If the title alone makes you laugh in that sad-but-funny way, you definitely need to read this post. More than a few rideshare and delivery drivers wonder, in fact, if they might be downright crazy working these kinds of gigs in the first place. 

While there’s no doubt that driving for a living can be more than slightly maddening, there are ways to maintain your mental health that you need to know about. We’re going to cover this topic objectively and compassionately, and offer practical solutions. Here’s how we’ll organize things:

• Why mental health matters
• The relationship between mental health and driving
• Threats to the gig driver’s emotional stability
• How to be a gig driver and stay happy

Why mental health matters

Have you ever heard of the mind-body connection? There are volumes written on it, as well as hours of videos and innumerable academic presentations. The mind-body connection is the term psychologists use to describe the way the mind can affect the body.

Maybe you’ve noticed that when you’re feeling down or even depressed, you seem to get more colds. Or that when you’re uptight about dealing with authority figures, or even having to deal with upsetting financial issues, you get a pain in the neck or a major headache? And how many times has a large dose of emotional turmoil made you sick to your stomach?

It’s true that many physical ailments can be related to mental and emotional distress. Stress, in and of itself, can cause problems such as heart disease and debilitating muscle spasms. A lack of exercise or free movement can create musculoskeletal conditions that turn into crippling arthritis. The mind and the body are inexorably connected, and the fact that you need to take care of your body, on its own, is enough reason to tend to your mental health.

The relationship between mental health and driving

Your ability to cope, or lack of it, with your work life can really mess up your home, family, and social life. We’ve all heard of “work-life balance” among the clichéd phrases that get thrown around in the name of “mindfulness” and “wellness.” 

Being unable to recover from what we put ourselves through on the average driving shift can gravely disrupt relationships with those we love. While it’s true that we have to hustle to make a good income with gig driving, we also need to take time off for the sake of our own mental health.

If we don’t do this, our performance suffers. We could make mistakes with the app, fail to pick up or deliver the right items, accidentally go through stop signs or red lights, or wind up in mishaps that involve other vehicles and injure innocent people. You can’t be a reliable driver without a brain and body that’s well rested and alert, and you can’t have a healthy body if you don’t prevent what’s going on in your mind from slowly tearing it apart.

Threats to the gig driver’s emotional stability

Gig working is challenging enough, with problems such as long hours, changing shifts , late nights and disrupted sleep, eating far too many meals alone and/or while on the run, and not sticking to a healthy diet. Doing gig driving while the driver is literally running on empty isn’t safe for the driver, potential passengers, or other people who happen to be on the road.

The stress of dealing with traffic jams, cranky passengers, restaurant employees, and delivery customers can certainly tax a driver’s ability to cope. Add in the pressure from the driving app to make double deliveries, or multiple stops for a customer whose trip isn’t going to amount to much, and you’ve got a recipe for mental meltdowns.

In addition to all that, the social lives of drivers often suffer because the best times for them to work are when everybody else is out having a good time. It’s hard to find friends who want to have a few drinks or play video games with you on random Tuesday afternoons. This can result in depression and isolation, and may even lead to drug and alcohol abuse.

No one wants to see drivers wind up as a suicide statistic, but sadly, some do. Financial pressures, considering the fluctuations in DoorDash driver pay or Instacart shopper pay, can contribute to fear, anxiety, and depression. 

The risks drivers take to their personal safety can heighten hypervigilance, and further stress. Along with all this, rising costs of living and the shrinking opportunities offered by the average rideshare driver app create a disheartening combination of crushing stressors.

While these situations paint a bleak picture of the life rideshare and delivery drivers lead, you’re not destined to experience a life of stress and sadness. With the right tools and smart mental health moves, you can take control of your life, find better job satisfaction, and create a more balanced mix between work and fun.

How to be a gig driver and stay happy

There’s plenty of DoorDash driver advice out there, and certainly no shortage of Uber driver advice. Much of it simply puts more pressure on drivers: drive more hours, get two phones and use two apps at the same time, drive in the middle of the night when no one else will. 

Advice like this doesn’t do a very good job at lessening stress. Here, we want to focus on ways to maintain your mental health, not lose your “stuff!” With that in mind, let’s look at some of the challenges drivers face, and find solutions that make being a driver easier and your life much happier.

Turn loneliness and isolation into engagement and socialization.

If you simply jump into your vehicle and drive around, grumpily picking up people and/or packages and meals, as though you don’t want to be there, you can become quite lonely, very fast. It’s true that any conversations you might have may be brief and not terribly meaningful, but if you take on a friendly attitude, you’ll feel so much more socially connected. 

How can you do this? Go out of your way to say a few words to people you meet. Yes, even the surly burrito roller at your regular pickup spot will get way nicer when you ask how their day’s going, or even simply comment on what a nice day it is. Customers for rideshare don’t always want to talk, but many do. You’ll be amazed at the cool connections you can make and the interesting characters you’ll encounter!

Turn not knowing where to turn into finding the help you need.

If you’re feeling as though you need immediate help to get out of your funk, or overcome anxiety, be less angry, or keep clear boundaries, there’s a wonderful place for you to turn to. 

Sesame, rated the #1 telehealth company in 2021, is a comprehensive resource for medical as well as mental health care. Set up an appointment with a medical or mental health specialist within minutes, and get the help you need. Visits cost as little as $19 each, and if you're a Gridwise user, you’ll receive a 20% discount when you use the code GRIDWISE20. Sesame will be there for you 365, 24/7. Book an appointment any time, at sesamecare.co, and take advantage of your Gridwise discount.

Turn driver burnout into knowing when enough is enough.

Using a delivery or rideshare driver app can easily drag you into doing more work than you originally intended. The video game-like aspect of the apps can have you chasing that one more delivery for an extra $25, or pushing your ride total up so you can reach the platinum level for Uber Pro. Pay attention to when you feel compelled by the nature of the driving game, set deadlines or financial goals for yourself, and stop before you…just can’t.

