How Does UberEATS Work for Drivers?: A Walkthrough the Driver App

Updated 2019 – Are you looking to find out how UberEATS works and want to know how your pay is calculated driving for Uber? We give you a step by step guide on how the Uber Driver app works, with everything from how to contact a customer, cancel an order, accept multiple orders, provide feedback and much more! 

To make it simple we broke it down into 2 parts, The Pickup & Customer Delivery in 20 Easy Steps with screenshots.

We’ll show you how to calculate your driver pay using the rates from Toronto. You’ll learn about multiple orders and the option of driving for UberX and UberEATs simultaneously.

We break it all down so if you are a new driver or want to become one, you can understand how much you can earn working for Uber’s food delivery service, Uber Eats!

Ready to start delivering? Help keep us going and use our referral when you sign up!

Commercial Driver HQ
Commercial Driver HQ

Uber Eats vs Alternatives

UberEATS vs Skip the Dishes vs Foodora vs Door Dash? What is the difference? 

Flexibility

Just focusing on Uber Eats compared to the alternatives, the main difference is the flexibility. With Uber, you can log on and off the app whenever you want. You can also accept or decline delivery requests and work as much or as little as you want. It is also the most popular app so you are bound to get more work!

If you drive for other food delivery apps like Foodora, Skip the Dishes or Door Dash, you typically have to sign up for shifts in advance that vary in length. There isn’t as much flexibility to accept or decline a delivery request and to cancel shifts or end early.

With Uber you can also transport passengers if you meet the requirements for one of their rideshare services, like UberX. Signing up for both services will allow you to work for both simultaneously. Though you can set the app to do one or the other exclusively if you want.

Delivering for Multiple Platforms

Many drivers deliver for multiple platforms like Skip The Dishes or Foodora or Door Dash as well as Uber Eats. They will sign up for a shift with one of alternatives and turn on the Uber Eats app. Then, while they wait for an order from one of the other food delivery services, they do an Uber Eats order or two when it is not busy.

Some companies offer a minimum hourly wage on shift, like Foodora (in some zones) whereas Uber Eats has not offered a set hourly wage because it doesn’t require you to be online for any specific amount of time.

Learn more about driving for Foodora by checking out our article on their delivery jobs!

5 Steps: How the Uber Eats App Works

We have broken down the process of learning how the Uber Driver App works, which is actually the same app whether you are transporting passengers or delivery food. Delivering for Uber Eats is a bit different so let’s walk you through it. 

The screenshots have some blacks lines added to hide the customer name and address. We left the restaurant name because why not give the little guy some free advertising. The food sure did smell good!

We broke this down into 2 parts (The Pickup & Customer Delivery) in 20 Easy Steps!

Let’s understand how the Uber Eats app works and how your average delivery will go.

1. Getting Online

Once you open the app, you swipe the button in the top left corner of the screen to go online and wait for a “ping”, which is an incoming request for you to accept a delivery.

Display of UberEATS driver app as soon as it is opened

2. Accepting a Trip

As you can see, it will show you the amount of time it will take to get to the restaurant. The boost multiplier in each zone (which we will discuss later). The type of request (UberEATS or UberX if applicable). The app shows the approximate location of the pick-up.

You have until the white bar at the bottom of the screen runs out to tap to accept.  Or, you can tap “no thanks” in the top left corner if you don’t want to do the delivery. If you don’t make a decision, it will automatically decline the request. 

UberEATS Accept trip window

Here is an example of what it looks like when you decide to accept a trip. The app will tell you the name of the restaurant, the address and give you directions. You can use the Uber navigation system built into the app as seen here or you can select a third party navigation app which will open up separately, like Google Maps or Waze.

Pick up location map UberEATS driver app

3. The Pick Up

A couple more functions are displayed when you tap the bottom of the screen. Like an option to call the restaurant and special instructions such as where to park or location details.

Once you arrive at the restaurant and go in, you will tap on the blue bar that says “pick up 1 order” (see picture 4) and a new menu will pop up. Staff will typically ask you to confirm you order number before giving you the food. The “Order Not Ready” button doesn’t really do anything and really just for feedback. When you wait more than 10 minutes you can cancel and will be paid $5, however you typically have to contact support to request your compensation.

Tapping on the three vertical dots beside the restaurant name, this menu will come up.

If you scroll down, you will see that you have the option to call the restaurant, cancel the delivery pickup,  and an option to stop more incoming pings, which you can use if you want to go offline after you complete this delivery. It also gives you the customer name but no contact details yet. 

PickUp Feedback

After you pick up the order you can leave feedback for the restaurant. You will see a rating screen asking you whether or not the pick up was positive or negative.

If you hit the X button this menu pops up with a list of reasons for you to choose if you want to cancel the pickup. The app displays the menu below if you want to cancel the trip before arriving.

Once you have the food, you then hit the check mark. You can rate the pickup experience with the thumbs up or down button or just start the trip by hitting “next”. If everything went well, hit thumbs up and “next”. 

If you had a problem, hit thumbs down and you can provide feedback from a list of options or type in your own complaint. Click done to return, then hit “next” to move on.

After you have provided your feedback, this screen will pop up. You then swipe right to begin the delivery to the customer and you are on your way!

4. Customer Delivery

Now that you have the food and completed the in-app steps, you are ready to bring the delivery you picked up to the hungry customer. Let’s walk through the steps from the time you start the trip to the completion of the delivery so you understand exactly how the Uber Eats app works. 

