In 2024 I put on 1000 miles doing ebike food delivery via Uber Eats and Door Dash. In this video I’ll go over everything I learned about that experience including how much i make, my experience with the apps and my ebikes of choice for food delivery.
Why I do it?
At first I was just curious, I was looking for some content to create and wondered what it would be like.
- I actually grew to enjoy it. Something about using an ebike that requires no gas while also getting some exercise…
- It fits my schedule too…I work from home at a desk so I found that it got me out of the house a few hours per day and helped to break up my day.
- I do it in the suburbs so its not as busy as a city might be. Sometimes I can go as much as 30 minutes without getting an order so I’ll listen to a podcast or audio book while i wait…
- …I mainly work the lunch shift from 11am-1pm ish. In the summer when it is lighter/later…I might do some dinner runs.
- Lunch runs generally pay less than dinner ones so keep that in mind. The more the order costs the better tip you’ll get.
How much I make?
I do this strictly for pocket change. It pays for a few gas tanks and a few grocery trips each month.
So set your expectations, this is not a good paying job by any means. Its just a way to earn some extra cash.
Generally speaking, for working 5 lunch shifts( 2.5 hrs) per week I can make anywhere from $120 to $150 per week. The average earned per delivery works out to around 5 bucks.
The Apps
If delivering by ebike the apps only send you orders within 2-3 miles of your location. So a delivery should never take more than 20 mins or so.
Uber Eats has become my primary app. I have achieved Platinum status which take 300 pts to achieve. Lunch runs are 3 pts each while dinner ones give you 6 pts so they incentivize you to do more dinner runs when they are busiest. So if take me about 100 lunch deliveries to get platinum ( 5 days week).
Door dash is inconsistent. I signed up un august and they would not let me deliver until October saying they had too many dashers in my area. I did 50 deliveries over about 6 weeks in the fal and have not been able to deliver in my area of Connecticut since the fall. Depending on where you live this could be the case.
While I was on DoorDash I did find that I made 20% more on tips and base fees.
Overall I am not a huge fan of the uber Eats app. I cant see where the final delivery address is until I have picked up the order. Doordash does show it to you so i frequently looked at the address to plan my route for delivery and to make sure I felt safe delivering there.
I still get too may non tip orders on Ubereats. I get at least 1-2 $2 trip offers which I decline all day long. My min order needs to be $4 or higher for me to deliver.
I also do shop and delver orders and they usually pay more like $7 to $15 to go to CVS, Target or Walgreens. A ;ot of times its just picking up a few items for the customer.
Worst part of delivering: waiting for the order. You learn quickly which restaurants take the longest. Often many places dont prioritze delivery orders meaning you have to wai til they package it up. (Starbucks in the worst) in my region.
The eBikes (and food storage)
- My rides of choice are the Lectric Xpedition (biggest rear bag) and Tesway X5 pro.
- Need a large bag and some kind of drink storage. Add a towel for spills. Get yourself a good pair of airpods to hear directions as you ride. An ebike with a usb plug is very helpful because your phone is always on and drains faster.
- Maintenance: brake pads and tires….use knobbies! Street tires wear out fast