Driving for Uber Eats is a part-time gig for most people, but you can make it a full-time gig with effort. Many drivers make $1,000 a week with Uber Eats because they know how the system works and how to maximize their earnings.
Here’s how.
Making Money Driving for Uber Eats
If you decide to deliver for Uber Eats, your goal is to make money. Like most gig-sharing apps, Uber Eats has a lot of competition, and you’ll earn higher pay in certain areas of the country.
Here’s what you can expect.
Average Base Pay
Base pay is what Uber Eats pays drivers to deliver food. It’s a portion of the fee they charge the customer for the service, but Uber Eats keeps their cut too.
The average driver makes $37,398 in base pay per year, which equals $17.97 per hour if you work 40 hours a week. Unfortunately, that’s not realistic for most Uber Eats drivers since it’s generally a part-time gig for most. But if you’re trying to earn a full-time income, the base pay will get you close to your $1,000 weekly goal.
Receiving Tips
You can factor in customer tips to get closer to your $1,000 weekly goal. Fortunately, Uber Eats drivers keep 100% of tips earned. According to Glassdoor, the average Uber Eats driver makes $1,953 in tips annually, but you can increase that with excellent customer service and repeat customers.
How to Make $1000 a Week With Uber Eats
Making $1,000 a week with Uber Eats is possible when you’re intentional with your time and money. Remember, every minute you give to Uber Eats is in exchange for payment.
So the wiser you are with your time, the more you’ll earn.
- Don’t Skip a Weekend, Peak, or Holiday
- Quick Delivery Time
- Be Aware of Prime Times
- Get to Know Your Market
- Referrals & Incentive Programs
- Use Your Car for Advertising
- Try Multi-Apping
- Cancel When You Need To
- Professionalism
- Track Expenses
- Supplement with Other Income Streams
1. Don’t Skip a Weekend, Peak, or Holiday
If you want to make $1,000 a week with Uber Eats, you must work weekends, holidays, and other peak times rather than the typical 9-to-5 working hours.
No matter where you live, Friday and Saturday nights are usually the most popular times to eat out. People order food delivery at dinner time and later, especially after being out all night. Schedule delivery time for Uber Eats in the early to late evenings on weekends to maximize your earnings.
Also, pay close attention to peak times in your area. To increase your chances of earning more, note special events happening, like concerts, sporting events, and festivals. Chances are the demand will be higher during these events.
Learn More:
2. Quick Delivery Time
To increase your Uber Eats earnings, you should provide the best customer service, delivering the food promptly.
No one wants to receive cold food that sat under a heat lamp for too long, so only take deliveries you can pick up and deliver within a short window. This ensures the food arrives fresh and hot, keeping customers happy.
In addition, you’ll increase your ratings and tips, which will help you earn more money driving for Uber Eats.
3. Be Aware of Prime Times
Get to know the prime times in your area. Weekend evenings are popular everywhere, but there may be other times in high demand in your area.
For example, if you work in a business district, lunchtime can be a time to deliver. All the professionals who can’t leave the office but want to eat out are likely to use a food delivery service. So position yourself in an area with many businesses and make the most of your afternoon hours.
Pay close attention to the app to see other prime times in your area. For example, if you live in an area with many nightclubs, there could be a high demand for food delivery after midnight.
Seek Surges
Surge pricing is extra pay from Uber, not including tips. When the demand for food delivery exceeds the capability of the active drivers, Uber Eats will increase the base pay to encourage more drivers to accept orders.
On the app, you can see the areas offering surge pricing, allowing you to position yourself where you’ll have higher chances of earning more.
4. Get To Know Your Market
Every market is different. As we said above, business districts are often busy during lunch hours, and areas with nightclubs and bars have surges late at night, which is great for night owls.
Knowing your area and when people need food delivery will help you reach your $1,000 weekly goal. In addition, if you can arrange your schedule, so you’re available during the busier times, you’ll capitalize on that surge pricing and potentially earn better tips.
Avoid Tight-Budget Customers
It’s also important to get to know the customers in your area. If you live in an area where people are on tight budgets, they’re likely to tip less or not at all. For example, if you live near a college town, chances are you’ll run yourself ragged delivering for college students after a night out, but their limited funds make it impossible for them to tip.
