UberEats launched in Portland in mid-November. They invited me to drive on the platform since I was already driving for them as a driver. Another gig to make money with? Sure, why not.

My first UberEats delivery was last week. Here’s how it went.

Accepting Job

I dropped off a rider at her workplace downtown Portland, and a delivery request became available. Yay! I accepted. It was just two blocks away from where I was. Easy peasy.

Pick-Up

With UberEats, couriers do not pay for the food with a pre-paid card like they would with Postmates or DoorDash. One less hassle from the courier side. I like it.

I walked in and told the cashier I was there for a pick-up and provided the order number. Then I confirm the items. Easy.

Drop-Off

Once the items are confirmed, you can see where the drop-off location is. With Caviar, you know where you’re delivering to the moment you accept the job.

Upon delivery, you will have to confirm that you dropped off the food.

Then you have to confirm who the recipient was.

Delivery Rating

Once you confirm who received the food, you will be asked to rate the delivery. Thumbs up or thumbs down.

Commission

Once that’s over, you can find out how much you made. As you can see from this, the whole delivery took 14 minutes, and I made $4.12. The customer didn’t tip.

UberEats’ Expectations

UberEats expects their couriers to maintain satisfaction rating above 85%. This is the same as 4.25 out of 5 stars, which is much lower than the 4.7 out of 5 for their rideshare platform. Postmates expects a 4.7/5 rating from their couriers.

My thoughts

Some things brothers me about the user experience with UberEats.

One, couriers do not get to schedule themselves for shifts. This delivery caught me by surprise. If I just want to give rides, I have to be careful not to accept a delivery job accidentally.

The whole delivery process felt more tedious than the other platforms. There were too many things to confirm.

UberEats’ commission for this delivery is small compared to its Portland competitors Postmates, and Caviar. And there’s no in-app tipping. But this was just one delivery. I’ll keep doing deliveries and see if it’s a good income stream.

I did like that there’s no pre-paid card and that the restaurant was expecting me. Another thing I like is the ability to cancel the job at any time. Also, I hear that UberEats has surge pricing similar to Postmates’ Blitz Pricing feature. I’m looking forward to seeing someone pay me $30 to deliver them a burrito.

Do you drive for UberEats? Let me know what you think about the platform in the comments or the forums!