Whether you’re already a Walmart Spark Driver or you’re weighing adding a Spark gig to your side hustle repertoire, you need to learn more about the Spark Driver Rewards Program. Why is this so important?

Among the challenges of being a gig worker is not getting all the benefits of a full-time W-2 job. Gig workers must find ways to get medical benefits, dental coverage, life insurance, and other personal perks. There are many great things about being a gig worker; one is the fantastic array of advantages and discounts you get with extras, such as the Spark Driver Rewards Program. If you are looking for more information on how to earn more with Walmart Spark, take a look at this post too.

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What is the Spark Driver Rewards Program?

Most gig apps offer workers perks and privileges based on performance. Incentive-based rewards programs benefit gig workers as much as the companies they work for. When Walmart Spark drivers make more trips, the company’s customers get faster service. And the more trips drivers make, the more perks, benefits, and privileges they receive. 

Rewards programs are a good reason to keep loving gig work. They offer a win-win situation for both parties. But what you get from various rewards programs depends on many different factors. The Spark Driver Rewards Program, as far as we at Gridwise are concerned, is a rather impressive one.

What benefits can a Walmart Spark driver expect? 

The Spark Driver Rewards Program recognizes drivers by offering all kinds of benefits. There are two tiers of membership. A Walmart Spark driver can qualify for Tier 1 benefits simply by being in good standing.

Tier 1 Spark drivers receive:

1. Access to the One Financial App. This mobile banking app gives you access to services from Coastal Community Bank. With the One app, you get instant access to your earnings and can set up financial tools that make earning, spending, and saving your money a snap!

2. Keeper Tax Filing and Expense Tracking Discount. Keeper Tax makes tracking expenses and filing taxes a total no-brainer. This powerful app will even search your expenses to make sure you’ve picked up every possible deduction. Walmart Spark drivers get a discount of up to 65%.

To get the extra perks offered at Tier 2, drivers must complete at least 20 deliveries in a calendar month and maintain a “green” customer rating in the Spark Driver app. 

Tier 2 Spark drivers get these added benefits:

3. Cheaper Wireless Plans. Who doesn’t want a break when it comes to paying for your cell service needs? With Spark Driver Rewards, discounts from major carriers include

• a $10 per month discount from AT&T
• unlimited data from T-Mobile
• $35 unlimited data, talk, text, and hotspot from Verizon

4. Driver Technologies Dashcam and Telematics App: Turn your phone into a dashcam with this cutting-edge app. The Walmart Spark Rewards Program gives you six months on the Driver Premium Plan, plus a cool phone mount, all for $19.99!

5. FREE Walmart+ Membership. This is every Spark Driver’s favorite perk. Valued at $98 per year or $12.95 per month, Walmart+ membership showers you with discounts and benefits such as

• free shipping
• discounts on gas
• huge price cuts on prescriptions
• Paramount+ subscription
• early-bird notice on Walmart deals
• free returns

These qualifications must be met each month for the benefits to continue. For example, if you’re on Tier 2 in October, but don’t make the 20 trips to qualify for November, you won’t get your benefits that month. The good news is, if you make 20 trips in November, you’ll be right back on Tier 2 again by the time the holiday shopping season rolls around, and all those great benefits will be restored.

Each month, if you qualify for Tier 2 benefits, an email will arrive announcing your eligibility. If you believe you’ve earned Tier 2 benefits, but don’t get an email, contact support to stake your claim. Walmart Spark offers great opportunities to earn more, we outline how you could earn $1000 per week with them here.

Keep benefits even when you don’t make Tier 2

Want to make sure you’re getting tons of gig worker benefits, even if you don’t make it to Spark’s Tier 2 in a given month? Use Gridwise, and you’ll receive plenty of perks, deals, and discounts. While we can’t give you Walmart+, you might be able to afford it easily, thanks to the ways Gridwise boosts your earnings.

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With Gridwise, you’re guaranteed to get

• our free mileage tracker, plus weather, event, and airport alerts
• earnings and expense reporting
• deals and discounts, including low-cost wireless plans and 30% off Keeper Tax
• insights into when and where to drive to make the most money
• access to insurance, healthcare, and other benefits 1099 workers need

Gridwise’s easy-to-read screens place all the data and information you need at your fingertips.

Is the Spark Driver Rewards Program worth it?

Your driving habits, how much time you have for Spark, and whether you’re a regular Walmart shopper will combine to determine what the Spark Rewards Program is worth to you. This video from Rolling with Renia lays down the pros and cons in plain and honest language.

https://youtu.be/DSzo7G682KU?si=FNYMHv0q82lxb1xr

If you can consistently keep delivering 20 trips or more each month, and keep that “green” customer record Renia speaks to, there’s no doubt that the free Walmart+ membership alone is worth working toward. Go on and make the Spark Driver Rewards Program your cash cow!

But if you’re very part-time in your approach to Spark driving, or you work a bunch of different gigs and don’t have time to make the full quota of 20 trips, you may just want to let the Spark Driver Rewards Program mosey on by.

