Updated: 07/04/2021

Startups like Postmates and Caviar advertise that you can make up to $25 dollars an hour. The key words in their ads are “up to”. The reality is they are promoting the earnings of their best performers under ideal conditions. There are many factors influencing couriers’ earnings. I’ve found that it’s quite difficult to make $25 an hour for an extended period of time with just one platform.

If you’re inexperienced, you won’t make $25 an hour to start. This doesn’t mean you can’t. It’ll take you time to figure out the best way to make money. To reach this peak earning plateau, the best practice is to stack your jobs. Stacking means you accept and queue up more than one jobs while you’re on-duty.

Here there are four types of food delivery stacks you can implement to boost your income.

Multiple Food Delivery Orders Stacks

The first type is a Multiple Orders Stack.   You can accept multiple jobs from different restaurants on the same app. This is the easiest and most common type of stack you can do. The trick to this is to make sure the jobs you accept won’t get in the way of each other. For more on that, check out this post on the different scenarios for a multiple orders stack.

Batched Food Delivery Orders Stacks

The next stack is a Batched Orders Stack. This is a variation of the Multiple Orders Stack. This is when you complete multiple jobs for the same restaurant. The benefit of this stack is that you don’t have to commute to a second pick-up location. The time you save creates breathing room to meet customer expectations of a speedy delivery. The biggest concerns for you would be 1) if the drop-off locations are in opposite directions and 2) prioritizing which order to be dropped off first. Prioritizing which order to complete first requires more discretion from the courier with Postmates than with Caviar. Caviar’s algorithm will provide couriers with a recommended order of drop-off. Postmates drivers will have to decide which one to drop off first depending on what they believe is the best route.

Batched/Multiple Continuation Stack

Next is the Batched/Multiple Continuation Stack. This stack is a combination of the first stack and the second stack. There are three ways to do this stack. In the first scenario, you are working on a batched order stack, and as you are about to drop off the second order to complete the batch, you accepts another job that became available for a different restaurant. In the next scenario, the batched order follows a regular job. Lastly,  you can do two batched orders in succession. Reaping the benefits of both stack types, you are spared a commute by the batch order and as well as idle time by the continuation stack.

This stack is very difficult to pull off during the lunch hour shifts when a lot of cars are on the road, preventing a speedy delivery. Additionally, orders will likely come from corporate customers, and parking will eat up your time if spaces are limited near their workplaces. A busy night on the weekend is a very good time to pull off this particular stack, especially if there’s a major sporting event, televised program, or poor weather. Holidays also apply.

Cross-Platform Stack

The fourth stack is a Cross-Platform Stack. This stack requires you to be active on two or more on-demand apps. In this stack, you accept jobs from each platform. This is similar to the multiple orders stacks except the jobs are queued up in different food delivery apps. This stack requires timing. It’s much harder to pull off, but the payout is worth it once you master it.

Personally, I’m on both Postmates and Caviar when I do this stack. I signed up for DoorDash while in Seattle, but they don’t operate in Portland yet. Lately, I’ve been trying to add UberEats to my stack, but it’s been quite a challenge. 

Try it!

Part of making good money as an on-demand courier is reducing the amount of time you wait for a job. Stacking is the best tactic to accomplish this. You should always thrive to stack when it is logistically possible. An experienced courier can make a lot of money per hour by making sure that they’re always in a stack while on duty. This state means virtually zero idle time and is courier hacking at it’s best.

Before you try to stack, make sure you read this post about 5 Things To Do Before Stacking Food Delivery Jobs.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask in the Forums.

Good luck out there!

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