Make safety your #1 priority: a flashlight is important for night deliveries; pick good neighborhoods for pick-up and delivery; wear bright clothing, wear gloves and masks; figure out a way to keep drinks from spilling; have insulated bags to store items.
The average earnings for Uber Eats are typically $18-$20 per hour with most of that coming from tips. Learning how to maximize tips is key.
As a driver for Uber Eats, you pick up orders from a restaurant, deliver to the customer’s door step, take a picture, then you are done—there is no need to interact with the person you are delivering to. You get paid instantly on your Uber Debit Card. The Uber Debit Card also gives you discounts on gas. Tips show up here, too, about an hour after you’ve delivered.
Drive as long as you can for your first night out, Uber tries to hook you your first time out.
It is a good idea to pick a location (and hang out in that area) that has high end restaurants and more houses than apartments. Apartments are not good for deliveries because you have to park, get into the building, find the apartment, etc. Rockville Pike is a good place to hang out. It is recommended that you reject trips where you’d have to pick up in Rockville and deliver to VA for example. Silver Spring has too many apartment buildings and too few high end restaurants, not a good combination for making tips or being able to do 3-4 deliveries per hour. Good areas are Rockville, Potomac, and Cabin John. Avoid Silver Spring, Gaithersburg, and DC.
Saturday and Sunday dinners as well as weekday lunches are the best times to work to maximize volume of available orders and tips.
Since drivers are not penalized for declining a pickup, you can avoid runs that have you delivering the food far from the restaurant. You may want to avoid DC (hard to park) and Silver Spring (hard to park and too many apartment buildings).
Uber Eats lets you know about promotions they are running, take advantage of those as it is a way to make some extra money.
Driving for Uber Eats is a 1099 type job which means that taxes are not taken out. Drivers need to be diligent about keeping enough to pay taxes.
