Uncategorized

Chapter XXXIX: Will Uber Eats Delivering Groceries to Homes at a Discount Really Save Money for Families?

FeaturedLeave a comment

The biggest debate in 2025 America seems to be the price of groceries and whether they’re still too expensive. You’ll find some who say they’ve lowered in price after a long period of inflation, then others who say they’re still too steep for most average families. Amid that clearly political debate came Uber Eats seeing an untapped service. That is, offering the convenience of grocery delivery at a price anyone can supposedly afford.

Most people are already familiar with Instacart and their grocery delivery service. Some or many of you have perhaps already received some groceries at your door from them—if even doing the delivery yourself. While there’s often been issues involved with delivering groceries (especially with fresh grocery items), Instacart has basically stood alone without a lot of competition. DoorDash has offered some grocery delivery services, if not a large chunk of their offerings.

Enter Uber Eats earlier this year in wanting to expand their delivery strategies. So far, news shows Uber has taken off in offering fresh grocery delivery with special discounts. They’re already making billions in annual grosses. 

What makes this stand out is their offering of a “Fresh Days” concept where you can get up to 50% off on certain items in specific grocery markets. You have to be a member of the premium Uber One tier, though, to obtain these grocery discounts—proving you need to pay money to not only make money, but also save money.

Since Uber is basically competing with the above delivery services (including Amazon), they had to distinguish themselves further with specific features. The best of these are flexible aspects like supposedly easy grocery replacements, including real-time editing of your grocery shopping list. They also expanded their eligible grocery store list, albeit now partnering with Aldi, a discount grocery chain that may or may not be in your local area.

Based on the profits Uber is raking in with this, they obviously hit a nerve in the needs of the general public. But is the public really saving money and time going this route? What about the deliverer, and is it worth your own time to deliver groceries to people in your city?

I’ve delivered groceries for DoorDash, and it can often bring some uncomfortable surprises when picking up items. As for ordering groceries, the debate is on whether it’s easier to just visit your local bargain store yourself.

Delivering a Major Grocery Order

If you decide to take a grocery order from Uber Eats, DoorDash, or Instacart, you have to expect that it’s going to entail many, many bags. Nobody is going to order groceries digitally without making it a bulk buy. Not that some people don’t just order a few grocery items online, even if that’s generally through Amazon if not perishable items. 

When I was alerted to pick up groceries while doing DoorDash, the downside to their system was you had no idea how many things you’d be handling. There was no information on the app about how many items or bags there’d be. More than a few times, I learned I’d be handling up to 10 bags of groceries after thinking it’d be a smaller order. Yeah, it sometimes brought a jaw drop from me in front of the takeout clerks.

Thanks to reasonably large trunk space in my Kia, I had no problem placing the bags in there. It’s always a good idea to keep the trunk area in your car as free as possible in the event you do get a massive grocery pickup. 

The most positive aspect to delivering groceries is that you’ll get paid more, plus there isn’t a huge rush on delivery time since you’re not delivering someone’s lunch. Delivering is also going to mean simply leaving the bags by the recipient’s door since they’re more than likely not home. In this case, it made me wonder how long the bags would sit there considering theft is already a problem with simple, one-bag deliveries. 

This is why DoorDash always required a photo of ALL the groceries to ensure everything was properly delivered. And yet, would you allow all your groceries to sit outside your door for possibly hours—even if you (supposedly) received discounts?

The Discount Reality

Despite Aldi being a major American discount grocery store, it doesn’t even exist yet in 11 U.S. states. I’ll admit that I’d never heard of those stores until reading about Uber Eats partnering with them for cheaper grocery deliveries. Instead, Aldi is focused on certain states (mostly in the U.S. South) to gain the most profits.

In this regard, those of you reading this from the U.S. West Coast probably can’t even use Uber Eats grocery delivery. Some of you who need grocery deliveries due to no car or physical handicaps would likely have to tap the more expensive delivery services like Instacart and Amazon.

Even if you do have the Uber Eats grocery service available, remember that markups and added fees are going to make it often $50 more. This just ruins the reportedly incredible discount deals you can often find in Aldi stores. I found out they often only charge a dollar for many produce items…assuming it’s not sub-par quality.

Don’t forget about the protocol of leaving a tip for your grocery deliverer besides. You don’t want to be the recipient of rage from an Uber delivery person because you refused to tip them anything. If you’re getting multiple bags of groceries delivered, a $10 tip is more than acceptable. But of course, it adds even more to your bill.

It’s now considered that Uber Eats grocery delivery (at discount) is still a little too expensive for the average American due to the add-on costs. You’re better off just using it for emergency items you need immediately if you’re too busy to go to the grocery store in-person. Still, a lot of Americans are taking advantage of Uber’s service based on the profits being made. It may be just temporary as many find any advantage to save as much money as possible when buying food for themselves or their families.

