Couriers of þe Fedi

Might start doing these every week, or might do them monthly, but let's start the new month with the end of last month.

So nothing of note this week, at least not on paper. I don't include the home trip in my mileage, as the app is only paying me to go to a place to pickup, and then one or more drop offs, getting home is my problem. That said, I do keep it in the back of my mind, and it will be effecting things after this week. That Amazon looks great until you realize it ended in New Athens IL which is 50 miles from home. Yeah, ouch. And it's not like the one before was any better, didn't end quite as far from home, but close, and more importantly, it was far from the warehouse (Sauget IL), starting in Chesterfield. Better Trucks has cut their rates slightly, I'd say it's down about 20¢/mi, but as you can see without the trip home figured in, it's still around 1.50$/mi, and if I put in the home trip, it'd still stay above 1$/mi most of the time. For the first time in a while I didn't pick up a second route on Tues, they actually had enough drivers. I may be somewhat responsible for that, as I've been putting out the word about them as a good alternative to Flex, especially if'n you live up in my neck of the woods. The surprise was Roadie, they got Hello Fresh around a month ago, and I haven't done them because the warehouse is 25 or so miles from home. However, I ended BT on the east side of Sappington, and the warehouse is on the west side, maybe 5 miles, prolly less, and most of those miles I was going to drive anyhow as I needed to go to I270 to get home which is about ¾ of the distance, so not like it added much. Oh, and the route was in Des Peres, 5 miles or so north, or in other words, 5 miles closer to home. That was so worth it, as you can see from the PPM, 2.29$/mi and well over 1.50$/mi with the trip home. I'll be doing these in the future if'n the opportunity arises, that's for sure.

So, what's coming this week is one last Amazon Flex, as they're really not worth the bother, however I can't do BT Friday as we have an electrical inspection from the county on Friday. Starting next week, it'll be BT four days a week and four or five routes. That should give me $400 to $500 a week, maybe a touch more, along with possibly picking up a little more work from Roadie or one of my other apps.

So, got done with my Better Trucks, and found m'self in Sappington. Þis is bad, because þat's around 25 miles from home, so imagine my happiness at seeing Hello Fresh on Roadie. Hello Fresh is like 5 miles from where I was, or someþing like þat, and þey were offering $45 for 16 miles. Wow, sounds good, won't get me home, but it'll certainly cover gas. Was it perfect? Nope, þere were a bunch of app problems, I was supposed to get two routes, but one got taken away because... Well, dunno. And þat's ignoring the check in problems as þe location is pinned wrong. Still, despite þose, it was surprisingly good paying for Roadie, stupidly easy to do, at least half of þe driving was from warehouse to first stop.

I definitely recommend taking þese if'n you get þe chance.

Would you?

I will, depending on the price and if'n I think I can make enough to justify it. I think the companies typical do it to weed out the trouble. Just look at what's apparently going on with Spark, apparently they're having theft progblems with contractors who's info can't be confirmed. Yep, no charge background check, but nothing to stop you from lying on your application.

With Dispatch when I first joined, it was $30 or $35, don't remember, and I figured that was a small investment. Frayt wanted... $40 I think it was, that or $45, and I was a little hesitant but took a shot at it. They didn't like the registration paperwork, so although I paid for the background check, I got nothing for it, so I'm a little salty about that. Now I have GoShare, and I'm not sure I'll move forward, as background checks are $49 or $154, the latter for New York state if'n you've lived, worked or gotten a citation there, ostensibly because of a tax on background checks. That must be one heck of a tax to more than triple the price. I grew up there, though I moved in grade school, so does that mean I have to pay $154? Yeah, how about no, anything over $50 is just not worth the investment, especially when I expect the app to be one of my fallback apps at best.

So, as I keep trying new apps despite being pretty happy with Better Trucks, I figured I'd give you the latest.

