Can you Make a Living as a Doordash Driver?

Doordash, Uber Eats, GrubHub and other food delivery companies have opened up plenty of income opportunities for individuals to earn a decent living by simply making deliveries for them. Most of these deliveries are from restaurants, but pick-ups may also be from convenient stores, supermarkets, pharmacies and other types of businesses. Many people wonder how much money these deliver drivers earn, and if it's possible to make a living doing this type of work.

 

 

Doordash and other food delivery apps were meant to be part time gigs

When these food delivery app jobs first began, they were most likely not thought of as jobs that one can depend on to make a living. They were thought of more as a side hustle. Something to supplement one's main income. Although most gig economy drivers still currently work part-time, there is a growing number of drivers that are doing this work on a full-time basis and making their entire living off of it.

Why would somebody do Doordash full-time?

The reasons that an individual would drive for Doordash or any of the other food delivery gig companies out there on a full-time basis is diverse. The reasons don't really matter though. If somebody chooses to drive for Doordash full-time, it is their prerogative to do so.

Some people drive for Doordash full-time because they're in between jobs. They may have gotten laid off recently and are in the process of finding a new job. In the meantime, they're working for Doordash full-time.

Maybe a college student is on school vacation and decided to do Doordash full-time for a while. This college student will certainly be able to save up a lot of money during this time. When school starts back up, the student will have limited hours to work, so they're going to take advantage of this free time.

Then you just have the Doordash drivers that choose to dash full-time simply because they want to. They would much rather be a Doordash driver than work at Walmart, a fast food restaurant or some other minimal paying job. As a Dasher, their earnings are dictated by their efforts, and they like that.

Can you make a living as a Doordash driver?

Curious individuals that are thinking about becoming a food delivery gig driver will often go to Google and inquire about how much a Doordash driver earns. They will never get a definite answer because there isn't one. All gig driver's earnings will be impacted by their efforts and strategies. The area they work in will also contribute to how much can be earned.

Truth be told, a living can definitely be made by a full-time Doordash driver or any similar type companies. Yes, even GrubHub and Uber Eats drivers can make a living doing this type of work full-time. You probably won't be living the lifestyle of the rich and famous, but you can make a decent respectable living.

Most full-time Doordash drivers earn between $1000 to $2000 per week. Yes, that is a big gap, but as I earlier stated, earnings will vary by the market someone works at, their efforts and their strategies. 

Let's say an individual was earning $1000 per week. Is that enough to make a living for you? For most people it would be. Yes, $4000 per month is enough money to live off of in most parts of the United States.

Being a good delivery gig driver may not be for everybody

First impressions go a long way. I have known people that began their food delivery gig driver job and quit after their first day. Their first impression was not a very good one.

The bad impression usually goes something like this. The new gig driver goes out to give it a try. They sit around in a parking lot feeling weird for a half hour, but then finally receive their first call. They accept it and make the delivery. They then wait in a parking lot for that second call which comes 15 minutes later. That delivery is made and they find themselves waiting once again in a parking lot.

With time on their hands, they take a look at their earnings. After being out for nearly two hours, they'll see that their total earnings so far are only $8. What the heck! This is a total rip-off they'll tell themselves. First off, they feel like a weirdo sitting around parking lots waiting for calls, and secondly this job pays crap.

They go home and say forget this food delivery gig stuff. I'll leave it to the suckers. Yep, they think they got one on these crooked companies, but as any established food delivery gig driver knows, the joke is on them. This person then goes on to work at some minimum wage job instead and can't believe that they for one moment believed all the good things they had heard about food delivery gig jobs.