Going to Your Local Discount Grocery Store

Here in Oregon’s Willamette valley, we have several notable grocery stores that offer food at discount prices. WinCo is one of the best-known ones, and it’s where I shop often. While some may suggest it attracts a ghetto atmosphere, this isn’t always true—especially if going late at night or early mornings. Since they’re open 24 hrs, you can shop at any time. And, they have prices generally matching ones at Aldi stores.

We also have Grocery Outlet, which is grouped in with being an overstock/close-out type of market. It’s a near match with WinCo, if perhaps finding even cheaper items there due to near expired products.

These two locations alone are prominent here in the OR valley, making it easier to travel to them. If you don’t have a car, you can easily get to them within a reasonable time via our city bus. Thanks to the 24-hour aspect to WinCo, you can also shop after-hours if too busy to most of the week. Just remember that WinCo has store stockers working inside if you decide to go at—uh, 3 a.m.

With these available, plus Aldi stores being a staple in other parts of America, it makes more sense to just visit your local discount grocery store in-person. You ultimately save money this way, plus have no worry about someone stealing your delivered groceries off your porch until you get home. 

This isn’t to say Uber Eats isn’t a good alternative—even for the reason of ultimately hating visiting a grocery store. I mean, they do get crowded, and it can feel like standing in a long bread line on some occasions. Add in screaming kids, plus cranky adults—and…you know. 

If you decide to partake in Uber Eats’ grocery delivery service, just remember to set aside a little extra in your grocery fund. Or, simply use it for a few extra things you forgot at your local discount store. There isn’t anything worse than suddenly noticing you forgot to pick up paper towels or a loaf of bread on your last visit—requiring an extra trip. 

That may be worth the $10 you’re perhaps paying per month for the premium Uber One grocery delivery service. Trouble is, you need to spend $35 minimum on your grocery bill to qualify for no delivery fees.

In Part XL, I’m going to wind up this Uber Eats/DoorDash blog by addressing a recent antitrust lawsuit Uber filed against DoorDash over anticompetitiveness. Is DoorDash really bullying restaurants to use their service over Uber? The two leading food delivery services in America are locking horns, which may be a fight to the finish.

/End

Chapter XXXVIII: The Top Demographics of Uber Eats and DoorDash Customers

FeaturedLeave a comment

It’s sometimes hard to tell exactly who you’re delivering to when doing Uber Eats and DoorDash, simply because not all customers physically present themselves to you. Even when you do hand off a bag of food to someone, it may be just one person giving you thanks. And that may assume you’re delivering to a single person who prefers to stay in rather than face traffic or other people.

Well, that lone person you delivered to may just be the matriarch or patriarch of a large family. The other family members may not be home yet. I’m saying this based on recent research I did on what the most prominent demographics are in ordering food via Uber or DoorDash. The reveal on this was a bit surprising when ordering food to eat at home seemed like a valid form of single life.

As you begin or continue your Uber Eats/DoorDash delivery adventures, you might want to know who you’re now delivering to since some orders may be larger than expected. This doesn’t necessarily mean a single person eating the equivalent of three dinners out of depression.

The Single Person vs. The Family

Based on my recent research, it’s said that families are now the leading demographic in most food delivery customers. This surprised me at first based on my own experiences delivering DoorDash and Uber orders for two years. It seemed the majority of my own customers were singles in the immediate post-COVID times when I delivered.

But it’s often hard to tell who’s really in a household. While it may appear that one person is home and takes the order at their door, there may be a slew of others living there. They may not be home yet—hence why the seeming single woman or guy taking the bag at the door fools you.

The old jokes used to be that a robed young woman who answered the door to take your order was a single person sending some kind of subtle signal. No doubt many male Uberers and Dashers have had the fantasy of being invited inside with a flirtatious single girl. Ditto goes for female deliverers delivering to what appears to be single guys.

Reality is a different story, and the above really just occurs based on watching too many movies, TikTik videos, or hearing second-hand stories. After my research, I came to the conclusion that all those seemingly single women answering the door when I delivered were really hiding a boyfriend, and possibly a huge family somewhere in the house. 

All the more real is the state of the American economy nowadays and why families would be the most likely DoorDash recipients. With many in a family working multiple jobs to stay above water, the actual family members are probably not home until evening or later. No doubt one person in the family stays home, or still just works from home. They’re the ones who I likely encountered taking the order. However, there were just as many “Leave At Door” orders as ones who took the bag from me. 

One thing I noticed is there were definitely more people at home when I delivered in the late evening hours. Those usually involved larger orders, so there was clearer evidence of families being the center of late evening customers. 

What about those lighter orders, though? About 75% of the orders I’d deliver were single bag items—giving me the thought singles were really the leading DoorDash demographic.

