Doing deliveries is one of the best ways to make money as a Side Hustle; you get complete flexibility as to when you want to work.
The best part is that it's super easy to register for Uber Eats, Deliveroo, etc., as long as you have a valid driver's license.
Why is it challenging to keep my earnings constant?
Although trying to maximize your earnings during delivery can be sometimes hard and tricky, either you may not get consistent orders, or you get orders that are long and pay you less, or you could be unintentionally wasting your time between deliveries during peak hours.
Here are a few tips I learned after doing deliveries for almost 2 years and delivering more than 1500 orders
Not calling/messaging apartment customers
Apartment deliveries can kill your time deliveries during peak hours if you don’t take these steps.
Apartment deliveries require you to buzz the customer's door no. then take the lift to that customer, deliver the food and come back down to your vehicle, all of which is time you could be delivering.
Instead, in my experience, the majority of the apartment customers are more than happy to come down to collect their food when intimidated at the right time.
I usually let the customers know 5 minutes before reaching their apartment that I’m going to reach, and it would be super helpful if they don’t mind coming down to collect the food. 95% of the time, it works.
Always depending on Uber/Google maps to give you directions
When you are starting to deliver in a new area, you have no choice but to depend on Google maps to give you directions. But, the best way to deliver efficiently is to take time and understand how to navigate those suburbs you regularly deliver so you can avoid Google maps taking you in a longer direction.
Google maps show you direction depending on which side your phone is facing when you hit the start button, so if your customer is right behind you and you hit start in the opposite direction, Google will take you around and waste your time.
Instead, if you know where a particular street is and where you are, you can quickly get there and use maps only to locate the house on that street.
Having the wrong phone mount
One of the most important tools in your delivery arsenal is your phone mount when you are doing deliveries.
If you have one of those cheap mounts, which require you to use both your hands and pull the sides apart to place your phone in the middle, I can guarantee you; that you are wasting time.
If you are serious about making money in this game, investing in a good phone mount and a case where you can mount and take off your phone with just one hand would pay off big time. I invested in a $79 quad lock phone mount, which helped me a lot.
No taking the call to cancel orders where the restaurant takes more than 10mins
Don’t get me wrong, at the end of the day neither your customers nor your restaurant partner is being paid per order. If you are only going to work 3 hours during peak times, each restaurant that is delaying orders for you is time you could be spending delivering more orders and making more money.
There have been so many days I’ve waited outside restaurants for 20-30mins for the food, only for it to become dull after I deliver that $7 order. 20 -30 mins are almost 2 short deliveries where I could’ve made $14 - $20.
Driving along tram lines and road marking during the rainy season
If you are doing deliveries on a motorbike, be super careful during the rainy season, as the tram tracks and road marketing are extra slippery.
I’ve skid countless times, no matter how slow I went on these areas of the road. Skidding, and losing balance is one thing that can kill time but if you fall in front of trams or vehicles, your time isn’t the only thing that might get killed.
One of the most challenging obstacles for a delivery driver is being on your own on the road. Claiming damage and insurance is a whole other ordeal, but the suffering and insecurity involved is highly stressful. Did you know that...
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