Posted on February 3, 2023.

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There are various ways to make some additional money to begin building your trading account. The two that will be highlighted in this article are food delivery companies Uber Eats and DoorDash. The evaluation of each company is based primarily on demand within the Houston Metro area, though very few trips were conducted within Austin and Dallas-Ft. Worth area.

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UberEats vs DoorDash

Takeaways:

• Uber provides some of the greatest perks once you reach Uber Diamond, which may be worth hit depending on whether you desire a long-term relationship with the company.
• DoorDash, hands down, provides a better pay per trip with their weekly promotions. Drivers will need to be prepared for a pretty competitive food-delivery pool. An hour-long “Dash” can often times end without completing any trips. 

UberEats (Glows and Grows)

Why Uber – All-in-all Uber has decent customer service, ok bonus structures and far better trips traffic (meals and rides). While I have not evaluated Lyft, I drove for Lyft several years ago for two or three trips and the hang-up was how long it took to be assigned to rides. Uber, regardless of the hour, consistently has rides being requested – from flight catchers to construction workers trying to the next site – of the few rides I completed, it was interesting to see the vast range of needs from each customer, especially considering I only use Uber to/from the airport.

Glows: Aspects of the company that would rate 4 out of 5 or higher based on my experience (no one else’s) and relative to my experience with DoorDash.

1. Trip Frequency (5 of 5): Relative to DoorDash, Uber’s trip frequency, regardless of the hour is second to none. Due to its reputation, Uber is considered the market leader here and has a solid footing in the metro cities.
   I typically will get a trip assignment within 1min of pressing the blue ‘Go’ button in the app. And even better, if I’m Ubering solely for points, I appreciate the quick trip assignments shortly before I drop an order off.
2. Perks (5 of 5): If you are a person who enjoys perks that come with being affiliated with a company/organization, look no further – Uber is the place for you. Uber offers tiered perks based on your
3. Customer Service (4 of 5): The ONLY reason customer service receives a 4 out of 5 is because they are responsive and when they find themselves incapable of supporting you with an issue, they escalate it and typically provide a monetary credit. When I have concerns with customers or restaurants, they are quick to defend me as a partner and will cancel orders and go as far as to permanently remove restaurants from my queue – at least that’s what I’m told.

Grows: Aspects of the company that would rate 3 out of 5 or below based on my experience (no one else’s) and relative to my experience with DoorDash.

1. Unclear promotions (2 of 5): While promotions exist, they are inconsistent and can be confusing. My personal preference are the weekly bonuses that come with a bonus payment if you complete a certain number of trips within a week.
2. No Zone Restrictions (1 of 5): If there is one thing that really bothers me about UberEats, it has to be the lack of zone restrictions. Drivers can begin delivers in one area and UberEats often times will gradually send you orders that could take you well over 30mi from where you started. And if you live in a city with Houston-like traffic, that could easily be 1.5hr away from your origin. While a daily 2hr zone restriction exists for Platinum drivers and above, if you really want to drive parttime, this feature is unavailable to Gold and Blue Pro members.

DoorDash (Glows and Grows)

Why DoorDash – While DoorDash is slightly less popular, DoorDash is constantly growing in an attempt to secure greater market share, and it shows in the performance of their stock here of late. However, what separates DoorDash, as noted even in some of the comparisons made in the evaluation of Uber, is the pay rate, zoning, and restaurant diversity.

Glows: Aspects of the company that would rate 4 out of 5 or higher based on my experience (no one else’s) and relative to my experience with Uber.

1. Pay Rate and Promotions |HEADS (5 of 5) – Base pay rate for DoorDash is quite comparable to UberEats. However, DoorDash constantly has promotions running during peek hours. You can’t really beat an additional $5 per delivery, because if you can secure two deliveries in an hour, you’re already making at least $10/hour.
2. Deliver Zones (5 of 5) – Delivery zones are beyond clutch for drivers of DoorDash. While some drop-off locations are outside of the zone of the pickup location, unlike Uber, drivers will not be forced to stop accepting delivers before returning to their zone if they do not want to go outside a certain area. DoorDash will not assign orders to drivers outside of their zone and that prevents a driver from starting their delivers in area and ending their deliveries 30mi away – something that happens frequently with UberEats.
3. Restaurant Diversity (4 of 5) – Access to more restaurants means access to more customers. DoorDash’s customer platform carries a seemingly much wider range of restaurant selections than UberEats. This could be for various reasons that I care not to uncover, but what that means is that areas loaded with restaurants (shopping centers, malls, etc.) can get very busy pretty quickly, especially during lunch. More restaurants allows for more delivery opportunities for all drivers.

Grows: Aspects of the company that would rate 3 out of 5 or below based on my experience (no one else’s) and relative to my experience with Uber.

1. Scheduling Dashes (2 of 5) – Dashes usually have to be scheduled. DoorDash does have a ‘Dash Now’ feature, but if it’s not busy, you will not be able to Dash. So, if you are thinking about just rolling out of the bed and going for a Dash, think again. Even worse, if you decide to schedule ‘in the moment’ there is a high chance that the slots for your region will be full, and DoorDash will not allow you to schedule for that time. DoorDash pays drivers pretty well, and therefore, some cities are not hiring new drivers due to demand.
2. Pay Rate and Promotions |TAILS: (1 of 5) – Though this is a feature that stands as a glow for DoorDash, on the other side of the coin it also happens to be a growth area for the company. Sadly, if promotions are strong in your typical delivery zone and you don’t sign-up soon enough, other drivers will likely flock to that zone preventing you from signing up.
3. Trip Frequency (2 of 5) – If it is not ‘Super Busy’ expect a trip 5-10min after signing in and any trips following your first completed trip. I have had sessions that assigned only 1 delivery trip to me within an hour, something that has never occurred with Uber.

Make your own decision on which platform to use, but it never hurts to utilize both.