Author Topic: Deliveroo - anyone working for them?  (Read 20487 times)

Deliveroo - anyone working for them?
« on: 04 July, 2018, 09:39:48 pm »
Increasingly spending time at my girlfriends where I'm at a loss for things to do while she's at uni. Could be an OK way to pass the time/ride my bike/make mad paper.

Any experiences?

(I already ride my bike like a knobhead, I've got that covered before anyone starts)

Torslanda

  • Professional Gobshite
  • Just a tart for retro kit . . .
    • John's Bikes
Re: Deliveroo - anyone working for them?
« Reply #1 on: 04 July, 2018, 10:09:00 pm »
If it's a supplement to your 'real' income then maybe. If it's to support you and your other half then you'd make more as a security guard.

The reality of the 'freedom of self employment' whilst actually working for someone is that you end up putting ridiculously long hours in for less than the minimum wage. Plus the glamour of delivering takeaway food to top floor flats and coming back to find that your bike's been nicked.

A good friend has been struggling to make anything like a living at it around Leeds for the last two years. It's brutal on the bikes and on you.  Bits will break, so will you. 

I wouldn't ~ but that's because mending bikes is more rewarding. YMMV.
VELOMANCER

Well that's the more blunt way of putting it but as usual he's dead right.

Re: Deliveroo - anyone working for them?
« Reply #2 on: 04 July, 2018, 10:14:45 pm »
There's a thread here, mostly of whinging, but some experiences too:

https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=102345.0

Re: Deliveroo - anyone working for them?
« Reply #3 on: 04 July, 2018, 10:21:55 pm »
There's a thread here, mostly of whinging, but some experiences too:

https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=102345.0
I'm going to sign up. For no other reason than their mere existence appears to wind people up.

If it's a supplement to your 'real' income then maybe. If it's to support you and your other half then you'd make more as a security guard.

The reality of the 'freedom of self employment' whilst actually working for someone is that you end up putting ridiculously long hours in for less than the minimum wage. Plus the glamour of delivering takeaway food to top floor flats and coming back to find that your bike's been nicked.

A good friend has been struggling to make anything like a living at it around Leeds for the last two years. It's brutal on the bikes and on you.  Bits will break, so will you. 

I wouldn't ~ but that's because mending bikes is more rewarding. YMMV.

I reckon there's mad stacks to be had round here.

Feanor

  • It's mostly downhill from here.
Re: Deliveroo - anyone working for them?
« Reply #4 on: 04 July, 2018, 11:03:02 pm »
Junior at Edinburgh Uni has worked for them on and off for a few years.
Suited his lifestyle and needs.

Re: Deliveroo - anyone working for them?
« Reply #5 on: 04 July, 2018, 11:14:53 pm »
Junior at Edinburgh Uni has worked for them on and off for a few years.
Suited his lifestyle and needs.
Does he still? I'm in need of a referral code...

Feanor

  • It's mostly downhill from here.
Re: Deliveroo - anyone working for them?
« Reply #6 on: 04 July, 2018, 11:24:03 pm »
Junior at Edinburgh Uni has worked for them on and off for a few years.
Suited his lifestyle and needs.
Does he still? I'm in need of a referral code...
Yes, I think so. I'll ask him now.

Feanor

  • It's mostly downhill from here.
Re: Deliveroo - anyone working for them?
« Reply #7 on: 04 July, 2018, 11:46:03 pm »
Sending a reply by PM...

Jaded

  • The Codfather
  • Formerly known as Jaded
Re: Deliveroo - anyone working for them?
« Reply #8 on: 05 July, 2018, 12:12:56 am »
Plus the glamour of delivering takeaway food to top floor flats and coming back to find that your bike's been nicked.

You've sold it well. Where do I sign?
It is simpler than it looks.

Re: Deliveroo - anyone working for them?
« Reply #9 on: 05 July, 2018, 07:15:24 am »
If only there was a portable solution to bike security, etc.
"Yes please" said Squirrel "biscuits are our favourite things."

Dave_C

  • Trying to get rid of my belly... and failing!
Re: Deliveroo - anyone working for them?
« Reply #10 on: 05 July, 2018, 02:17:00 pm »
If your going to be working for Deliveroo, you'll have to leave the lightweight bicycles at home and get yourself a BSO, if the Deliveroo agents round here in Edinburgh are anything to go by!