And if you opt-out or don’t make Tier 2, lucky for you, there’s always Gridwise!

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Make more with all your gigs:

• Get the best mileage tracker
• How to sign up to be a Spark driver
• Earn $1000 per week with Walmart Spaark
• How do Doordash incentives work?
• Be in the know about Uber Pro
• Apps that keep you rolling

Objective mobility and food delivery data will play a pivotal role in the continuing struggle between equitable gig driver pay and the need for gig platforms to make a profit. Caught in the middle of this tug-of-war are the passengers and food delivery consumers who pay for these services and have come to rely upon them, as well as the cities and other jurisdictions trying to establish equitable laws that are fair to all participants. 

There is no better example of this than the current situation in Seattle, WA. In 2020, Seattle implemented an ordinance known as Fair Share, establishing minimum compensation for rideshare drivers. In 2022, they followed up with another ordinance known as PayUp, which addressed food delivery drivers and took effect in January 2024.  

While the measures were well intended, the results don’t please everyone, and many point out flaws in the legislation. It’s not just about how much Uber Eats drivers make in Seattle. The universe of gig drivers, gig platforms, policy decision-makers, and even Seattle restaurants are struggling for clarity and leadership.  

This is where Gridwise Analytics prevails. We have real-time, ground truth data.  

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The gig driving landscape in Seattle

The tension between gig drivers and the gig platforms in Seattle resembles many large cities, with disagreements between platforms and drivers about fair compensation. Added to this, however, is a city government that is concerned about workers’ rights and equity in the workplace. According to TheStreet, a personal finance blog, Seattle has a minimum wage of $19.97 an hour, the highest in any major US city. 

The Fare Share Law

In 2018 and 2019, Seattle saw increasing pressure from rideshare drivers who were concerned about low pay and unfair deactivations. The City Council unanimously passed Fare Share in 2020. Provisions of the ordinance mandated that drivers receive compensation of at least $0.57 per minute, $1.33 per mile, and a minimum of $5.00 a trip. There were also requirements for sick pay and protections against unfair deactivations. 

To offset increased costs in the wake of Fare Share, Uber raised prices by 24%, reported Pymnts.com. 

Interestingly, the ordinance was implemented simultaneously with the COVID-19 lockdown, making it difficult to determine how it affected the rideshare business. What is clear from the graph developed by Uber for a piece in The Medium is that the Seattle rideshare business, like rideshare across the US, cratered at the beginning of the pandemic. Rideshare in Seattle, however, has recovered at a slower pace than the national average and has yet to reach pre-pandemic levels.

Source: Uber Under The Hood, Medium

The PayUp Law

The initial version of PayUp passed in 2022. As reported in the Seattle Times, the ordinance required gig platforms to compensate Seattle food delivery drivers at $0.44 a minute with a minimum per-mile amount of $0.74 while making a delivery or a minimum of $5 per order. The law applied equally to grocery delivery. Before the law took effect (but after it had passed), Shipt, the number two company in the grocery delivery market, suspended operations in Seattle with no comment on the reasons for the action. 

Uber Eats and DoorDash added a $5 surcharge to Seattle orders, which they stated was necessary to maintain profit margins. They also warned that this would decrease order volume and driver income. DoorDash also responded by adjusting the suggested amount for tips in each order. 

The following chart supplied by UberEats shows the aftermath of PayUp, with orders dropping almost 30%, starting when the law went into effect (signified by the vertical dashed line in early January 2024). 

Source: Uber Under The Hood, Medium

Restaurants feel the effects of PayUp

Seattle restaurants are experiencing a drop in delivery business in the wake of PayUp, reports Geekwire. Uttam Mukherjee, co-owner of Indian street food restaurant Spice Waala, revealed that his restaurant experienced a 30% year-over-year decline in app-delivery orders this past January. In late February 2024, Uber Eats also reported a 30% decrease in food delivery orders. 

Drivers are also feeling the effects of PayUp. The Geekwire article points out that although drivers make more per trip, the trip reduction means a lower net pay. 

Carmen Figueroa, a veteran food delivery driver in Seattle and supporter of PayUp, told Geekwire, “I’m not making any more money.” She added that she’s getting fewer orders. Food delivery drivers all over Seattle report more pay-per-order but significantly fewer orders. 

Drivers and allies call foul on price increases

Drivers and organizations allied with the drivers point to the $5 surcharge as part of a strategy the food delivery platforms use to prove that PayUp is a bad idea. As reported in another GeekWire article, nonprofit Working Washington, a previous PayUp supporter, said, “The new fees instituted by the delivery companies are a ‘clear attempt to distract from the fact that their business model is built on paying workers almost nothing while their CEOs and shareholders make millions.’”

Complicating matters even more, this past January, Uber released its earnings statement for 2023, revealing that for the first time, the company made a profit of $1.8 billion. 

How can Gridwise Analytics data help solve the problem?

