I don’t believe platforms like DoorDash were intended to be a full time job. I think they were intended to let people offer their free time to jump on an app and make a few extra dollars and help provide an on-demand delivery service for merchants who might not be able to employ a fleet of employees for delivery.
When you sign up, you know you are working for yourself. You need to provide an ABN and the term “independent contractor” is stamped on everything.
I found out about being a DoorDash driver from being bombarded with an ad which I’m pretty sure said “earn up to $37 per hour” — if I average out my income over the past 6 months using my active time, it comes out at $36.72 per hour.
I love being logged on a getting back-to-back orders, I honestky just have more fun doing this than I ever had at the 9-5 desk job I thought I enjoyed for 20+ years. This is where I feel like I might be doing it differently to other people. If this wasn’t working for me I wouldn’t do it and I’d dedicate more time doing something else. I’ve clocked up 4,500+ deliveries and I’ve probably declined 4 on purpose and had a handful timeout because of phone problems. I never mention this in groups, because most people I’ve seen mention accepting everything get jumped on.
I might have my head up my arse, or be in a good zone? I accept a bunch of “crappy” orders, but then I’ll get, orders that make no sense, a decent amount for not that much work. I feel like they’re “catch up” orders and the platform knows I’ll keep things moving. Do they aim to hit me with that advertised “up to $37 per hour?”
At the moment I’m happy with the way things are.
I do think there could be improvements made though:
- Better onboarding and training, instead of just letting anyone on who passes a police check.
- Rider safety, people getting killed is not cool. Could all the platforms come together and invest in a one or two day bootcamp about navigating traffic and being safe on the roads.
- More transparency around deactivation and feedback/ratings.
- Clear information about what insurance if provided by the platform
- Maybe assistance explaining super and teaming up with another company (maybe HNRY) people can “opt in” if they’re working so much in gig platforms they should think about adding to super
I know people just want to make money, but looking at if from a business point of view, like DoorDash, I think they started in 2013 and still haven’t made any money. They already swipe 30% (?) from merchants and if they have to provide more to drivers where is the money going to come from? Would increasing the fees customers pay, just mean people will stop using the services altogether?