DoorDash Fragmentation in Families

It’s not always easy to tell what a leading demographic is in food delivery since so many circumstances are unique. For instance, many of my colleagues at Amazon (where I work full-time) order in food from DoorDash or Uber Eats. This gives the appearance that it’s a single individual ordering food when it’s just someone from an ordinarily large family ordering lunch or dinner in to their workplace. 

The same might be said if someone’s visiting at another house with a friend or relative. Maybe my deliveries were an exception, but it still seemed a lot of people I delivered to were singles. I basically surmised this based on one car in the driveway and the size of the house. Nevertheless, I do know that many families are more fragmented than ever. One member of a family is just as likely to order in DoorDash for themselves while everyone else eats/drinks something else.

In my mind, this is the real truth in the demographic debate. And, yeah, it’s also depressing since it means that a lot of families aren’t sitting at the dinner table together anymore. The kids may be off eating their DoorDash orders in their rooms while the parents eat together in the living room—or even going out to eat.

This isn’t to say I didn’t pick up bigger orders fully intended for a family dinner. These were very rare, though, and they were usually for parties at businesses or at someone’s home. I also found out that delivering twenty pizzas to said large groups can fog up all of your car windows—or, particularly, in a more compact Kia. 

All told, delivering larger orders is more challenging than delivering single-bag items. You have to juggle more drinks on sometimes flimsy cup holders. Plus, having to carry six large bags usually required having to make three trips back and forth from the restaurant to my car. The single orders are so much more convenient, and I reiterate they were the majority of my orders over the above two-year period.

Are More Women Ordering DoorDash Than Men?

Other stats are showing that women slightly outdo males in ordering Uber Eats and/or DoorDash the most often. And, most of those women & men are Gen Z/Millennials. This can tell you a little more about your customer reality. When you look at other recent American stats, more women are staying single, or single mothers with kids. 

Even more interesting is families who make under $25,000 per year are ordering the most often, probably because going to restaurants or buying ingredients in stores are far too expensive. One could also guess that all those reports of customers accusing deliverers of not delivering orders (when they did) are low-income people with sad attempts to get their money back after ordering food.

However, some higher-income families are ordering more in urban and suburban environments. They’re apparently spending the most on DoorDash and perhaps your most likely customers. I still think there’s variations to this, though, and the stats aren’t necessarily showing the reality of how separated families are. 

The illusion of unity in a household is possibly more singles living all together in one house to save money due to chronic economic uncertainty. Yes, the true way to have more money to order DoorDash frequently.

In Part XXXIX, I’m going to look at the recent concept by Uber Eats to deliver fresh groceries at a discount to their customers. Will those customers really save money on groceries, or is it better to just visit a local, bargain grocery outlet without Muzak playing in the background?

/End

Chapter XXXVII: Commission Fees from DoorDash & Uber Eats and How it Could Affect Restaurants You Deliver From

FeaturedLeave a comment

One thing I noticed when doing Uber Eats and DoorDash was that not all local restaurants in my city were participating with the big food delivery behemoths. While some eateries eventually latched on, it made me wonder why some put it off. The big name fast-food places have obviously never removed themselves from these services. But localized restaurants play a major dice game going along with the major players.

Then I started digging in to the details of how restaurants work with DoorDash and Uber. The latter companies always take significant commission fees from the restaurants as a major payback for the exposure. Smaller restaurants can benefit from this, of course, if also taking a potential loss if they don’t get enough Uber or DoorDash orders.

The major problem is many restaurants get lured into the top-tier commission fees, often putting the business in jeopardy just because they’re lured into the enhanced exposure promise. If you own a restaurant, or just delivering for Uber Eats and DoorDash, what’s really going on with the commission fees? The future may look a little more interesting as restaurants figure out more creative ways to get food to their customers.

How Much Are Restaurants Paying in Commission Fees?

It might sound like a ripoff, but the most basic tier for both of the famous food delivery services already tops off at 15%. That may sound like a lot to take out for a restaurant just getting started. Even then, a basic plan hardly scratches the surface on what DoorDash or Uber can do for an upstart eatery.

Their Plus plans take out a 25% commission, not including an additional 6% for pickups. However, this offers a lot more visibility for the business when marketing in other ways can cost more. And it always helps when someone sees that a new restaurant can deliver an item quickly through an Uber or DoorDash driver.

While the 25% Plus plans are popular, evidence shows most restaurants are delving into the Premier plans that take out a whopping 30% in commission fees. No doubt a lot of localized restaurants are lured in based on what the Premier tier offers. After all, DoorDash offers growth guarantees, including expanded delivery radiuses. They even promise commission refunds if a new restaurant makes fewer than 20 orders during a month.

Add in other fees Uber and DoorDash take out (often operational fees, and, you know, What the Hell fees), we’re talking close to 40 or 50% in commission grabs. If you’re just starting a new restaurant, your margins are already on thin ice. Having to pay out nearly half your profits on commissions to DoorDash or Uber is a major back-breaker.

