A while ago I revealed that my rating was below Postmates’ minimum requirement of a 4.7. Through some trial and error, I’ve brought my rating up the past week. Today, I received an email that I’m back up to a 4.7.

I want to tell you about the things I focused on to get my score back up. Hopefully my approach will help you maintain a 4.7 rating or bring your rating up if it’s below 4.7.

Here’s how my rating changed over time:

I was at a 4.4 rating after three days into this on-demand courier gig (see red line in the graph). I took on too many jobs on the third day and there were long waits at the restaurants. Customers weren’t satisfied with waiting a long time for their food and my rating tanked.

I thought I could just complete a bunch of deliveries, get 5.0 stars, and the problem would be solved. So on Day 4, I completed six jobs and my rating went up to 4.5. The problem with this approach was, I was delivering more jobs for Postmates than Caviar. Since Caviar’s commission is better, I was tempted to stack Postmates jobs to make up for the lower commission. This could lead to poor customer rating. So I had to make a change.

On Day 5 and 6, I drove for Caviar during the day so I wouldn’t miss out on the better commission. Then during the evening I drove for Postmates when there was low traffic and Blitz Pricing was active. I completed two deliveries for Postmates and provided excellence customer service. After Day 6, my rating was 4.6.

On Day 7 and 8 I had some setbacks. I did two lunch deliveries for Postmates (Day 7) and there were long waiting lines. Then on Day 8, I drove for Postmates in the morning and traffic was bad. I’m back down to 4.5.

On Day 9, 10, and 11 I decided to avoid driving for Postmates during busy lunch hours and morning traffic for a while. I focused on night jobs when Blitz Pricing was active. Additionally, I drove more for Caviar and completed very few jobs on Postmates, but I made sure they were completed properly  and quickly. My rating was 4.6 after Day 11.

On Day 12, I did one delivery in the morning and four in the evening. All of them were done quickly and without problems. My rating was back to 4.7. Mission accomplished.

Summary

My strategy was simple: focus on providing excellence customer services. I accomplished this by avoiding traffic and lunch hours, work in the evening when Blitz Pricing was active, and I completed low number of job on Postmates and made sure they all got 5.0 ratings (My rating was highest or going upward when I completed low number of jobs). This is a good strategy for anyone below 4.7 stars (and especially new couriers) to adopt. As you start out, your rating will can fluctuate dramatically so focus on getting 5.0s. After that, you can take on more jobs and if something out of your control happens and you get a bad rating, your overall average will not change drastically.

Even though it is tempting to rush and stack jobs for more money, play it self until you get a hang of things and know the city. After my rating went up to 4.7, I kept this approach for a few more days to rack up more 5.0 ratings, just to be safe.

Okay now for the real reason you came, the bonus rating trick. In addition to what I discussed here, you can use the steps posted on Medium by Daniel Schwartz to view your rating and find out how people rated you: Link to the trick.