Taking more breaks can help, too. Pull over now and then, park safely, then create your own little “meditation time.” This can help you to calm down and be ready to take on more driving with a much more relaxed and balanced outlook.

Turn worries about pay into certainty about what you’re earning.

If you knew exactly how much you were earning for each day, week, and month you drive, maybe you wouldn’t give in to that compulsion to keep driving for a few extra hours. As the best earning tracker app for gig drivers, Gridwise tracks all your gig driving earnings, seamlessly. Simply sync your driving apps with Gridwise, and detailed, easy-to-read graphs, displaying how much you’re earning, magically appear. 

Any shrink will tell you that certainty can help alleviate anxiety, as will knowing what you can’t change, and identifying the things you can do something about.

Turn fretting about finding business into knowing where and when you can make the most money.

Driving around aimlessly looking for business, particularly with gas prices shooting through the roof, can add tons of stress to a driver’s life. That’s why Gridwise developed Where to Drive and When to Drive. These powerful features provide data based on real drivers in your area. They show you the best times and places to get the business you’re looking for, and help you plan your driving life so you can fit in some social time too.

While we’re talking about drivers’ mental health, let’s pose a rather poignant question: What happens when you really need professional help? As it turns out, it’s easier to get affordable medical and mental health coverage than you might think.

Turn the “no benefits” tightrope walk into a safety net that keeps you covered.

One of the biggest risks drivers take as independent contractors is working without getting employee benefits. Everything is fine while you’re healthy and strong, but as soon as something goes wrong, you could wind up with a major financial disaster piling on top of your substantial medical woes.

This no longer has to happen. With Gridwise Benefits, you can get coverage that makes you feel safe in almost any kind of unfortunate situation. Gridwise is so much more than an Uber mileage tracking app or Lyft mileage tracker. It’s a resource that offers tons of great benefits, including

• Gridwise Protection: covers 80% of your income when you’re unable to work
• Gridwise Dollar Benefits: offers low-cost and no-cost policies for

• accidental death & disability (AD&D) insurance
• life insurance
• telehealth visits with $0 copay
• accident medical-expense insurance
• dental insurance
• vision insurance
• critical illness insurance
• teletherapy 

As you can see, Gridwise is way more than a rideshare assistant app and earnings tracker app for gig drivers. It’s the #1 assistant for rideshare and delivery drivers because it supplies drivers with all the things they need to be successful on the road, and helps drivers support and maintain their financial and mental health.

With Gridwise, you’re never out there on the road all alone. Get smart. Get Gridwise. It’s free!

Download the # 1 rideshare assistant app today!

A recent IRS ruling gives gig drivers a break when it comes to maximizing earnings. The IRS increased the optional standard mileage rate to $0.625 per mile.

How does this affect drivers? Read on as we address key subjects and questions in this latest development for gig drivers. Subjects include

• What is the new mileage rate for the remainder of 2022?
• How does the new policy work?
• Surcharges removed by some companies using gig drivers
• An overview of other measures to soften the blow of high fuel prices

What is the new mileage rate for the remainder of 2022?

The change to $0.625 a mile is a $0.04 increase over the current optional standard mileage rate of $0.585 per gallon. The IRS release notes that this is a rare mid-year change in the optional standard mileage rate. The last time the IRS made such a mid-year change was in 2011. The IRS typically updates the mileage rates in the fall for the next calendar year. The increase in deduction is effective July 1, 2022. Gig drivers will have to claim their mileage for the first six months of the year at the previous rate.

The IRS release made no mention of a possible readjustment of the deduction once gas prices return to lower levels.

How the new the policy works

The optional standard mileage rate is a per-mile deduction that drivers apply against their gross earnings, allowing them to reduce their taxable income. This only applies to miles driven as part of self-employment. At tax time, drivers tally up the miles driven during the year for business and multiply it by $0.585 per gallon (until July 1). They deduct that amount from their total gross income. This, along with any other deductions they take, determines their taxable income.

For drivers that average 20,000 miles a year in rideshare miles on their car (typical for a part-time rideshare driver), this increase allows them to lower their gross income by an additional $800. For some that might be enough to drop them into a lower tax bracket.

The optional standard mileage deduction is used in lieu of tracking actual costs. It covers fuel costs related to business driving, as well as other fixed and variable costs such as depreciation, insurance, repairs, and other costs.

Surcharges removed by some gig app companies

In recent months rideshare and food delivery drivers have benefitted from other measures designed to provide them with extra money to offset the cost of fuel. Most notably, both Lyft and Uber announced 55-cent-per-ride surcharges, all of which went to the driver. These surcharges took effect in mid-March. Both rideshare companies, as well as DoorDash, announced that the surcharges would be re-evaluated after 60 days.

Uber Eats and DoorDash removed the gas surcharges in May, as reported in a Gridwise blog post titled Uber Eats and DoorDash Remove Gas Incentives for Delivery Drivers. Uber kept the surcharges in effect for rideshare drivers, as did Lyft.

An overview of other measures to soften the blow of high fuel prices

So far, gig drivers are compelled to piece together a patchwork of different benefits that still probably don’t come close to offsetting the increase, but everything helps. The major measures include:

Gridwise’s mileage tracking app for delivery drivers

When used in unison with the increased IRS optional standard mileage rate deduction, the Gridwise mileage tracking app helps keep more accurate track of mileage. This allows drivers to maximize tax deductions for rideshare and food delivery driving, too. Users report that the Gridwise mileage tracker app for gig drivers is more accurate than the figures reported for the individual drivers from the rideshare companies. One driver said that at tax time he found 8,000 more miles through the Gridwise app. Many drivers refer to it as the best mileage tracking app available. The Gridwise app is also a mileage tracker for DoorDash and other food delivery drivers as well.

The rideshare fuel surcharge

For part-time rideshare drivers averaging 40 rideshare rides a week, this means extra income in their pocket. At $0.55 a ride, this computes to as much as $22 a week. Full-time drivers will realize more. 

