Delivery Driving Changes and Happenings

On Saturday I went off in my car doing my delivery job. It's been a while, actually the last time I drove delivering was 26 February. Prior to that I only drove a handful of times since the beginning of the year. I have a few changes to mention that I really just shake my head at. I also give you some of my stats on this day along with one delivery that may humor you.

So above are the so called "new rewards program" that DoorDash has implemented. I have drove for this platform for over three years. When I first started it was advertised drive whenever you want anytime. Over my tenure there has been many changes and this advertisement quickly was not the case anymore.

Why would a company do such changes and call them rewards? Well this is my opinion others may think differently. It's a way to get thier services delivered to all their customers. Low ball delivery offers are simple not desired by anybody. By making acceptance thresholds it makes some drivers accept orders they normally wouldn't just to fall into a certain reward category.

I talk to other drivers while I'm at places waiting for orders. The majority of drivers fall in to two categories. Ones that strive to reach that acceptance level and the other that make a business decision every delivery offer. I fall into the latter and my current acceptance rate of 39% brings me in no reward category. Hey I make just as much probably more than the acceptance hunters.

I see a lot of drivers complain about the platform. Of the two categories mentioned above it's the acceptance chasers that do it most. Often they complain about periods of not making much because they are accepting low ball offers simply to meet the acceptance threshold. I can't help but to laugh at some of their gripes. You see these low ball orders continually to get offered until someone accepts them. Simply climbing up the reward tiers doesn't make them disappear.

How did this affect me today driving? I had to keep an eye on the platform continuously to see when I could schedule myself. The five hours I delivered I had to schedule myself four times. It was a bit of a pain as I was also delivering within the Uber Eats platform. I really like delivering with Uber eats.

With Uber eats you can drive anywhere at anytime. Also their rewards system favors the drivers with a lot of outside perks not just unlocking things you can do on the application. Maybe your thinking why not just do Uber eats, well the thing is I make more doing both 😊

Almost forgot there was one more change on the DoorDash application. They now track your acceleration and braking and give you the status of it after every session. They aren't using it against us but I see it as a waste of time because it's simply not accurate. Driving today I got on and off several interstate ramps. You obviously have to accelerate and brake more aggressively on these ramps. Hey I'm not a lead foot driving around like a Indy car racer but I'm not also driving around super slow like some of the elderly. BTW the last session (last screen shot) I tried to influence the numbers a bit just in spite 😂

Well today I seen somethings. It's always cool to see wildlife. It's not uncommon to see some in a populated neighborhood. This deer wasn't too alarmed by me and I had to get creative to spook it away so I could deliver the food to the customers doorstep.

I had two separate orders I had to pick up at Walgreens. The first was a eyebrow brush and some fake eyelashes. The second I will mention in a bit. I surprised myself today because it didn't take me that long to find the right items on shelf. Normally I struggle picking up beauty items for you ladies. Too many items look to similar to one another😁

Alright I see a lot and deliver all kinds of items to all different kinds of people. This one just has a story I think, haha. Well let's just say I think this one has a whoops involved 😂 If your not familiar this is the day after pill for two people who maybe didn't plan to well getting intimate. I made $12.75 on this delivery and the price of this singular pill is $39.99. With the delivery charges and probably the mark up of its price the customer probably paid over $60 for it.

There's more to the story than just picking it from the shelf, paying for it and delivering it. I felt this delivery was time sensitive, haha. It was windy so when I delivered it I hung it on the door knob since it was in a plastic bag. Was the customer eagerly expecting it? Yes, she was! Once I got back to my car I seen the door open just enough for an arm to reach around and grab it 🤣 Obviously she didn't want to get seen and was in a hurry to get it. I wonder how long it took before it was swallowed.

So I already showed you my stats for the day with DoorDash. My Uber Eats earnings were less but the thing is I earned at times when I was unable with DoorDash. Now it's really back and forth with the two platforms. What I mean is I can earn more on one or the other. Anyways working just over 5 hours I made 14 deliveries nearly totaling $120. I drove a total 91 miles using about a quarter tank of fuel.

It was nice getting out and making a little bit of cash for my delivery efforts. I hope you enjoyed my experiences and hopefully I'll be driving more in the future so i can share more.

This is all I have for you today. Take care, stay safe and enjoy the new week ahead. Until next time!