Stuff I don't really do GoMo, Courial, no work available on these, not quite sure what they are, some manner of on demand work I think Veho, last mile delivery, no work here, not even sure they're operating in STL, a YouTube video showed a map of their warehouses, and STL wasn't on it, but at the same time, they're onboarding drivers here GoShare, Frayt, on demand I think, haven't tried it, they want me to pay for a background check, paid for the one with Frayt, but my paperwork wasn't in order, so they didn't bother with it, but did keep the money. CDS, Complete Delivery Service, on demand pharmacy deliveries, not much and too far or at a time that doesn't fit my schedule. I think they kicked me to the curb, but not sure about that. OneRail, on demand delivery, total train wreck, been trying to hook up with them for months, first application got ignored, second got a scheduled interview almost 1½ months later only to get stood up, waiting on a third try.

Stuff I'm doing Skipcart, on demand work, done a couple for a client that uses every service, seems to pay a bit less for it than anyone else when they actually have anything Roadie, my old standby, lots of garbage on their, but there is the occasional gem, especially the CVS deliveries they have now UberEats, another regular standby, has mostly hot garbage, but once again, there are gems in there if'n you can be patient. Dispatch, package delivery, mostly industrial stuff, has very little in STL for cars, does pay good, so long as you're near the pickup Amazon Flex, yep, I gave it another shot, last week was much better with surge routes well ahead of time, this week... Same old crap, base pay, nothing else Better Trucks, my bread and butter, useless as a second job since the main shift is 9AM load time, pay route and route length are a bit vague, but I've been averaging $25/hr most routes.

And that's where we are, always looking for new stuff, so I'm likely to either update on some of these apps, or add something else to my selection.

Ok, maybe not, but how has your day been? Or your week? Mine's been a bit odd, or in other words, good, which for STL app based courier work, is odd.

A little background first, I'm semi-retired, holding a job has always been hard for me, and with my husband making about $2100/mo net, it's not like I need to bring in much, most is just so we can live rather than survive. So, my weekly goal is $300, though I do often manage something around $400, mostly because of BetterTrucks being $100 to $120 a day.

So, this week has been interesting, it started with Amazon Flex on Monday. Yeah, I said I wasn't doing that any more, but out of boredom I decided to download the app again and see if'n it still sucks. Imagine my surprise last week when there were not only tons of offers, but many paid above base. In the past, you only got surge 30 to 45 minutes before the block, 0400 or so, and only at the station 30 minutes from here, but on Sat morning, I grabbed a 3hr block for $105, Monday at 0745. Still a little early, meant dealing with rush hour, but not terrible... Got there, got checked, waited 45 minutes because I arrived early, and... no route available, so I got paid for showing up, Headed home, stopped for breakfast, and scored a couple good paying CVS. $128 made.

Tue, BT was overloaded as usual, and it's not even the busy season. Two blocks, another $216, $344 for the week.

Wed, BT, usual one block, another $100, ditto for þurs, so $544 for the week

And then it's Fri. I'm not sure what I've made so far, waiting for UberEats tips to finalize, but that's not what's important about today, today has been weird. An unwanted Home Depot delivery 16 miles away that paid $30, and brought me about 7 or so miles back towards home. Another $15 for a short Sherwin Williams run when I was rolling up on a major accident (closed the highway, was still closed 3 hours later), just before they decided to redirect all traffic onto the ramp I needed. Got that done and found a $10 CVS order around 6 miles west going about 2 or 3 miles south. Went to a QT to get a drink, and picked up an order from the other end of the plaza going about 6 miles south of my house. Dropped that, hung out in my usual abandoned restaurant parking lot... And scored an order from the restaurant next door going 4 miles down the street.

And, today is done... Maybe, prolly, depends on it I get another ridiculous order, whether around the corner, pays silly good money or both.

So, for those of you out there moving packages, food, people or vehicles as a contractor, how's things going?

This has been up for around 5 hours, and for some reason no one wants it

So, what do y'all do?

Really the only area I've been able to do anything is gas, mostly via GasBuddy. If you're not familiar with GB, it's an app that shows you gas prices in your area, plus they offer a debit card that you use for a 5¢/gallon discount. A fun thing is that this can be combined with other discount cards, like KickBack to get even greater of a discount. It won't work with other payment cards that offer discounts, only basic discount cards.

