# When finishing up and trying to head home, what’s your threshold?



## Uberisfuninlv (Mar 22, 2017)

Would you lower your expectations and take something that gets you closer to home instead of deadmiling?

Say you are 10 miles from home. You normally try to get $2 per mile

This delivery is $6 for 7 miles. However, it puts you less than 5 miles from home. Do you take it?

ive been lucky where I’ve had Many times where I can get a delivery that takes me less than 0.5 miles from home. But I usually try to aim for at least $1 per mile on these “get closer to home” type deliveries


----------



## REX HAVOC (Jul 4, 2016)

I don't take anything less than $2.50 a mile and neither should you. Anything less is just a waste of time.


----------



## jaxbeachrides (May 27, 2015)

After waiting 2 hours at a panera for a homebound order, just to see how long it would actually take them, it's totally not worth going out of your way because you'll get screwed over on it somehow. Never again if not worth it.

I can't believe the customers didn't complain about the wait either. They must be conditioned to bad overpriced food that takes forever to microwave.

I should start my own panera and trick all you guys into making the deliveries for $2.25. I'll be rich tomorrow. Just remember, the tip is hidden. I promise.


----------



## Grubhubflub (Jun 16, 2018)

Uberisfuninlv said:


> Would you lower your expectations and take something that gets you closer to home instead of deadmiling?


Nope. I'd rather not make money than take a paycut.


----------



## Ms. Mercenary (Jul 24, 2020)

REX HAVOC said:


> I don't take anything less than $2.50 a mile and neither should you. Anything less is just a waste of time.


This is exactly the kind of almost-bullying I was writing about a few days ago. In my market I may wait a week for a $2.50/mile offer. People should really understand that markets are very, very different. If one doesn’t have any upscale restaurants in an area (two areas in my case), then $2.50 a mile is definitely a unicorn. Sure, I get them (I even get $15 for 1.5 miles once in a blue moon), but if I wait for them and not take anything less, it’ll be a s-l-o-w shift.

As for the OP, it depends. If I wait for a good offer, more likely than not I’ll be heading home empty. While I’ll not do less than $1/mile, I’ll do $1.50, and will go as low (but not lower) than $1/mile if it gets me less than 2 miles from target (I’m pretty much on the border of two zones). I still sometimes end up giving up and heading back empty.


----------



## ColonyMark (Sep 26, 2019)

I wouldn’t do it for $6. Maybe for $10


----------



## ColonyMark (Sep 26, 2019)

I


----------



## Seamus (Jun 21, 2018)

Uberisfuninlv said:


> Would you lower your expectations and take something that gets you closer to home instead of deadmiling?
> 
> Say you are 10 miles from home. You normally try to get $2 per mile
> 
> ...


Good question!

It's the only offer of the night I'm willing to go below my bottom line acceptance criteria, _a little_. If I am on the way home for the night then yes, I'll lower my expectations to replace dead miles. However not lower than $7.50.

The way I look at it the _minimum_ tip anyone should give a driver is $5. If the offer is below $7.50 it means the cheap ass **** gave less than a $5 tip so they can get their own dam food or go hungry!


----------



## WI_Hedgehog (Aug 16, 2021)

Uberisfuninlv said:


> Would you lower your expectations and take something that gets you closer to home instead of deadmiling?


Time is money. It depends on how much time it's going to take.

I think there's increased risk from low-ball offers: potentially bad areas and being _jacked_, a customer reporting a delivery as "Never Arrived," a low rating/complaints for no reason, etc.


----------



## Ms. Mercenary (Jul 24, 2020)

WI_Hedgehog said:


> Time is money. It depends on how much time it's going to take.
> 
> I think there's increased risk from low-ball offers: potentially bad areas and being _jacked_, a customer reporting a delivery as "Never Arrived," a low rating/complaints for no reason, etc.


I agree. I usually “camp” about 5 miles from my house. A good order will likely take me 5 miles past my house. So in my case it’s important to weigh the difference. Sometimes it’s just better for me to go empty. Say, I get $10 for 10 miles heading 5 miles past. On the one hand, I got my $1/mile. But then I end up going 5 miles empty. So same difference. If I get $20 - that means I went 15 miles (10+5) for $20. That I could live with. Again - if heading home. Generally though I look for pings that take me 2 miles or less from my house, so pretty much 5 miles or less.


