Uber Eats Delivery on Foot: An Interesting Experience
Wait that’s possible?
It was the summer of 2020, I had just come back from my first year of university with no job prospects lined up in the middle of the pandemic. Thankfully, I was holing up with my family so I had virtually no expenses. But, I wanted to make some money on the side, keep my distance from others, and get outside more. A friend then suggested to me to deliver for Uber eats.
Why on foot though?
I didn’t have a bike at the time and apparently, everyone wanted to enjoy some bike riding that summer and I couldn’t find a cheap one. I then noticed that there was an option to walk! I am also situated in a densely populated part of the city with a lot of restaurants and houses and I wanted to see the results. With most restaurants closed and only offering delivery, it was the best time to do so due to the increased orders. I had time to kill, so I went through the onboarding, selected Uber Walker and then launched the app.
I got an order for a pint of Baskin-Robbins ice cream for my first order.
I was freaking out as I didn’t want it to melt and walking in the summer heat with ice cream didn’t sound like a recipe for success. Thankfully, all orders are distance capped at around 1.2 to 1.3 km and the tub was frozen solid. I made it to the address with no issues.
My next orders were a bit more normal, ramen here, sushi there, and a lot of fast food orders.
What was the money like?
I worked lunches and dinners. Dinners had more orders, for which I averaged around 3 orders a run, while for lunch I averaged 2. I worked from 12 to 1:30 and for dinner, the peak times were from 5:30 to 7:30. Each order averaged around 4 to 6 dollars in base pay, with surge pricing adding an extra 1 to 3 dollars per order. Tips were the cherry on top and made the trips worth it money-wise. I was averaging around 18 to 25 an hour, which was great. People were also extra generous with tipping, due to the situation. It’s definitely not enough to sustain someone as a full-time job, but for a side hustle, it did give me good pocket money.
What were the best parts of the side gig?
The best parts of the job were the flexibility, the ability to monetize things I already did, and the exploration of my local neighbourhood. Usually, I didn’t particularly appreciate walking around my neighbourhood without purpose or without a place in mind to go to. That gradually changed with more and more Uber runs. While waiting for orders, I got to walk around and just browse my neighbourhood and people-watch. Through receiving orders I got to find new restaurants and bars to check out and go to neighbourhoods that I wouldn’t visit otherwise.
It was also an enjoyable way to get my steps in, I got to walk around 5 to 8 km per day from the trips and definitely supplemented a gym membership due to all the activity.
Conclusion
I started walking for Uber Eats this year and the number of orders has decreased compared to the pandemic, which is expected. There are still enough to have around 2 orders per hour to an hour and a half, which is about 20 dollars. I still love walking around and discovering new places to eat. It is a great way to supplement my income and whenever I go out to eat or spend money while hanging out with friends, I don’t worry too much about the bill due to this side gig. An example of this was being early for a dinner. I had an hour to kill and turned on the app. I got to deliver a large order and covered 80% of the bill for the food. I also have gotten into visiting discount bookshops while waiting for orders. When I find a book I would want to buy I wait for an order and then pay for it. The orders usually cover the whole book, which feels great when I walk out of the store.
Overall, Uber Walker won’t make you rich, but it’s a great way to get active, explore your neighbourhood, and supplement your income so you can do and buy things that you want to do.
