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Should Drivers Sign Up To Drive With DoorDash?

I first started taking a serious look at the earnings potential of delivery services like Postmates and DoorDash in early 2015.  Before signing up, I did extensive research talking to couriers and placing orders as a customer.  I may have placed a few more orders than I needed to, but I’ll be the first to admit, ordering food through these apps is kinda addicting (and I like to eat).

I try to justify my food ordering habit by telling people how convenient it is and how busy I am, but it probably just means that I’m lazy.  Fortunately, I’m not the only one, as the growth of companies like Postmates and DoorDash has exploded over the past year.

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Should Drivers Sign Up To Drive With DoorDash?

Should Drivers Sign Up To Drive With DoorDash?

They’re not quite as ubiquitous as Uber, but they’re definitely closing in on Lyft, and companies like Sidecar are in their rear view mirror.  We all know that Uber is the most consistent option for drivers right now, but there are also a ton of small to mid sized companies trying to break into the rideshare, delivery, food and logistics space.  I suspect one day they’ll all be part of the same logistics network, but for now things are still somewhat separate. [Read more…]

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How Much Money Did I Make Driving For Postmates?

Postmates and Doordash are the top two delivery companies right now.  In today’s article, I’ll review my experience with Postmates but I do recommend signing up for both:

As business owners, it’s important to diversify your income streams.  I talk about this a lot because it’s important, hopefully you guys get that by now.  Right now, times are good, drivers can get by just driving for Uber and making a decent wage whether it’s part-time or full-time.

But it’s easy to get complacent when you can turn an app on at literally any time of the day and go make decent money with Uber or maybe even Lyft.  Why should you go sign-up for another service and waste time with orientations and on-boarding when you can make more money just driving for Uber?  The answer to that question isn’t simple but it’s something that every savvy business owner has learned over time: you have to hope for the best, but be prepared for the worst.

Now more than ever, while things are good, is the time to start assessing all of your options and looking at multiple platforms to see how they can benefit you.  I think the emergence of all of these niche rideshare and delivery options are a great thing for drivers.  They are all getting funded with beaucoup bucks and they are all in need of drivers.  I currently see two major problems for drivers though:

Editor’s Note: For an updated review of signing up with Postmates, please click to read My Experience Signing Up with Postmates in 2017.

[Read more…]

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Maximizing Your Income With Postmates

It’s been a while since my last Postmates article but I wanted to take some time and do some more thinking about ways that drivers can really maximize their income.  As you guys know, my site is all about working smarter, not harder and while I wasn’t too impressed with the income from Postmates I also recognize that there are a lot of people still driving for them.  Many of Postmates’ couriers may not have Uber eligible cars, prefer dealing with food instead of people or just like Postmates better in general than Uber or Lyft.

Maximizing Your Income With Postmates

Maximizing Your Income With Postmates

In terms of company culture, I’d actually say that Postmates is somewhere in-between Lyft and Uber.  Their employees seem to care and want drivers to succeed but there’s a whole lot of talk and not a lot of action in my opinion.  If you’d like to take a look at my past articles on Postmates, I’ve done extensive reviews on the orientation, on-boarding process and my first night of driving:

If you’re considering signing up for Postmates, those articles should save you some time.  Unfortunately, there’s no sign-up bonus for drivers right now but if you decide that you want to sign up using my link you can do so by clicking here. [Read more…]

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Everything You Need To Know About Postmates On-boarding

Just want to sign up for Postmates?  Click here to sign up if you’d like to use my affiliate link.

In my last article, I gave a thorough introduction to Postmates and what the orientation session was like.  But in case you missed it, here’s what the sign-up process is like: First, you need to apply online and then you’ll get an e-mail from Postmates with a link to online orientation.  You can read more about online orientation and when to expect your insulated bag and credit card to arrive here.

My last article ended after the orientation since I had to wait 2-4 days for my background check to process.  Low and behold though, I actually got a call the very next morning (less than 24 hours after my orientation session) from Postmates saying my background check had cleared and they were ready to bring me in for an onboarding session.  They actually had a slot open that day so I decided to head in at 2 pm and do my on-boarding.

Editor’s Note: Curious as to what it’s like to sign up with Postmates in 2017? Please click here to read our updated review “My Experience Signing Up With Postmates in 2017.”

[Read more…]

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10 Things I Learned At My Postmates Orientation

Just want to sign up for Postmates?  Click here to sign up using my affiliate link.

New Postmates customers can also get $10 free when they sign up.  All you have to do is enter my code, ‘m6mng‘ when you register.

I’ve been wanting to write this article for some time now, almost 6 months to be exact.  I actually applied to be a Postmate way back in October of 2014 (and have had an article in drafts for the same amount of time) but after inviting me to one orientation session on short notice (I declined due to other obligations), I never heard back from them.  I followed up a few times and they kept saying we’ll get back to you.  Eventually, I got an e-mail saying they actually couldn’t even onboard me because they didn’t have an Android app.  Thanks for wasting my time.

So my first taste of Postmates wasn’t that great but last week I finally got an e-mail saying they were ready to onboard me (and other Android users).  I picked a time to go in to the office and was eager to give them a second chance.

The Postmates office was located on the first floor of a pretty nice industrial complex. They had ample office space and I’d estimate there were about 10-20 employees which seemed like a lot for a local office. There were lots of glass walls and while the space wasn’t as hip as an SF startup’s office space, it was pretty nice for Orange County.

The orientation was held in a glass conference room where we got to know one of the operations managers, TJ. It was actually standing room only as I counted 28 people in the room and only 14 chairs. We all gave our names, where we were from and one thing about us.  I said that I like to ride my bike haha.

It was definitely an assorted mix of people similar to the demographics you’d see on Uber or Lyft: musicians, people with full time jobs, people who had just moved into the area, etc.

Editor’s Note: For an updated review of signing up with Postmates, please click here to read “My Experience Signing Up With Postmates in 2017.” [Read more…]