----------



## Ted Fink (Mar 19, 2018)

jaxbeachrides said:


> After waiting 2 hours at a panera for a homebound order, just to see how long it would actually take them


Please tell me that was an order for you to eat with your family and not a delivery? The delivery would have to have a $50 tip on it for me to wait that long. Even then I might cancel. $100 I'd wait 2 hours every time. LOL


----------



## jaxbeachrides (May 27, 2015)

Ted Fink said:


> Please tell me that was an order for you to eat with your family and not a delivery? The delivery would have to have a $50 tip on it for me to wait that long. Even then I might cancel. $100 I'd wait 2 hours every time. LOL


Um no. It started out with maybe a $10 order and then after about 45 minutes they added on a second order. By this time I just wanted to see how long it would actually take before I would never ever go back to this place again for any reason. 

Interestingly enough, the second order was done before the first one.

I think I'd already cancelled so many that I was down to 80% so I was going to just wait out this one time.


----------



## Ted Fink (Mar 19, 2018)

jaxbeachrides said:


> Um no. It started out with maybe a $10 order and then after about 45 minutes they added on a second order. By this time I just wanted to see how long it would actually take before I would never ever go back to this place again for any reason.
> 
> Interestingly enough, the second order was done before the first one.
> 
> I think I'd already cancelled so many that I was down to 80% so I was going to just wait out this one time.


Wow. Your curiosity took a lot of your time. But now you know. Your decision of course.


----------



## jaxbeachrides (May 27, 2015)

Ted Fink said:


> Wow. Your curiosity took a lot of your time. But now you know. Your decision of course.


It was when I first started. Saved a lot of time later.

I think I was hoping they would cancel but they never did.


----------



## Seamus (Jun 21, 2018)

jaxbeachrides said:


> After waiting 2 hours at a panera for a homebound order


Why would it take 2 hours? They don't do anything but heat up their food. Did you talk to the manager? What was the issue?

I had 2 times in five years where Panera had an order scheduled for a time in the distant future for some reason. Both times after talking to the manager they got it for me in 10 minutes!


----------



## Ms. Mercenary (Jul 24, 2020)

It took me exactly one trip to Panera to know…


----------



## jaxbeachrides (May 27, 2015)

Seamus said:


> Why would it take 2 hours? They don't do anything but heat up their food. Did you talk to the manager? What was the issue?
> 
> I had 2 times in five years where Panera had an order scheduled for a time in the distant future for some reason. Both times after talking to the manager they got it for me in 10 minutes!


I don't think there was any management to speak of. 5 employees and only 1 in the kitchen.


----------



## Rickos69 (Nov 8, 2018)

Seamus said:


> Why would it take 2 hours? They don't do anything but heat up their food. Did you talk to the manager? What was the issue?
> 
> I had 2 times in five years where Panera had an order scheduled for a time in the distant future for some reason. Both times after talking to the manager they got it for me in 10 minutes!


I have picked up 100's of Panera's.
Only once out of the 2 in my area, I waited 35 minutes. They were swamped and understaffed.
Other than that, never never more than 5 minutes past pickup, And that, rarely.
I enjoy going there because mostly the bag is waiting for me. (For DD. For GH, different story)


----------



## reg barclay (Nov 3, 2015)

I answer to the OP,. Yes, I will accept a bit lower on the way home. Usually around $1 per mile.



REX HAVOC said:


> I don't take anything less than $2.50 a mile and neither should you. Anything less is just a waste of time.


I feel driving 8 miles home empty, when I could make $8 doing a delivery in the same direction, is a bigger waste of time


----------



## SinCityAngel (Jul 7, 2019)

I have a daily goal. I do whatever it takes to meet that daily goal. If I am super tired and say $5 or less under my daily goal, I'll just go home. Otherwise, I stay out till I make that number. The way I figure it, is the gas station going to give you a break? Probably not. Is the mechanic going to give you a break? Probably not. And I'm sure there are bills that you need to pay or things that you want to accomplish where the companies that you have those bills with are not really going to give you a break. I say, stay out there, make your number and then go home...

Unless you are tired, sick, nearly out of gas or horny...


----------



## Seamus (Jun 21, 2018)

SinCityAngel said:


> or horny...


That will excuse just about anything!


