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.
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
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.
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.
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.