Regardless, I’ve seen some local fast-food joints here in Salem, OR finally take on DoorDash after personally wondering why they previously hadn’t.

Do Your Local Restaurants Participate in Uber or DoorDash?

There were several local restaurants here in Salem, OR that didn’t do DoorDash, and one in particular still doesn’t. The first of these was a local fast-food franchise called Hawaiian Time. For my entire first year of doing Uber and DoorDash, I kept driving by their locations and puzzled over why I was never called there to pick up. Finally, a year later, I received an order from there. I asked the woman at the drive-thru pick-up window if they’d held off on using DoorDash until then. She said they had, but were giving it a try to help find and gain more customers. They already had a unique menu, and it seems to have helped them as of the last time I did a DoorDash pick-up there.

Then you have slightly larger franchises like coffee drive-thru Dutch Bros. So far, they have drive-thru shops in only 19 U.S. states, with full intention of becoming national. The interesting thing is my local Dutch Bros locations have no association with Uber or DoorDash, or at least when I delivered. Because of their intended expansion, this might change in another year or two from this writing. 

Let’s also keep in mind that some local restaurants or franchises have more than enough business from the local community and don’t need DoorDash. Dutch Bros above have long car lines every day, making the delivery services probably unnecessary. This is unlike Starbucks and regional coffee drive-thru Black Rock Coffee. I picked up nearly daily at those equally popular coffee places.

As you go out and do delivery pick-ups, you may find yourself visiting the usual suspects most of the time. That is, McDonalds, Starbucks, Jack in the Box, and Popeye’s as just a few. The national company-driven fast-food places can easily afford a 30-50% DoorDash commission takeout and still bring in millions per year. 

Local restaurants are trying to compete with them, so sometimes take a chance with the higher commission tiers. Unfortunately, they end up in debt when DoorDash takes out a huge chunk of their profits, despite the amazing exposure. The balance on that is very tricky, if perhaps still profitable when giving it some time.

So, that local restaurant you WANT to pick up from may be abstaining from DoorDash—for now. Or, they may just decide to take a chance in avoiding the delivery services all together.

Will More Restaurants Drop Uber and DoorDash Due to High Commission Fees?

Operating a localized restaurant is already a major business risk, but many new ones keep popping up. Local Salem restaurants here often have a hard time, though many do take on DoorDash as I’ve noticed over the last several years. There’s more localized restaurants using the delivery apps than those not. This said, many restaurants here don’t last beyond five years.

With more effective marketing methods out there now, local restaurants may start dropping Uber and DoorDash in favor of customers doing direct ordering through the eatery’s website. Creating a marketing plan just for that can be done a little cheaper via online means than paying a DoorDash commission fee for every sale.

This might mean buying ad space in the online realms using SEO techniques so those who search local restaurants can easily find that local place in a Google search. People still search for restaurants this way, and/or using ChatGPT or Grok on X. But then, do people still want a DoorDash delivery? 

Some restaurants do their own deliveries, particularly pizza places. Many of them still use DoorDash, though, to not overwhelm the delivery drivers. Regardless, balancing that out with customers who’d rather pick up in-person could lead to a better advantage for a few. 

I mean, the bad publicity of Uber deliverers and Dashers dipping into a customer’s food are all over the place by now. With an eroded lack of public trust in recent years with the sign of any bag tampering, we could see more local restaurants deliver on their own.

It probably won’t hurt the big food delivery titans. Due to national fast-food companies still raking in profits daily, they’ll stick with DoorDash and keep former and latter in the black. The hope for businesspeople may be that their localized restaurants won’t have to rely on Uber and DoorDash just to become a reasonable success. 

One might wish this as a parallel to those who deliver for the delivery services, simply because they’re forced to and have no other options. Hopefully they’ll have new lucrative options as much as your favorite local fast-food joints.

In Part XXXVII, I’ll take on the topic of recurring customers, and new statistics showing families as the top Uber & DoorDash users. How long will families be able to afford using these delivery apps over the singles?

/End

Chapter XXXVI: Creating or Dealing with Elaborate Door Security While Doing DoorDash or Uber Eats

FeaturedLeave a comment

Perusing information on X lately is a bit of a gamble what with all the quackery and other questionable content seen there in the Elon Musk era. You still see videos pertaining to DoorDash and Uber Eats, though, and it’s usually controversial content—like deliverers rebelling against no tips as just one example. Recently, I saw a related video that stood out from the others. It was about a woman who sets up elaborate safety procedures at her door when having food delivered from Ubers and Dashers.

Now, I can’t say for sure if any of that was really true. Evidence is there it might have been done as a set-up to gain clicks. But it seemed overly elaborate to be a fake. 

With increasing mentally ill people out there today, it’s more than possible many people create their own security procedures at their front doors when having food or drink delivered. I mean, we’ve already seen evidence people with short fuses are out there delivering—probably because they have no other means of income.

