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 background checks that require you to be Mr./Mrs. Squeaky clean. That’s 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 means you’ll find fewer money-making opportunities. But there’s also 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 and GoShare.

What their drivers say (from Indeed):

“Hard to get higher paying gigs but nice to be able to use it traveling. Support can be dicey. System is slow when telling u theres a new offer. Cant schedule ahead.”

“Love the freedom to pick and choose the jobs I work and how far I want to drive.”

“Started working for Roadie in March 2020. The first two weeks, I made good money. Then they started favoring drivers over others and they’re giving me now less than 10 percent of the gigs despite of my high rating. The company tells you the give equal work to everyone, but that’s a big lie. I honestly dunno how they pick their fav drivers. I can be only 5 min away from a pick up location and still not get the job. It’s a waste of time.”

“Roadie is designed as a “if your going that way” type of gigs but that’s really only towards personal deliveries. Now they have contracts with Home Depot and Walmart in some states. And the pay isn’t bad if you’re close to the gig, but if you have to drive far to the pick up, it’s not worth it. I would only pick Home Depot gigs near me or maybe a few miles away but we’re coming back my way. They paid anywhere from $10-15.”

“Roadie gigs generally pays less than $1/mile and there is no compensation for time (despite sharp time constraints on airline jobs), no benefits, no worker protection or overtime pay.”

*Updated 11/12/2020