Developing a solution that is just and equitable to the gig platforms and drivers who make those platforms possible requires a clear picture of what is happening in the Seattle food delivery and rideshare market. Uber Eats, DoorDash, and the other gig platforms can and do provide data but often deny requests to look deeper into the information, citing proprietary concerns. 

This leaves everyone with a clear need for accurate information so that legislation can reflect data-driven decisions. 

Gridwise Analytics provides ground truth data on rideshare, food delivery, and grocery delivery activity. More than 500,000 drivers around the US, including in Seattle, use the Gridwise app to coordinate their gig driving activities by synching their gig platforms to the app. Gridwise Analytics anonymizes and aggregates the information from these drivers, turning it into raw data. 

Gridwise Analytics can produce activity reports for specific dates and times, indicating increases and decreases in platform activity and driver earnings. It can also provide macro views of activity over a vast region and micro views of small market areas. 

Precise, verifiable data from Gridwise means that all parties work from the same facts.

Gridwise provides comprehensive data on mobility and delivery services across the U.S., including food and grocery delivery. Data from Gridwise Analytics correlates up to 98% against quarterly metrics reported by the individual platforms.

Types of mobility and food delivery data from Gridwise Analytics 

Comparing platforms

Gridwise Analytics can also compare order activity across various platforms for the same period, allowing decision-makers to see if policies affect all platforms similarly. 

Gridwise Analytics can also view activity across platforms, allowing decision-makers to see if policies intended for one type of service, such as rideshare, affect food and grocery delivery. 

In this case, the start of the PayUp Law is marked with a vertical black bar, giving viewers a clearer picture of its impact on activity before and after. 

Driver earnings

DoorDash data can show how driver earnings break down over time, indicating how legislation and other factors affect base pay, bonus pay, incentives, and tips. Note again the vertical bar, indicating when PayUp went into effect. 

How can this data be used? 

Objective mobility and food delivery data, often called ground truth information, create a level playing field for all participants. As municipalities and other jurisdictions look to develop equitable regulations, they can use this data to guide their decision-making in several areas:   

• Accuracy verification. By comparing data from individual parties with Gridwise Analytics, the information's accuracy can be verified, and conclusions can be based on factual data.
• Bias detection. News outlets may have certain biases that slant their reporting. Data from Gridwise Analytics provides an objective benchmark to identify and correct any potential biases or angles that the media might be promoting.
• Trend confirmation. Objective data allows all parties to identify food delivery and rideshare market trends. Are orders trending larger? Are they trending smaller? Are travel times getting longer? What areas of the city are generating rides or orders? Decision-makers can confirm or refute conclusions based on this and other data. 
• Comprehensive analysis. Objective data allows for a more in-depth analysis, uncovering nuances and details that might not be evident otherwise.
• Policy impact assessment. It’s crucial to compare reported outcomes of new legislation (like Seattle's PayUp law) with actual data to assess the true impact of legislation on gig workers, gig platforms, and the economy.
• Market understanding. Objective data provides insights into market reactions that other sources may need to capture fully. This deeper understanding can guide strategic decisions for all parties in the gig economy.
• Crisis management. In times of crisis or controversy, the media can sensationalize events. A single comment from one driver becomes a story. Objective data helps all parties maintain a realistic stance. Responses reflect factual information.
• Data-driven decision-making. Objective data reinforces data-driven decision-making, ensuring reliable information guides strategies and actions.
• Trust. By demonstrating a commitment to factual data and transparency, all parties can agree on facts, paving the way toward equitable solutions. 

Unbiased Data for Smarter Decisions

In over a decade, rideshare and food delivery have revolutionized transportation and dining habits, but this change comes with questions and challenges. Objective data is crucial as decision-makers develop solutions. 

With access to Gridwise Analytics, companies gain a comprehensive view of mobility patterns across their competitive landscape. Regulators and researchers can explore pressing issues with robust, unbiased information. Municipal planners obtain insights guiding policies that support thriving gig economies and transportation systems optimized for the future.

Get in contact with our team to discover how Gridwise Analytics can sharpen your transportation and food delivery analytics.

Check out these articles to learn more about Gridwise Analytics:

• Read the Gridwise Annual Gig Mobility Report 
• The Impact of Third-Party Food Delivery on Quick Service Restaurants
• Mobility Data: What Gig Driver Loyalty Reveals to Investors
• Why We Launched Gridwise Analytics

There is a term in business known as “sticky money.” It refers to how much of the money you earn sticks to you as opposed to having to pay it out in expenses and taxes. Some expenses you can control, but as a gig driver, taxes can decimate your earnings. Gig drivers are self-employed. In addition to the taxes on your earnings, there is a self-employment tax. Making matters more complicated, the gig companies don’t deduct these taxes for you. As a gig driver, you must discipline yourself to make those quarterly tax payments.

As a gig driver and a businessperson, one of the first questions you ask yourself, or another gig driver is, “How do I track my business mileage?”

This is easy if you have the wisdom and foresight to use the best business mileage tracking app—-Gridwise. 

