Beginner Tips for Delivering Uber Eats/DoorDash on Bicycle

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Firstly, I would like to say that whomever is behind the time change is an idiot. We should stop daylight saving times. It is just painful. 

From July to October of 2023 I delivered food for Uber Eats and DoorDash on my bicycle. Done right, this can be a lucrative side hustle. Today I'll share my newbie tips so that you can make more money than I did at first.

To wet your appetite, let's talk numbers. During a good suppertime run you can pull more than 25$/hour. A full 8 hour weekend day will get you 125-175$. This was not what I made at first, my first few runs I made so little I was worried I wouldn’t pay rent. With some experience I learned to make money doing Uber Eats/DoorDash on a bicycle.

I will say, Reddit is making it sound like people make less money now. I haven’t done food delivery in 4 months. It’s a fickle market. 

Uber Eats delivery people are independent contractors

If you already have a bicycle, lock and phone you are almost ready to get working. You will need a thermal bag, once you get that, apply on Uber Eats or DoorDash and wait for approval. You'll need to do a background check for each app. Also apply on SkipTheDishes, by the time I was accepted with them I was already on to the Uber Driver grind. 

Uber Eats will let you get to it pretty much right away. Doordash is going to wait until it needs more drivers in your area. It took me a few weeks to get approved with Doordash. It took about 5 months to get through the SkipTheDishes line. Once approved, you log in and receive order requests.

You agree to do the delivery and upon completion you get money that will be paid out. This is money before taxes. You should probably estimate that the government will eat 30% of your pay. Also, bicycle couriers are entitled to a one meal per 8 hour shift tax deductible. This exists, whether or not you eat, so that’s a little bonus. 

Items to Deliver Uber Eats on A Bicycle

This list of items will make it so you can deliver food for these apps:

1 - Thermal Delivery Bag - I trust this one. It is still in good condition, you can use it in big rain and overall it keeps most things safe. If not that bag, make sure you get one that can deal with Large sized pizzas. You need to make sure your bag has cup holders somewhere. The bag I recommended has cup holders on the outside, which double as extra pocket space. I’d use them for my water bottle and the second item on this list.

2 - Battery Pack - This random solar powered battery pack is a beast. My phone could run Uber Eats for about 3 hours on a single charge. Having to go home and charge up is a real waste of time. When you are out there, you want to stay out there. Get a fat battery pack that has a decent charge capacity. Even if it charges slowly that’s fine, you are mostly keeping your phone plugged in. This means you will also need a long enough wire. 

3 - Water bottle - I can’t stress enough how important water is. You are going to sweat and you need to stay hydrated. Pro-tip, any McDonalds with self-serve drinks has a button for water. You can refill there and it’s usually nice and cold. 

4 - Bike lock - My bicycle got stolen because I left it unlocked. Don’t be like me. People are watching for you to leave it unlocked. Especially near the McDonalds on St Denis and Maisonneuve. No matter how safe you feel, lock your bike.

Honestly that’s it. You are good to go. 

Don’t worry about the acceptance rate on Uber Eats

To be clear, that only applies to Uber Eats (you should care about satisfaction rate). When dealing with Uber Eats on a bicycle you need to calculate two things really fast as orders are coming in. 

1 - How much money am I actually making per hour off this order?

2 - Where will this order take me?

You will see the amount of money that you should make, and an approximate time estimate. This will also include a distance estimate, but unlike with the car people, the whole dollar/KM thing doesn’t translate well. If the order says 8$ for 15 mins, that is a 24$/hr order in ideal circumstances. You can assume it will take 10-25 mins to actually complete that order. 

Some restaurants really will make you wait 10 minutes for food. Others will have it ready to go the second you arrive. Then you may need to simply leave it at the door, or it could take 5 minutes to get a hold of the client. As you deliver more, you will learn about things like why I never take Tim Hortons or Five Guys orders. You’ll have your own list.

