The Postmates Rating

Postmates couriers get rated by customers on a 1 to 5 star scale for each job they complete. Each day, Postmates sends an automated email to their couriers with a performance summary for the previous night. Your Postmates rating is included in the performance summary. Up to this point, I’ve managed a 5.0 rating. Not anymore. Today, I discovered that my rating dropped. I had some deliveries last night that were slower than usual and I guess a few customers weren’t happy. Here’s the email from Postmates:

Why this matters

I shouldn’t expect to keep a 5.0 rating forever but I don’t want to drop below 4.7. Postmates’ policy is that if your rating is below 4.7, they would consider removing you from their platform (Caviar does not have a rating system). This may seems like an arbitrary benchmark, but it’s because Postmates wants their customers to see highly rated couriers when they use the app. One theory is that a 4.7 Postmates rating is displayed as a 5 star in the app (rounding up).

I’m not too concern about getting kicked off Postmates just yet because the number of jobs that I have completed is really low right now. If I slow it down, accept less jobs, and focus on providing excellence customer service, I can bring my rating back up with a few 5.0 scores.

It’s important to earn 5.0s in the beginning. Your overall rating is the average of all your ratings. As you complete more jobs, your rating does not change by much when someone gives you a really low score. This is how average works. So make sure you’re off to a really solid start in the beginning to buffer your overall rating from the effects of a low score in the future.

When you start out, you’ll see that your rating fluctuates more if you get a low score. Don’t panic. No one is going to call you up and ask you why your rating is so low. Not yet anyways. You can still fix this before that happens. How? Focus on providing excellence customer service.

The best thing you can do is get a job done as quickly as possible without forgetting any items the customer ordered. Avoid stacking jobs if it’s a bit out of the way. Not stacking jobs will reduce your earnings, but a good tip may be coming your way in exchange. The long term benefit is that you have a high rating that’s resistance to fluctuation.  I’ll keep a close eye on my rating and will post an update when my rating is above 4.7.