This doesn’t demean being a Dasher. All of the ones I encountered when delivering were friendly and intelligent individuals. The ones who might pose a threat are perhaps more likely to avoid conversations with their fellow deliverers anyway. And I wouldn’t blame anyone for setting up basic or complex security at their door when having something delivered.

What’s really going on out there, and would you put up with someone’s detailed security measures to deliver food to their door? Also, let’s expand with whether you’d do the same with an Uber or Dasher delivering to your own abode.

How Far is the Security Going?

Based on the above video seen on X, it’s mostly women taking these measures out of precaution. You can’t blame them in the age we live where you’re never really sure who’s lurking around your house. No doubt men are doing the same security here and there.

For the record: I never encountered a customer who directed me to a security process in delivering their items. Then again, the “Leave the order at my door” note on the app was always a signal they didn’t want to answer in person. It’s the simplest method to bringing a safe delivery method. Some people don’t even trust that, though, considering people have their food stolen off their doorsteps far too often.

I always worried that someone was going to steal a food bag near a customer’s door, particularly when having it exposed to anyone walking or driving by. I’d frequently see strangers walk past while seeing me drop the bag at someone’s doorstep. In many cases, however, the customer opened the door to retrieve their food mere seconds later, often murmuring “Thank you”, or just waiting until I was out of view. 

Once in a while, I was given specific directions to deliver the item to the customer’s back door, a shed, or some other nearby, isolated area. This was usually because they’d have food bags stolen before at their front door, or because the front area wasn’t completely accessible.

While I never encountered someone giving me security directions in-person, it appears it’s becoming an increasing trend. What happens if you encounter someone like this, including a multi-step process to make it safe for the person?

This could delay you since time is always of the essence when it comes to prompt deliveries. Regardless, the customer is always right, and you should (arguably) go along with it.

Should You Talk to Uber and DoorDash About What the Customer Did?

If you happen to encounter an overly elaborate door security procedure that wastes too much time, you should definitely call Uber or DoorDash agents to tell them what happened. The customer may get a talking to on taking too much of your time in delivering safely. That person may have to come up with a simpler solution for you to deliver without it feeling like a prolonged, multi-step authentication process.

In the X video I referenced above, it showed the woman in question implementing several extended security procedures to ensure her own safety. One of those was spreading salt on her walkway to capture the delivery person’s footprints. She also forces the delivery person to put on a handcuff outside her door before handing off the food to ensure the deliverer doesn’t invade her home.

It didn’t stop there. She also has the delivery man show his I.D. card, including providing his fingerprints for a complete background check. Then she sends out a remote-controlled drone to capture the guy’s car license plate. This ensures it’s a real delivery person and not an illegal immigrant or other fake. The drone also follows the car to make sure it moves out of the area and doesn’t linger (see my blog piece about “lingering”).

Unfortunately, the one who posted the video called the woman a “liberal”, giving an unexpected political bias to who might do this. The woman in the video made a good point, nevertheless, about how she can’t trust anyone anymore. 

If this is true, would you feel comfortable setting up a similar security protocol at your home?

Getting Your Food Faster

Some people just want their food handed to them due to being in a hurry. You may be one of those people, hence having to deal with an Uber or Dasher handing the food off to you. Would you trust a deliverer handing food to you at your door—including if you were home by yourself?

Well, I’ll tell you this: I’d trust myself since I was always a reliable and conscientious deliverer for Uber and DoorDash. But, I’m consciously aware that others aren’t like me and are basically forced into delivering food to survive. 

There’s been concern about illegal U.S. citizens delivering for a while, despite Uber and DoorDash now providing better methods to make sure real residents with licenses work for them. Traffic offenses are also scoped out through a background check done once per year. Not that this would completely eliminate any potentially psychotic people out there.

From your perspective, imagine a deliverer delivering your food, yet you fear the delivery person looking a bit creepy when spotted on your Ring camera. You need your food fast and don’t want it dropped off at the door. What are you going to do since you’re the only one home?

Outside of building a security moat loaded with piranhas, your best bet is to speak through your Ring camera when the person rings the doorbell. You can just tell them to place it at the door since you’re likely feet away inside anyway.

This makes for a good compromise without forcing the deliverer to go through ridiculously long security measures. Oh, and it helps to have dogs who bark at your door as proof you’re completely secure. Dogs intimidated me more than once at many front doors.

Trusting Your Deliverer

One of the most satisfying things about doing DoorDash and Uber is that you’re going to have a lot of repeat customers after a time. If you stick with it for at least a year, you’ll start delivering to a group of regulars you’ll get to know. When I had to deliver to these people, we’d chat in text like longtime friends. 

It’s here where you’ll know right where to go and what to expect every time. Best of all, the customer has complete trust in you based on your past track record. That means either a routine tip amount or more during each visit.

