scilly

[QUOTE=Jsmth321;13016465]Tried door dash delivering yesterday, don't think its worthwhile, took an average of about 1 hour from accepting/going to restaurant to pick up/arriving at delivery address, average before any expenses like gas, was $7.77 per hour, so yeah I don't think it's worthwhile, maybe if tips were actually decent but for whatever reason people around these parts do not tip or tip very little.[/QUOTE]


I'm not sure that it is just around the Kelowna area.

The last time we had a holiday over Christmas (ie Dec 2019 - January 2020), I got talking to people working in the hotel in NS, and to several crew members on a couple of the trains we took .................... they ALL said that people tipped a lot less than they had even 5 years ago.

That was both less money, and fewer people tipping.

So it just seems that the idea of tipping someone for service, and maybe tipping more for extra good service, has disappeared.

It would be interesting to see if one could find out whether that applied to all age groups o just certain ones.

I know that we both tip, and usually tip well .... but then a) we were both raised to do that, and b) we both worked in service industries while at university. We know that many people depend on the extra money from tips, but also many more appreciate the acknowledgement of the service they've given to us.

I also happened to notice during that same trip that few people seemed to even say "thank you" to the table servers, the bar keep, the guy who helped with their luggage, etc etc

It just suddenly became so obvious.

and a thank you costs nothing!

scrubbedexpat091

It was the same with IC when we did it in Vancouver last year, if lucky maybe a $2 tip, these app gigs are designed for a US market and really don't work in Canada well because the people doing the work rely mostly on tips the apps pay very little, so its hard to make money with this sort of work in Canada, especially with higher costs like gas as well.

On forums for these apps, in the US tips are a lot better, but I noticed that years ago working in hotels, in the US hotels I worked at, tips to servers were a lot better than tips to servers in Canada.

Guess Canadian's are just less likely to tip well compared to Americans.

In theory these app jobs are perfect for people like us, decide when you work and for how long, but the tips are so small that there is just no way to make anything.

Thinking about training course for medical reprocessing and if its worth 12,000 in student loan debt to make about 38,000 a year (if full-time) (post tax)

scilly

We have always tipped for service, although we give larger amounts (proportionately) now than we did say 20 or 30 years ago, simply because we have a little more "free" money now, (no mortgage, no child costs, etc), and we also receive more service than we used to ........... eg, my assistance with mobility, wheelchairs, help with luggage, and even when eating out.

I can't say about delivery, because we literally have never ordered food or groceries online, even during this pandemic. We do take-out, and OH tips when he picks that up. But I do know that at least one of our friends always queries with the company re tipping for delivery of her groceries. Save-on-Foods told her not to tip because they employed their own drivers to deliver groceries.

scrubbedexpat091

Yeah Save On has their own employees deliver, I think pay $16/hr maybe $17 and the employees are not allowed to accept tips.

But Save On doesn't offer very flexible work schedule and is quite rigid work environment as its union, my wife worked there for a bit, it was not a good experience for her, lets just say she had a better experience working at Wal-Mart.

Instacart, Door Dash, Uber eats and other such apps don't pay an hourly wage, they may offer a very basic base pay which can be very low, especially with door dash, IC is a little better, they will pay $10-$15 for a typical full service order, full service being you drive to the store, doing the shopping, check out, then drive to the delivery location, depending on size of order and distance, average shop takes about 70-90 minutes.

IC for delivery only which is go to store, pick up a bag or 2 and deliver, no shopping, will usually be in the $5 to $10 range.

BristolUK

From a customer POV DoorDash seems more expensive than Skip. Sometimes a dollar per item.

I must admit I have mixed feelings for tipping meal delivery.
The guy currently doing our instacart shop is buying 35 different things (9 bottle of pepsi counting as one item!) and he's normally very good. He'll probably get about $20 tip.

For someone just driving to a fast food place - who may actually already be there judging by the delivery times for Wendys - and dropping off, with minimal service involved....

Yesterday we had KFC delivery. Paid the same prices as if we collected, it's a ten minute walk away, they charge a delivery fee of $8. I'm struggling to see the justification for a tip when there's a specific charge, although I did do one.
(normally we'd collect when it's that close but we'd been in and out all day and didn't want to go out again)

scrubbedexpat091

I've never used either as a customer, I did try and sign up for skip, but they had an $75 or $80 fee for their supplies so I never signed up for it.

Did give another go today, sat waiting in the car for an hour before an order was offered, accepted order at 12:02 and ended order at delivery point at 1:13pm. Total km driven 27 (from my starting point to restaurant to delivery point.)

Base pay $5 from door dash + $1 tip for a total of $6.

Really not worth it, just from a time perspective its really very little compensation, and this is before any expenses like gas.

Maybe if in a high density area where one can do several orders an hour, but in suburban landscape really seems no way to make any viable income off most of these apps, traffic being the biggest slow down, can't go any faster when its traffic on the road slowing you down.

Siouxie

Fabulous day, sitting on a patio overlooking the lake at Turkey Point in the sunshine, sipping on a frozen margarita (it was delicious).. first patio visit in almost a year!
(The walk along the beach and the fish n chips were quite good too)

Teaandtoday5

sounds lovely

scrubbedexpat091

This is so true, we lived not far from the chicken processing plant and in warm weather, the right wind direction, and that foul awful smell would just linger in the apartment.

Gozit

I have had the same experience with doordash. Ubereats or Uber are better. (Car age requirement not an issue with ubereats, for uberx [pax] you have to have 2011 or newer i think)

Just before I left for Malta I was approved for driving for skipthedishes, i did pay the $80 for the bags but it seems a bit different as there are scheduled shifts with somewhat guaranteed earnings. Didn't get the chance to run a shift before I left.

I agree with you in theory these apps should be good ways to make money on your own schedule (my biggest problem with working - being bound to someone else's schedule.) but in practise are not a good/stable source of income. They have only supplemented my savings/emergency fund that I have been living off of. If they were my only source of income it would not be enough.

Another interesting one i have been using is Poparide - allows you to post a "ride" if you are driving somewhere long distance (ie Kelowna-Van) and have other people "join" your ride by paying $20-30 per seat. So its basically a way to make some extra money picking up/dropping off people along the way of a trip you're already taking. When I left for Malta I had to drive London-Oshawa as my friend was taking me to the airport, and I picked up 2 passengers along the way and made $45. Not bad for a drive I was already making, it covered the petrol to get there. In terms of covid the app asks them to confirm symptom-free, and to wear a mask, and I always reiterated the latter point with everyone.

Gozit

After 7-8 months of trying, I got access to a therapist finally. I have to pay out of pocket as no benefits and not covered by OHIP but oh well that is the nature of the beast I guess.

spouse of scouse

Good on you Gozit and wishing you every success with your therapy.

Gozit

Thank you

scrubbedexpat091

Welcome to Canada, we have a very outdated mental health model that would rather have people struggle and suffer rather than cover therapy they need. Crazy outdated system.


I've been on the waiting list for Uber eats since March

If our car was newer I'd do Uber driving, seems fairly interesting way to spend a few hours.

scrubbedexpat091

I have realized there is absolutely no way I could take a 3 hour a day, 5 day a week college class that is only done online by zoom living in an apartment with a spouse and dog.