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Has anyone tried gig apps when looking for temporary work? I discovered them a couple years ago when I was doing Uber. To me they're similar to when I used to sign up at temp agencies,there were many of them but few yielded much work...
Not sure exactly where you are but if you are in an area with a decent population there is no reason to believe there isn't much work. Using multiple apps at once, say Uber and Lyft, will increase your opportunities.
I did the gig thing part time for 4 years, Uber, Lyft primarily, DoorDash and Grubhub during COVID. I'm not in a big market, and the pay rates decreased substantially since I started, but you can still make decent money. I made $400 one day/evening driving for Uber and it was a Thursday, $300 several other times. But it should only be for part time or temporary work, you burn up your car if you do it too much. Stick to safe times such as days or evenings only. Weekend evenings are the best, Friday night is a huge night for delivery, both Friday and Saturday night are very busy for rideshare. Taking a couple out to dinner on a Saturday night or 3 guys to a sports bar was a freaking blast. But I took them to the bar and let the others deal with them when it was time to leave. The total flexibility, unlike any other temporary job, added tremendous value for me.
The reason I stopped is there is a small segment of the population that will lie to get out of paying for a ride or meal. App companies don't care one bit about the drivers, they are expendable, so they fire the driver and comp the customer. I had a dashcam and took time stamped pics for the deliveries but I grew tired of having to prove my innocence. App work is the only place where you are guilty and have to prove innocence, where you can get fired with no recourse. It's absolutely terrible the way they treat their drivers but if it's just short term or very part time it can work for you.
Last edited by DaveinMtAiry; 08-25-2023 at 02:43 PM..
Not sure exactly where you are but if you are in an area with a decent population there is no reason to believe there isn't much work. Using multiple apps at once, say Uber and Lyft, will increase your opportunities.
App work is the only place where you are guilty and have to prove innocence, where you can get fired with no recourse.
I learned that from the regular job apps like Wonolo...I had a good amount of gigs booked with Nordstrom for example,then one day they just dropped off my jobs. I don't know what I did or said to rub someone the wrong way,but like temp agencies they can end your assignment with no notice. At least with regular companies they usually give you 3 strikes etc.
As far as areas with population...the more people the more chance of jobs getting taken by all those who live around there. I've rarely been able to find work anywhere within 30 miles of the city!
I learned that from the regular job apps like Wonolo...I had a good amount of gigs booked with Nordstrom for example,then one day they just dropped off my jobs. I don't know what I did or said to rub someone the wrong way,but like temp agencies they can end your assignment with no notice. At least with regular companies they usually give you 3 strikes etc.
As far as areas with population...the more people the more chance of jobs getting taken by all those who live around there. I've rarely been able to find work anywhere within 30 miles of the city!
I've never heard of Wonolo, did you get an alert saying you were deactivated? Could you still log on? Not sure what "dropped of my jobs" means, does it mean you just stopped getting orders?
Regardless there are plenty of apps out there, don't use Wonolo if that is your only example. Door Dash and the ride share apps are by far the busiest. It should be noted that summer is really slow for rideshare. People are out of town and teachers sign up which increases drivers on the road. If you don't mind shopping there is Instacart which is also busy. Then there are the straight delivery apps, Spark is the one used for Walmart delivies. Most you don't shop, you go to the store and they load up your car with bags that you deliver.
I live in a small town of 9,000. DD was constantly busy at lunch and evenings, Uber and Lyft well I put it on and sat back, some days it would take hours to get my first alert. So I simply drove to a town of about 70,000 twenty minutes away and I could get more rides. If it was still slow I headed south to the DC burb and the app went off constantly all day long.
I've never heard of Wonolo, did you get an alert saying you were deactivated? Could you still log on? Not sure what "dropped of my jobs" means, does it mean you just stopped getting orders?
Regardless there are plenty of apps out there, don't use Wonolo if that is your only example. Door Dash and the ride share apps are by far the busiest. If you don't mind shopping there is Instacart which is also busy. Then there are the straight delivery apps, Spark is the one used for Walmart delivies.
I live in a small town of 9,000. DD was constantly busy at lunch and evenings, Uber and Lyft well I put it on and sat back, some days it would take hours to get my first alert. So I simply drove to a town of about 70,000 twenty minutes away and I could get more rides. If it was still slow I headed south to the DC burb and the app went off constantly all day long.
I wasn't going to waste time all day waiting for maybes...that's why I went back to an hourly job.
Uber/Gig apps were something I got into to bridge the gap between jobs,my friend was telling me how much he was making and it sounded attractive. Of course results may vary,so I was lucky if I made $150 a day...and that's in a major metro area. I guess all the good rides evaded me
I wasn't going to waste time all day waiting for maybes...that's why I went back to an hourly job.
Uber/Gig apps were something I got into to bridge the gap between jobs,my friend was telling me how much he was making and it sounded attractive. Of course results may vary,so I was lucky if I made $150 a day...and that's in a major metro area. I guess all the good rides evaded me
If you just had Uber and not Lyft you were cutting down on your opportunities. By the end it was hard to determine what a "good ride" was, the longer ones paid far more per hour but they both really reduced that pay on those rides. I made about $150 day as well, with $20-$25 in gas, for about 7 hours of work. In addition I properly recorded my business miles and with that write off I paid virtually no income tax. So that meant the $20 or so an hour translated into more like $25/hour. I drove a Civic so I didn't really have a lot of additional maintenance but of course the car devalued with the additional miles I drove but that cost can't really be pin pointed.
To me making effectively $25/hour on my time with no commute and the ability to just stop and go home, or pick up a few bucks while running errands, made it very attractive.
Last edited by DaveinMtAiry; 08-27-2023 at 06:02 AM..
If you just had Uber and not Lyft you were cutting down on your opportunities. I made about $150 day as well, with $20-$25 in gas, for about 7 hours of work. In addition I properly recorded my business miles and with that write off I paid virtually no income tax. So that meant the $20 or so an hour translated into more like $25/hour. I drove a Civic so I didn't really have a lot of additional maintenance but of course the car devalued with the additional miles I drove but that cost can't really be pin pointed.
To me making effectively $25/hour on my time with no commute and the ability to just stop and go home, or pick up a few bucks while running errands, made it very attractive.
I had both Uber and Lyft and it didn't make much difference,part of it was the sitting in traffic in this congested area that ate up much of my time.
I'm not sure what math you're doing but statistically most people actually end up earning less if they truly factor in fuel,maintenance etc. And yes taxes are a big thing as well,I'm baffled by the fact that even after going back to work for a regular company for a year and working gig apps only on weekends I STILL ended up owing a bunch of taxes
I had both Uber and Lyft and it didn't make much difference,part of it was the sitting in traffic in this congested area that ate up much of my time.
I'm not sure what math you're doing but statistically most people actually end up earning less if they truly factor in fuel,maintenance etc. And yes taxes are a big thing as well,I'm baffled by the fact that even after going back to work for a regular company for a year and working gig apps only on weekends I STILL ended up owing a bunch of taxes
I treated it as a business. I did the math. As long as it's part time tax free earnings of $20/hour for unskilled labor isn't bad, even with the costs. I know some full time drivers who deduct the miles and that income puts them under the MEDICARE limit so they get free medical care on top of tax free earnings. Put that with the total freedom to earn when and where you want and it was a good gig for many. Me I grew tired of it in retirement, they have lowered the pay, and want to do something else when I ever get around to getting another job.
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