Here is something typical of the Deliveroo riders

http://r.ebay.com/pTULLz
@DaveCrampton < wot a twit.
http://veloviewer.com/athlete/421683/

quixoticgeek

  • Mostly Harmless
Re: Deliveroo - anyone working for them?
« Reply #11 on: 06 July, 2018, 01:04:07 am »
If your going to be working for Deliveroo, you'll have to leave the lightweight bicycles at home and get yourself a BSO, if the Deliveroo agents round here in Edinburgh are anything to go by!

Here is something typical of the Deliveroo riders

http://r.ebay.com/pTULLz

The quality of bikes riden by deliveroo, uber eats,, and thuisbezorg (justeat), are well above the quality of most Dutch bikes. Some, usually Thuisbezorg, riders have specially designed cargo pedal assist bikes, fitted out with an insulated box front and rear.

The quality of similar bikes i saw in Canterbury was very variable, from road bikes to mtb bsos. Which surprised me. You'd think if your income depended on the efficiency and reliability of your bike, that you'd ride something better...

J
--
Beer, bikes, and backpacking
http://b.42q.eu/

Dave_C

  • Trying to get rid of my belly... and failing!
Re: Deliveroo - anyone working for them?
« Reply #12 on: 06 July, 2018, 12:35:04 pm »
They appear to be self employed here in the burgh. We do have a few local companies who provide bikes for their employees, mostly cargo/bakfiets type as you say with electric assisted motors.

@DaveCrampton < wot a twit.
http://veloviewer.com/athlete/421683/

Re: Deliveroo - anyone working for them?
« Reply #13 on: 06 July, 2018, 12:46:48 pm »
They appear to be self employed here in the burgh. We do have a few local companies who provide bikes for their employees, mostly cargo/bakfiets type as you say with electric assisted motors.
Well, that's the controversy I think, they get around all sorts of shit by using 'self-employed' delivery people.

I read this a few months ago - https://www.theguardian.com/environment/bike-blog/2018/jan/08/confessions-of-a-deliveroo-rider-get-fit-by-delivering-fast-food

Re: Deliveroo - anyone working for them?
« Reply #14 on: 10 August, 2018, 09:55:34 pm »
I thought about Deliverooing when I was riding my year record and now I find myself doing Uber Eats and Deliveroo. Just seemed like the perfect job for me. Work when I like and get paid to ride my bike. Turns out I was right.

If it's a supplement to your 'real' income then maybe. If it's to support you and your other half then you'd make more as a security guard.

Not for me. I generally earn 50% more per hour than I was working in a warehouse.


Quote
The reality of the 'freedom of self employment' whilst actually working for someone is that you end up putting ridiculously long hours in for less than the minimum wage.


No. I work fewer hours than I did in a warehouse for the same money, including time spent waiting, but only now that I know (mostly) which hours and days to work. It does depend on demand, so not everywhere will be the same.
Deliveroo and Uber Eats are different. I can log in any time with Uber but have to book in advance with Deliveroo but with Deliveroo, I can only log in near the town centre. I get more orders with Deliveroo, so it's worth booking my hours and turning up. But Uber have good promotions, so I get paid double for a delivery. Uber deliveries don't come so often but I can just sit at home with the phone on and effectively do a shopping trip for a tenner while I'm doing other stuff.
But there are times when you're probably wasting your time because hardly anyone will order any food.
A lot of this most likely depends on the town or city you work in. I expect London is non stop 24/7




Quote
Plus the glamour of delivering takeaway food to top floor flats and coming back to find that your bike's been nicked.


Not for me. The flats I deliver to, I have to be let in to the locked door, so I bring my bike in and find their flat. That means I get to look at the view from the window of a tower block that otherwise, I would never see.

Quote
A good friend has been struggling to
 make anything like a living at it around Leeds for the last two years. It's brutal on the bikes and on you.  Bits will break, so will you.




I think it depends a lot on the town or city you work in. If nobody orders food, you're wasting your time. Uber Eats never seem to give me many deliveries, so I now only switch their app on for deliveries when I've earned my keep from Deliveroo and am at a loose end, just reading or whatever. They pay more so it's still worth the extra faff to make their deliveries but I think that will die once they stop their lucrative promotions if they don't get more orders. I may end up ditching them but only time will tell.

