How I was making $45/hour as an Uber Eats Driver with a crappy bike and flip flops

Before I go into the numbers and how much I was making with Uber Eats on a random day during the evening; I want to quickly talk about the reasons why I decided to deliver for Uber Eats.

I never thought I would want to work for a delivery gig job, especially after hearing terrible news on how much it pays. After factoring in the cost of owning a car, a driver probably makes anywhere from $9–12 an hour. This is not worth my time.

Now here are the reasons why I decided to deliver for Uber Eats. I was getting lazy and felt I needed the motivation to exercise. I would go to the gym here and there, but I had no motivation. Instead, I decided to ride my bike daily to enjoy the fresh breeze going across my face. I wanted to motivate myself to workout. After finding out that Uber Eats allow deliveries by bike, I decided to jump on a bicycle one evening and just ride around town. Soon, I got my first delivery request. It was exciting, almost like playing a game. For the first hour, I felt exhausted and it was time for me to go home. That hour, I made about $25. Not bad! I was most impressed with how much of a motivation it was for me and a great workout.

The more I rode my bike, the more I understood what the peak hours were. I was riding in the city of Davis, CA. Everything in the city was about a 10 to 15-minute bike ride away. I found out that the peak hours were from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm. In those two hours, there is a lot of demand and delivery requests. I got to a point, where I would use multiple delivery apps. I used Uber Eats and Doordash, so I wouldn’t stop riding my bike.

Now here’s the breakdown of how I was able to do $45 an hour in one trip.

My trip on the right shows $11.88 earnings for 15.25(15 min 15 sec) minutes in one trip. If you do the math, I was earning $46.74 an hour during that trip. The wait time for getting a request was less than a minute, so I didn’t include that in my calculation.

My trip on the left shows $10.54 earnings for 16.43(16 min 26 sec) minutes in one trip. My wait time here was also less than a minute, so I won’t add that to my hourly rate calculation. I was earning about $38.49 an hour during this trip.

These earnings weren’t luck. The more you understand the delivery data around your city, the better your earnings are. I understood that the peak hours in my area were from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm, so I only rode my bike during that time. Also, being close to restaurants is another perk. If you’re living in a busy area, this method will work better. Doing this a couple of times a week can really add up and help pay off monthly bills. Also, you’re getting a great workout while you’re earning. I think it's a win-win. Next time you think of going on a jog or a bike ride, try doing a couple of deliveries while you’re at it!