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App-based gig work has become common 

Before getting into the need for the best mileage tracking app for business, let’s address our use of the term “business.” An unbelievable number came out of the Pew Research Center back in 2021. Over 16% of US adults have earned money working on gig platforms. That number has likely increased since then, considering that the number came during the pandemic. In light of the Great Resignation, tens of thousands have flocked to gig driving. More are using gig driving to fill gaps in their budget or to fund the “revenge travel” we hear so much about. Their number one reason is the flexibility. Uber alone increased their number of drivers globally by 31% in 2022, according to a report by Business Insider. 

For all these drivers, gig driving is a business. That’s why it’s necessary to treat it like one, including using Gridwise, the best business mileage tracking app. 

The Gridwise business mileage tracking app also works for gigpreneurs, businesspeople who have discovered that they can also earn money on gig apps that don’t involve gig driving. Many gig drivers also work with these apps. They find it breaks the monotony and gives them options in the event of an unfair deactivation or some other issue with their gig driving (see the Gridwise blog post Sudden account deactivations on delivery platforms: What can you do?). These include apps such as Rover (pet care), Taskrabbit (handyman services), and others. 

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Business mileage tracking apps: What's all the fuss?

This past December, the IRS released an updated standard mileage deduction for miles incurred for business driving, with a1.5 cent increase, to 67 cents a mile. Full-time gig drivers can easily put 1,000 miles on their car weekly and 50,000 miles a year. At 67 cents a mile, you can deduct $33,500 miles from your taxable income. This kind of deduction makes a considerable difference for the tax bracket you fall into. 

At the beginning of each year, gig drivers receive a report of their earnings for tax purposes. That report also includes the miles you covered as you earned that money. Most people don’t know that the gig platforms only track your mileage from the time you have received a ride request or food order, through the time you pick up the passenger or food, until you complete the ride or deliver the order. The gig platform apps do not record the time between rides or orders; they don’t track the miles you incur before your first order or ride request; and they don’t log the miles you cover when you go home at the end of your shift. 

All those miles not counted by the gig app platforms are tax deductible. The Gridwise mileage tracker records all those miles. In many cases, that can add tens of thousands of business miles you can deduct. 

Must-have features in an app for tracking business mileage

The question among drivers is, “What is the best app to track mileage for taxes?” The answer—Gridwise. It's the only business mileage tracking app designed for gig drivers by gig drivers. And since Gridwise understands that you're in business for yourself, the Gridwise app was developed to be the best app for tracking mileage for business gigpreneurs. Consider the features of the Gridwise app. 

FeatureWhat it doesWhat you get out of itTracking exact mileageThe Gridwise mileage tracker links to the GPS on your cell phone. You get precise mileage,tracking every mile.  Automatic reminder functionWhen you start to drive, the Gridwise mileage tracker senses movement and reminds you through your cell phone to activate your tracker. No more lost miles because you forgot to write down mileage at the beginning or end of your shift. Doesn’t interfere with other appsThe Gridwise mileage tracker works in the background. Gridwise doesn’t interfere with any gig app platforms you run on your phone, even if you're running two or three apps simultaneously. Easy setupIt takes just minutes to add all your apps to the Gridwise mileage tracker. Even if you multi-app several gig platforms, Gridwise quickly adapts, recording all the information needed to make you a better businessperson. Incorporates an expense trackerTake a photo of every receipt from every business expense related to your gig driving or other gig work, and add a quick description. The Gridwise mileage tracker saves it for tax time. All expenses are at your fingertips. View all your gigs at onceGridwise lets you view all your gigs at once, giving you a complete picture of your gig earnings. You can see trends and determine where your best jobs are coming from. Easily download informationDownload your mileage and expense records from the Gridwise mileage tracker into an easy-to-handle Excel file. Do calculations in minutes to come up with mileage totals. Without Gridwise, this is a daylong job.

The Gridwise mileage app is the best mileage tracking app for businesses. Download it today!

FAQs–taxes and business mileage 

Am I better going with the standard mileage deduction or actual automobile expenses?

The IRS permits two ways of claiming mileage and automobile-related costs: actual expenses or the standard mileage rate. Both methods account for mileage and other auto expenses such as oil changes, tires, and repairs.  

The standard mileage rate is easier. You determine the total miles you drive as part of your gig-driving job and write it off at 67 cents per mile (65.5 cents before January 1, 2024). In almost all cases, gig drivers and other business owners realize more significant savings using the standard mileage rate.

With method number two, deducting expenses only, you save all your receipts for fuel, repairs, and maintenance, and at the end of the year, you add them up. Businesspeople who use this deduction method typically do so in situations where they have less mileage, but drive an expensive car with significant maintenance costs. 

Here’s another little jewel: the IRS allows you to compute your mileage at 67 cents per mile even if you drive an electric car. 

What about claiming my fuel costs?

Your standard mileage rate includes fuel expenses. Claiming the standard mileage rate while at the same time claiming your gas expenses is a quick way to get audited. 

What are the chances of a gig driver getting audited?