The Gridwise Gas discount for rideshare and delivery drivers

Gridwise reported in a recent blog post titled Gridwise Increases Gas Discount to Help Rideshare and Delivery Drivers that it increased the discount on its GasBuddy card from $0.10 up to as much as $0.50 a gallon. The card, which is a free benefit of Gridwise, is available to drivers when they sign up on the website.

Other Gridwise features

The Gridwise app has a number of other features providing drivers with a clear picture of where their money comes from. Gridwise also features an earnings tracker app for drivers. This is essential for those that multi-app, meaning that they drive for both Uber and Lyft, and might also incorporate food delivery into their gig driving activities. Drivers can also maximize their earnings by checking out the Where to Drive and When to Drive features in the Gridwise app. The Gridwise app also keeps drivers informed of peak times at airports and lists special events that also generate extra rides.

Being in the right place at the right time is an excellent way of avoiding useless miles and wasted gas.

Are all these measures enough?

As we mentioned earlier, even if drivers maximize their usage of all these tools, it is difficult to offset all the increases in gas prices since early this year. According to the AAA, gas prices nationwide averaged $4.955 cents per gallon as of June 22, 2022. A year ago, they were almost $2.00 less—$3.069 a gallon.

What is driving these higher prices? Any number of events both domestically and internationally affect the price of gas, but the Ukrainian-Russian conflict is seen as a major part of the problem. There is no projection as to when those hostilities will end. 

Gridwise empowers gig drivers

One absolute for gig drivers is that they can benefit from using the Gridwise app. Gridwise is dedicated to helping gig drivers work smarter and protecting more of their income. In addition to keeping drivers informed about saving money on fuel, Gridwide also helps them choose the best phone plans,find the best source of service for their car, and even learn how to protect themselves from danger when they are driving. 

Every gig driver can drive smarter and become more profitable. Interested?

Download Gridwise for free!

Oh, MAN! Those prices at the pump are chewing away at drivers’ earnings more and more each day. While there’s still money to be made with your driving gig, it’s hard for everybody to keep total earnings at maximum levels. Still, the fact you’re not the only one falling short of cash doesn’t change the fact that you have to make ends meet.

With high gas prices and inflation making the basic cost of living much higher than it was, it’s harder than ever to break even. When we ask, How much do delivery drivers make? or How much do rideshare drivers make? there’s an easy answer. Right now, we all need ways to make more!

There are lots of side gigs for rideshare and delivery drivers, but many of them don’t make sense because they cost more money and take more time than they’re worth. Who needs to invest in equipment or spend hours every day working on a website geared at attracting referrals and ads?

You need to find a side hustle that’s not a huge hassle, and in this blog post we’ll tell you about a gig that’s perfect for drivers. And you won’t have to buy more gas, invest extra money or time, or do any additional driving. If that sounds too good to be true, hang on. We’re going to prove that it’s really possible, right here in this blog post. Here’s how it’ll go:

• Neighbor: the Airbnb of storage
• Why Neighbor works for drivers
• How Neighbor pays
• Getting started with Neighbor

Neighbor: the Airbnb of storage

You’ve heard of renting out a living space to people who want to stay for a few days, and people do make money doing that. Good for them. But for drivers, it can be a tremendous pain to deal with the cleaning up, setting up, and schedule rearranging it takes to do that.

We bet you haven’t heard, at least not yet, about a new way to get people to pay you to rent your extra space without having them kick you out of your house every other weekend or becoming a landlord. It’s exciting, can be fun, and definitely will be profitable.

Thanks to a great new company called Neighbor, you won’t have to give strangers access to your living area or vacate it while they’re using it. You can still make money renting your extra space but with far less hassle and many more possibilities. They’re  called Neighbor because, in most cases, the people who rent space from you will be from your local area.

Not all of us have a spare apartment or house, but have you got a shed, an extra parking spot, or room for storage in your basement or garage? How about a carport, attic, or empty lot? 

If you let your Neighbor store their Boat or RV in your side yard, you make money each month AND everyone thinks you own a boat. Double win. 

People need more local rental space, so they can

• pay up to 50% less than traditional storage and parking options for RVs, boats, and cars
• keep belongings safe while they’re waiting for construction or renovation to be completed
• have a safe place to keep their treasures if they’ve been evacuated due to a natural disaster
• have a place to keep wedding gifts, baby gear, and the like while they wait for their next home to be available
• find a place to store out–of-season clothing, sporting equipment, and other items
• Help the environment by recycling existing space

You can probably imagine even more reasons why Neighbor is such a great option for customers. Now, start to visualize what space you’ve got available so that you can begin collecting extra cash just for letting people park their stuff with you.

With Neighbor, you can turn your extra square footage into a real income boost. Not only will you be making more money, you’ll make someone’s life easier, simply by renting them some small portion of your extra square footage.

Why Neighbor works for drivers

Being a gig driver takes up a lot of time, especially now that we have to work so hard to optimize every mile we travel. Surely you’ve read Uber driver tips to earn more. There are bonuses and incentives to take more rides and deliveries, refer new drivers, and go out during rush hour and other high-traffic times of day. And of course, you’ll need to use a free mileage tracker app like Gridwise to make sure you're taking advantage of tax deductions, now more than ever before.

Making money with Neighbor is way easier, and you can do it while you’re driving. You won’t have a worry in the world when it comes to dealing with people, lease agreements, billing, or insurance. Neighbor has got you covered!

• Neighbor takes care of all the administrative work.
• Neighbor gives you $1,000,000 of insurance coverage at no charge.
• Neighbor offers the support of a super responsive customer service team.

If you have any kind of spare space, whether it’s in your home or elsewhere, you can monetize it now with Neighbor. That means that while you’re out driving, you collect rent without doing anything. It’s a “set & forget” model

Neighbor is perfect for drivers because it offers

• passive income with almost no effort
• a way to make money that doesn’t involve using gasoline
• the ability to rent as many spaces as desired
• opportunities to make life easier for people in need

Now that we know why it pays for drivers to become “Neighbors,” let’s see how Neighbor goes about getting you paid.