The first thing you will see when you swipe to start the trip (see picture 10) is the delivery address, which you actually weren’t given until this point. In this picture it is under the black lines in the top. Also blacked out in the bottom is the customer name.

If you tap the bottom of the screen, you see a similar menu as you would if you were heading to the restaurant. Here, there are special instructions from the customer and an ability to call them. Don’t worry, your number is blocked. 

When you hit the three vertical dots, you will get a screen that let’s you call the customer or cancel the delivery. Sometimes accidents happen or the customer cancels the delivery. You can receive pings for a new order before you complete your current one but if you want to take a break or go home, you can hit the button at the bottom to stop new requests from coming in.

Contacting the Customer

If you get to the customer’s house and they don’t answer the door, give them a call by hitting the telephone icon. After you hang up, a blue bar will pop up on the screen asking you if the customer didn’t answer.

If you tap this light blue bar, a pop up will appear. Hit Notify and it starts a 5 minute timer. You can cancel the order if the customer doesn’t answer their door before the 5 minutes expire. When this happens you get paid in full and can keep or discard the food!

UberEATS notify customer app

5. Completing the Trip

Most of the time the customer answers the door. After you give them the food, you will hit confirm drop-off (see picture 14) at the bottom of the screen. The app will let you know who you are supposed to make the final delivery to. Selecting the recipient will allow you to click on the bar at the bottom titled “Next: Rating” to move on.  

You can then rate the drop-off experience. If all was good, hit thumbs up and save to move on.

UberEATS customer rating page

If you hit thumbs down, you can provide feedback about the drop-off. You can choose from a list of options or enter your own. Hit done and you will return to the main screen. 

Almost there! Swipe the red bar right to complete your trip.

UberEATS complete trip page in the driver app

Log Out or Start A New Trip

Completing your trip you brings you back to the main screen, online and waiting for the next ping. If you accepted a ping before completing your trip, the whole process will just start over. If you selected stop requests at any point, the app will ask you if you want to confirm you still want to go offline. 

UberEATS trip summary page in the app

As you can see, there is a trip summary your earnings from your last trip and the daily total. This trip took a bit longer due to extra time capturing screenshots of every option and step. The time online also includes time you are waiting for a ping in addition to deliveries.  

Now that we have figured out how to do a delivery, let’s figure out how you are paid!

Have you heard about the small town that replaced their public transit system with Uber? Read more…

How to Calculate Your Uber Eats Pay

As an Uber driver doing deliveries, you get paid a flat rate for picking up the order and a flat rate per order dropped off, plus a rate per kilometre driven from the restaurant to the customer. You do not get paid for the distance traveled to the restaurant or time spent stuck in traffic. 

Sometimes you get multiple pings for a pickup request at the same restaurant. You will get an additional drop off fee for each customer location you deliver to but only one pickup fee.

Accepting cash tips from customers is acceptable and customers also have the option to tip you in the app after the deliver is made.

Uber then subtracts their Uber Fee, or Commission, from your fare which is a percentage of your total earnings for that trip, excluding tips. 

Speaking of tips, check out our article where we got tips and tricks from a Toronto Uber Eats driver to maximize your earnings!

During peak times Uber may offer a pay “boost”. This is where UberEATS uses a multiplier to increase your earnings.

UberEATS app showing the boost zones
Example of boost zone map

The boosts are offered based on times and zones, which are displayed in the app and also on the ping for a delivery request. 

If an in-demand delivery area advertises a multiplier, like 1.7, then your fare is increased by 70%. The Uber Fee (Commission) is only applied to your fare, not the boost. That is all yours!

UberEATS Pay Calculations

You are not alone if you are wondering how the pay is calculated for Uber EATS orders. Uber is notorious for lacking transparency and contacting support can be very frustrating. 

We will use the rates for an Uber EATS driver in Toronto to show you how your earnings are calculated. Though the rates vary city by city, the calculations are the same. 

Find your city and the rates for Uber Eats, as well as the requirements to driver on our courier page.

Toronto UberEATS Rates

$2.90/Pick up

35%

Uber Commission

$1.05/km

Boosts Multiplier

$2.50/Drop off

Tips

Let’s Do an ExampleYou pick up an order and deliver it 3.7 km away from the restaurant to the customer. The boost at the time you pick up the order is 1.6 and the customer tips you $2.00. You would make…

Step 1 (Fare): $2.90 + $2.50 + ($1.05 x 3.7) = $9.29
Step 2 (Commission): $9.29 x 0.35 = $3.25Step 3 (Net Fare): $9.29 – $3.25 = $6.04
Step 4 (Boost): $9.29 x 0.6 = $5.57 
Step 5 (Total Pay): $6.04 + $5.57 + $2.00 = $13.61

UberX vs UberEATS Pay

If you drive UberX or another service type transporting passengers, you can also get UberEATS delivery requests. You can select the types of requests you want to get under Preferences in the app.

If you drive UberX as well as UberEATS, the commission rate Uber takes is typically 10% lower than if you only have an UberEATS account. However, the boosts offered to UberX drivers for UberEATS orders is lower than the UberEATS only drivers. Some drivers that do both feel the better boosts make it worth setting up two accounts, one for UberX trips only and one for UberEATS only.


About The Author: Commercial Driver HQ

Commercial Driver HQ strives to provide you with quality information about driving for a living. Whether you’re an Uber driver or a long-haul trucker, we are here to help you succeed!

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