Those of you who live in slightly smaller towns or cities will probably have repeat deliverers. Get to know them by chatting in the provided text boxes (without flirting). You’ll be able to have worry-free deliveries this way based on a long-standing track record. Just don’t set up quicksand in your yard for the still mysterious guys delivering from Amazon.

In Chapter XXXVII, I’ll look at the issue of high commission fees from DoorDash and Uber. If you wonder why these delivery services aren’t being used in your favorite local restaurants or fast food places, it’s usually due to thin margins. This could affect you and DoorDash in some restaurants starting their own delivery services.

/End 

Chapter XXXV: Running Over Road Debris and Creating Tire Maintenance While Doing Uber Eats or DoorDash

FeaturedLeave a comment

For being a first-world country here in the United States, some cities are starting to see a heavy dose of third-world garbage and debris in our roads. My time doing DoorDash can attest to this, or at least in my hometown of Salem, Oregon. Mind you, my home city wasn’t anywhere like that until things started to deteriorate in city government—including increasing homelessness. Over the last 10 to 15 years, potholes and tire-shredding junk in our roads has increased tenfold.

Hopefully your town or city isn’t as bad, though it perhaps is. I’ve had a theory that the homeless sometimes deliberately leave large pieces of debris in the roads as sabotage to those with expensive cars. Although some of that road garbage is just random from heavy winds or other circumstances.

Whatever the reality really is, you’re going to encounter a lot of things in your local roads that could cause endless headaches for you if delivering food all day for Uber Eats or DoorDash.

It’s time to look at what kind of shit in the roads you might encounter, how to avoid running over these items, and how to report it. Plus, you need a plan to deal with tire maintenance since that road debris could give you a flat every couple of weeks.

What is the Worst Road Debris Out There?

One thing for sure is broken glass is one of the top five road debris issues on a wide scale. It’s nothing new, and it’s been a problem here in America for multiple decades. You probably even remember your parents or grandparents swerving in the road to avoid shattered glass from a recent car accident—or someone deliberately breaking bottles in the road. 

THAT was what caused most flat tires, long before DoorDash or Uber Eats were even a spark in a corporate exec eye. Second runner up was nails that usually and somehow fell off trucks or other vehicles. This used to be a more random problem, but it’s increased in recent years due to either more vehicles on the road, or more sabotage.

Broken glass has also increased somewhat here in Salem due to more accidents and our explosion in population. Regardless, most of the flat tires I experienced while Dashing were seldom from glass or nails. 

The worst piece of road debris I ever encountered was random pieces of wood lying in our streets. One day, while in a hurry to deliver food to someone via DoorDash, I saw what looked like a block of wood in the middle of the road. After realizing that it was a THICK block of wood almost strategically placed in the center of the lane, I didn’t have enough time to swerve to avoid running right over it.

Of course, it shredded my left front tire. Thanks to being not far away from a local tire repair place, I was able to get there (after somehow making the delivery) to have the tire replaced. If you have tires from a particular tire repair center, they’ll often repair a ruined tire for free. 

You might be surprised to learn that wood is one of the worst things to run over. I have no doubt it was some kind of diabolical trap by someone to deliberately ruin someone’s tires. Not that you still can’t get a flat from other debris if going on non-paved roads.

Avoid Gravel Roads If You Can

I’ll admit a couple of flat tires I had were due to nails. However, I’m fairly sure they were lying in a few gravel roads I took while delivering in remote locations. You’d think every road here in the valley of Oregon is paved by now. Well, we still have gravel roads around farms and other outskirt areas where wineries reside.

One particular remote area in the southern regions of Salem had me delivering to some recurring customers on very long and bumpy gravel roads. It required more than a couple of miles driving through heavy gravel, no doubt littered with various categories of tire-damaging items.

In my case, there was no alternative to get to these locations, so I had to take the chance. The bad thing is it’d take several days for one of my tires to show it was damaged after driving these rough roads. Driving an unpaved road is basically a one or two-week slow leak suicide for rubber wheels.

Unless you have an SUV and some very hefty tires, try to avoid driving on unpaved roads if you can. It’ll save you a lot of slow tire damage, not including saving your vehicle’s suspension system. You may still have to drive there, unfortunately, since some DoorDash customers order food because they’re living in these remote locations. 

Also keep in mind it’s not just gravel roads that hide tire-damaging junk. You may also encounter offbeat side roads containing massive potholes. I’ve had to drive on side roads like this, and the potholes were nearly like deep moon craters. These often hide sharp objects like nails and random pieces of garbage. Even a sharp rock gouging into your tire could cause a flat tire either in minutes or a matter of days.

Your Tire Maintenance Plan

It may sound dirt dull to come up with a tire maintenance plan when out on the road delivering food. But it’s mandatory since you don’t want to waste your earnings on buying a new tire if not covered by a warranty. I can almost guarantee you that you’re going to encounter flat tires more often than you ever imagined based on how much road travel you’ll do. 

