Frayt

What is Frayt?

Frayt is a last-mile delivery service that enlists freelancers to drive their own cars, trucks and vans to deliver goods.

How it works

To sign up with Frayt, you’ll need to check to see if they’re adding drivers in your area.

If they aren’t looking for people in your zip code, they won’t allow you to submit an application. Skip to “recommendations” below to see other delivery sites that offer opportunities where you live.

When they are seeking applicants in your neighborhood, you’ll be asked to download the Frayt app on your smart phone. You’ll then need to verify that you meet all of the site’s requirements, which are substantial. To be specific, you must be:

• 21 or older;
• live in the area where you’ll be delivering;
• have a car, cargo van or box truck that meets the site’s requirements;
• have a valid Social Security number;
• insurance;
• pass a background and motor vehicle check;
• be able to lift and carry 50 pounds.

Your vehicle also needs to be less than 20 years old, in good condition, not have advertising on it, and be licensed,  registered and insured. It cannot be a rental.

Assuming that you meet all those requirements, you’ll be asked to pony up $35 for a background check. (Complaints about paying for a background check and not getting approved is the main complaint we see about this site. But that’s the only upfront fee involved.)

Once approved, you’ll start receiving notifications when there’s a job available in your neighborhood. Job matches say what you’re picking up; where it is; where it’s going; and what you’ll be paid.

If you accept a match, the customer also must accept you as their driver. Once that happens, you get the job.

Frayt review

Like most last-mile delivery services, Frayt offers both positives and negatives for freelance drivers. On the positive side, this is one of the few last-mile delivery services that allows you to deliver with a car. You can also deliver with a pickup, cargo van or box truck. But you don’t need those to work with the site.

Frayt also only requires you to be able to lift and carry 50 lbs. That’s a light load in this industry. Most of Frayt’s competitors require you to be able to lift 75 to 125 lbs.

Another plus: This is a door-to-door delivery service — not a door-to-upstairs bathroom delivery. Drivers are not expected to carry customer shipments more than a few feet.

That also compares well to some of Frayt competitors that expect you to carry deliveries into homes and offices, no matter how far or inconvenient that may be. Customers who require pickups or drop-offs at “complicated or inconvenient” locations are subject to a driver surcharge.

The site also penalizes customers if they’re late, providing drivers with bonuses for waiting more than 15 minutes.

Finally, customers can have preferred drivers here. So, if you build good relationships, you can get more than your fare share of Frayt assignments.

Negatives

The main negative here is that the site does not insure you or the items you’re picking up. Drivers are on the hook if goods are damaged in transit. That means you should have a commercial insurance policy to drive here, unless you want to take the risk that your $30 delivery costs you many times that in damages.

Additionally, the preferred driver program has its down side for people new to the platform. Some drivers complain that gigs get swept away to preferred drivers, depriving newcomers from finding good opportunities here.

And, while some gigs pay generously, pay per-mile gets downright stingy in some markets where there are lots of drivers.

Pay

Frayt drivers earn an average of $20 – $30 per hour and are paid within 48 hours of completing a gig via Branch app. Drivers can also get tips, but tips are not common in last-mile delivery.

And, notably, no one is guaranteeing hourly pay here. You get the amount stated for the delivery, unless there’s some extenuating circumstance that causes the site to authorize a higher payment.

This would normally require that the pickup was not as described or was going to require carrying the delivered goods a long distance. If you have these situations, you should immediately contact driver support.

Where it operates

Frayt operates in most major cities, including Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Detroit, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. You can find the coverage map here.

Overall

Drivers say this app can pay well. But you need to be selective about the gigs you take. In competitive markets, where there are dozens of delivery drivers vying for the same deliveries, the app often offers so little for deliveries that drivers complain they can’t break even, much less profit.

Recommendations

There are numerous last-mile delivery services. We suggest that you sign up with all of them so you can cherry pick your gigs. Look for those that offer good pay per mile driven and that are geographically convenient to where you live — or where you’re dropping off another order.

Seasoned drivers say that when no drivers take an order, the service often boosts the payout for the offer. So, don’t jump on a poorly paid offer just to get work. It will hurt you in the long run.

Other sites worth considering for last mile delivery drivers: GoShare, Bungii, Taskrabbit, Citizen Shipper and UShip.

What their users say (from Google Play)

Good and responsive to drivers. Makes sure IC drivers are compensated fairly for extras!

From TrustPilot

I have worked with a lot of different logistics companies over the years and Frayt is one of the best. Frayt is professional with every aspect I have felt with them. Sometimes companies are less than helpful when you are not on their platform Frayt gave me a way to communicate and communicated with me promptly. The only reason I gave them 4 stars is there isn’t enough work to keep me busy all day. I would drop everything else if they had the work. Professional, pleasant to deal with and the pay is better than most.

Frayt is a trustworthy platform with excellent driver support. However unless your city is 500K you will not find it can keep you busy if you have a Cargo Van. A city size of 200K is maybe a side hustle but with a city of 500K Plus you can make a living with it.

I like to opportunities to earn an honest income that Frayt presents, but I wish that I could put myself forward for tasks that are 10 to 15 miles away from me. It seems that in the Frayt app, if you are further than a few miles away from a gig or task, you won’t be able to see it or catch it in the app.

Not enough work

I have to give them 3 because they always pay the next day and you can actually chat with someone helpful in support. The problem is that there isn’t very much work. And what there is is snapped up by bots. Other companies have successfully defeated the bots. But Frayt apparently doesn’t see it as a big deal because the work is getting done.

My experiences with Frayt have been good. My only complaint is, there aren’t enough deliveries in my area. Deliveries usually come from 1 maybe 2 vendors. I wish there was more delivery opportunities

I signed up and made payment for getting on-board but never got a single delivery that is doable till now… not sure what that really means and when there is one near you it’s gone before seeing it

Good support, low pay

My experience with frayt has been very good. The app is easy to understand didn’t need no one to explain it to me. The jobs that I did I did on my own. I didn’t need no extra help with me which was good just in my area where I live there’s not a lot of jobs as yet, but my experience was very good with them, they pay next day. Customer service was pretty good when I called them so if you’re thinking of working with them, I would say go ahead.

I like the way that the orders come through the system. I like the communication between the driver and the service personnel. As you may guess, the pay per order are very low expecially when there are 200 to 300lbs of tires and the fee is aproximately $20 or sometimes less. The fee should be evaluated per miles and per pounds.

$35 rip-off

All they want is your $35.00 background check fee. I applied and the application was rejected because I entered my Cargo VAN instead of my SUV for deliveries. They still charged a $35.00 background check fee even though they never intended to approve the application. The APP states that a Background Check would be performed AFTER approval and before the APP can be used. Low life companies like this just steal background fees from anyone who applies. I actually disputed the charge since it is ILLEGAL charging someone for something that you didn’t provide. And I’ll be filing a complaint with the FTC so they can check out the scam they are playing on many drivers.

I went through the process of filling out an application with this company. After taking my money they inform me that I wasn’t approved for so many reason. But when I looked at all reason all were false. I ask for my refund of $35 back I was giving that application fee are non-fundable.