Estimates are that between 0.3% and 1% of all returns get audited. Remember, though, you're a self-employed businessperson, which increases your audit prospects. In addition, the gig industry is the newest area for IRS auditors to explore. It’s a bright, shiny thing for them, and they’re still trying to figure out how current IRS policies apply to the gig economy. Don’t take chances. 

What if I didn’t keep a record of my mileage?

If you spent all of 2023 driving rideshare and didn’t keep a mileage log, your best option is to go with the report you received from Lyft or Uber. The same goes for meal and grocery delivery. 

Another option is a technique the IRS calls “sampling.” After several false starts at keeping a mileage log, let's say you start using the Gridwise mileage tracker on October 1. For the year's final quarter, you must keep diligent mileage records. You can then extrapolate that report for the entire year. There is a good chance the IRS will accept that in an audit. Review Publication 463 (2021), Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses, for a full explanation of sampling. Look under Section 5, Recordkeeping. 

Does the IRS require odometer readings as part of a mileage report?

Nothing in IRS policies says your records should include odometer readings. 

The IRS instructs examiners to verify total miles for the year by requiring repair receipts or other records showing mileage at the beginning and end of the year. Take a photo of the odometer on the first and last day of the year and upload it to the Gridwise mileage tracker. That’s solid proof. 

Can you round out your mileage numbers?

Stay away from rounded-off numbers. The IRS finds them a sign of less-than-stellar record keeping. Gridwise provides an accurate mileage reading. The more precise you can be in your information, the better you look in an audit.

The Gridwise mileage app is the best mileage tracking app for businesses. Download it today!

Gridwise provides the best business tools for gig drivers.

If you’re looking for an app for tracking business mileage, look no further than Gridwise. Veteran gig drivers developed the Gridwise mileage tracker specifically for other gig workers. They realized that gig driving was more than a way to make extra money. For many, it's a business, not just a side hustle.

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Check out these Gridwise pages to learn more about the Gridwise mileage tracker:

• Download the Gridwise app for free (includes the Gridwise mileage tracker) 
• Download the Gridwise Annual Gig Mobility Report
• The best mileage tracking app for DoorDash
• The best business mileage tracking app
• The best mileage tracking app for delivery drivers

What counts as gig worker tax deductions? How do mileage deductions work? Why do delivery drivers and other gig workers have to know about the mileage tax deduction? If you have questions like these or think you already have them covered, keep reading. You’ll not only learn why and how to track mileage for taxes, you’ll discover the best app for mileage tracking and how to use it so you keep more of your hard-earned money.

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The power of Gridwise for tax management

Being a gig driver means you have more responsibilities than you would if you worked a job where your taxes are withheld for you. Not only do you have to pay your own taxes, you must find smart ways to maximize your deductions and simplify the tax filing process. This sounds rather straightforward, but in truth, you need help.

That’s where Gridwise comes in. Although Gridwise has a mileage tracker, it does much more! Gridwise is designed specifically for gig workers by people who have been gig workers. That’s why the app’s many features cater directly to the needs of rideshare and delivery drivers, as well as all sorts of gig workers across the board.

You’ll find this useful when it comes to managing your tax preparation needs and managing your gig worker tax deductions. Gridwise gives you tools that make it easy to record and compile the information you need to maximize your tax deductions.

• a customizable mileage tracker that records every deductible mile
• income information and analysis for all the driving apps you use
• expense logging
• professional tax software interface to identify gig worker tax deductions
• sleek reports that make tax time a no-stress, no-worry, no-brainer

Gridwise is an extremely powerful app that addresses the needs of gig drivers and can also help you keep track of your other side hustle tax deductions.

A guide to using Gridwise for tax management

Set up mileage tracking

What makes Gridwise such a cool tool for deducting mileage for business? You want to capture every mile you can legally deduct while you’re on your driving gig. The driving apps will indeed tell you how many miles you’ve clocked on the trips you make for them, but they leave a lot of mileage missing from their calculations.

You also need to log the miles you drive on the way to and from your gig and while waiting to get a ping for a ride or delivery. Your apps don’t count that mileage, but Gridwise does! In fact, Gridwise can log your miles automatically as soon as your car starts moving from its parking place.

Setting up automatic tracking is easy. First, you’ll have to download Gridwise and access Gridwise Plus to unlock this feature. Then, follow these simple steps. You can set a specific “idle time,” which tells Gridwise how long to wait before turning off automatic tracking. This makes your mileage tracking life loads easier.

You can also track your miles manually using Gridwise Plus, as well as the free version of Gridwise. Follow these instructions, and you’ll be all set. The manual shift tracker will let you catch all the miles you drive, so make sure you turn it off when you’re done for the day. 

If you forget to turn the tracker off, or if you want to add to or adjust the miles you logged automatically, Gridwise makes it simple to edit your mileage figures. You can add mileage manually or make changes to your mileage whenever you need to do so.

