Earn More MoneyApril 12, 2021May 10, 2021

The Potential Earnings of A Food Delivery Driver

during times of uncertainty, it can be hard to earn a sustainable income. Many of us have been impacted. Some more than others. While there are many places that are not on lockdown and others that have gone back to normal life, many are still in lockdown. Ontario, for example, is still mainly under lockdown. Essential services are still open. However, recreational places such as gyms and malls still widely remained closed. This means that many people are still out of work, relying on both savings and government assistance.

Luckily enough, technology has created many opportunities for increasing income, especially during these trying times. Delivery and ride-sharing services are everywhere. Now that they’re so common, competition is relatively high. However, the barrier for entry is low. This means that you can potentially earn a living with minimal requirements. Therefore, we’re going to discuss the topic of food delivery services and how much you can possibly earn while working for one of these services. The first place to look is to find the answer in other people’s experiences. However, we should discuss how to become a driver for the multitude of food delivery services.

How To Become A Food Delivery Driver?

One of the more popular companies to work for is UberEats. Uber does both ridesharing and good delivery. Therefore, it’s easy to see why it’s one of the more popular options. There are two ways to become a delivery driver for Uber. First, if you already have an active driver account, you can go on the app and toggle the option to accept deliveries. The second way is to apply for the delivery service. When doing this, you can choose how you want to deliver food. You can opt-in for using a car, bicycle, or on foot. However, on-foot delivery isn’t available in all cities. With that being said, there are a few requirements that have to be met when driving a car vs using a bicycle.

When driving a car, you will need a full class license, vehicle registration, proof of insurance, proof of work eligibility, and a background check. If you’re delivering by foot or bicycle, all you’ll need is some sorry of photo ID (passport), proof of work eligibility, and a background screening. A few additional requirements are if you’re delivering via car, you need to be 21 years old or above and have a car newer than 1999. For a bicycle, you only need to be 18 years old.

SkipTheDishes is slightly different from UberEats. With SkipTheDishes, you need a car, a $60 float, and their signature bag. Secondly, they only hire enough drivers within an area to meet the demand. Therefore, if your city is overly saturated with drivers, you’ll have to wait until a spot opens up. When I personally signed up, it took a month before I got accepted to drive for SkipTheDishes. Another aspect to note is that you cant work “whenever you feel like” in comparison to UberEats. You have to set your availability and you’ll get scheduled within that time. However, there will be many times where certain time slots will be unavailable. Therefore, you may not be able to find the timings you need.

Lastly on this list is DoorDash, which has the lowest barrier for entry out of the three. DoorDash does not have any vehicle requirements or restrictions. This means that you will not have a minimum year restriction or vehicle inspections. However, you must have a full driver’s license, be at least 18 years old and consent to a background check.

Apply to all of the above delivery services online.

How Much Can They Earn?

Considering the fact that there is no minimum payment for these delivery services, the wage can vary. There will be times where you earn well below the minimum wage. However, there will also be days where you can earn much more than the minimum wage. Since all of these delivery services pay generally the same amount, we will focus on the pay from on in particular. SkipTheDishes. The reason for this is because they’re solely a food delivery service. Furthermore, they’re one of the most widely used services, rivaling UberEats.

To illustrate how much you can potentially earn, we will take a look at a few resources. The first is Ca.Talent.com.

According to Talent, the average SkipTheDishes driver earns nearly $150,000 per year. This can be quite jarring to many. Furthermore, this amount is the average for over 3,000 submitted salaries. This salary rivals many of the top-earning professions in Canada such as lawyers, miners, nurses, and doctors. Although you can earn this amount of money, there are a few factors that need to be considered. First is your expenses. Full-time Skip drivers will have to pay a considerable amount on gas weekly. Next is the wear-and-tear on your vehicle, which can be quite expensive in the long run. Lastly, the average does not illustrate the working conditions. By this, I mean how many hours and days worked. Someone who works 10 hours a day including holidays will earn more than the 9-5 worker.

One bonus is that once you’ve been doing SkipTheDishes for a while, you’ll be able to become more efficient in delivering orders and driving. Therefore, you’ll be able to slowly earn more money per hour and you get better at delivering food. While the above picture does say that you can earn up to $150,000, which is $75 per hour, a more realistic figure would most likely be around the $20 per hour mark.

SkipTheDishes Video

The next and final resource we’ll take a look at when trying to determine how much money you’ll earn.

The video above is by Flip In Canada (we’ve featured this video before). In the above video, he goes through a short 1.5-hour shift, showing his orders and how much money he makes throughout that particular shift. Spoilers ahead so if you don’t want to get spoiled, watch the videos first.

In the video above, he goes through his shift, fulfilling three orders and outlining how much money he’s earned. In his 1.5 hour shift, he earned a grand total of $31.53. If you were to convert this into an hourly wage, it would be approximately $21 per hour. If you translate that into an annual salary, it reaches just above $40,000 per year. This is quite the disparity when looking at the amount we saw previously. However, that does not mean that it’s unreachable. As previously stated, there are many factors that come into play. Furthermore, if you’re in a bustling and population-dense city if you an increased potential. For example, Toronto, Ontario has a relatively dense population with many restaurants that are open late. The likelihood of you com[pleting multiple orders within an hour and earning over $20 is greatly increased.

Final Thoughts

If you’re looking to earn extra cash, especially during a lockdown, signing up for these delivery services can be a great asset. If you have the means and dedication to be successful, you can definitely earn a part-time living. Just remember there is always a way to improve and you’ll be interacting with staff and customers. Therefore, always be sure to follow the appropriate safety protocols.

Shameed Chris Khan

Shameed is just a man on a mission to help those around him gain financial success. Obsessed with writing about all things finance, this GTA native is constantly learning and sharing his experiences with others.