Definitely harder on the bike, but I'm often on Milton Keynes Redways so a lot of braking and rough surfaces. I don't ride hard if I don;t want to. There's no need. It's as hard as you want to make it. Trips are short so riding fast doesn't make any real difference. Not having to wait for the restaurant and picking a good route make the most difference. I've heard 2-3 deliveries per hour being about the most you can do. I generally do 3 per hour unless business is slow. Half the time, you're waiting in a restaurant, so it seems.

Quote
I wouldn't ~ but that's because mending bikes is more rewarding. YMMV.

Probably not financially, for me anyway and I'd rather ride bikes than fix them. Though it has crossed my mind to offer my services as a mechanic to Deliveroo riders.

It's also crossed my mind to do a Deliveroo tour of Britain. Ride to towns or cites and pay for the trip by Deliverooing. I am thinking of a few days Deliverooing in Cambridge and staying at the YHA. No need to book hours in advance there. I could still visit other places to work/tour, just need to book hours in advance. If Cambridge works out, I might find myself setting off with a tent and my Deliveroo bag in Spring 2019...


With Deliveroo and Uber today, I earned about the same as I would for a whole day in my old warehouse job in about 4 hours. Switched my Uber app on again and got nothing for an hour, so switched off.
Now I've worked for Deliveroo a bit and have good ratings, I can book my hours a bit earlier so should be able to pick more of what I want before they get booked, which will free me up a bit more.

It's not for everyone and I doubt that every town or city is great. It has it's faults. But for me, it's a whole lot better than warehouse drudgery.

Torslanda

  • Professional Gobshite
  • Just a tart for retro kit . . .
    • John's Bikes
Re: Deliveroo - anyone working for them?
« Reply #15 on: 10 August, 2018, 10:13:13 pm »
I was unaware of Uber's 'boost' payments/incentives when I wrote that. Said friend has reorganised/reinvented himself as an exclusive Ubermensch. He goes where the bonus is and puts in some stupendous hours.

Is he making money? This morning we bought a Kinesis Crosslight disc with Ultegra Di2 . . .

#1 son is considering signing up, too.
VELOMANCER

Well that's the more blunt way of putting it but as usual he's dead right.

Tim Hall

  • Victoria is my queen
Re: Deliveroo - anyone working for them?
« Reply #16 on: 10 August, 2018, 10:23:51 pm »
You just don't get stories about working for Deliveroo by Ultra Long Distance Cycling champions on other cycling forums.
There are two ways you can get exercise out of a bicycle: you can
"overhaul" it, or you can ride it.  (Jerome K Jerome)

Re: Deliveroo - anyone working for them?
« Reply #17 on: 10 August, 2018, 10:31:20 pm »
If I could get the same number of deliveries as I get with Deliveroo at the Uber Eats promotion rates, I'd keep going for as long as I could and could probably earn around £300 a day or more. That assumes no slack periods with food orders, so £200 might be ore realistic. Still a whole lot better than I'd get in a warehouse several times over.
I think that Uber had problems doing my background check and that may be why I never got so many deliveries and it got sorted after I signed up to Deliveroo.
Might be worth hanging around the restaurants with my Uber bag on Sunday evening to see if I get some work. The promotions aren't as good now. they were about 2.5 times the rate and now are around 1.8 times, but still very good if I can get 2-3 per hour.
Ideally, I'd beast it for a few days and spend a few days at leisure or just beast it for megabucks.
Demand is supposed to go up in the winter, which suits me fine. Earn money cycling in the winter then spend it on cycling in the summer...

The other thing is that (I need to check t be certain first) is that cycling stuff , or anything used for work can be reclaimed on the tax form (so I'll be keeping receipts for all my cycling kit, especially consumables and clothing etc)

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Deliveroo - anyone working for them?
« Reply #18 on: 10 August, 2018, 11:01:13 pm »
Yeahbut do you get any free food?   :D

Tim Hall

  • Victoria is my queen
Re: Deliveroo - anyone working for them?
« Reply #19 on: 10 August, 2018, 11:14:49 pm »
Yeahbut do you get any free food?   :D
Uber having trouble with background checks is code for "they were worried he'd scoff the cargo".
There are two ways you can get exercise out of a bicycle: you can
"overhaul" it, or you can ride it.  (Jerome K Jerome)

Torslanda

  • Professional Gobshite
  • Just a tart for retro kit . . .
    • John's Bikes
Re: Deliveroo - anyone working for them?
« Reply #20 on: 10 August, 2018, 11:16:20 pm »
Yeahbut do you get any free food?   :D

Word on the street is that if the rider with the delivery has a mechanical or a flat or worse wiped out, the order is repeated and goes with another rider.

