# Seeking for advice



## MyJessicaLS430 (May 29, 2018)

Hello everyone! I will be relocating later this year but I do not feel comfortable to transport living cargoes around in a city where I have only been to several times as a tourist. This is why I am thinking of doing deliveries to get myself familiarized with the city quicker. 

Perhaps things may have been different now for Eats but this is what I can recall. Each delivery request shows you the estimated time to get to the restaurant and also the estimated earnings. Both restaurants and customers can rate with a thumb up or down. I have learnt the hard way to never ever, accept fast food orders again because we only get paid a few dollars after devoting 40 mins+ in waiting endlessly for a happy meal order and apartment complex safari. The best part is that if you cancel the order, you will not be paid a cancellation fee. Customers ordering from steakhouse and grills, however, tend to be more generous but does not always hold true. What is your experience? 

How are other delivery platforms different? I have read some threads about postmates which requires drivers to carry the "pre-paid card". Isn't that ridiculous? In addition to the time spent waiting for the orders, we are expected to place an order too? Do these platform show the tip information like instacart does? How is the rate compared with Eats? Sorry if this has already been covered in previous threads but I cannot find the corresponding information. Are drivers paid in a similar manner as Eats (there is no break-down except a total amount, each for distance, time and pick-up / drop-off)? 

Can I also have an additional question for those of you working in metropolitan cities? In Houston, drivers have one less challenge - availability of on-site parking. Restaurants are usually condensed in a complex with a large parking lot. There are some restaurants even going to the extra length to assign reserved spaces for take-out orders and delivery drivers. In cities like Chicago, NYC, Philadelphia, Boston and many others, there aren't even enough street parking; let alone they are metered. How can you guys park your car on the street without paying the meters / getting fined? 

Every input counts and thank you in advance in helping a fellow sister out!


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## 1.5xorbust (Nov 22, 2017)

In San Diego I think more people use DoorDash and Grubhub. I’ve never done Eats.


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## nighthawk398 (Jul 21, 2015)

if your a dasher in your city you can use dash anywhere in the country same as uber eats


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## Seamus (Jun 21, 2018)

Every market is different, but in my market Uber eats is by far the worst. DoorDash and GrubHub are both far better than Uber eats. But as I said it will depend on the city you are moving to. Postmates is dead in my market.

In certain regards they are all the same horse of a slightly different color. DoorDash and GrubHub will also have you with cards like Postmates, although at least in my market that is a small amount of the orders. In the rare chance that I actually accept an order and pay offer, I order from my car so that it is all ready for me when I get there to pick it up. I would never wait until the restaurant and order and have to wait 20 minutes. 

Because the markets are so different it’s best if you want good advice to share the location of the city you’re moving to and someone in that area might be able to help you out better.


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## MyJessicaLS430 (May 29, 2018)

Thank you for the time replying.



1.5xorbust said:


> In San Diego I think more people use DoorDash and Grubhub. I've never done Eats.


Do these companies pay us only from the moment the order is picked up? Thanks!



nighthawk398 said:


> if your a dasher in your city you can use dash anywhere in the country same as uber eats


I have only done a few Eats run. Do you mind the compare how things work between the two? Thanks!



Seamus said:


> Every market is different, but in my market Uber eats is by far the worst. DoorDash and GrubHub are both far better than Uber eats. But as I said it will depend on the city you are moving to. Postmates is dead in my market.
> 
> In certain regards they are all the same horse of a slightly different color. DoorDash and GrubHub will also have you with cards like Postmates, although at least in my market that is a small amount of the orders. In the rare chance that I actually accept an order and pay offer, I order from my car so that it is all ready for me when I get there to pick it up. I would never wait until the restaurant and order and have to wait 20 minutes.
> 
> Because the markets are so different it's best if you want good advice to share the location of the city you're moving to and someone in that area might be able to help you out better.


I will be moving to Philadelphia. Perhaps I should post in the Philadelphia forum. Thank you for the input.

Actually I have a question to ask about the pre-paid card. How much of value was stored in the card? Do you need to refill the stored value from time to time? Grateful if you can tell me the flow of delivering with doordash or grubhub.


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## 1.5xorbust (Nov 22, 2017)

MyJessicaLS430 said:


> Thank you for the time replying.
> 
> Do these companies pay us only from the moment the order is picked up? Thanks!
> 
> ...


I don't know. You should post on the UberEats forum.


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## Seamus (Jun 21, 2018)

MyJessicaLS430 said:


> Thank you for the time replying.
> 
> Do these companies pay us only from the moment the order is picked up? Thanks!
> 
> ...