How Neighbor pays

Whether you’re willing to be a good neighbor by storing a box or two in the bottom of your closet, hanging someone’s bike on the bare wall in your mudroom, or letting a car fetishist park his antique Aston Martin in the spare stall of your garage, Neighbor is your way to get paid.

Much like the rideshare and delivery apps you’re so accustomed to using, Neighbor links your 

bank account to the app so you’ll be all set up for payments. Neighbor’s “take,” the amount they collect for each transaction, is a $4.9% processing fee. They also charge $0.30 for every reservation made.

So if you rent that spot in your garage to the dude with the Aston Martin for $200 per month, Neighbor will take $9.80, plus the reservation fee of $0.30, for a total of $10.10. That leaves you with a sweet $189.90 a month, just for letting someone fill up space you weren’t using anyway!

It’s also great to know that you won’t have to do any of the “admin” when it comes to billing the actual customer, or collecting money for your space. When you get your request, the customer will have already paid for the first rental period. After that, Neighbor does the billing and Neighbor will pay you even if the renter fails to fork over the rental fee. That’s all thanks to the Neighbor Payment Protection Plan.

Smaller spaces, of course, will garner smaller payouts, but any money you can make, with that little effort, is going to go far toward helping you cope with rising costs. And it’s also very cool that you’ll be coming to the aid of someone by giving them an economical way to meet their storage needs.

Getting started with Neighbor

As you know by now, Neighbor runs on an app, just like the platforms you use for gig driving. It’s even easier to get started with Neighbor than it is to figure out how to become a rideshare driver or how to become a delivery driver. You simply decide what space you want to rent out, get it all ready, and list it on the Neighbor app. Signing up is totally free!

When you get a request to rent, you can decide whether or not to approve it. You also get to set the date and time for “move-in.” Neighbor promises hosts that they

• get to set the price for renting their space
• can opt to accept or reject rental offers
• determine when and how renters can gain access to their item

As you can see, Neighbor is truly a great way to create a stream of passive income with almost no effort at all! You can make money and still be free to go out and do your rideshare or delivery duties. And when you sign up with Neighbor, you’ll be able to afford the gas it takes to keep your driving gig going. You’ll also have plenty of spare cash, and time, to fill up your non-working hours with the things you love to do.

Neighbor is the answer to every rideshare and delivery driver’s plea for a safe, easy, convenient, and fast way to create passive income. Don’t wait! 

Start making money as a Neighbor Host today!

Drivers are making more in the wake of Uber Connect’s rollout, a program developed by Uber for same-day delivery of items. 

Uber expanded the program in late 2021 to more than 6,000 US cities, including all the major markets, according to a December 2021 report in The Verge, a tech blog. 

It was enough to push Uber driver hourly pay to an average of $22.04 an hour in the first quarter of 2022. This was a few cents more than the $21.97 made by Lyft drivers during the same period, according to numbers in “How Much Do Uber Drivers Make: Uber Driver Pay in 2022,” a Gridwise blog post from this past April.

If you’re one of the drivers that prefer to look at earnings per trip as a measure of your success, the Q1 numbers for Uber driver pay per trip were a little higher, too. Uber drivers earned an average of $13.76 per trip in the first quarter, while Lyft drivers brought in $13.03 per trip. 

In this blog post, we answer the following questions:

• What is Uber Connect?
• How does Uber package delivery work?
• How does Uber package delivery work for drivers?
• Did Uber Connect make the difference in Uber driver pay?
• What restrictions does Uber Connect place on items it transports?
• What can drivers do to improve their earnings?

What is Uber Connect?

Lets discuss what Uber Connect is. Uber Connect launched as a test program in mid-2020 as rideshare companies scrambled to generate income in the early months of the pandemic. 

In May 2021, according to a New York Times article, Uber reported 3.5 million active drivers during the first quarter of that year. That number was down 22%, or close to a million drivers, from the same period a year earlier. The article also reported that Uber experienced an 11% drop in revenues for the same period. 

That drop would have likely been worse had Uber not launched Uber Eats. The company quickly followed with a test launch of Uber Connect and other services. The June 2020 Gridwise post, “Uber Connect and Uber Direct: Here’s Everything Drivers Need to Know about Uber’s New Services,” reported that Uber Connect launched the program in more than two dozen markets in the US, Australia, Mexico, and India. 

Image credit: Uber

How does Uber package delivery work?

For the shipper, ordering Uber Connect is similar to ordering a ride. When customers open the Uber app on their cell phones, they view a selection of services. Uber ridesharing and Uber Eats appear in two large tiles at the top of the screen. Packages appear below, along with other services. 

The app guides the customer through the remaining steps:

1. The customer indicates whether they are the sender or recipient.
2. The customer enters the destination.
3. The customer then selects and confirms the Uber Connect service.
4. The customer confirms the pickup location.
5. The customer reviews the delivery and drop-off details and the package guidelines, and confirms the information and compliance.
6. The app confirms a driver and an estimated cost. 
7. The customer receives a cost estimate for the delivery and confirms the order. The customer also indicates whether the driver needs to come to the door and pick up the item or whether the sender will meet them on the street.

The recipient receives a PIN via text message when the delivery is near; they receive another text when the driver has arrived. The PIN must be presented to receive the package. There are also instructions available to the driver should the recipient not have the PIN or if the recipient is not at the address. 

How does Uber package delivery work for drivers?

For an Uber Connect driver, the program works the same way it does for other levels of driving. Drivers select on the app whether they want to accept Uber Connect deliveries. This is done on the Driver Preferences tab. If they so choose, the app gives them Uber Connect requests in their area according to the algorithm, similar to deliveries. Uber Connect drivers follow the instructions as far as picking up deliveries and announcing their arrival. 

Did Uber Connect make a difference in Uber driver pay?

That’s a tough call. Uber has yet to release numbers related specifically to income from Uber Connect, either in terms of gross earnings made by Uber, or earnings realized by drivers.

