Why is UberEats so slow?

UberEats delivery driver and customer ask this same question. For customers, the food delivery takes a long time. That’s why they ask why UberEats is so slow. On the other hand, delivery drivers ask this question when Uber does not give them enough jobs. In this article, we are going to answer everything. 

When I first ordered my food through UberEats, it took more than an hour for the restaurant to prepare the food and another 20 minutes for the delivery. I was so frustrated that I wanted to cancel my order. However, I didn’t cancel my order because the UberEats app said that if I cancel, Uber will charge me the full amount of my order because the restaurant is preparing my food. 

Since then, I have rarely used UberEats. It’s because, in my area, UberEats delivery is very slow. 

Last year, I joined UberEats as a driver to deliver food. I learned a lot of things during my gig. In this article, I’m going to explain why UberEats is so slow. As a driver, we know many things that a customer is not aware of. I’m going to give you information that typically no one talks about. Even Uber does not know it. 

During my UberEats work, few things were an everyday occurrence, which always caused delays.

Food is Not Ready Yet:

When a restaurant receives an Uber order, they accept the order. I found that most restaurant owners and employees click on the “food ready for pickup” button instantly after getting an order, which they are not supposed to do.

So, when a driver reaches the restaurant, the driver waits for the food. From a customer’s point of view, you may think that the food is ready, the driver is at the restaurant, so why is he/she not picking up the food? Why it’s taking so long. As you can see, restaurants call delivery drivers even before the food is ready for pickup. As a result, it adds delay. 

One time, I reached a restaurant to pick up food. The owner told me that the items the customer ordered are not available anymore. I asked why then he clicked on “food is ready for pickup”? Instead of answering my question, he asked me to contact the customer to tell her food is not available. The customer refused to cancel the order, and the restaurant refused to give food. What the restaurant did was shady, and I canceled my trip. This type of incident may cause delays to your food delivery time, especially late at night. 

The Restaurant is Busy:

During lunch and diner time, the food pickup becomes worse. For example, Mcdonalds, Burger King, Popeyes are always busy. On numerous occasions, I had to wait more than 20 minutes at the restaurant to pick up food. 

Seat-in restaurants negatively see UberEats drivers. It’s because a customer at the restaurant may tip, but UberEats delivery customers don’t tip. Thus, these restaurants give priority to in-house customers than those who ordered online. 

Delivery Medium:

Sometimes finding a parking spot near a restaurant and near a customer’s house becomes challenging. It also causes delays. 

Not every UberEats delivery personnel has cars. Many people use bikes. It could be another reason for slow delivery. 

Drivers don’t want to waste time because time is crucial for drivers. Therefore, if UberEats is slow, there’s probably a valid reason for that, and the drivers are not probably causing it. 

Why Fewer Jobs at UberEats?

Whenever a new driver signs up with UberEats, Uber gives a lot of delivery jobs. For the first few weeks, it may seem that you can make a lot of money. For example, on my first delivery day, I made more than $200, including tips in the NY Yonkers area. 

However, after a few weeks, I found that delivery works slowed down a lot. Someday, I couldn’t even make $60 after 8 hours of work. I found several reasons for this. 

There are no limitations on how many drivers can sign up for UberEats. Therefore, more drivers are joining Uber each day. But the number of restaurants or number of customers are not increasing, thus, fewer jobs for drivers. That’s why UberEats is so slow for delivery drivers. 

There are several other reasons too. 

Weather, days of the week, and restaurant opening hours also affect delivery demands. For example, in NYC, most restaurants close around 10 PM to 11 PM and open in the morning at around 9 AM to 10 PM. Therefore, UberEats jobs dry up after 11 at night. 

During snow and rain, people order more than on other days. Saturday and Sunday are busy, but Monday and Tuesday are slow. January and February is the slowest month for UberEats drivers. In comparison, days like the super bowl, independence day, Christmas day, or Black Friday are the busiest ones. Because of all these reasons, UberEats could be slow or busy. 

To My Fellow UberEats Drivers:

I tried UberEats delivery for six months. After that, I stopped working for Uber. There are several reasons for that which I’m going to explain next. 

On UberEats, we are independent contractors. We deliver food. In return, Uber gives us payment. However, we are responsible for all the vehicle costs such as car payment, registration, insurance, and maintenance. 

When I signed up for UberEats, people at the Uber customer service center said that Uber takes a 25% cut, and we get 75% commissions. However, later I found that it’s not true. 

After each delivery, I tracked the payment. How much the customer paid, how much I got paid and how much Uber took. Consistently I found that Uber keeps up to 50% commissions for themselves. 

Drivers don’t realize that Uber is exploiting them. Uber keeps the majority of commissions but doesn’t take any responsibility for drivers suffering. 

An UberEats driver works because they need quick earnings and because they are desperate.

I used to drive in the Yonkers and Bronx area in New York. Here was my typical delivery. I would wait for a delivery call. After receiving a call, I would go to the restaurant, park my car and go inside to pick up food. Then I would go to customers’ houses, park my car, go up to the door and deliver food. After doing all this work, Uber would pay $3. I rarely got a delivery that paid more than 5 dollars in the Bronx and Yonkers area. 

This delivery was not frustrating. I found most of the UberEats customers are very friendly and polite. The payment was frustrating. I discovered that Uber regularly charged customers $6 to $7 but always paid us $3. On top of this, Uber also charges the restaurant. It’s really infuriating. 

After I cut the cost of car registration, insurance, gas, maintenance, and income tax, it left me with little money. In the New York City area, that money was not enough. 

It’s my realization that one can’t earn full-time income driving UberEats alone. Choose UberEats only as a part-time job. But if it’s possible, avoid UberEats altogether. It’s not worth it.