The card has nothing on it until you are assigned the order, then it is authorized to pay for the purchase.

Philly should be a good market. I'm in NYC suburbs and it's usually busy. It's a second job for me. I did Uber X, XL, and Lyft for 2 years before slowly changing over to delivery. Most Uber drivers are only familiar with UE so they think delivery is bad. UE really sucks so try DD and GH.

I had about 4000 u/l rides before switching and now have about 3800 deliveries. You will be surprised that you can make better money than you think with only a 1/3 of the mileage. Tonight I made $94 in 3 hours on GH. Not bad for driving around delivering food and cranking music! I have A stressful primary job so driving around three hours a night is actually an escape and stress reliever.


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## The Gift of Fish (Mar 17, 2017)

MyJessicaLS430 said:


> Hello everyone! I will be relocating later this year but I do not feel comfortable to transport living cargoes around in a city where I have only been to several times as a tourist. This is why I am thinking of doing deliveries to get myself familiarized with the city quicker.
> 
> Perhaps things may have been different now for Eats but this is what I can recall. Each delivery request shows you the estimated time to get to the restaurant and also the estimated earnings. Both restaurants and customers can rate with a thumb up or down. I have learnt the hard way to never ever, accept fast food orders again because we only get paid a few dollars after devoting 40 mins+ in waiting endlessly for a happy meal order and apartment complex safari. The best part is that if you cancel the order, you will not be paid a cancellation fee. Customers ordering from steakhouse and grills, however, tend to be more generous but does not always hold true. What is your experience?
> 
> ...


I wouldn't worry about transporting live specimens in a city you don't know. I Ubered in a city I had never been to previously and it wasn't a problem. Of course, in the beginning I had no idea where I was going, but that's true for the majority of Uber drivers.

Google Maps does a reasonable job of telling you where to go. And if it doesn't and the pax complains about route, just blame Uber.


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## brentb31 (May 23, 2018)

I started doing Shipt after the rona shut down. Just doing Saturday AM and Sunday evenings right now with an occasional week night here and there. I am averaging around $22-24/hr last couple weeks. Tips are big on that app. over 95% of orders have tipped. Less wear and tear on vehicle, less miles, more money, and no drunks. You get to select zones you want to work and schedule yourself, if you want to. You will learn the city layout.

They do have pre paid CC you must use, unless order is prepaid. Easy money.


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## MyJessicaLS430 (May 29, 2018)

@Seamus @brentb31

Your experience is very encouraging! I do like the part that you can make some decent money with a fraction of the mileage as well as without having the need to deal with obnoxious people. I know Eats do not have a rate card (at least back in the days). As far as I can recall, I could only see how much I was paid for distance and time.

Eats pays us a fixed drop-off and pick-up fee which is only about a dollar. What makes Eats not worth my time is stacking orders. We only receive one pick-up fee regardless of the number of orders from the same restaurant. My experience is that an order is seldom ready for pick-up; not to mention expecting streamline delivery of multiple orders. You cannot really reason with the customers by explaining that we have to wait for other orders. They only attribute late delivery to us without questioning the efficiency of the restaurant. I always cancel stacked orders for these exact reasons. What is your strategy for stacked orders? Do other platforms have a rate card (per mile, per min,etc)? Do you get paid the moment accepting the request or only from the moment of delivery?

What I worry most is getting a fine while picking up the orders. In Chicago, there are an abundant number of opportunist officers whose primary duty is to leave envelopes on people's windshield. I guess this is how they make a living? One morning, I parked the rental car right in front of a doughnut shop. It doesn't make much sense to pay the meter an hourly rate of $8 while I only need a minute or two. These people can appear from nowhere! I don't think these platforms are going to reimburse us the parking fee. It still takes some time to rush into/out of the restaurant even you place the order ahead. How do you cope with this situation?

Sorry for asking questions non-stop! Thank you for your time.


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## Seamus (Jun 21, 2018)

MyJessicaLS430 said:


> @Seamus @brentb31
> 
> Your experience is very encouraging! I do like the part that you can make some decent money with a fraction of the mileage as well as without having the need to deal with obnoxious people. I know Eats do not have a rate card (at least back in the days). As far as I can recall, I could only see how much I was paid for distance and time.
> 
> ...