Like ridesharing services from Uber, Uber Connect driver pay is determined by mileage and time; however, the rates are not the same as the Uber rate card for ridesharing. As of this writing, we were unable to confirm any info on driver compensation for Uber Connect. 

What restrictions does Uber Connect place on items drivers can transport?

The Uber website has a list of items that are prohibited from being transported on Uber Connect. There are no surprises. The list includes

• people
• firearms, weapons, ammunition, and associated parts
• alcohol
• highly perishable foods or beverages (e.g., raw meat or dairy products)
• pharmaceutical products, over-the-counter medications, vitamins, or supplements
• money, including gift cards, lottery tickets, or transferable securities
• recreational drugs, drug paraphernalia, or tobacco products
• dangerous or hazardous items, including explosives, items that are poisonous or flammable (including paints or adhesives containing a flammable liquid)

A complete listing of prohibited items is on the Uber website. 

Other restrictions include that the package must be sealed, weigh no more than 30 pounds, and fit easily into the trunk of a car. 

Lyft counters with its own package delivery service

Lyft has a similar program, Lyft Delivery, which is described on its website. The service is available in limited markets which had not been announced as of this writing. 

According to the Lyft website, however, Lyft Delivery orders would be counted as rides when factored into Lyft ride streaks. It was not clear whether the rides would also be factored into other Lyft promotions. This information was not included on the Uber site. 

Are Uber and Lyft trying to create a market that already exists?

Many rideshare drivers relate that prior to the launch of Uber Connect or Lyft Delivery, there were occasions in which they arrived for a passenger and were instead asked to deliver an item. Are the rideshare companies taking a market that already exists and giving it a different name? One Lyft driver who quit at the onset of the pandemic had this to say: 

In 5,500 rides, I was asked to deliver items on a handful of instances. I delivered human hair to a beauty salon, a CD with graphic files, and once I picked up car keys from a man at his work and delivered them to his wife at their home. He had accidentally picked up her car keys when he left. Frankly, I liked these rides. Inanimate objects don’t care if you stop for a soda or go to the bathroom, and there was nothing in the Lyft Terms of Service forbidding it.

The driver added that he retired from the marketing industry before becoming an Uber driver. He speculated that perhaps the rideshare companies were looking to expand this part of the business by formalizing it. “Now they can market it,” he added. “Awareness is a big step in growing the demand for that service. I’m sure lots of people never thought about using rideshare to deliver things.” 

Even with Uber Connect, drivers still must optimize their earnings

As the public becomes aware of this new service, business will increase for drivers. However, inflation and high fuel prices still require drivers to take advantage of all the tools available to protect their earnings. 

You can read about new fuel discounts from Gridwise in “Gridwise Increases Gas Discount To Help Rideshare and Delivery Drivers.” Drivers can now save up to 50 cents a gallon with the GasBuddy card from Gridwise. Gridwise also offers the best mileage tracker for Uber and Lyft drivers. Drivers report that the Gridwise mileage tracker helped them realize thousands of extra miles they could deduct from their taxes.  

Download Gridwise for free now!

Drivers can also maximize their earnings on the Gridwise app by checking out Where to Drive and When to Drive. Ensuring they are in the right place at the right time when demand is high means less driving around and less gas needed. The Gridwise app informs drivers of special events and surge times at the airports, and which rideshare services offer better opportunities for earnings. 

As summer travel and events heat up, more drivers are getting back on the road … so we thought it was time for an upgrade to how you can earn with Gridwise.

The Gridwise Events tab in the mobile app is getting a redesign to help gig drivers earn more. Read on to find out what the new design means for drivers. 

One big change: More events for rideshare drivers

Drivers use Gridwise to help them find Uber and Lyft hotspots when they’re on the road. Now, the mobile app makes it even easier to find high-demand areas with more events to choose from. 

Drivers who live outside major cities can finally take advantage of Uber and Lyft hot spots without trekking into the city. This is thanks to broader location coverage that identifies the closest events in your area, not just in your nearest major city. 

The new look

The sleek redesign puts all the notable music, art, sports, and cultural events happening near you in one place – and lets you know how far you are from the venue and how much the event is expected to increase demand. 

The page also includes a snapshot of relevant holidays and weather updates that might affect traffic or event attendance. 

Easily filter and save the events that you want to track right in the Gridwise app. 

Tips for Uber and Lyft drivers

• The updated Gridwise Events tab lets you see, all in one place, the hot events happening near you so you can plan your driving route and schedule around peak earning hours. 
• Stress less with automatic reminders that notify you when to get on the road to earn on event days.
• Stop relying on unpredictable hot spots; Gridwise uses real-time driver data to notify you exactly what events will drive up demand and when. 

Don't miss another high-earning event!

Download the free Gridwise driver app now

The impact of high gas prices hits rideshare and delivery drivers really hard. If you’re wondering things like “Does Uber pay for gas?” or “Does DoorDash pay for gas?” you might be surprised at the answers. Drivers are independent contractors who pay for the cost of doing business directly out of their own pockets. To pay for gas, they are now taking nearly twice as much money out of their earnings than they did a year ago. The pain is real, and it is also quite intense.

Gridwise is an app that rideshare and delivery drivers use as an assistant. It tracks mileage, syncs with drivers’ company apps to track earnings, and allows them to record expenses. Gridwise also has features that help drivers work “smarter,” such as airport information and insight on where they can potentially get the most business. It is known as the best mileage tracking app for Uber and DoorDash, and drivers from many other rideshare and delivery services are avid users as well.

Gridwise has a close and powerful connection with the large and diverse community of gig drivers. And, as costs have been rising, we’ve noticed that drivers are looking more intensely than ever for ways to save. This makes it easier for those of us who are advertising to rideshare and delivery drivers to get more of their attention.

In this post, we will share what we’ve found about the way drivers are coping with rising costs and how this can help you promote helpful products and services that will make the lives of rideshare and delivery drivers easier.