With Gridwise, your mileage write-off will be accurate, and you’ll no longer have to worry about how to track mileage for taxes to add to your gig worker tax deductions. Gridwise does it for you!

Note that you can use Gridwise to track miles for all businesses that require the use of your vehicle. Whether you take short business trips or need your car to get from one client to another, Gridwise will help you capture each and every deductible mile.

Sync your earnings with gig apps

When you’re adding up all your gig income, you have choices. You can go through each and every app you drive for, and figure out the totals, or…you can use Gridwise to sync all your apps with your earnings records. Gig workers are busy people, and you can’t afford to spend hours manipulating figures (or missing gig worker tax deductions) and risking major math mistakes.

Streamline the process of adding up your earnings with Gridwise! All you need to do is sync your driving apps with Gridwise, and all your earnings will be recorded and retained. You’ll be able see, at a glance, how much each of the apps you use is earning for you. 

Gridwise’s graphs and maps show you the details of your earnings by various factors. This makes it easy to prepare Uber taxes, Lyft taxes, Uber Eats taxes, DoorDash taxes, and taxes for all the apps you use.

You can enter your income figures manually. This and many of the income features are available in the free version, but as a Gridwise Plus driver you’ll enjoy the most number of features when it comes to syncing your apps and analyzing your earnings. 

Log your expenses quickly and easily

Tax deduction for mileage isn’t the only delivery or rideshare tax-related item you can use to retain more of your income. Other expenses—from meals and phone costs to the equipment you buy to make your car more efficient for rideshare and delivery—can also be subtracted from your gross income.

You have to do more than take all the receipts you have and throw them in a shoebox so you can rifle through them at tax time. You need a tool with you at all times, one that gives you a place to record each and every expense you encounter. Gridwise is designed to be just that. Enter your expenses with the date and category, save them, and Gridwise will keep them impeccably organized.

Add, edit, or delete expenses using these directions. Later, you can view your total expenses on your earnings reports.

Generate and export tax reports

The real tax time magic happens when you generate and export your information to your or your tax preparer’s software program. From the earnings page, as shown in the screenshot above, simply tap on “Export Tax Reports.”

Gridwise Plus drivers can export their tax reports, which include accounting of all income from their various gigs as well as categorized expenses to .csv or .pdf formats. Free Gridwise app users can also export their information, but in .pdf format only.

Learn more about using Gridwise to generate tax reports and how to export them, so you can start using this convenient feature right away!

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Advanced tax features for gig workers

You can get tax help with a tap. Keeper is a tax filing app that offers support for all your tax preparation and filing needs with a big discount. 

Access to Keeper through Gridwise gives you 

• automatic categorization of your tax-deductible expenses
• write-off detection that identifies all your deductible expenses
• tax pros on standby to answer your questions
• tax filing services

Keeper is designed for independent contractors with 1099 income and also handles any W2 or other wage forms you might have. Let Gridwise and Keeper sort out the income from all your gigs and handle all your tax preparation needs. Upload your information, and you’ll never have to agonize over tax time again.

How exactly do Gridwise and Keeper make tax management easier?

Let’s start with tracking your expenses. There are so many purchases and services that are tax deductible. As a gig driver, keeping track of all your expenses, pinpointing which ones can be deducted from your gross income, and making sense of it all can get really complicated. Things get easier when you enter your expenses into Gridwise and let Keeper search your purchases to detect any tax deductible items you might have missed. 

Got questions? Get answers. Do you really know how to claim mileage on taxes? Without Gridwise and Keeper, you’re stuck poring over IRS and state tax rules and regulations all by yourself. When you unleash the power of Gridwise and Keeper, you get access to qualified tax professionals to answer all your questions and guide you through the process of preparing to file. 

Filing made simple. Once you submit your forms through Keeper’s highly intuitive drag-and-drop interface, a professional will verify your return. You can review a report listing your estimated taxes, your total deduction amounts, and any refunds you might receive from your state and federal returns. A Keeper tax professional will sign off on your returns, and you can keep driving without worrying about whether you got it right.

Source: Keepertax.com

Real-world benefits of using Gridwise for tax management

With Gridwise and Keeper on your side to help you with tax management, you have everything you need to streamline your accounting process and simplify the ordeal of filing your taxes.

Use Gridwise to:

Maximize deductions. Gridwise captures every mile you drive for business. This includes the distances traveled while you’re working but not on the gig app, and when you’re waiting to get a ping. You can also use Gridwise to track mileage for business trips you make for your other side gigs.

Organize your accounting. Use Gridwise to record your expenses, and let Keeper seek out other freelancer tax deductions you might not have considered. Keeper will also categorize your expenses so they can easily be entered on your tax returns.

Streamline the tax filing process. With Gridwise and Keeper, you can take the daunting task of sending tax returns to the authorities off your plate. Recording mileage, earnings, and expenses as you drive along will make it easy to compile the information you need to file. Then, with a Keeper tax expert checking your return over, you can be sure that it’s in compliance and done right.

