with the hackonomy, the culmination of all that has been good and bad in the economy up to and under president donald trump and company, a lot of us have to rely on a side job on top of our current job or job(s). like some of us, we have been laid off due to restructuring of businesses after the bank implosion, the housing implosion or the more recent implementation of obamacare. eknme has went under wraps to review some of the jobs under the new hackonomy — with ubereats, postmates and caviar. we’re going to give some insight as to their applications, their onboarding and the real-world practice.
first, to keep things above-board, becoming a courier of any sort won’t permit you to become a billionaire, averaging maybe $10 per order per hour under the best of circumstances. second, as a bicycle courier in particular, you probably won’t handle more than about two orders per hour at best.
now onto the review of these companies:
ubereats
quite possibly the biggest name in the game of all three companies, ubereats falls under the general umbrella of uber, one of the first taxi “hack” companies. they have fought tooth and nail with various city ordinances and various taxi companies in philadelphia, san francisco and other cities as well. now uber has been attacked for their less than healthy work environment — and aside from that, the drivers have aligned themselves into a “union” of sorts to get better pay. however, this union is more of a fictitious threat than a real one to uber and its brass.
signing up
you can choose to apply either online or their greenlight sites. eknme recommends that you go to their greenlight sites to apply. it makes the process a whole lot similar. bear in mind when you go to those sites, it’s a lot like going to the department of motor vehicles, and you will be herded to a row of uber employees to sign you up, onboard you and get your application working on your cellular phone.
real-world application
this is where the complaints of the uber drivers do come to fruition. true, uber does offer you up to 2x compensation for orders during their busiest times, but that is generally a very optimistic number. eknme has seen 1.5 and below to much more realistic overall. where the bite stings however is the uber fee that takes a third off the top of your earnings. so not only are they screwing the customers over with the extraneous fees, they are simultaneously screwing the couriers over as well. on the bright side, they don’t penalize you too much for not accepting orders.
verdict
probably the most popular choice but not the best paying choice. ubereats tries to make itself look extraordinarily shiny (with its initial pushiness and pay), but after the shine wears off, ubereats offers low(er) pay for each delivery overall. eknme ranks this company as second of the three.
postmates
postmates prides itself on being a multi-dimensional delivery company. these deliveries can range from blueprints to dog food to actual food deliveries. couriers not only get a bag but a company debit card for purchases for delivery customers.
signing up
you got the postmates website, and they sign you up and onboard you after their initial screening and clearance. it should take less than a week and with little fuss.
real-world application
with this company, you probably get paid the best of all three, but there’s a catch in the real-world application. postmates will penalize you for not accepting offers by delaying you with timers; the first is 10-minutes, and the second is 30-minutes. eknme understands the reason for doing this, but eknme believes this will frustrate majority of couriers as it has frustrated us. this delay-timer penalizes the courier and the company overall. they have lost a courier temporarily — and probably permanently for this tactic. eknme believes that frustration of the application and the company itself will overcome pay.
verdict
this is a coach’s choice kind of company. you get paid more but you get much less business than the other two businesses. with some shady and a couple of extraordinary deliveries (33 lb. delivery of prints on a bicycle?) in tow, this company gets bumped to last place of the three.
caviar
perhaps the most stout competitor to ubereats, this company only delivers food to customers from a whole variety of reputable restaurants.
signing up
you apply online, and then you get onboard at the physical site. they offer you company bags for delivery purposes for a relatively cheap price.
real-world application
this application balances between the pay of postmates with the convenience of ubereats. they offer boosts (milestones in their words) and bonuses for deliveries. they offer gentle reminders for shifts you can take. you can take them, but you are under no strict obligation to be there. they offer pretty hefty bonuses of $50 or more. this company does not penalize you for not accepting offers.
verdict
easily the most down-to-earth of all three companies with their bonuses and shifts, caviar keeps things simple. eknme ranks this as the first among all three companies.
THE BIG VERDICT
- Caviar
- Ubereats
- Postmates
EKnME 