delivery and there's a slight adjustment to the app platform and a slight learning curve, but it's not at all rocket science to get through.  You just have to learn to roll with the punches.  In some regards, I like it more than food delivery (I've always had jobs my entire adult life that involved driving-one of the reasons why I love ridesharing and food delivery).  Sure, I'll probably sooner or later pick up unpleasant and unruly passengers, but to me the pluses outweigh the minuses with Rideshare and I  intend to continue utilizing it as yet another source of income.

Oh! And UberX! What the hell is taking you so long?  I already do food delivery for you!

The Way Drivers Pay Themselves

 I've been doing a lot of research regarding the cost to operate food delivery as a 1099 worker.  The consensus out there is that most drivers will accept deliveries if they are making $1-$2 per mile as a standard.  Their main concern stated is that it covers gas, wear and tear as well as other miscellaneous expenses.  After doing my research, I've found that the $1 -$2 price range is a bit steep (Though I will add there's nothing wrong with setting high standards for yourself).

Of course a lot depends on the type of vehicle you drive.  Do you drive a gas guzzler? An economical car? How old and in what condition is your car?  All these appear to be major factors when it comes to gauging money spent on deliveries versus amount paid out per delivery.  So it varies.

I feel, personally (And this is strictly my opinion) that the drivers out there that go with the $1-$2 per mile standard may in fact be cutting themselves short when all is said and done.  While it is market dependent, some places, just aren't busy enough to place those kinds of standards when deciding what offers to accept or decline.  

My market area is pretty decent.  It's certainly not a big city or a major metropolis.  I like to drive in the town next to where I live.  Even though the town where I live is one of the busiest area's, it's also a very poor area demographically and there's some dangerous neighborhoods (With a lot of non-tippers) so I try to avoid it as much as I can.  

But in the next town over, I'm very familiar with it.  I went to high school there and even lived there on/off for 10 years.  It's not a tiny town, but it's not a big town either.  I find myself meeting my daily goals 99% of the time I choose to work it and even on a slow day.  

I would say that the majority of the offers that come in range between $3-$5.  Not that anything above $5 is rare, but cherry picking per miles I feel is kind of a disadvantage.  For example, if I were to take 4 $5 orders and complete them within one hour, sticking to that area only, I'd be making $20 an hour plus any tips that I might get.  I'd say it's a 10 mile radius in each direction so the mileage would remain fairly low.  Sure, I do get a fair share of $8-$11 orders and of course I take them, but sometimes you have to wait awhile to get them, and as a part time driver, committing to  more than 2-3 hours per time out would be burnout  for me since I already work a regular W-2 job.  So If I'm cherry picking $1-$2 per mile orders, it's possible I might get 2 (Maybe three) within a 2 hour period.  But If I take 4- $5 orders per hour and work two hours, that's a $40 payout which isn't that bad.

To me, in market areas like mine, it would seem wiser to work per hour than per mile.  Of course, taking ridiculous orders like anything under $4 (And over 4 miles) is ridiculous, but if I were to take a $4 order that I can complete in 10-15 minutes then that frees me up to take multiple orders within a given hour of the same caliber.  Why would anyone not doing something like that?

I keep a close eye on my driving expenses (Mileage, wear and tear etc..) and for my vehicle, it's pretty economical for an SUV.  I get 25 City and 32+ for highway.  My vehicle is fairly new (It's a 2018) and I purchased it only a few months ago with almost 20,000 miles on it.  Plus it has a stellar reputation as far as being 'Built to last'.  According to my calculations based on current gas prices, my vehicle consumes .46 of gas per mile on average.  That's far below the federal standard of .58 per mile in what the average pay is for employers to reimburse their employees for.  Depreciation costs are also significantly less than $2 per mile.  At the end of each shift I've ever worked (Even without cherry picking for mileage sake), I have never managed to drive more miles than my total payout at the end of the day.  

I think that the $1-$2 driver payout is almost like a 'Follow the herd' kind of mentality because it simply doesn't work for everyone.  Yes, it's bold and there's nothing wrong with setting high standards, but I also learned that these are the same people complaining how slow things are (When they sit at a parking lot declining several orders back to back because of the low mileage:pay ratio).  It doesn't make a lot of practical sense to me.  

At the end of the day, I think you gotta do 'You' regardless.  If  $1-$2 per mile is what you think you need in order for food delivery to be worth it, then go for it.  Just understand you might not get too many 'Golden Gooses' by doing it that way and end up coming up short at the end of your shift.  Whereas taking smaller orders may actually make up the difference. Especially on a slow day or in the middle of a slow period (Like mid-Summer). 

I think we worry too much about costs per driving versus net earnings because of the mythical standard of $1-$2 per mile payout ratio.  I think it's something we need to get over.