RATE:
On DD and GH you get the offer value up front which includes the money they offer, their subsidy contribution, any bonus, and the tip. DD tells you how many miles total you will drive. GH gives a map of the pick up until drop off but it is not as clear or transparent as DD. DD sometimes adjusts up the payout they offered you at the end of the delivery. They do this hoping some fools will accept their crappy lowball offers thinking it might end up higher. Also they do it because some people used to use a Pirate app which allowed them to only accept orders over a certain value allowing them to cherry pick large payout orders only.

STACKED ORDERS:
I do them all the time as long as the second offer is a "normal" value offer and not a lowball add on. Don't worry about customers getting their food late because of stacking. On DD they adjust the delivery times if you accept a stacked order. On GH, there is no driver rating so people can be mad, curse you out, etc.etc. but they don't rate you. In General, anytime you're late just blame the restaurant.

CROSS PLATFORM ORDERS:
Once you have a lot of experience and know the area and restaurants well, this is where you can double your money. I sometimes run DD, GH, and UE all at the same time and take deliveries AT THE SAME TIME. My personal record is 1 DD, 2 GH, and 1 UE in my car at the same time!!! $$$$$$$$. You have to be on time with them or eventually you will pay the price. You have to be super familiar with the area, restaurants, apps, and super organized to stay out of trouble. I don't recommend trying it until you have experience.


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## amazinghl (Oct 31, 2018)

<<< UE doesn't pay enough to worth while in Phoenix.
$3 a trip back in 2018, probably less now. What a joke.

I'm not sure I would consider delivery if I was a female due to safety concerns.


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## mch (Nov 22, 2018)

MyJessicaLS430 said:


> Hello everyone! I will be relocating later this year but I do not feel comfortable to transport living cargoes around in a city where I have only been to several times as a tourist. This is why I am thinking of doing deliveries to get myself familiarized with the city quicker.
> 
> Perhaps things may have been different now for Eats but this is what I can recall. Each delivery request shows you the estimated time to get to the restaurant and also the estimated earnings. Both restaurants and customers can rate with a thumb up or down. I have learnt the hard way to never ever, accept fast food orders again because we only get paid a few dollars after devoting 40 mins+ in waiting endlessly for a happy meal order and apartment complex safari. The best part is that if you cancel the order, you will not be paid a cancellation fee. Customers ordering from steakhouse and grills, however, tend to be more generous but does not always hold true. What is your experience?
> 
> ...





MyJessicaLS430 said:


> @Seamus @brentb31
> 
> Your experience is very encouraging! I do like the part that you can make some decent money with a fraction of the mileage as well as without having the need to deal with obnoxious people. I know Eats do not have a rate card (at least back in the days). As far as I can recall, I could only see how much I was paid for distance and time.
> 
> ...


Listen to @Seamus. I started doing food recently and Im not sure Im gonna go back to pax. I live in delaware county and dd is really good there. If its a question of wanting to get to know downtown Philly you're better off just picking up pax during the day or even just driving around downtown during the day. Downtown is where I used to drive pax primarily. The streets in philly are narrow and I think food delivery would be a nightmare there.


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## MyJessicaLS430 (May 29, 2018)

mch said:


> Listen to @Seamus. I started doing food recently and Im not sure Im gonna go back to pax. I live in delaware county and dd is really good there. If its a question of wanting to get to know downtown Philly you're better off just picking up pax during the day or even just driving around downtown during the day. Downtown is where I used to drive pax primarily. The streets in philly are narrow and I think food delivery would be a nightmare there.


Hi, there are lots to learn. I only know one way getting to the Independence Hall area from PHL by 95. Take exit 22 (forget what that street is) and make the way through 6th street &#128514; . There are too many awesome restaurants spanning the entire length of Market Street and Chestnut Street toward the city hall. However, there had never been enough time or space in my stomach to try them all out! Not to mention the food court above Jefferson station! Their pulled pork (teeth friendly!) and cookies (never soggy!) are just different. I never get sicked of looking at the pictures of the trip over and over! I can't wait to start "working" in Philadelphia &#128523;


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## mch (Nov 22, 2018)

MyJessicaLS430 said:


> Hi, there are lots to learn. I only know one way getting to the Independence Hall area from PHL by 95. Take exit 22 (forget what that street is) and make the way through 6th street &#128514; . There are too many awesome restaurants spanning the entire length of Market Street and Chestnut Street toward the city hall. However, there had never been enough time or space in my stomach to try them all out! Not to mention the food court above Jefferson station! Their pulled pork (teeth friendly!) and cookies (never soggy!) are just different. I never get sicked of looking at the pictures of the trip over and over! I can't wait to start "working" in Philadelphia &#128523;
> 
> View attachment 478936


Thats reading terminal market and its the bomb. When I was working downtown for peanuts and flat broke I still couldn't resist eating there 3 or 4 times a week&#128514;. I used to have to wait till midnight to go out some friday and saturday nights because I couldn't afford to go out earlier. Mostly because of the $10 hand carved hot turkey club sandwiches, and delilah's soul food.