Save time and reduce errors. All your tax management solutions are on one app when you use Gridwise. You can keep the focus on your job, which is earning more money on your driving gig. Let Gridwise and Keeper handle the rest, and be confident that you’re maximizing your income and holding on to as much of it as possible while remaining in full compliance.

Start organizing your gig business with Gridwise now, and take the responsibility of tracking, recording, and filing off your shoulders so you can sit back, relax, and keep driving.

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Learn about freelance tax deductions, Uber driver taxes, and more:

• The all-in-one assistant for gig drivers
• Strategies for maximizing tax write-offs
• Records drivers need to keep track of for taxes
• Best ways to track miles for taxes

You may love animals and want to welcome them into your car as much, or even more, than any other passenger, or you may not want to let them anywhere near your vehicle. In either case, you need to know the rules for carrying pets as passengers because those guidelines may be more important than you think. What about the Lyft and Uber pet policy?

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Understanding pet transportation rules

It’s your car, and it’s your body that might have an allergic reaction or aversion to animals. Are there really instances when you have to take an animal into your car? 

In the case of service animals, the answer is yes. 

The requirement to accept service animals is not only a rule imposed by your gig service company, it’s the law. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires all government offices and businesses (including rideshare drivers) to accept service animals.

According to the ADA, service animals include dogs of any breed or size that are trained to perform a task directly related to a person’s disability.

If you are reported by a potential passenger for refusing to allow a service dog into your car, and an investigation by your rideshare platform proves that you refused them, you can be immediately and permanently deactivated from the driving app, whether it’s Uber or Lyft.

How can you know for sure if a passenger’s dog is a service animal?

To be honest, you can’t. The passenger is not required to present any papers or put special tags or other designations on the dog to prove that it’s a service animal. You’re only allowed to ask the passenger two questions:

1. Is the service animal required because of a disability?
2. What work or task has the dog been trained to perform?

The consensus, and the expectation of rideshare platforms is that most people are honest about the roles their animals play in their lives. As a driver, you’re just going to have to trust them. 

And, according to many people with disabilities, they expect you to understand and help by preparing to take them and their animals. After all, people with disabilities need rideshare services and depend on them to live a comparatively everyday life.

What about pets that aren’t service animals?

It makes sense to try to accommodate your passengers’ needs to transport their pets because you’ll be able to make their experience with you more pleasurable. That will most likely mean you get higher ratings and more significant tips.

Of course, each driver has different preferences, and you do have options. You decide if and under which circumstances you’ll agree to take a pet on board. Let’s look at the pet policies of both Uber and Lyft to see exactly what these options are.

Uber’s policy when it comes to pets on rides

Uber’s pet policy addresses both service animals and other pets. You always have the option of accepting passengers with pets. Now, though, there’s Uber Pet. With this service, your customer's requests will be marked similarly to UberX rides. You can opt to take the passenger and pet, depending on your wishes. Uber's customers are charged extra for Uber Pet rides, and you’ll get paid a little more for them! Opt into Uber Pet rides from the work hub in the Uber app.

What is the Uber policy when it comes to cats?

This is an Uber pet policy cat lovers can appreciate as well. Uber drivers are expected to accept feline friends as part of the Uber Pet arrangement. When it comes to more exotic pets, from ferrets and hamsters to monitor lizards and boa constrictors, you can make the call. You won’t be penalized for refusing these pets.

What is Uber's policy if a pet or service animal leaves a mess?

Cleaning fees can be applied if a passenger's pet soils your vehicle, and the passenger won’t be refunded, except in most cases involving service animals. Your rideshare company will still reimburse you, but your passengers with service animals will have their cleaning fees refunded if the only mess is caused by shedding. If a service dog’s excessive hair or bodily fluids are part of the mess, the rider will not be charged for the first two incidents, but after that, the cleaning fee will not be refunded.

When you decide to accept Uber Pet rides, you will want to carry a tarp or a blanket for your backseat to prevent your car from being covered in pet hair. If you are allergic, or if you just don’t dig dogs or care for cats, be sure you opt out of Uber Pet on the app’s work hub. You, as a driver, still are required to take service dogs in your vehicle, though, so taking along that tarp or blanket is always a good idea.

What are Lyft’s policies for pets, and cleaning up after them?

Lyft pet policy is similar to Uber’s, but there is no special pet-friendly option for passengers. In general, customers are asked to call and tell you that they have an animal with them. If you’re not willing to take their pet, you can cancel the ride and make yourself available for another one. In this case, the customer won’t be charged a cancellation fee.

If a pet makes a mess in your car, you’d report it like any other damage. Lyft doesn’t state any specific company policy about how you’d be reimbursed for cleaning up after animals, and there is no distinction between soiling or other damage caused by service dogs versus ordinary pets. If you have to deal with a major mess left by a rider’s animal, Lyft recommends that you report the damage and seek reimbursement.

Does Lyft’s pet policy leave room for your own service animal? 