The best option here is to get your tire warranties in paper form. Here in Oregon, we have a tire franchise called Les Schwab where they literally give you an envelope with your warranty every time you buy a tire. While Schwab’s is generally more expensive, I still recommend them if you happen to live or do DoorDash in the Oregon valley.                                                                                                                                                               

Not that they don’t have record of you buying tires there once you show up (with a flat tire). But having physical proof of the warranty will save you some time at the counter when first going in. Believe me, any time you can save when getting a tire replaced or fixed is worth the effort. That being said, expect at least an hour’s wait to get your tire patched or exchanged.

Sure, the waiting time to fix a tire is the worst aspect of this, especially when you allot time to do DoorDash and expect to make a certain amount. Your best bet is to set aside an emergency fund exclusively for tires. Because once you get a flat, it’s going to screw up your intended schedule for the day. 

Hopefully your town or city is different, yet expect a flat at least once per month, if not more often. Much of this, again, depends on the type of tires you invested in earlier. A more expensive tire (close to $1000) with thick tread may last a lot longer when doing DoorDash than a $200 one. 

Just be sure that you know where each tire was bought so you can get a free replacement. Buying a new (or used) car means you should really replace all four tires soon. 

What Can We Do About All the Debris In Our Roads?

All you can really do to combat growing road debris is call your city leaders and tell them what you encountered. They may not do anything, particularly because the increasing homeless crisis continues without many cities being able to control it. No one can really monitor what’s going to end up in America’s roads either. 

Also, if it’s safe, remove any debris from the road yourself to prevent other drivers from running over the object. I wish I would have removed that above block of wood from the road. It couldn’t be done since it was right in a busy part of that street. The good news is, when I drove by there a couple days later (with my new tire), someone removed the wood—no doubt a city worker. Someone clearly reported it being there.

Potholes are an additional reportable issue to your local city management. Many people DO report them here. Some get fixed right away, and others still fester. The worst ones as big as the Grand Canyon are still out there on various main arterials and side roads. When it’s raining, it’s almost like driving through a swimming pool that was a previous landfill. 

In Chapter XXXVI, I’ll cover the new trend of door safety from customers. Some women (and men) are setting up extra safety methods with DoorDash deliverers to stay safe from potential house invaders pretending to deliver. I saw this covered on an X video recently, so I’ll offer my opinions on the subject.

/End

Chapter XXXIV: Creating Detours When Facing Road Delays with Uber Eats & DoorDash

FeaturedLeave a comment

Just about every city or town has a mainline railroad track often crossing roads that take you into other important areas. And, perhaps far too frequent, is the chance of a train breaking down or stopping—hence blocking you from gaining access to main arterials. This usually happens as the result of mechanical issues, or the unfortunate situation of people committing suicide somewhere up the track line. As a result, you may already know it can create frustrating delays when delivering food to people while doing DoorDash or Uber Eats.

Here in Salem, Oregon, the above happens far too often—sometimes every two weeks or less. It was something I had to deal with various times when needing to deliver food or drinks to someone across town. Yes, it made me wish for flying cars being available NOW and not just ahead in a speculative future.

It’s not merely trains blocking your roads either. You’re going to encounter frequent construction projects on your local streets—unless your city is broke and has no money to fix those potholes. Add in the possibility of street protestors that are far more prevalent now than ever. They can be worse than halted trains.

How do you deal with these road blockages, and what kind of detours can you find to avoid sitting and cussing away in your car? This is not an easy subject to solve, though I do have some answers for you. But, it’s usually not any help from Google or Apple Maps.

Train Breakdowns

Most train breakdowns in my city were freight trains. This was the most unfortunate type of train stoppage because freight trains measure much longer than travel trains like Amtrak. Once in a while, though, an Amtrak train was stopped due to an object (or person) in the way on the tracks. In that case, it was multiple dozens of travelers being delayed as much as I was.

One thing about my local mainline track is that if the train is long enough, it’s going to mean every possible passageway to the other side of town becoming blocked. This happened numerous times to me, despite once being lucky enough to find an intersection free. The train moved up just enough to allow traffic to get through more than a mile away.

If you encounter a train breakdown, you might be stuck in a traffic jam of other waiting cars, depending on time of day. The worst time is on a weekday while delivering for the lunch hour. Although it seemed that the majority of train stalls for me were on weekend afternoons. Regardless, it still caused traffic snarls.

You’ll probably find that most drivers around you will try to find a way to back up and get out of there. Whatever you do, don’t just sit and spout every profanity. The first thing you need to do is get into the Uber or DoorDash chat box and tell the customer you’re delivering to that you’re delayed by a stopped train. You should be communicating with them already while on your way as I’ve recommended here many times.