Find areas of your town where budgets are higher, and customers can be generous with their tips.
5. Referrals and Incentive Programs
You can boost your earnings by referring friends or taking advantage of incentive programs Uber Eats offers periodically.
Uber Boost Earnings Program
Uber Eats often runs Boost Promotions when there is a high demand for drivers. These promotions often run when there are large events in the area.
Here’s how it works.
During a Boost Promotion, Uber Eats will multiply the base rate by a certain number, such as two or three. So if the base pay is $8 normally, they would pay $16 to $24 base pay for trips during the promotion.
There’s usually advance notice of the promotions, so keep an eye out for them in the app.
Refer Your Friends
Like many other apps, Uber Eats pays you to refer friends and family to drive for them. This is a great way to boost your earnings because Uber Eats often pays nice bonuses to you and the person you referred for signing up.
Their pay varies by area and demand, but you can often make an extra $50 to a few hundred dollars by referring friends and family.
Here’s how.
After downloading the Uber Eats app and getting approved, you can generate a personal referral code to share with friends and family. If you’re a blogger, you could advertise the code on your social media, business cards, and blog posts.
You’ll earn a bonus each time someone clicks on your link and signs up to drive. The more you share your code, the more you may earn.
6. Use Your Car for Advertising
A great way to double up your earnings while driving for Uber Eats is to use your car for advertising. Companies like Wrapify will pay you to wrap your car in a company’s advertisements. You earn a flat fee for the time you have your car wrapped, and at the same time can use your vehicle to deliver for Uber Eats.
7. Try Double-Apping
It can get a little confusing, but multi-apping is a great way to reach your goal of making $1,000 a week with Uber Eats (and other apps).
The key to using multiple apps is organization. For example, you can have apps on for DoorDash, Instacart, and Uber Eats, but once you accept an order from one of the apps, set yourself to inactive on the other.
After you complete the delivery, you can turn all apps back on again to maximize your chances of getting an order.
Just ensure you don’t confuse services, miss orders, or deliver food late to avoid risking bad reviews and no tips.
8. Cancel When You Need To
Uber Eats drivers can cancel orders when necessary without hurting their ratings. However, use this option with caution. Too many cancellations can make it look like you’re abusing the system, potentially resulting in deactivation.
However, since time is money, you should have a threshold on when to cancel orders. For example, if the restaurant is completely behind and you’ll have to wait long for the food, it’s not worth it.
Time is money, and you should use your time wisely to ensure you reach your $1,000 weekly goal. As you get more experienced, you’ll get to know the restaurants that aren’t efficient and can avoid accepting orders from them.
9. Professionalism
The base pay is only a portion of what you earn from Uber Eats. The customer tips are where you have more control. The more professional you are in your services, the more money you’ll make.
Professional Image
You might think, ‘it’s just food delivery,’ but customers often base their tips and reviews on your profile picture. So take a picture that portrays you as a responsible person ready to meet your customers’ needs.
Believe it or not, a solid profile picture can help you earn more tips.
Top-Notch Customer Service
Of course, what customers care about the most is your level of customer service. If you show up late with an order and throw it on their porch, you’re less likely to get a good tip.
To provide great customer service, consider the following:
- Show up with deliveries on time whenever possible
- Communicate through the app when there is a delay, whether you’re responsible for it or not
- Ask about any special requests, such as silverware or condiments
- Ask where the customer would like the food delivered (sometimes they prefer contactless delivery left on the porch, and others prefer you to ring the bell)
- Provide an ETA
- Respond to inquiries immediately
- Deliver with a smile and courteous greeting
10. The Importance of Expense Tracking
Tracking your expenses is the best way to ensure you reach your $1,000 weekly goal. For example, if you aren’t aware of what it costs to accept deliveries and use your car, you could come up much shorter than expected.
Expenses to consider include:
- Gas
- Insurance
- Maintenance and repairs
- Keeping your car clean
- Tolls
- Parking
Minimize the Cost of Gas and Other Expenses
To maximize your earnings, you should consider your routes carefully. For example, if you live in a rural area, do the math to determine if driving to the next city and delivering food makes financial sense.
