Most gig economy apps work similarly: A request pops up, you either accept or decline—or let it time out—and then you do the job or wait for the next ping.
Uber Eats seems to be trying out a new feature…allowing drivers to pick and choose from a list of available requests.
Uber Eats drivers, in at least some markets, were given the above notification that they could choose available requests instead of waiting for the ping to come through.
Is this a new feature rolling out to all drivers? Or is it just a beta test? We’ll break it down below, and you can also check out our video on this here: Uber Eats Drivers Can Pick From Multiple Deliveries!? (Beta Test)
How This New Uber Eats Feature Works
If this feature is available in your market, you can see the available requests list when you tap “Requests” on the map. As long as you’re online, you’ll also continue to receive your usual requests.
Uber recommends that you “act fast” if you’re an Uber Eats delivery driver trying to pick up one of the available requests. It’s basically a first-come first-serve basis. Other drivers will be looking at the same list as you and if one of them claims it for their own, you’re out of luck.
Another point Uber emphasizes is that you will not be “dinged” if you do not take any of the available requests. Accepting a delivery is your choice, as usual, and your acceptance rate will not be affected if you decide not to pick up an available request on the list.
Driver reactions and responses
Drivers, of course, had a strong reaction to this update.
One such driver on Reddit stated, “Yes there is no way this is going to work nobody is going to accept the dirty ones.”
Of course, another responded with, “The [bad] ones will be sent to the newest drivers that are gullible and will take anything.”
Some drivers have pointed out that this is how Instacart functions, and it’s difficult to find a good order. All the best ones are snatched up by bots before any normal human can even glance at it.
DFW_Panda pointed out, “It’s a carrot … watch out for the stick.”
This may have come true a few weeks later.
All of a sudden drivers were not receiving much of any fare information. It still remains to be seen if this information is gone for good or if it was a glitch in the system that Uber is working on fixing.
Without warning drivers were seeing only this on their request screens:
The only information shown was approximate time. That’s it. No more earnings, no more distance in miles…all of a sudden it was all gone.
It’s still being determined if this is a fluke or if Uber really made this change permanently.
Whether it’s here to stay or not, the change outraged drivers:
“I will stop driving for UE if they don’t change this asap,” said one driver on Reddit.
Others shared the same sentiments.
Final Thoughts
It wasn’t that long ago that I compared all of the acceptance screens of the major delivery apps and Uber Eats had come out on top. They were the top choice because of all of the information they showed. Hopefully, they bring back this information instead of trading information for an available requests list.
I think drivers would value the upfront information more than an available requests list in the long run.
Drivers, have you seen this new Uber Eats feature? If not, would you like it to roll out in your market?
-Paula @ RSG