Hungry riders are not beyond a 'tactical breakdown' or two. Allegedly. Stories of 3 or more meeting up for 'Ho ho ho! Now for a feast!' Beano stylee.
VELOMANCER

Well that's the more blunt way of putting it but as usual he's dead right.

Re: Deliveroo - anyone working for them?
« Reply #21 on: 11 August, 2018, 09:02:18 am »
Yeahbut do you get any free food?   :D

I always have a good feed before I start deliveries but that is possible.
If I pick up food from a restaurant and the order gets cancelled before or as I deliver the food, then I have to "dispose" of it. I could of course, just eat the food anyway and not turn up at the address (you are tracked by your phone, so the customer knows where you are, or at least where your phone is, once you pick the food up, though you could always switch off your phone location) and the customer might just cancel the order. But keep doing that and you probably won't get any more calls for delivery.
Besides, there are a lot of homeless in Milton Keynes who would probably be very glad of some nice food.


Yeahbut do you get any free food?   :D
Uber having trouble with background checks is code for "they were worried he'd scoff the cargo".

 ;D

It was more to do with they weren't happy with my photos of proof of identity documents fro my cheap phone. I was still able to do deliveries with Uber (probably some sort of cock up between the background check company and Uber. Uber seem to strive to do as much as possible via computer than human and on this occasion it was the least efficient way and a human had to step in at the end after I'd flagged up problems a few times) While that was going on, I'd earned enough with Uber to buy myself a new phone which has a big 5000mA battery (as Deliverooing and Uber really drain the battery. I also keep it plugged into a power bank and carry a spare power bank)

Re: Deliveroo - anyone working for them?
« Reply #22 on: 11 August, 2018, 11:32:16 am »
Quote
If I could get the same number of deliveries as I get with Deliveroo at the Uber Eats promotion rates, I'd keep going for as long as I could and could probably earn around £300 a day or more. That assumes no slack periods with food orders, so £200 might be ore realistic. Still a whole lot better than I'd get in a warehouse several times over.

How much is Uber Eats promotion rates?

£200 for presumably 8 hours is £25 per hour, if 3 deliveries per hour that makes approx £8 per delivery for the rider.

If the rider gets half of what the customer pays, that means the customer pays £16 for the delivery??!!


Re: Deliveroo - anyone working for them?
« Reply #23 on: 11 August, 2018, 12:04:27 pm »
I was getting £10 (or more, but not often) per delivery with Uber when the promotion was 2.5 times the rate.
It's more like £8 per delivery now when it's around 1.8-2 times the rate.

Uber pay the extra. It's a promotion. They started in Milton Keynes a few months ago and are attacking Deliveroo, who have been established in MK for a couple of years. I presume that the promotion rate is dropping because they are getting more orders.
I think that the restaurant stumps up some of the money as well. Uber take a percentage of my delivery (but none of the extra from promtions) and they also take a percentage from the restaurant.

I've topped £100 in a day with Deliveroo and a bit of Uber.
I'll be able to book my hours earlier with Deliveroo on Monday for 2 weeks time, so probably will be able to do more hours as they won't all be booked before I get a look in.

I don't think that Uber advertise very well. Most deliveries I do with Uber are from Mc Donalds, who do advertise the Uber delivery service. Uber and the restarants that use them don;t seem to advertise the service. Deliveroo is already known.


Re: Deliveroo - anyone working for them?
« Reply #24 on: 30 August, 2018, 10:12:30 pm »
Deliveroo seems to be winning over Uber Eats, simply because I get a good supply of orders with Deliveroo and the Uber Eats promotions aren't so good anymore.

Deliveroo sure do have a wonky payment structure though and a high volume of short distance trips pay best.
I get £2 for picking up food and another £1 for dropping it off. the mileage payment is nonsense though. I've done a delivery which was about 2 miles away and got a total of not much more than £4. Then I have to ride back to where there are lots of restaurants for the next pick up, unless I get lucky and there is a restaurant away from the town that happens to get an order, so that's about 10 mins.
Whereas I has an order and literally delivered it to the building next door. Not even worth mounting my bike for it was that short, and was paid about <50p less than the 2 mile (4 there and back) trip.
Still, all good fun and pays the bills....