It has been exactly one year since I completed my first Postmates delivery. It’s crazy how fast time goes by in the gig economy. It feels like it was only yesterday I was at my Postmates orientation. If you have been reading since the beginning, I appreciate it.

If you’re new to my blog, here’s a recap:

Introduction to the gig economy

I graduated college in 2014 and got a job in research. I quickly grew bored of the cubicle life. After my one-year contract ended, I left Portland by train for Silicon Valley to check out the tech industry.

In Silicon Valley, all I hear about was the gig economy (also called on-demand economy and/or the sharing economy). This was a new approach to labor ushered in by tech companies like Uber, Lyft, TaskRabbit, AirBnb, Postmates, DoorDash, Caviar, Instacart, and many others.

Inspired, I came back to Portland to see how I can get involved with the future of work. Personally, I was interested in helping the drivers of on-demand food delivery companies make more money because no one was doing that at the time. But I didn’t want to get myself another 9-5 job in something like courier support or trust and safety (buzz words for customer service in the tech scene). I thought I could be at ground-zero (be an actual driver) and helps the couriers make more money in this new economy. I have a background in research and like to crunch numbers so I figured I could drive and gather data that could then be turned into actionable insight for couriers.

So I started this blog, applied to be a driver for Uber, Lyft, Postmates, and Caviar and became the Courier Hacker.

Mishaps

There was a lot of obstacles and a learning curve to overcome in the beginning when I started out. Challenges like buying a used car from a guy named Eddie at a sketchy dealership in East Portland (that dealership has shut down as of today by the way).

As a courier, I made the rookie mistake of taking on too many orders and wrecked my Postmates rating. I had to devise a way to bring it back up. I also got a parking ticket.

But not all of it was my fault. Most of it was Postmates. For example, there was the incident with the pissed off hostesses at Firehouse Restaurant. AndI won’t forget the time Postmates sent me into a forest  to look for a Taco Bell. Let’s just say a lot of unexpected “stuff” takes place on the Postmates platform.

Oh, and then there’s the night I totaled my Prius.

Adventures in Seattle

In early 2016, some of my friends were starting up a tech company in Seattle, and they asked me to come up and check out what they were doing. I used it as an excuse to transfer my courier account with Caviar and Postmates to Seattle and drive up there.

Time Off

One of the best benefits of the gig economy is the flexibility. After my trip to Seattle, I came back to Portland and focused on some other things like travel (I just got back in late August), photography, and French. Recently I went back to school to learn how to code.

Courier experience

I’m thankful that a year later I can say the experience hasn’t been all about making money. Funny enough, I found that I enjoyed darting around town as the Courier Hacker and trying to come up with new strategies to boost my earnings per hour.

I have become much more familiar with my hometown of Portland in the past year. I know all the different neighborhoods better.

As a driver, I got to see all the changes happening in Portland (most of it bad). This made me appreciate good old Portland more. I’m more empathetic to the city of Portland’s history and the challenges that communities within it are facing as the city grows.

I’ve learned a lot over the past year, but I still have questions. Like…whatever happened to Eddie?

As of Today

So, where do I stand today? Have I accomplished my goal of hacking my way to making $25 an hour?

Let’s just say I won’t be going back to working 9-5 anytime soon. As of today, I’m making $1,300-1,400 a week driving in the on-demand economy. I doubled what I was making when I first started out. And I don’t believe I have even begun to realize the full potential of the gig  economy. I believe the $2,000-a-week plateau is possible.

I will be writing more about the strategies I use to make $1300-1400 a week.

For those of you who have been reading since the beginning, I thank you for your readership. If you’re a new reader; here’s to making more money and life in the gig economy.

Cheers!