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Cargo Announces End to Snack Service

Cargo, the snack vending machine box in your car, abruptly announced it was ceasing its snack boxes and going in a different direction. We had senior RSG contributor Paula Gibbins investigate the sudden change and share what other drivers are doing with their leftover Cargo snacks.

Many of you may have already heard that Cargo is ending its snack service. What you may not realize is that Cargo is still sticking around in some fashion, just not what you’re used to. Instead of the box filled with snacks that drivers can put in their vehicles to make a little side money, Cargo has paired with Uber in a cartop display program.

Cargo’s website homepage boasts, “We’ll install a display on top of your vehicle which shows ads while you drive. Make extra cash, even when you’re not taking Uber trips.”

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I Ditched My Car and Dashed Using an E-Bike: 8 Takeaways From My Experience

Dasher extraordinaire, Dash Bridges, leads an interesting life – and his story about dashing via e-bike is no different! Below, Dash will cover how to deliver for DoorDash using an e-bike, how much you may earn delivering via e-bike, and some pros and cons of delivering on an e-bike.

Recently, I was at a restaurant waiting for a lunchtime order. I was in Palo Alto, the intellectual center of Silicon Valley and home of Stanford University. While I sat there, a man at the next table started asking questions about dashing, “How far do you typically drive for a delivery? What do you get paid per order? How long do you normally wait for your food?” I willingly answered questions from him and his colleagues because, hey, I have deep knowledge about this topic and very few people care! So it was refreshing to talk shop. Eventually, my order came up and we traded information.

Fast forward several weeks later: he texted me to meet at their startup. This company, founded by Stanford and MIT graduates (off-topic: the side conversations are amazing!), is working on a semi-automated vehicle designed to self-deliver food from restaurant to customer. Early generations of this vehicle, called the DART, will require Dasher operation. Later generations will only require remote monitoring, and the ultimate goal is for these machines to deliver by themselves, at what scientists call Level 5 automation.

(Full disclosure: I am now an official advisor to DART Robotics)

Because these vehicles are meant to replace short-distance orders, gathering data from my car deliveries is only half the story. The true replacement orders are the ones delivered by bike and e-bike.  Who better to gather this data than the guy who knows nothing about coding, nothing about mechanical engineering and a lot about deliveries? Answer: me.

I agreed to replace my typical lunchtime car dashes with shifts using this e-bike they kept at their shared startup space in Palo Alto. Together we developed a number of data points I needed to collect, and off I went.

If you’re considering signing up for DoorDash and want to use a bike or e-bike, you’ll find my combined 250+ deliveries (via car and ebike) over a seven week period pretty informative! Here’s what I learned during my e-bike dashes.

Quick links:

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The Long Blink Review: One Parent’s Quest to Make US Roads Safer

As rideshare drivers, we are perhaps more aware of road safety than any other driver on the road. We have to pay attention to a myriad of things going on at once, from road and weather conditions to app notifications and our passengers’ general well-being. Truck drivers face perhaps some of the biggest risks while on the road. Below, RSG contributor-at-large Jon Knope covers the true story of Ed Slattery and the book The Long Blink below.

Every driver is aware, to some extent, that each time they get behind the wheel could be their last. Often this awareness is most present when we are first learning to drive. After many years, the magnitude of our responsibility to our passengers and fellow motorists may fade slightly, but for most of us it never leaves.

For folks like Ed Slattery, I can only imagine that this awareness shadows him at every turn. In The Long Blink, journalist Brian Kuebler traces the story of Ed’s life following a fatal truck crash. Ed was at work while his wife Susan and their two sons, Peter and Matthew, travelled home from a family reunion. After a series of phone calls, Ed learns that his family was in a serious truck accident. Susan was killed, and his sons critically injured. Peter eventually recovered but Matthew was left with permanent disabilities.

It’s a truly harrowing story, and it’s even scarier to imagine how any one of us could suddenly find ourselves in similar circumstances. The author exposes Ed’s reality of living with this massive emotional trauma in gripping detail, as well as Ed’s fight to make our roads safer and give his disabled son a better life. Once you start reading this book, it’s hard to look away; and no matter what kind of driving you do, it’s an important read. Make sure to enter the giveaway below for your chance to win your own copy of The Long Blink.

long blink review

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UberHealth and Non-Emergency Medical Transportation (NEMT)

Have you ever shown up to pick up your passenger, only to discover they needed to go to the emergency room? For many drivers, this is one of the worst pickups to have. But for some drivers, it’s a very lucrative driving option. Here, senior RSG contributor Paula Gibbins shares more about non-emergency medical transportation (NEMT) and how it works for drivers.

There’s a new market for rideshare drivers: health and medical transit. These companies provide rides to and from hospitals, clinics and other medical facilities to patients to make sure patients arrive safely and reliably to their appointments.

These companies do business as Non-Emergency Medical Transportation or NEMT. Let’s look at what NEMTs are, which companies are providing such transportation and how Uber is trying to do the same.

Interested in NEMT? Sign up to get started with Veyo here.

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Driving Uber’s Way vs Driving My Way

Should you drive the way Uber wants you to – or should you use your own driving strategies? The answer seems simple, but maybe Uber really does know what’s best for us and we should follow the ‘take every ride’ mentality. Senior RSG contributor Sergio Avedian tested out whether driving the way Uber wants you to is more effective than employing strategies like his favorite surge-only driving strategy.

For the past few years, I’ve made a challenge for myself to figure out the Uber algorithms and use my best strategies to earn more. After all, it certainly looks like Uber is all about controlling the driver, from when and where they drive to how much they earn. Although, things appear to be changing now that Uber is eliminating flat rate surge and getting rid of upfront pricing.

However, maybe Uber really does have our best interests at heart. Maybe they want us to earn as much as we can with their algorithms, and I’m just not listening. I decided to put this theory to the test below.

First, I do want to mention that during my podcast with Harry on RSG and Jay on Rideshare Dojo, I explained some basic strategies I deploy. Driving for Uber may seem like a simple job with very low barriers to entry, as with everything else, I believe you will get out of a job as much as what you put into it.

Quick links:

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