Let them know you’ll be delayed by the train and you’ll attempt to find a detour to get there as soon as possible. Most customers are going to be understanding about this since there isn’t a lot that can be done.

On the other hand, if traffic manages to back up and clear out enough, you have a way to escape and find a detour. Here’s a big problem, though: Uber and DoorDash’s GPS system (Google Maps as default) doesn’t offer any detours in emergency situations. 

The GPS still insists you take the route it thinks is best for you to get to the delivery destination.  I managed to get out of the way and drive up the line to find a free intersection to drive through. Every time I did, the GPS would just take me back to the same street where the train was sitting. So, I say to Uber and DoorDash: Start adding detours on the GPS to avoid delays. There’s always alternative ways to get anywhere, even if lifelong residents in a town or city may not know exactly what that is. 

Having lived in my city since birth, I knew a few detours. Even then, many stalled trains just blocked too many pass-throughs, making any detour impossible, if an hour-long delay going a longer way. Whatever you do, don’t get out of your car and start making a run for it out of desperation.

Your best bet is to study maps of your town or city as thoroughly as you can. Look at alternative places where you can drive under or over railroad tracks so you know exactly where to go if encountering a train that’s stopped for likely hours. 

Road Blocks from Construction 

Yes, trains are the worst in road blockages because they’re often stalled for at least an hour if not more. Construction projects can also cause frequent delays, if not usually for more than 15 minutes. Still, it’s worth calculating what this might mean for your deliveries without losing your patience.

The good thing here is GPS systems sometimes pick up that there’s construction going on in your city. When I used Apple Maps, it seemed to detect where construction was going on and sometimes outlined an alternative route. However, this was only for longer road work projects and not something unexpected or shorter term. 

GPS systems need more time to tell you what’s going on with your local roads. Even then, it’s not always completely accurate, as I found out. Despite road work signs usually showing you how to take a particular detour, it can take you way out of the way of your intended delivery point.

Again, if this happens, go into the chat boxes and tell your customers you’re stuck in a road work zone that’s being held up by a flagger. The real culprit here is heavy traffic having to wait while the flagger allows traffic from the opposite lane to drive through. 

Once in a while, you might encounter an impatient driver who doesn’t understand the detours, hence them hurriedly driving through a blocked-off street. I did this once, though not as a DoorDash driver. DON’T do this since you’ll piss off the nearby construction crew, not including possibly being fined for ignoring detours.

Street Protestors

We’re living in very volatile times, and that means the chances of street protestors has grown tenfold in the last few years. Maybe your town or city is more fortunate in being politically neutral. But, even here in Salem, OR (because it’s Oregon’s capital city), I’ve found myself in the middle of some potentially testy protest events. 

These street blockages are even more problematic since nobody really knows when a street protest is going to happen—unless you’re one of the protestors seeing it scheduled on social media. For a DoorDash or Uber deliverer like yourself, this could potentially trap you in place for the same amount of time as a broken down train.

While my protestor encounters were not during DoorDash delivery times, the potential was always there. If you find yourself in such an encounter, it’s again imperative to tell your customer what’s happening. They may be shocked when you tell them this, but they’ll usually be understanding. In all likelihood, they’ve encountered street protestors themselves.

To get out of the situation, try to find a quick place to turn around or take a side road. The sooner you can dodge a street protest, the better, even if going out of the way to your destination. Just don’t get frustrated and try to drive through a crowd of people. Worse, it could lead to angry protestors trashing your car. 

Finding Detours On Your Own

Again, it’s a good idea to memorize all the main and side arterials within your city. If you’ve just moved to that city or town, get to know ALL the roads before you start delivering for DoorDash. The more you know about alternative routes, the better on DoorDash or Uber not taking it out on you for delivering late.

Let’s hope GPS systems can improve to allow for real-time detours in the event of road blockages. Why that isn’t available already is proof corporations want to skimp on offering better technology for those who work for them. 

Sometimes you’ll discover the routes GPS insists are the best way to reach your customer aren’t really the best routes after all. You may find detour routes that shave delivery time at least by a couple of minutes. I’ve discovered a few better routes to arrive to familiar delivery points than the GPS initially told me. 

The problem there is DoorDash and Uber say you need to follow the GPS routes provided or face possible deactivation. That’s basically forced technological adherence when said tech doesn’t always know better than a human. Routes I knew were better allowed me to prove to the bots my way was faster.

Just like I said in Chapter 3 about finding your “Center Street” to find more delivery offers, it’s time to find your best detours. A few might mean driving through a gravel road or a side street with Grand Canyon level potholes. Whatever you do, don’t drive through someone’s yard or in spots that say No Trespassing.

In Chapter XXXV, I’ll look at another road problem: Increasing debris in U.S. roads. This can lead to constant flat tires as I too often experienced. It’s best to create a plan for tire maintenance—as in every day. 

/End