If the order is not going to pay you at least 15$ an hour, don’t take it. You can get another order. Or if you do take it, accept that you are being underpaid and don’t grumble. But your acceptance rate does not matter, so reject a lot of low paying orders. ,

Also think about where the order will take you. You need to be near a restaurant to get a request. If the order is going to take you 15 minutes into a part of town that has no food in it. You are going to need to cycle back to where the food is, adding another 15 minutes to the time spent that is not paid. 

Wait for those nice tipping orders. One thing to mention is that Uber will let you start Uber Eatsing from anywhere in the city, all of the time. 

Stats matter on DoorDash

DoorDash is a different beast. If your acceptance rate goes under 80%, you will stop getting good orders. DoorDash offers these high paying orders, where if you deliver it faster you actually make more. It’s pretty cool and I did enjoy racing the clock for more pay.

DoorDash will also track if you are slow. One of the stats is if you delivered the order before the estimated time of delivery. (With these high paying orders, it measures against that time). The customer will also rate your delivery service. Keep that number up, mostly by being communicative. Say thank you and be polite. Use smileys. 

As long as you keep all your stats above the threshold, you will get some really nice orders on a bicycle. Stuff that will actually pay 8$ for 15 minutes. The problem is to keep that acceptance rate up, you will end up having to take some worse paying orders here or there to maintain the stats. 

Another thing to mention about DoorDash is at first, you can only dash when it’s busy. You are also limited to regions. So you will either go Downtown, or to St Laurent, and that is it. One zone at a time. Only during peak hours. DoorDash does offer hourly bonuses, don’t be fooled by them. If you see some +3$ per order, chances are there aren’t a lot of orders. 

The main thing is food delivery apps are a game of supply & demand.

Go to where the food is

Early on in my career I sat there on Monkland for over an hour waiting for an order to come in. I figured that I would stay in NDG as it was close to home. This was a misplay. The food is downtown. The food is in the Plateau. Those places with bad parking make you, the bicycle courier, a person with opportunity. 

One day I tested going downtown first. Just cycling my way there. I realized I started making way more money. This was fuelled by finally getting into DoorDash. It forced me into those zones. However, it was a good indicator that it was busy if I could DoorDash in an area. 

I would turn on Uber Eats once I left my apartment and just cycle up Sherbrooke. On a good day I’d get an order dinging by Grand. On a bad day I would make it all the way downtown before getting orders. I found myself heading towards St Denis & Ontario as a main resting area. 

If wherever you are is not busy, just cycle towards wherever there are a lot of restaurants, densely packed together. St Denis is a good street, the whole way up and down. St. Catherine is the land of plenty. 

You also want to use some psychology. Midday in Westmount there is crazy action. All sorts of people at work are ordering lunch. Those people also tip nicely. I believe it’s because they are flexing on their homies or the company is paying. However, by 6 PM, Westmount is dead.

You’ll learn the ebbs & flows of it all.

Recognize this for the side hustle it is

You are probably not going to pay rent off UberEats/DoorDash on a bicycle. Well if you work 60 hours a week you can. However with rain, and pain, that gets nearly impossible. This will take its toll on you.

One day a guy on a bike, going the wrong way on the street, crashed into me. That put me out of commission for a week as I had to heal. It sucked but what could I do, my body is literally driving this effort. 

You can definitely make some good extra money if you focus on 5-10 PM on weekdays and all day on the weekend. It is inconsistent and fickle. Those 15-20$ tips feel amazing when you get them. 

You are going to need to pay for bike repairs. You are going to have to deal with clients who reduce their tip. One time this not nice lady got mad at me because McDonalds messed up. She took away 5$ from me even though the error was not mine (weirdly that same employee who did mess up ended up in my Uber the other day, they did not tip). 

What this gig will do, is pay you to cycle around. I definitely gained real muscle doing this. Making 15$-20$ an hour to get exercise is a blessing. 

One last tip before I go. If you have soup in your order, don’t cycle up hills. Get off and walk up. Soup spillage will ruin your day and get you downvotes on your satisfaction rating. Why do they give cyclists soup? I don’t know, but they do. Good luck.Let me know how it goes. In the next article on this topic we’ll cover dealing with Uber/DoorDash support. 

Live Long and Prosper Everyone