I consider the card safe to link to your bank account, it's handled by Western Express aka WEX, a company you might've seen around for fleet fueling, think semis, although they've expanded beyond that.

Since GetUpside came out, they've also added deals to the app. Both services offer similar discounts, with GB's advantage being that card I mentioned, since unlike GU, there's no reimbursed, just pick a deal on the app, go buy your gas, and the discount will be applied before your bank account is charged.

The only other discount I regularly use is my Sip Club membership at St Louis Bread Company (Panera Bread Co). For around $12/mo or thereabouts you get 'unlimited' free drinks, unlimited in as much as one free self service drink every two hours. That's soda, coffee, tea, etc, and always log in for your drink, using your membership properly gets other discounts, especially if'n you buy things, even as little as a muffin. Hey, if'n you're on the road, you gotta drink, and at a place where drinks are $3+, the membership pays for itself real fast.

So, what else you got?

Well, we got an interesting email yesterday, seems UPS is planning for a strike.

For those not familiar with Roadie, it started as a low paying courier company who's model was that you could make a couple bucks doing a deliver on the way to work, the store, etc. A few years back UPS bought it, but there was no real change, the already bad driver support might've become a bit worse, it was hard to tell, and pay rates seemed to go down a little. Surprisingly it didn't bring more work, despite UPS being first choice shipper for tens of thousands of companies worldwide, and UPS having their own personal package drivers, ie contract delivery workers, though that was mostly holiday work.

The expectation has been that they would tap Roadie for scabs, if the Teamsters strike, and based on this email, I think that's just what they're doing. They do already do batch deliveries for retailers, but they've never called them blocks, nor made much of a big deal about it like this.

I'm already thinking of going on strike in solidarity should the Teamsters strike, and encourage all other Roadie couriers to do the same.

Ok, rather than reviewing a company today, how about I talk about some of the companies I've applied for and some other stuff going on.

Lets start with stores, the only thing interesting here is Lowes Home Improvement, who I've seen start showing up on some of my apps, just noticed one on Point Pickup right now, and I think I saw one the other day on Roadie. I take it their previous and really stupid decision failed, and now they're shopping for a good service to use. Who'd they try? Instacart. Yeah, the company that shops for your groceries and deliver them, and is often accused of paying poorly. That company, and they were expecting people to go shopping for tools and other stuff in a hardware store for the same price as groceries. Was there really any chance of that working? Looks like they're now going with a traditional service where they do the shop, and a driver delivers the package.

Talking of services and all, Roadie is one I use a lot, luggage, hardware, all kinds of stuff. Funny thing is that other companies farm stuff out to them when they don't have enough drivers, WalMart, Complete Delivery and Returns on Demand. Not surprisingly, when possible, I go directly to those companies and sign up, I mean why not eliminate the middle man?

ROD seems to be dead, they had a weird business model, they'd pick up say your cable box and drop it off at the cable company for you. I was signed up to become a driver as soon as they got an app and dispatch system up and running, but a month or so ago, they emailed and said they'd scrapped those plans until further notice.

WalMart's in house is called Spark, and I'd signed up for it back when it first rolled out here, but work was so sparse I stopped doing it. When I went back to the app near the beginning of the year, they insisted on confirming my email, an email I don't have. Ummm, problem, and apparently one they have no system in place to fix. With the app tied to my phone number, I can't sign up for a new account, so.... Well, guess that one is out.

CDS, so far I haven't done anything for them, though I was offered one job, not that I could do it as my account was tied to my agent's address as my operating area, and that's a suburb of KC (exurb?) when I'm on the opposite side of the state. Thankfully when I finally got to calling them, it was surprisingly quick and easy to fix, so we'll talk more about this one in the future. That said, their app is garbage, in fact if'n it weren't for their web portal, I wouldn't've realized the problem. I guess we'll see how things work out.

