Applicable to: Grubhub, UberEats, Postmates, etc In the US
Before you read this post I'd just like to point out that you are in a sub called r/antiwork. If you're going to make comments slamming the drivers (you know, the workers), you're in the wrong sub.
These workers are not paid hourly. They only make $2-$4 per delivery, plus whatever they make in tips.
As such, their primary income is from tips from their deliveries. However, every delivery the driver makes has costs associated with it that are not covered by any other portion of what you are billed. Really, only your tip is given to the driver and will likely be what they make for that hour.
Because of this, a driver has to decide for each order if they are going to profit or lose money on that delivery, based on your tip alone. That is why orders with very low or no tips (literally less than 1 out of every 100 orders will tip in cash – not a safe bet) don't get delivered, or are delivered cold because it was waiting for essentially a greenhorn driver to pick up the order.
For EVERY DELIVERY, the driver has to pay the following costs:
- Taxes:
20-30% of your tip is going toward taxes, because drivers have to pay income taxes from their tips
- Fuel:
Fuel is stupid expensive right now. For just your order, the driver has to drive from who knows where to the restaurant, then to your home. I've had this easily be over 20 miles between the two locations, due to how my city is set up. Cars drivers are using are going to deliver orders will generally get 20-30 mpg. Gas is easily over $5 a gallon right now.
- Phone Bill:
Self explanatory. Can't get orders without your phone.
- Vehicle Maintenance:
An oil change per month (usually more), plus tires every 3-4 months, in addition to whatever regular maintenance there is
- Wear and tear
City driving with constant stops/starts/low speeds take a toll on your vehicle
- Time:
It's virtually impossible to complete 2 orders in one hour. To complete 2 orders in an hour you have to go to 2 restaurants, and two homes, which in and of itself usually takes about an hour, even in short distances. That's not counting the time it takes at the restaurant, which will almost always required waiting time for the food.
So if you're tipping only $10, that driver will likely only make that amount for that entire hour, maybe slightly more… but then you have to subtract all of the above costs.
For four hours, a driver will complete an average of 5-7 orders, if they are waiting less than 10 minutes at each restaurant.
So think of it on terms like this:
** – Multiply what you give (an average) for a tip by 5(trips). Add $15 (approximate base pay the driver for 5 orders). This is what your driver would make for 4 hours if everyone tipped that amount.**
- Now, subtract 20% of that for taxes
- Subtract the cost of 4 gallons of gas in your area
- Subtract $12 for vehicle maintenance(1)(tires, oil change)
- Subtract $2.50 for the phone bill(2)
Now, divide the total of the above by 4. That's how much your driver would make per hour if all the orders tipped the amount that you did…
Is it worth it?
If not, you're no better than the bosses that people post about here, because what you decide to tip is what directly goes toward that drivers bills.
(1)Based on $90 for an oil change each month and $450 in tires every 3 months – a very low-cost estimate
(2) Based on a $50/mo phone bill – another low estimate as you need unlimited data for this job
Now, on this note: why would anyone driver want to deliver an order that shows a $0 tip? Statistically, they will likely make $0 on that order, despite performing tasks that cost them money and being 'on the clock.' Why would they take the time and effort to end up being in the red?