Tips & Tricks To Earn More $$$ Doing Food Deliveries in 2023 (Uber Eats, et al.)

Introduction

Doing food deliveries (Uber Eats, Skip The Dishes, DoorDash, etc) in 2023 has become an increasingly popular side hustle, but it is important you know (and apply) the tips and tricks that can help you to earn more money than the average food delivery driver. By all means, you must avoid the costly mistakes many food delivery drivers and couriers make, if you want to earn more money this year.

Stacking Bonuses
It is imperative to emphasize that you can stack bonuses on Uber and Uber Eats, unlike other food delivery apps. For example, you can stack ‘surge pay when it gets busy based on supply and demand. You can also stack ‘quest bonuses’ which are bashed bonuses, and you can get ‘boost’ or ‘boost plus pay’ which is scheduled per trip bonus pay.

Expected Customer Tip
Some food delivery apps, such as Uber Eats, show you the expected customer tip even before you accept the order. So you can really calculate a good dollars to mile ratio, that is, how much you’ll get paid for the miles driven because you can actually see what you’re going to make.

Leveraging Market Share
Having a good understanding of, and using, the market share of the food delivery companies is crucial. Depending on the city where you live and drive, the market shares of the food delivery companies might vary. But you can leverage your knowledge of the market shares of the food delivery companies. For example, Uber Eats might have a bigger market share in certain cities than others.

So you really want to try to get a feel for your city. How busy are you when you drive for Uber Eats? You can determine that by how long you wait in between orders, how frequent the surge is, the boost plus pay, or any quest bonuses. Even if a particular company has a low market share, it can still be lucrative to deliver food with them, taking other factors into consideration. However, it is important to choose the right food delivery company (Uber Eats, DoorDash, Skip The Dishes, etc.) to maximize your income. Refer to the ultimate guide to succeeding as a food delivery driver.

How Exactly You Get Paid
It might surprise you to know that many food delivery drivers do not understand how they get paid by the respective companies they drive for. On the Uber Eats website, for example, it shows how delivery fares are calculated. Your
fare is calculated with base pay plus a trip supplement, plus promotions, plus tips, which equals your total.

Total Pay Per Trip = Base Fare + Trip Supplement + Promotions Bonus + Tips

Base fare includes your pay for pick up drop off time and distance. Trip Supplement is unique to Uber Eats, and it takes into account many factors to ensure trip earnings are reflective of that trip, such as when you notice the total time and distance including your travel time to the restaurants is longer than expected.

Various Best Practices
These things are quite important, and you might consider doing them. One of them is your profile screen on the food delivery app, where you can write why you deliver food as a job or side hustle. Unfortunately, not all apps have this feature, but it gives you the opportunity to provide an emotional appeal. A word of caution: you want to keep it honest y simply stating the reason you’re delivering food, because your customers will see this on your profile and might feel motivated to give you a good tip. For example, someone’s reason for delivering food might be to save up for a down-payment on a house, etc.

Turn On These Delivery Types
Food delivery apps usually provide special delivery types that you can subscribe to by activating the feature. For example, Uber Eats has special delivery types, such as Uber Connect – which is package delivery. You can also activate Uber Direct –
which is B2C (business to customer) deliveries. You can also subscribe to deliver alcohol, if you’re comfortable with it. Not everyone is comfortable with it, and not every city permits it.

Earnings Opportunities Notifications
Another great tip on Uber Eats is to turn on ‘Earnings Opportunities’. This feature demands information per promotions
from Uber, as well as additional ways to earn, to your notifications Ensure you have this feature turned on in your Uber Eats app, or any other app that has this feature.

Understanding The Basics
An important tip to note is that you do not have to accept every delivery order. It helps to have a target, such as a minimum pay (including tips) that you want per trip. This makes your being on the road worth it. For example, you may wish to accept only orders that will pay you at least five dollars (per delivery). Obviously, the higher your target pay, the better but note that orders with high payouts don’t usually come often. But your goal should be to at least make enough money for it to be worth your time and effort. You want to make enough money to actually break even, that is, have a reasonable margin versus your expenses.

Tracking Your Numbers
If you’re not already doing this, you want to start tracking and understanding your numbers. This includes your mileage and earnings. It’s a numbers game and you want to stay on top of your business and finances by understanding these numbers.

Attribution: This post and video were adapted from the original YouTube video by ‘Your Driver Mike’ channel.