Other stuff, waiting to be on boarded at GOMO, there's some kind of hang up there I need to get sorted. I'm signed up to Draiver which is some kind of car transport service which I haven't gotten called up on. There's also Veho and Courial, neither of which seem to have any work out here. Fetch is another odd one, don't understand how that's supposed to be a business, but if'n they come out to STL, they've in KC, I'll give them a try. Oh, and finally there's GoShare who's driver support is garbage, it wouldn't accept my email (@xcetera.biz), and according to support they only accept Gmail. Uhhh, yeah, from what I hear that's BS, it's just that they're working off a limited white list of emails and can't or don't know how to add mine. Actually mine works when contacting support, just not for sign up.

So, if'n you're a app based #courier, there's a few things for you to look at.

Ok, let's stop neglecting þis place, and start talking about what apps I run starting wiþ my main, Better Trucks

To answer þe second part of þe title, maybe, definitely in STL, but as anyone experienced in app based delivery work knows, what's a goldmine in one market can give you þe shaft in anoþer.

As to þe first part, þey are a last mile delivery company, þink UPS, but using contractors driving þeir own vehicle (compact SUV and up, don't recommend full sized vans or SUV's). If you've done Amazon Flex or Veho, you're familiar wiþ þe work. Go to a warehouse, pick up your assigned route, deliver and get paid.

Simple, right? Well, every company has it's unique nuances, two in þis case. First is simply þe fact þat software-wise, þis one is rough around þe edges. þey have an app of þeir own, but þat's only for scheduling, and marking packages as out for delivery. For þe actual deliveries, you have to use OnFleet, a one size fits all delivery app, which doesn't have built in navigation so it pushes þat to þe navigation app of your choice, and it offers a lot of þem, a lot more þan you usually see. Second, routes are 40 packages. þis isn't quite rigid, but quite close, I've had between 36 and 43, but it's usually 40, þough þat's not necessarily þe number of stops as you might be delivering more þan one package to an address.

Beyond þat, þere's not much else to tell, in þis market þe next best competitor is Flex, and þe nearest warehouse wiþ regular work is 35 minutes away and pays $18-$22/hr. þis one? 1.4 miles from my house and usually $24/hr. Routes are more spread out þan Flex, but þat's to be expected, since everyone shops on Amazon, but despite þat, þe pay is still $1.49 to $1.79/mile fairly consistently.

Oþer pluses are þat unlike Flex, you have an actual dispatcher to contact. And contact info for þeir boss, and þere's an email you can contact if you have a problem. Pay is daily, unlike Roadie, Uber, etc all of home charge a fee for 2 to 3 day 'instant pay' if you don't want to wait for payday, BT finalizes same day, often wiþin hours of you finishing a route, and makes þe deposit next day at no extra charge.

Remember I mentioned þat email? So, my dispatcher screwed up, þere's a Joseph Harris, and a Joseph Harrison (me) working at þis warehouse, and þey accidentally put my route under þe wrong person. While þey can't do much to fix it, Slack message to þe people in charge of þat, which didn't work þis time. No problem, just emailed driver support, and þe money was in my account wiþin þe hour. Yep, if local support can't help you, driver support is very, very fast and very good.

Really well run company, but not national, so you'll have to check þeir site to see if'n þey're in your market yet, and you'd do well to give þem a shot.

So, been a rather interesting week, usually all I do is drive for Better Trucks (need to do a write up about them) as a contractor, but this week we were doing a bunch of other apps just because they kept making offers I couldn't refuse.

Yes, there's an Uber unicorn in there, which was even better than it looked as I was waiting at a light to make a left that would take me right past it as I could see the restaurant from where I was sitting.

There's no way I'll get another week like this anytime soon.

In other words, roll call. It's not required, but it helps us get to know you, so if'n you join, do a quick post giving us info that you wish to share, up to you how much you want to share.

The sidebar really says it all, but this place exists to replace r/couriersofreddit

If you do any app based delivery work anywhere in the world, you're welcome to post here. Service reviews, questions, venting, memes and such are all welcome here.

If you are going to review a service, please link to their website and include what market it covers, ie if it's just in one US state, US-IL. If you're not sure if it's multi-state or not, just identify it as US based or whatever country you're in. If you feel like it, include your market.