Did you drive for Postmates and decided to switch over to Caviar or DoorDash or another competitor? You never looked back. Right?

Most people who do food delivery start out with Postmates. But after a few weeks, they realize there’s too much competition for jobs during peak hours. And the payout isn’t that great, so the honeymoon period ends. They sign up for a new platform, and eventually, Postmates becomes a distant memory.

This seems to be the narrative I get from couriers I run into who drives for Amazon, Caviar, or GrubHub in Portland. But I think they are making a mistake by ditching Postmates entirely. Couriers should continue to drive for the platform even if they’ve found a new platform that earns you more money. Here’s why.

1. Postmates Morning Demand

I’ve found that generally speaking the platform has more demand in the morning than other services. Around eight o’clock in the morning, some of the other platforms are dead. Postmates is not.

For comparison, in Portland Caviar doesn’t start deliveries until 10 AM. Even then, you’ll be hard press to catch an order between 10 AM and 11 AM. But Postmates is available 24/7. You can quickly complete three to four orders before 11 AM.

For this reason, I think couriers should do deliveries for Postmates in the morning and then switch over to another platform later in the day.

2. Postmates Late Night Demand

The platform is perfect for couriers who prefer doing deliveries during the late night hours. Most other platforms die down between 9 PM and 10 PM. However, Postmates will hold steady. Why? Other platforms partner with restaurants that typically close around 10 PM but Postmates can be used to order from fast food places like Taco Bell or McDonald’s. These establishments typically open late.

I’ve noticed that the platform is active around midnight. This is especially true near college campuses where students are up late studying and want some food.

3. Hangover Deliveries

If you’re up for hustling on a Saturday or Sunday morning, Postmates is a great option. Folks who have been out drinking Friday or Saturday night will use the service to get breakfast the next day because they’re hungover and don’t want to make breakfast.

A large number of couriers will be sleeping in during the weekend, and so there’s less competition for jobs. It’ll feel like the good old days when Postmates first launched and jobs were readily available.

And who knows, you might get lucky. The customer can be so hungover they give you a huge tip. 😉

4. Flexibility for Stacking

Postmates no longer requires couriers to sign up for shifts. It’s a free for all out there now. So there’s tremendous flexibility for couriers when they want to work. The downside of this is that there’s more competition during peak hours for jobs. But if you understand how to stack platforms properly, not having to abide by shifts allows you to make more money stacking Postmate jobs on top of jobs from another platform.

5. Large Tips

On average, Postmates commission isn’t as big as other platforms. Courier will often make the $4.10 minimum payout for a job. But couriers can expect large tips. The platform allows users to tip a percentage of the order. So even if the payout for delivery is minimal, there’s still the opportunity of a large tip if the value of the order is large.

In saturated markets, earning more tips is how couriers can become more profitable. If you need help earning more tips, check out this article. You can also subscribe to this blog and grab my free e-book on how to earn more tips.

Conclusion

Personally, I don’t recommend driving for Postmates during lunch or dinner hours. In most markets, there’s another platform that offers larger payouts during these hours. Their PEX card system also creates more hassle.

But that doesn’t mean you should ditch the platform altogether once you discover another food delivery startup that pays more. There are scenarios where Postmates has demand while their competitors are not even delivering food. Couriers can take advantage of this and make more money.