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## MyJessicaLS430 (May 29, 2018)

mch said:


> Thats reading terminal market and its the bomb. When I was working downtown for peanuts and flat broke I still couldn't resist eating there 3 or 4 times a week&#128514;. I used to have to wait till midnight to go out some friday and saturday nights because I couldn't afford to go out earlier. Mostly because of the $10 hand carved hot turkey club sandwiches, and delilah's soul food.


I thought the market closes at 6pm? You won't find too many stores in business by 5pm... Perhaps I remembered wrongly?

Do you mean this one>>










I almost forget their crabcakes. They are as good as those from the Half Shell in Baltimore!


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## Trafficat (Dec 19, 2016)

Postmates is awful. No information upfront about tips. One order required me to go to a 7-11 to buy stuff and the order cancelled after I filled the drinks so I had to pay for the drinks out of my own money since I used the cups.

With Grubhub, the prepaid card often adds a huge amount of time to the order because you have to wait for the food and wait in line to order it. At least you can see if the tip is good in advance and you can also see if the order requires the card before you take it.


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## mch (Nov 22, 2018)

MyJessicaLS430 said:


> I thought the market closes at 6pm? You won't find too many stores in business by 5pm... Perhaps I remembered wrongly?
> 
> Do you mean this one>>
> 
> ...


I meant I would eat there 3 or 4 days a week and lunch but because I spent all of my money I couldnt afford to buy a lot of drinks at bars during the weekend. So I would stay at home and drink until midnight and then go out.

That way I'd only have to buy 9 or 10 drinks&#128514; (I do not drink anymore&#128514


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## NOXDriver (Aug 12, 2018)

MyJessicaLS430 said:


> I have learnt the hard way to never ever, accept fast food orders again


I get $16+ FF orders all the time.

I will NOT do a Popeye's, ever. But that might be the local franchise just sucks.

One night I did 5 Taco bell orders. The guy in the window was trying to prove his alpha status and tried to talk down to me. So every order I would tell him how much I was getting paid. In 3 hours I had $70-ish dollars just from that one TB.

Please make the 'rona last a little longer, daddy needs a new laptop.


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## MyJessicaLS430 (May 29, 2018)

Hello everyone, thank you all for the input. I have tried signed up for postmate and doordash to have a grasp of how they work in my city before relocation. However, there is a quota for the number of delivery partners for doordash. I have received an insulator bag from postmate and gone through the required procedures to go online for the first time.

Sigh... Look at these requests! It seems like postmate is not very different from Lyft. Look at the ridiculous long pick-up! Unlike Eats, there is no information on the estimated payout. That generous $1 bonus is not going to entice any drivers. I bet it is not worth doing either.... As the general rule of thumb, seeing the keywords of Walmart or fast food will be an automatic decline. Unless there is a steakhouse order (tipping likely), I don't think I will give it a try.

By the way, do anyone think the interface resembles that of Uber a year ago? Are postmate and Uber run by the same management?


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## Stevie The magic Unicorn (Apr 3, 2018)

If your moving to Orlando don't do uber/lyft. It's a money losing opportunity. I'm guessing Orlando because you said _tourist_.

The rates paid per mile in Orlando are the lowest in the country, 25% less than anywhere else in Florida, which is the lowest state in the country.

Although i'm only guessing to be honest.


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## NOXDriver (Aug 12, 2018)

Trafficat said:


> With Grubhub, the prepaid card often adds a huge amount of time to the order because you have to wait for the food and wait in line to order it. At least you can see if the tip is good in advance and you can also see if the order requires the card before you take it.


I have done a few call in orders and even with big orders you only have a 20-30 minute lag. Sucks that GH won't assign you another order while you wait, but I also decline call in orders unless they are at least $10-15 to compensate for the wait time.

You have to learn the market and know what shops are quick and what ones are slow. With the 'rona I think everyone is much quicker than normal due to low demand. If things pick back up then it will be time to rethink accepting call in order.

Unless its Chinese. There is no Chinese food item that takes more than 5 minutes to make. Easy money on Chinese food call ins.


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