We will look at

• gas price pain: how rising gas prices change driver behavior
• future possibilities: how gig driving could change
• how Gridwise helps drivers
• delivery driver and rideshare advertising: how your company benefits from helping drivers, and how your brand can make a direct impact

Gas price pain: how rising gas prices change driver behavior

With a network of more than 300,000 drivers, Gridwise can always get an idea of what’s going on in their world. We recently polled 1,000 rideshare and delivery drivers, and what they told us proves they are and will be changing their behavior as a result of rising costs.

While some drivers, due to gas price hikes, cut down their more active schedules to working just a few days a week, about 75% of drivers said they are driving as much as always. Driving is a matter of necessity for them, because it is their full time job. Still, they are changing the way that they do business in an attempt to defray the high cost of fuel.

The rideshare and delivery companies have tried to help with surcharges and fuel subsidies. There is no company Uber gas card or Lyft gas reimbursement, but both companies have imposed a surcharge on customers to help drivers. Uber’s surcharge varies from 45 to 55 cents per ride, depending on local gas prices. This amount, even though it reflects the companies’ recognition of the burden being placed on drivers, has a long way to go before it actually covers their costs. In a few select places, such as New York City, drivers were given a 5.3% increase in their minimum wage rate to cover the higher fuel costs, so the surcharge was not applied in that market.

Our data show that nationwide, most rideshare and delivery earnings rose over the course of the first quarter of 2022. In the case of rideshare, drivers for Uber and Lyft seem to have had healthy increases in their monthly gross earnings. Uber drivers earned $348.22 on average in January, $463.71 in February, and $537.29 in March. Lyft had similar increases, with average January earnings at $329.24, rising in February to $442.29, and peaking in March at $537.94.

Delivery drivers didn’t see the same kind of increase in gross earnings. Theirs either increased slightly, remained stable, and in some cases, decreased slightly over the three-month period. For example, DoorDash drivers earned an average of $220.16 in January, $224.26 in February, and $244.86 in March. Uber Eats drivers brought in $128.89 in January, $130.12 in February, and just $114.81 in March.

Remembering that these numbers represent gross earnings, it leads us to wonder if the increases were due to the gas surcharge or bonuses that might have been offered, particularly by the rideshare companies. There have been reports of enticing offers the companies extended to get drivers to stay on the road, or to possibly encourage new ones to get started.

Drivers don’t seem to be feeling this rise in earnings, however, and that could definitely be due to the skyrocketing price of fuel. It seems that the efforts the companies have made, to add surcharges, offer gas deals, or award bonuses, are not making drivers feel they’re getting the support they need.

In fact, a survey we conducted within our driver community told us that 70% of them don’t believe the added fee as represented by the Uber fuel surcharge is sufficient to cover the 43% rise in gas prices since last year. There is no DoorDash gas surcharge, but the company offers Dashers 10% back on their purchase of gas, as long as they pay with DasherDirect, which functions as a kind of DoorDash gas card. DoorDash extended their 10% cash back deal through August 31, 2022, having renewed it at the end of April.

While these efforts help somewhat, drivers are still showing signs that they will modify their driving habits to keep costs down. Here are some changing driver attitudes we’ve heard about and noticed after analyzing our data:

Drivers are making fewer trips. We collected data from February through March 2022 that reveals a declining trend in the number of trips drivers are making. This has been the case for virtually every rideshare and delivery service, including Lyft, Uber, Uber Eats, Grubhub, and Instacart. And, although gas prices eased some in April, they are on the rise again, and are expected to stay high for the summer driving season.

Drivers are more selective about the rideshare trips and orders they accept. When gas was cheap, drivers would pretty much take every ride or order that was offered. There was a lot of competition among a large population of drivers, so passing on a ride or delivery could bring down their driver rating. Now, with fewer drivers on the road, companies are more lenient with their policies, and drivers are viewing each ping they get with an eye to how much it will be worth. They are far less likely to drive long distances to pick up orders or passengers.

Drivers are saying no to low-paying orders and rides. There are some rides and orders that are far away, but worth it, and others that are simply not. While it’s hard to put an exact number on what “not worth it” amounts to, most drivers agree that $6.50 in earnings for traveling anything over 5 miles would be pretty close. This definitely makes sense for drivers in the short term, but turning down too many requests could potentially cause customers to turn to other ways of getting rides and deliveries.

Drivers are constantly trying to cut all costs. The need for drivers to pay more for gas, maintenance, insurance, and other running costs has made them more aggressive about looking for ways to save money. Companies that offer reasonable insurance premiums, discounts of various kinds, and reductions for subscription services can easily get drivers’ attention in these times. In fact, drivers are looking for companies that will help them to cut back on their business expenses.

There’s no doubt that the equations drivers calculate when they evaluate their gigs have changed as a result of the gas price hikes. It leads us to wonder how long this will last and how it may affect gig driving in times to come.

Future possibilities: how rising costs could alter the gig driving business

The shock to the system that rising gas prices has caused is still setting in with drivers. They appear to be maneuvering and modifying their habits to minimize the impact. For now the changes we see don’t seem to indicate an immediate crisis in the supply of drivers to the rideshare and delivery businesses, but as time passes this could change.

The high price of gas is due to factors that are difficult to control or predict. Ongoing global events, from the conflict between Russia and Ukraine to changes in policy that affect domestic oil production, have and will probably continue to keep prices high. There are no indications, as of this writing, of gas prices coming down anytime soon. 

The headline “Rideshare and Delivery Driver Shortage 2022” could become a reality if gig workers decide that their driving jobs are no longer providing them with enough income to meet their expenses. With inflation increasing prices on many commodities, including basic items such as food and housing, the situation gets even more complex. Drivers might leave rideshare and delivery to pursue other side hustles that provide them with a better hourly and monthly income.

Fortunately, our current data doesn’t show a steep drop in most driver activity. Unfortunately, it does show a decline in the number of trips logged, both for rideshare and delivery, across the board. For example, as gas prices rose in the last week of March, trip volume decreased 5.29% for Uber, 6.81% for Uber Eats, and 18.72% for Instacart. Lyft and Grubhub stayed rather stable. 

