Gig Economy

How I make $1,000 a week delivering food for DoorDash, GrubHub, and Postmates

How to master the delivery apps

How most people approach the Gig Economy

There appears to be a conversation raging right now over whether services like Uber and Postmates should be required to reclassify their workers as W-2 employees rather than 1099 independent contractors. The conversation seems to be going on between mostly people who don’t work in tech and don’t work for these companies. It’s a noble point of view. They believe that these companies owe their workers things like a guaranteed minimum wage, health care, possibly child care while they work, oil changes, etc. The problem is that (as far as i can tell) none of the people railing on these points actually have any experience working these jobs; or if they do, they’re not doing it right.

First a little background. If you just want the nuts and bolts, I have itemized them a little further down the page.

Now you may be wondering why someone with an MBA is working for Postmates or DoorDash or GrubHub. Well read on, my friend, and I will explain it to you. I, like most MBA graduates, was making plans to work in investment banking, digital marketing, or sales. What I really wanted to do though was start my own business. The problem is that I had used up the last of my financial aid finishing school. When I graduated I hadn’t figured out quite yet what I was going to do next. What I did know was that I needed some fast cash.

I had spent a bit of time when I was younger delivering pizzas. Delivering pizzas is a fun part time gig. It’s easy, it’s fun, people are cool, I got my tips paid out in cash every night, and it’s low stress. It’s easy money and relatively decent money. I could make about $15 an hour which translated into about $150 a night. After not making hardly any money for a year and a half, making $600 a week made me feel rich. I had perfected the art of living cheaply while I was in school, so while I had made 2x-3x that in my previous life, I wasn’t so snobbish as to scoff at $2500 a month given my situation.

I have been interested in these Silicon Valley tech companies for a while and was intrigued to learn how they worked. Working in the food delivery business naturally made me curious about…