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How to Prepare for Your First Delivery with Uber Eats for First-time Drivers

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Whether you like it or not, life runs on technology. The food industry is no exception. Thankfully due to food delivery apps like Uber Eats, there is a gig market for food delivery drivers. But, how does one go from a first-time delivery person to a seasoned deliverer that knows all the tips and tricks to maximize their own profits with Uber Eats?

The goal of this post is to help you maximize your profits from deliveries as quickly as possible. The phrase practice makes perfect applies to food delivery app gigs like Uber Eats – the more you deliver, the quicker and more efficient you become.

How to prepare for your first delivery with Uber Eats?

You may be a bit nervous, anxious, excited, or a mixed combination of feelings. However, to ease your anxiety, rest assured even if you mess up your first order, realize Uber Eats and the customer is usually understanding as long as you communicate.

As you do more orders, the anxiety from having to potentially converse with strangers or drive to a gated apartment becomes second to none because you have already experienced those situations. Lastly, Uber Eats customer service reps are always on standby to help out any delivery person that needs some extra support so don’t freak if you are a minute late to deliver your order. Most parties are understanding for a first-time delivery person.

How to start accepting orders on Uber Eats?

  1. Signup to become a delivery driver with Uber Eats HERE
  2. Once you complete the signup process, fire up your Uber app for delivery drivers, and press the big blue button that says “Go” in order to start accepting orders.  
  3. Once you have tapped the button, you may be asked a series of questions and to verify your identity by capturing a selfie on the mobile app. Once the offline status turns into online, you are effectively ready and on standby to accept any local offers from Uber Eats.
  4. When you receive a new order, you may receive a screen to somewhat similar to the below screenshot. You have the option to “Decline” or “Accept” the new order by tapping the big “Delivery Meal” frame. You are now officially in your first delivery with Uber Eats.

Best practices with Uber Eats

Monitor the “Promotions” tab for regional hot spots

The first rule of thumb is to always keep close tabs with the “Promotions” tab in the Uber app for delivery drivers to take advantage of any peak hour incentive pay. When you select promotions, you will be brought to a map that will show regional incentive pay in numbers like 1.3x, 1.7x, or 2x, for example, to indicate that normal pay in those regions will get an added multiplier to effectively increase your take-home earnings with Uber Eats.

Learn the roads and know where the most popular food plazas are to camp out

You want to camp out on the popular food plazas to snipe orders that are local and nearby. By having a number of backup hotpot food plazas in the back of your mind, you are able to get more order requests.  In order words, it definitely pays to know the roads and to be familiar with the neighborhood and roads you are driving in.

Communicate, deliver on time, read customer comments, and use a hot bag to keep food items warm

I have found that by following these four core principles when delivering, I was able to up my tip amount by a good percentage. Try it out and see if you see any notable uptick in tip money. Tip money is important because, in all likelihood, the majority of your earnings is probably at least 20% tip money on top of your regular base pay.

What if I don’t have a car? Can I use a rental car to make money?

The answer is yes. We recommend using an established car rental program in HyreCar. HyreCar is the leading car rental company for economy gigs like Uber Eats, DoorDash, Postmates, and Instacart. Take advantage of this limited offer from HyreCar and claim a car rental today.


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