He has more than just drive.
A 22-year-old Philadelphia food delivery driver is revealing his tricks to guarantee he makes the most money possible on each order.
“I’m not doing this to gamble. I’m doing this to make money,” Jay told Insider, which withheld his last name for privacy reasons.
Jay told The Post he delivers for Uber Eats and DoorDash roughly 10 hours each weekend and occasionally on weekdays. He began in January 2019, claiming he worked about 40 hours a week that summer, when he was off school.
He said he saw his tips grow exponentially in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“On $250 to $300 grocery orders, people were tipping $100,” he explained, “because they were just so petrified to step foot in the grocery store and they were so thankful that someone else was willing to do it.”
But since the lockdowns have ended and the threat of COVID-19 has subsided, he takes steps to ensure he can pocket lots of cash.
Jay, who earns an average base of $2 to $2.50 per delivery, shared that he has become very particular about the orders he accepts — as DoorDash and Uber Eats drivers keep 100% of their tips.
“DoorDash typically has paid me more per order, but Uber Eats has larger volume of orders in my market,” he told The Post.
The delivery man spends his time waiting for orders from affluent Philadelphia neighborhoods, like Rittenhouse Square, and only agrees to pick up orders for customers who have included a tip beforehand.
“I know what parts of the city have the better tips and which ones don’t. That typically does have to do with the income of the area,” he revealed to Insider.
Customers can also tip after food has been delivered, but Jay doesn’t want to risk wasting his time and effort for what could be a poor tip.
“I’m not really interested in playing the game of, ‘Oh, maybe I’ll do this person’s delivery for a guaranteed $2.50. Maybe it might be more.’ I don’t play that game. And most people don’t like to play that game,” he noted to Insider.
“That’s what results [in] their order’s not getting picked up, or it takes awhile for them to get their food.”
Jay says he declines roughly 75% of the orders he receives, but he prefers it that way.
He did clarify that most of the orders he’s offered do include a tip, usually ranging from $3 to $7, but he typically holds out for the highest tips possible. He said his largest tip was $70.
“I think people should be tipping for the premium service that they’re being provided,” he reasoned.
Jay shares clips of his deliveries on TikTok, YouTube, Instagram and Facebook, with several of his videos earning millions of views.
In a recent TikTok, Jay showed how he earned $40 by picking up three orders from a nearby Wendy’s and biking them about 2.2 total miles.
He has also noticed that he pockets significantly more money during cold weather months.
Jay claims to earn an average of $20 to $25 an hour delivering food during the summer, but up to $45 an hour during the winter.
Jay’s confessions come amid a nationwide reckoning with tipping and hidden fees in the wake of inflation woes.
As the country grapples with the daunting state of the economy, some believe that the pressure put on customers to tip and the reliance of workers on these tips has gotten out of hand — but Jay has a plan.
“Doing this food delivery thing, I just kind of think of it as a game,” he declared. “It’s like a treasure hunt, if you would, and I get joy out of it.”