Once you pick an area, you should stick to that area and not accept deliveries that are too far out, using up more gas and putting more wear and tear on your car.
You should also consider driving a fuel-efficient car and shopping for cheaper insurance. Just make sure when you look for insurance, you tell your agent you drive for Uber Eats, as you may require a special endorsement to be covered while working.
Get Perks Using Reward Apps
Consider signing up for gas reward apps to minimize your gas costs further. A few popular options include Upside and Receipt Hog.
You can also sign up for reward credit cards that pay a high percentage of cash back for gas. For example, with the Citi Custom Cash Card, you earn 5% cash back on your highest spend category. If you only use the card for gas, you can earn 5% back on your gas purchases.
Many gas stations also have branded gas cards to help you save money on gas. Since this is your largest expense as an Uber Eats driver, it’s a great strategy to save money.
11. Supplement With Other Income Streams
If you can’t make $1,000 a week with Uber Eats, you can reach your goal by supplementing with other income streams. We already talked about wrapping your car to make passive income, but there are hundreds or even thousands of other side gigs you can work instead of, or in addition to, Uber Eats.
For example, if you like gig sharing, you can be a rideshare driver with Uber or Lyft or shop for people on Shipt. On the other hand, if you prefer to do something from home, you could start a blog, be a freelance writer or graphic designer, or sell items you make.
High Market Areas
Of course, it helps to deliver food in the busiest markets. So while Uber Eats is available in over 6,000 cities, here are some of the hottest markets:
- Birmingham, Alabama
- Flagstaff, Arizona
- San Francisco, CA
- Denver, CO
- Chicago, IL
Click here to see a list of all the cities in each state with the highest demand for Uber Eats drivers.
Pros & Cons of Working For Uber Eats
Like any gig app, there are pros and cons of working for Uber Eats. Consider the good and bad to determine if it’s worth exchanging your time to drive for Uber Eats.
Pros
- You work on your own schedule, choosing when you work
- You choose where you’ll work; it doesn’t have to be limited to your neighborhood
- You choose the orders you accept
- Available in over 6,000 cities
- It’s easy to qualify
Cons
- You are responsible for all expenses
- You’ll pay self-employment taxes on your earnings
- It can cause premature wear and tear on your car
- The earnings aren’t consistent
FAQs
Making $1,000 a week with Uber Eats is possible if you’re intentional with your time and where you deliver. But it takes a lot of concentration, organization, and detail.
Can you work Uber Eats as a full-time job?
You can work Uber Eats as a full-time job, but with the average hourly rate of $17.97 an hour, it can be a low salary to live on if you don’t have other household income.
How much can you make with Uber Eats in one week?
How much you make in a week on Uber Eats depends on how much you work, where you deliver, and the amount you make from tips. Based on the average Uber Eats salary, you can make $718 a week working full-time before tips.
Is it possible to make $2000 weekly as a driver for Uber Eats?
It would be difficult to make $2,000 a week driving for Uber Eats. You’d have to take on a lot of deliveries and provide fantastic customer service to increase your tips. To make $2,000 a week, you’d likely need other side gigs to supplement your Uber Eats income.
What other driving companies can you pair with Uber Eats?
You can drive for any driving company while delivering for Uber Eats; they don’t limit what you do. The easiest way is to drive for Uber because you’re automatically approved to drive for Uber Eats if you’re an Uber driver. Other options include Lyft, DoorDash, Instacart, or working directly for a restaurant as their delivery driver.
Is being a driver for Uber Eats worth it?
If you live in an area where Uber Eats is present, you can make good money, getting close to your $1,000 weekly goal. But to determine if it’s worth it, you must consider the cost, the times you must work to make the most money, and the wear and tear on your car.
Should You Try to Make $1000 a Week With Uber Eats?
While most drivers make less than $1,000 a week with Uber Eats, you can maximize your earnings by using your time wisely.
Know the peak times, provide great customer service, and pay close attention to events in the area that might incur surge or promotional pay to increase your earning potential.