----------



## TeleSki (Dec 4, 2014)

Uberisfuninlv said:


> Would you lower your expectations and take something that gets you closer to home instead of deadmiling?
> 
> Say you are 10 miles from home. You normally try to get $2 per mile
> 
> ...


Yes. I'll accept a borderline order if it gets me in the direction I want to go. I like working the south end of my assigned area in DoorDash. If I get an order that takes me to the north end, I usually will just start driving back to my honeypot area. So if I can get paid to drive in that direction, I will. It's still gotta be a minimum of $5.


----------



## Ms. Mercenary (Jul 24, 2020)

No less than $1/mile. No more than 2 miles “overshoot”. I’ll take $2/mile going up to 3 miles off target (so max is 6 miles total, I’m usually 3 miles from home). No more than 6 miles total unless it’s a suspected hidden double and about 45 minutes before estimated sign-off.

Disclaimer: I’m not very flexible with my time; want to be in my driveway before dark. So frequently it’s an empty run.


----------



## Heisenburger (Sep 19, 2016)

WI_Hedgehog said:


> I think there's increased risk from low-ball offers: potentially bad areas and being _jacked_, a customer reporting a delivery as "Never Arrived," a low rating/complaints for no reason, etc


I'm not following this. How is there increased risk just based on geographic proximity to your house?


----------



## Launchpad McQuack (Jan 8, 2019)

Heisenburger said:


> I'm not following this. How is there increased risk just based on geographic proximity to your house?


Not geographic proximity to his house. Accepting lower paying offers. Lower paying offers have a higher probability of being problem orders (in my market). If you don't accept them, you will generally avoid a lot of headaches.


----------



## Heisenburger (Sep 19, 2016)

Launchpad McQuack said:


> Not geographic proximity to his house. Accepting lower paying offers. Lower paying offers have a higher probability of being problem orders (in my market). If you don't accept them, you will generally avoid a lot of headaches.


Okay, but that's not a unique consideration for when one's on the way home. I merely don't see it as germane to the prompting question.


----------



## Launchpad McQuack (Jan 8, 2019)

Sure it's germane. When deciding whether or not to lower your standards when heading home, you need to consider ALL of the risks associated with lowering your standards. Not just the lower pay or lower $/mile.


----------



## Heisenburger (Sep 19, 2016)

Launchpad McQuack said:


> Sure it's germane.


The bolded word threw me off.



WI_Hedgehog said:


> Time is money. It depends on how much time it's going to take.
> 
> I think there's *increased* risk from low-ball offers: potentially bad areas and being _jacked_, a customer reporting a delivery as "Never Arrived," a low rating/complaints for no reason, etc.


----------



## Ms. Mercenary (Jul 24, 2020)

Launchpad McQuack said:


> Sure it's germane. When deciding whether or not to lower your standards when heading home, you need to consider ALL of the risks associated with lowering your standards. Not just the lower pay or lower $/mile.


$1/mile isn’t a low offer when you KNOW you’re not deadheading back. In fact, when I just started on this forum (a year before I started delivering, so about 2 years total), $1/mile was the “standard”. I actually opened a thread a few months ago about it. It was $1/mile AND people gave out thank-you cards, dinner mints and other random stuff.

Not arguing the main premise - yes, low offers are potentially problematic ones. But so are unusually high ones.


----------



## Rickos69 (Nov 8, 2018)

Ms. Mercenary said:


> $1/mile isn’t a low offer when you KNOW you’re not deadheading back. In fact, when I just started on this forum (a year before I started delivering, so about 2 years total), $1/mile was the “standard”. I actually opened a thread a few months ago about it. It was $1/mile AND people gave out thank-you cards, dinner mints and other random stuff.
> 
> Not arguing the main premise - yes, low offers are potentially problematic ones. But so are unusually high ones.


Depending on the economic circumstances of the moment (gas, COL, etc)
$1/mile may or may not be a profitable proposition. Regardless, over time it becomes obsolete.


----------



## WI_Hedgehog (Aug 16, 2021)

Heisenburger said:


> The bolded word threw me off.


It means "greater" in this context.


----------



## Ms. Mercenary (Jul 24, 2020)

Rickos69 said:


> Depending on the economic circumstances of the moment (gas, COL, etc)
> $1/mile may or may not be a profitable proposition. Regardless, over time it becomes obsolete.


But we’re speaking of “on your way home”. $1 is profitablecompared to just going home. As I wrote above, even then I limit miles and time.


----------

