Roadie

What: Roadie arranges on-the-way deliveries of everything from lost baggage to surfboards and cupcakes 

Expected pay: $8 to $650 per gig (not per hour)

Husl $core: $$$$

Where: National

Requirements:

• A car
• Valid driver’s license
• Auto Insurance that meets your state’s requirements
• Drivers are rated by the community and must maintain a minimum 4-star rating to stay active.

Review:

What Roadie has going for it that the other delivery apps lack, is the concept: As long as you’re in your car, why not earn a few bucks picking something up on the way? If you are, say, headed from Los Angeles to San Francisco anyway and happen to see that somebody is offering to pay $50 for you to pick something up on the way, why not? After all, the pick up and delivery might only add a half hour to your trip and you’re going anyway, why not help defray the cost of gas?

If, however, you participate in their lost-baggage retrieval service, which is likely to send you to the airport (presumably out of your way) and then to somebody’s house, you’d want to make sure that your hourly rate exceeded minimum wage by at least the cost of gas. (Or also sign up for Wingz, which would allow you to pick up and drop off people at the airport, possibly arranging your luggage pick-ups to coincide with a paying fare.)

The site is also less persnickety about requiring you to be Mr./Mrs. Squeaky clean, probably because you’re likely to be delivering stuff rather than driving around people. But they are also less well known than some of the other delivery services. That mean that you find fewer money-making opportunities. That said, there appears to be little downside to signing up and selectively accepting deliveries that are on your way.

Also consider Amazon Flex, and if you have a truck and can lift heavy items, Truxx.

What their drivers say:

Roadie drivers have shared precious few reviews. The bulk of these are on Roadie’s Facebook page, which may put the site at an unfair advantage. (Whoops! We just blocked that unfavorable post!) That said, the page includes the occasional driver complaint that might provide information that you don’t know about Roadie, or that is worth considering. The two that were most telling:

One complained that he had made a better deal with a customer, accepting a $20 payment rather than the $11 she originally offered. He got only $11 and thought the site was ripping him off. The site responded that there’s no negotiating the fees. Once set, that’s what you get for the gig. Take it or leave it.

The other was about Roadie’s deal with Delta that has Roadie drivers picking up lost bags and delivering them to customers. This driver maintained that he got to the airport; no one was available at Delta baggage claim, so he parked his car (at a cost) and tried to find someone to no avail. He ended up cancelling the gig and said he’s yet to be reimbursed for the parking. No Roadie response yet.