It’s clearly getting difficult for drivers to maintain the standard of living they’re used to, and current trends aren’t indicating the imminent arrival of permanent solutions to global economic problems. That’s why, in order to keep drivers on the road, Gridwise is creating ways to offer drivers some much-needed support.

How Gridwise helps drivers

Gridwise programs, offers, and partnerships provide drivers with opportunities to cut their costs, not only for gas, but for all their ongoing expenses. Gridwise was built on the idea of helping gig drivers earn more money, but also save money through a number of programs and features. Some include gas card giveaways, driver discounts on automotive and insurance expenses, and features that improve driver efficiency like Where and When to Drive. 

However, our newest program sets us apart by giving us the opportunity to directly impact our users’ wallets with Gridwise Gas. 

In partnership with GasBuddy, Gridwise now offers a significant gig driver gas discount of up to 50 cents off per gallon for our users on up to 100 gallons a month.  Drivers pay with a card that is accepted at 95% of service stations.

Delivery driver and rideshare advertising: how your company benefits from helping drivers, and how you can make a direct impact

Gig drivers are feeling the pain at the pump; and Gridwise partners have an opportunity to make a direct impact on over 300,000 of them. We’ve designed a Gridwise Gas sponsorship to help your brand stand out among the rest by proving your dedication to helping gig drivers afford to stay on the road. With multiple levels of commitment available, we’ve made it easy for any brand to show their support by participating in the Gridwise Gas Program Sponsorship, and many other opportunities. 

Explore the many opportunities for advertising with Gridwise here, and…

Schedule an intro call with our brand partnership team today!

Gridwise is increasing its Gridwise Gas discount from 10 cents up to 50 cents a gallon.  

Why? Because we’ve heard that some of the joy is missing from gig driving.

Gig drivers know what we’re talking about. In what other job can you meet so many people in one night? What other job takes you to places you’ve never been before or even knew existed? 

For rideshare drivers, there is the satisfaction of knowing you’ve delivered passengers, including essential workers, safely to their destinations, especially at night. For delivery drivers, it is the knowledge that you’re making life more bearable for those exhausted from a long day of work or still concerned about leaving the house during the pandemic. 

There is also the ongoing challenge of honing your strategy to maximize earnings. Admit it. You get a charge when it works. 

But high gas prices cut into this euphoria. We all know that rideshare driver gas reimbursement is a myth. Drivers are on their own for fuel costs. The same is true for delivery driver gas reimbursement. 

Here are the points we cover in this blog post:

• How can gig drivers save on vehicle costs like gas? 
• What gas discounts can rideshare and delivery drivers qualify for? 
• What’s the biggest gas discount a gig driver can get?

Gas rewards for rideshare and delivery drivers

Gas discounts couldn’t come at a better time. Higher gas prices might be with us for a while. This is the verdict, and many point to the Russian–Ukraine war as the primary cause. Much of the world, including the US, is boycotting Russian oil exports, causing a shortage. In addition, disruption continues to characterize the supply chain. We also face an economy affected by the on-again, off-again pandemic, inflation, and interest rate hikes meant to pump the brakes on that inflation. 

Most of the talking heads on television agree that the Ukrainian conflict will go on for some time, along with the other factors. High gas prices are with us for a while. According to the AAA website, as of May 26, 2022, Americans were paying an average of $4.60 per gallon. In California, where San Francisco and Los Angeles are the hottest markets, drivers are paying $6.07 a gallon, according to AAA. New York is $4.93 a gallon. 

Lyft and Uber driver pay has been affected. The same is true for DoorDash driver pay and the other services. 

“Before they spiked, fuel prices ate into about 20% of my earrings,” said one full-time rideshare driver who admitted that he did not take full advantage of Gridwise or other discounts. “Now that number is approaching 40%. I’m not sure how much longer this way of earning a living will make sense.”

Gridwise helps ease the burden

The ethos of Gridwise is all about empowering rideshare and delivery drivers and providing the tools to make them profitable. That’s why Gridwise, with support from companies like ACOP, has changed the gas discount available to Gridwise drivers through the Gridwise Gas program. On top of paying gig workers to take surveys, American Consumers Opinion Panel is helping drivers save money in partnership with Gridwise Gas.

To help drivers save more, the Gridwise Gas discount is increasing. Gridwise users can now save up to 50 cents a gallon on up to 100 gallons a month. 

The procedure is simple. 

• Download the Gridwise app
• Subscribe to Gridwise Plus to receive the guaranteed $0.50 discount 
• Sign up for the gas card in the “Benefits” section of Gridwise’s “Marketplace” tab
• Activate your gas card when it arrives 
• Use it at the gas station as you would a debit card and automatically receive your discount.

Drivers can also maximize their earnings by checking out the Where to Drive and When to Drive features in the Gridwise app. Being in the right place at the right time means less driving around and less gas needed. The Gridwise app informs you of special events and surge times at the airports, and which rideshare services offer better opportunities for earnings.

You can use the app to better track your mileage, allowing you to maximize your rideshare and delivery driver mileage deduction on your taxes. 

Download Gridwise now to save big on gas

And have fun out there. 

DoorDash has been running a program called Top Dasher for the last few years wherein they give certain benefits to drivers who maintain good numbers. DoorDash hasn’t released any statistics on participants, though. 

What we know about the success of the Top Dasher program is all anecdotal. The internet chatter includes drivers with opinions on both sides. Drivers in Facebook groups and Reddit threads share their concerns about the program. Other drivers, however, especially those on YouTube, speak well of their experiences as Top Dashers.  

So let's take a look at the Top Dasher program and discuss the pros and cons. In this post we will answer your questions, including:

• What is DoorDash’s Top Dasher program?
• Do DoorDash drivers need Top Dasher benefits?
• How to become a Top Dasher with DoorDash 
• Is it worth it to be a Top Dasher?

What is DoorDash’s Top Dasher program?

