The contributors to my best month delivering
/One strange thing about the app-based delivery platforms is that while they presumably claim to their investors that they’re mining a vast trove of worker and customer data to maximize the efficiency of their operations, they make it as difficult as possible for workers to get access to the same data.
For example, there’s no way for workers to export even basic information about their order history in order to search for patterns that might help them pick more lucrative delivery windows or restaurants with higher-tipping customers.
Back in September, I noticed as the month went on that it was going to be easily my most profitable month yet. By the end of the month, I’d earned $2,465.47 across DoorDash and Uber Eats. In the absence of a statistically precise method of breaking it down, I want to instead share what I think the main contributors were and how they will influence my strategy going forward.
More availability
Throughout the year I’ve been traveling almost constantly for personal reasons and, while I’ve experimented with delivering in other areas, traveling almost invariably means being off the clock. September was the first time I was home for the whole month, so I had a lot more opportunities to work than I previously had.
According to DoorDash, I worked for a total of 123.67 hours in September, or about 4 hours per day on average. In my two highest-earning weeks, I worked a total of 70.28 hours (with 52.33 hours of active time, or about 74%)
This is a good time to point out that being home the whole month had two slightly different advantages: more time to work and more flexibility about when to work. Whether your goal is to make a certain amount of money, to work a certain amount of time, or simply to make as much money as possible, then the more flexibility you have the better off you’ll be, since you can target the time blocks where you will earn the most money for each hour you work.
Moderate dual-wielding
I wrote back in September about my experiments dual-wielding both DoorDash and Uber Eats. When done skillfully, using two delivery platforms simultaneously can increase the share of each shift you spend delivering and being paid for. In September I did some moderate dual-wielding, using Uber Eats for a total of 14.41 hours. Since I was always using DoorDash at the same time as Uber Eats, I’m still using the total DoorDash working time of 123.67 for the week.
In September, I earned a total of $351.03 on Uber Eats. Since I pause DoorDash when I take an Uber Eats order, I do not believe and don’t want to imply that entire amount is increased income from dual-wielding. If I left DoorDash unpaused for the same amount of time, I may have received an order that may have paid more than the Uber Eats order I ultimately delivered in the same time. Still, my gut tells me there’s some net increased income effect from dual-wielding during slow stretches on your main platform.
Bonus pay
When I first started delivering for DoorDash I pooh-poohed the “bonus pay” gimmick. My logic was simple: if you’re having trouble getting enough orders as it is, then the last thing you want is to work when DoorDash is paying to get more workers online, since the glut of workers will make it even harder to get those orders, even if they’re higher paying.
I still think that logic is overall sound, and my practical advice at the time was to ignore bonus pay, not to actively avoid it, but over time I’ve come around on bonus pay and now I do actively monitor when bonus pay is available and try to work those shifts, if possible.
I have DoorDash well-trained enough (or vice versa) that I now consistently get 2-5 orders per hour that I work on the platform. The great majority of my orders have “about” $3 in base pay and “about” $3 in tip, which means during a $3 bonus pay period I earn about 50% more than during non-bonused time.
That’s what I mean when I say that increased availability over the course of the month makes you better off whether you’re targeting a certain number of hours per month or a certain level of monthly income.
