Side hustles are nearly as old as making money itself. But the phrase has only recently forced its way into the daily lexicon.
People need money. For many, one job just isn’t enough to pay all the bills. Or it can pay the bills but not provide enough for extra. Or, let’s face it, some people just like making money.
Whatever the reason, more and more Americans are picking up side jobs to supplement their incomes.
There are many options out there. Some pay well, comparatively. Deliver food or items for services like Door Dash, GrubHub, Postmates, or Uber Eats and your hard work will be rewarded with cash.
That’s weekly deposited cash for those who aren’t great at budgeting. There are even “pay me now” options after a set time period or those who lack budgeting skills AND patience—for a nominal fee of course.
There are other, more morally grey areas for side hustles—I’m looking at you SnapChat—but for the practitioners of said hustles, I salute you. You found a niche and you’re working it. Make that money.
Anyone who knows me knows I like loading up on side hustles. I’ve had two for a number of months now in addition to my full-time job. I added a third last Sunday when I started delivering food for one of the national options.
I won’t say which, as I appreciate anonymity and I imagine the companies, and people to whom I deliver do as well. I’ve actually signed up with multiple services, so the stories I will relay here shortly could come from any of the above-named companies.
Joining the Gig Economy
Want to deliver food? Don’t want to work for just one restaurant and pick your hours? There are a number of options for you.
I did just that when I signed up with a couple of services recently and step my toe into the delivery waters last Sunday.
Prior to setting out, I had to undergo a quick verification of information, a background check and await certain items to come in the mail to begin my work.
And the app, don’t forget the app. Each service has an app which runs the entire operation from start to finish for you.
Phone charged? Check. Bathroom break handled? Yes. Willingness to work? Double check (Mikey likes getting paid).
A quick aside first: Don’t forget the car charger. My first day delivering, I logged 7.5 hours on the road. Between the app itself and the GPS, my battery drained quickly. My iPhone faded to black little more than two minutes after my final delivery.
Anyway, where was I, yes, the start of Day 1. After I dropped my daughter off, I returned to the Ohio Valley Mall area to start my new side career.
I’ll admit, I was a little nervous with anticipation. I selected in the app that I was ready to get to work and readied myself for my first delivery.
And … nothing. I waited. And Waited. And waited some more.
This was during lunch time too. Surely something was wrong. I messaged a friend of mind who is a delivery veteran to see if this was the norm.
It took nearly 45 minutes for the first delivery alert to hit my phone.
That was my only break for the next near eight hours.
Running the Gamut.
My first stop was close by and the delivery from that stop was also close. Think mall-ring restaurant to mall store.
The instructions said to meet the customer at the receiving entrance. That’s great, but didn’t’ know which one that was. Could I be any more of a newb? Don’t answer that.
So, I texted the customer upon entering the store and he was kind enough to alert me where he was situated, and we met halfway.
The second delivery came from the same restaurant and took me to a place that seemed quite familiar. It was, because it was the home of one of my daughter’s friends and teammates from school. Easy enough.
Then, the first of a number of “interesting” runs began.
The restaurant was near the mall and the trip required me to head all the way out to Maynard. There was plenty of lead time, so I accepted the delivery.
When I got to the restaurant, the lobby had a lot of customers. The employee side not so much. They let me know right away that it wasn’t ready yet.
I admit, it was a bit of a wait, but you can’t fault the workers for when a number of customers come in at the same time. They eventually got me out the door with 12 minutes left to make a “suggested” 18-minute drive.
I was only two minutes late. But let’s say a lot of gravel was slung on Maynard-Crescent Road.
There was only one problem …
Don’t Forget the Bag
Quick Tip: Your insulated food bag? Yeah, don’t forget that. I was in such a hurry, I handed that nice young woman her food bag, still inside by insulated bag.
I realized this fact halfway back to St. Clairsville.
So, while the next delivery I chose (OV mall location to Martins Ferry) had plenty of lead time, I now had to race back to Maynard and again hurry back to the mall.
I was a couple minutes late on my pick-up time at the restaurant, but made the delivery with five minutes to spare.
Next came to pick-ups in Ferry that went to the Island, followed by a Wheeling location that took me to Bethlehem.
I slowly worked my way East and toward the Highlands, which was both a good and bad experience.
The first was good. I picked up an order from two different restaurants close by. The first got dropped off to a worker at a third restaurant, the other down off the hill. Quick and good money.
The next, not so much.
No Tip?
I retuned to one of the previous locations to pick up a $50 order that was going to what I will refer to as a location in Ohio County, and no more.
The base price for delivery was $3.50. No tip was listed, but I was asked to hand the delivery to the customer in person. I figured okay, cash tip, that’ll work.
I was wrong. No tip. Sorry about your luck. Sadly, it happens to wait staff all the time, so I didn’t make a big deal about it and off I went.
The next one that came up, same thing. Base pay only, deliver by hand. I didn’t want to be THAT guy that declines all the orders that come across like this, but two in a row?
I took a chance and delivered that smaller order to a young woman in St. Clairsville, who rewarded me with a $6 tip on what couldn’t have been more than a $15-20 order.
Faith restored.
Later that night, I went on Facebook to a group page for drivers for this particular company and they bemoaned the base-pay only orders and how they refuse to take them.
Some people refuse anything below $10 and still base their acceptance on mileage to pay ratios.
I get that. But I tried to accept most and ended up averaging around $15 per hour for my trouble.
For a side job, I’ll take it.
First Impressions
I hit up the lunch rush earlier today for my second day and made about $60 for a little less than four hours of work. Again, ballparking, it came in to around $15 per hour.
Now coming from someone who’s not the most social, this job is an introvert’s dream. There isn’t a lot of conversation required and the bit that is consists of needs-based requests and conversation.
You can make decent side money and imagine a lot more once you learn the intricacies. I’m going to be in learning mode for a while. Thankfully, after nearly 20 years off and on as a sports reporter in the valley, I know my around and can take a lot of shortcuts to reduce drive times.
But if you have a reliable vehicle, some insurance, and a few spare hours, sign up and give it a shot.
I’m glad I did, and I’ll be continuing to delivery for these companies a few days a week. It goes with my writing gig. And my other writing gig. And my …. You get the picture.
Hustle on people.