DoorDash’s website explains that the Top Dasher program is “our way of recognizing and rewarding the best Dashers.” The program is open to DoorDash food-delivery drivers who meet certain requirements (which we will get to later). Sounds fair. There are Dashers out there who consider DoorDash their full-time gig, allowing them to pay rent and put food on the table. And the Top Dasher benefits are something drivers would like to have, at least some of them.

Whether you want to be a DoorDash Top Dasher, though, really comes down to your strategy as a food-delivery gig driver. Let’s look at it. 

Do DoorDash drivers need Top Dasher benefits?

Before discussing whether DoorDash drivers need the program, let’s look at DoorDash’s market share. A report on the delivery-app market shows DoorDash with a commanding share of the US market, at 53%. The next biggest piece of the pie is owned by Uber Eats at 26%. GrubHub has a 12% share, and everyone else is in the single digits. These numbers are recent, too, as of March 24, 2022. 

But when it comes to DoorDash driver pay, an April 11, 2022, post on the Gridwise blog entitled How Much Can You Earn as a DoorDash Driver in 2022?, DoorDash lagged behind the others. This considers base pay, tips from customers, and various promotions. Gridwise’s Q1 figures reveal that DoorDash drivers earned an average of $7.90 per trip. DoorDash hourly pay was $15.72 over the same period. Grubhub drivers earned more per trip, while Uber Eats drivers earned more per hour.

But what DoorDash drivers lacked in earnings, they made up for in enthusiasm (and probably market share, too). DoorDash drivers made an average monthly pay of $229.76, edging out both Uber Eats and GrubHub drivers. 

A look at the Top Dasher program

Those who qualify for the program have the privilege of “Dash Anytime.” The DoorDash app may show that a market is closed to new drivers during a specific time slot because there are already enough drivers (indicated by the gray color of the area on the app). A driver with Top Dasher status, however, can still drive in this area, as well as adjoining markets that might be closed.

The second benefit of the program, which was available in the beta stage, is no longer listed on the website. Top Dashers were given priority status on orders of more than $35. If there were three drivers in a given area, for example, the logic is that the Top Dasher was given priority in the algorithm. The DoorDash website does have a disclaimer that “DoorDash may modify the qualification terms, rewards offered, and available markets at any time.”

How to become a Top Dasher with DoorDash 

The requirements to become a Top Dasher with DoorDash include a

• customer rating of at least 4.7
• completion rate of at least 95%
• 100 completed deliveries during the previous month
• minimum 200 lifetime deliveries completed
• minimum 70% acceptance rate 

The website also states that DoorDash drivers get added into the program on the second day of each month. They can meet those requirements mid-month, but they must maintain those numbers until the final day of the month in order to participate as a Top Dasher the following month.

Most drivers agree that the requirements are easy to obtain, with the exception of the last one: an acceptance rate of 70%. DoorDash’s acceptance rate refers to what percentage of deliveries offered to a driver are accepted. 

The DoorDash app displays the approximate pay for each delivery. The catch is that many drivers do not accept deliveries with low pay, especially if the miles needed to complete the delivery are higher. This, of course, makes their acceptance rate go down, although a low acceptance rate on DoorDash has no consequences—other than the driver cannot participate in the Top Dasher program. Cherry-picking deliveries is a big part of the strategy for many drivers, especially for those that are multi-apping.

Is it worth it to become a Top Dasher?

This question really comes down to whether it is worth it as a driver to accept lower paying deliveries from DoorDash in order to gain Top Dasher status. One driver in Minneapolis expressed his doubts, specifically referring to the acceptance rate.

“The short answer is, no, for most people, meeting the Top Dasher requirements and getting Top Dasher status isn’t worth it. The main reason is that the main benefit of Top Dasher status – being able to Dash anytime without scheduling – is not worth meeting the high acceptance rate requirement….My acceptance rate for DoorDash usually hovers around 10-30%. If I had to accept more DoorDash orders to get Top Dasher status, my earnings would undoubtedly drop.”

The driver added that in his opinion, DoorDash developed the Top Dasher program to make lower-paying orders more attractive to Dashers. He adds that the program might be more successful for drivers in underserved areas. 

Other drivers like the Top Dasher program

YouTube has several videos from DoorDash drivers who speak favorably about the Top Dasher program. A driver named Stan operates a YouTube channel called Driver Eats Delivers. He is a Top Dasher. “I can tell you it works for me,” Stan says in a video he made about the Top Dasher Program. “It gives me the flexibility to drive whenever I want.”

Stan drives in the Lancaster/Palmdale market in northern Los Angeles County. The area is less densely populated than the rest of the county, a fact that falls in line with other drivers' observations that Top Dasher is likely to be more successful in markets that are underserved. 

Dennis, another DoorDash driver, runs a YouTube channel known as Ride Along 980. In a recent video he also spoke favorably about the Top Dasher program, saying that it made a difference for him. Dennis serves a community of 14,000, a small market. 

Again, is it worth it to be a Top Dasher?

There are opinions on both sides. It is interesting to read the comments section from other drivers on the blogs and YouTube videos that have been referenced here. There are both positive and negative opinions about the program. 

Scott Roe, a DoorDash driver, commented that the program worked for him: “I missed Top Dasher for the first time in a long time, and I must say that I can notice the difference. However, having said that, I will point out I am not multi-apping. As a Top Dasher, I rarely saw orders below $10. Even if they were, they were never lower than $8.”

It all comes down to what works for you as a driver

If the mixed opinion about DoorDash’s Top Driver program illustrates anything, it is that whether or not any benefit works for a driver comes down to strategy, personal style, and preferences. Some drivers maintain they signed up to deliver food, and they take whatever comes to them. Others maintain that the strategy that works for them is being selective about the orders they take. 

One absolute for food delivery drivers is that they can benefit from using the Gridwise app. Food delivery drivers can record mileage and track their earnings, allowing them to see what times and areas work best for them.

Every delivery driver should drive smarter, and with Gridwise they can. As a driver, the first step you can take is to download the free Gridwise app to track miles and earnings, and gain insights into profitable times and areas in your area.

Download Gridwise for free now!