Do you sometimes feel like driving is your part-time job but someone forgot to pay you for it? Shuffling the kids off to school in your car, then to after-school activities, then to the dry cleaners, then to the grocery store, then to ….and the list never seems to end. What if you could make money driving places you normally do?
The joke is, “I could’ve made some money driving other people’s kids (or food orders).”
Door Dash
Over the past few months, I’ve had success driving for Door Dash as a way to bring in some pocket cash. I was in-between businesses and I wanted to use cash to pay my business expenses while I got my new business off the ground.
I’d head to the end of my neighborhood where there’s an outdoor mall filled with eateries. I’d work the lunch shift, around 11:30 am to 1:30 pm, and regularly make $25 per hour. Not bad for just a few hours. I wouldn’t want to Door Dash all day (or all night) but it’s pretty easy and I can binge podcasts or put the windows down and rock out to my favorite tunes while driving.
Door Dash pays by direct deposit weekly on the same day each week. They’ve also added perks to help with the high cost of fuel.
One note: Sometimes Door Dash is full of Dashers (what they call their drivers). You’ll have to keep checking back until they accept more drivers, usually within a few weeks. Also, if you want to be guaranteed a delivery spot, use the schedule ahead features to book the hours you want to work.
Uber Eats
Uber Eats is another great delivery app to make money with. They purchased Postmates a while back, so the restaurant delivery industry is really dominated by Door Dash and Uber Eats. Door Dash keeps their drivers busier on average, but Uber Eats is used more in big cities. Depending on where you live, you’ll want to go with one or the other, or BOTH.
I interviewed a fellow driver at Panera Bread and he said that he drives for both apps simultaneously. Crazy, right? But, when Uber Eats is slow, or Door Dash is slow, you can often pick up orders for both services. I find that it stressed me out a bit too much, but if you want to have a competition (like I did with my teen son) of who can make the most in a two-hour evening, you’ll definitely want to sign up for both apps.
Another incredible perk now offered by Uber Eats is a unique partnership with Arizona State University to offer you or a loved one free online tuition for an undergraduate program or business training. It looks like an incredible program that I may take advantage of myself or for one of my soon-to-be college-bound kids.
There are other great delivery gigs out there, we’ll do a more comprehensive post in the future.
