Deliver packages or food

If you want to use your car to deliver packages or food, you’ve got lots of options. And, in this case, we’d advise you to choose them all rather than trying to pick one or two.

Why? The biggest problem for people who deliver packages or food is that you’re not paid for downtime. Thus, if you sit around for a half-hour waiting for an order, that’s a half-hour wasted with no pay. The best way to avoid downtime is to work with multiple delivery apps, delivering for them all at the same time. (You’d also be wise to choose your work hours to correspond with high-demand periods, like lunch and dinner times.)

The exception to this rule is Amazon Flex, which will give you plenty of deliveries for the “block” of time that you choose. However, in some cities, Amazon often doesn’t have enough work to keep freelancers busy. That said:

Amazon Flex

AmazonFlex pays between $15 and $25 per hour, depending on the type of car you drive and whether anyone tips. You must be 21 or older; have a sedan, van or closed-bed truck, and have the ability to pass a background check. Find more information on AmazonFlex here.

Uber Eats

Uber Eats is every bit as opaque about how it pays its drivers for food delivery services as it is about how it pays ride share drivers. However, an app called Gridwise, which tracks earnings for delivery drivers, maintains that this site delivers some of the best hourly rates for drivers in big cities. Learn more about Uber Eats here.

GrubHub

GrubHub connects delivery drivers with people who have ordered food from restaurants. The site generally pays a delivery fee, plus tip, and allows drivers to see the total value of the delivery before accepting or rejecting. Learn more about GrubHub here.

DoorDash

DoorDash used to keep drivers largely in the dark about how much they’d earn for each delivery and how far they’d have to drive. But the site now works much more like GrubHub — not perfect, but better. Learn more about driving for DoorDash here.

Orange Crate

Orange Crate is less well-known but has somewhat more transparent terms. The site gives drivers 85% of the $2.99 delivery fee, plus a mileage allowance of 54 cents for each mile driven past the first two, plus 100% of the tip. The site is available in 300 cities nationwide. Learn more about Orange Crate here.

Favor Delivery

If you happen to live in Texas, Favor Delivery is among the better options mainly because it has a guaranteed hourly pay of $9 to $10 per hour. The site says that most of its runners earn $10 – $18. But, as usual, you’re best off if you only work peak hours and use multiple delivery apps to reduce down time. Learn more about Favor here.