What if you need to have a service animal with you? Under the law, you’re permitted to have a service animal with you while you’re driving. It’s polite and a smart policy, though, to call or otherwise inform your passengers that they can expect to meet your friend when they ride with you. Some people are allergic to or afraid of animals, and being in a car with one could be very unpleasant for them.

For safety as well as the comfort of your customers, consider restraining or kennelling your service animal, at least while others are in the car with you. This way, your furry friend will be able to remain focused on you, and won’t be distracted by passengers’ adoring comments.

What about emotional support animals?

In case you’re wondering, emotional support animals are not classified under the law the same way service animals are. Lyft’s pet policy doesn’t require you to accept rides with animals other than service dogs. 

Just like with any pet, you can accept the animal or let the rider find a driver willing to take the ride. Remember, riders are instructed to inform you when they request the ride that they have a pee.

You can’t bring your pet or an emotional support animal for your rides, though. You’ll have to settle for meeting the furry friends your passengers might bring in. Carry along some sort of covering for your back seat so they can ride comfortably and still let you keep your car looking clean and fresh.

How to maximize your rideshare efficiency and service quality

Your rideshare driving experience is better when you go out of your way to provide safe and friendly service to your customers. You have the right to set your boundaries, including whether you will agree to transport someone’s pet in your vehicle. Being honest and courteous about expressing your preferences is always a good bet.

You have lots of reasons to drive for Uber and Lyft, including more freedom, time, and additional earnings. Knowing policies about pets, providing honest and sincere customer service, and accommodating your passengers’ requests with kindness and courtesy will help you get bigger tips!

It’s also smart to have the tools you need with you at all times to run your rideshare gig right. Gridwise makes managing your business easy by giving you

• mileage tracking
• earnings tracking
• insights
• airport and events information
• benefits and discounts
• a community of like-minded gig workers

See the difference having a way to manage all your gigs in one place can make!

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More about boosting your earnings:

• 12 ways to earn more tips
• What’s the best mileage app?
• What you need to know about mileage and tax deductions
• Mileage tracking mistakes you don’t want to make

You're probably familiar with what a mileage tracker does, but finding the best one for your gig driving can be challenging. Many apps miss the mark when addressing the specific requirements of drivers, especially when it comes to tax deductions. Let’s delve into why it’s crucial to have a reliable mileage tracker tailored for gig drivers and learn how to track mileage for taxes effectively with Gridwise, the premier app for your needs!

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Reasons why mileage tracking is crucial for gig drivers

Why do you need a mileage tracker in the first place? Don’t the driving apps tell you how much you drive? In reality, the apps only record the distances you cover on trips. They miss the many miles you drive to and from your gig, and in between trips. Here are some reasons why it’s important to track all your gig-related miles.

• You need to track your tax deductible expenses. This is the number one reason why it’s so important to track your mileage accurately. The IRS rate for business mileage travel is $0.65 for 2023, and will be $0.67 for your 2024 tax year. Now, consider how many miles you put in doing rideshare and delivery work, do a bit of arithmetic, and you’ll come to a rather large sum that will become a substantial deduction from your taxable income.

• You benefit from income optimization and awareness. Here’s another wise way to use your mileage tracker app. When you keep accurate accounts of your mileage and income records, you’ll have the facts about how much money you get from your miles.

• You protect yourself from tax trouble. Reliably separating your business mileage lets you be in compliance with IRS regulations. Nobody wants to get burned by auditors out on the hunt for a bone to pick. Remember that you can deduct miles driven to and from your driving gig, as well as the miles accrued during each gig and in between them. You cannot deduct miles you drive for personal purposes, though. You need a mileage tracker that clearly differentiates between personal and business travel.

Gridwise: Your comprehensive, driver-friendly mileage tracker

Gridwise is more than a  mileage tracker app. Created by gig workers, for gig workers, Gridwise doesn’t require you to adapt a generic tracker to your specific needs. The app gives you driver-friendly features that make it simple for you to track the miles that matter.

Gridwise also has features that assist drivers by informing them about events, traffic, and weather. It will also track your earnings and show you where and when you can make the most money. 

Here’s why you’ll want to make Gridwise your comprehensive mileage tracking partner.

With Gridwise 

• you choose from three options to attain complete control over your mileage figures
• you end the nightmare of manual mileage tracking or guesstimating your gig driving mileage
• you capture the miles you drive between rideshare or delivery trips
• you get fewer disruptions because Gridwise syncs with your driving apps and tracks your earnings seamlessly

Setting up Gridwise for your gigs

Getting started is easy. Your first step, of course, is to download the Gridwise app. Once you have the app loaded on your device, there are just a few more things you’ll need to set up.

First, you’ll need to enable location and motion detection and adjust a few additional settings on your phone. 

Once you do that, you can choose from three ways to track your miles with Gridwise. Begin by deciding whether you’ll use manual or automatic tracking.

Note: Manual tracking is available in the free version. Gridwise Plus members benefit from automatic mileage tracking.

Gridwise offers a total of three options for tracking your mileage. The first two options for manual tracking are available on the free version as well as Gridwise Plus:

1. Use on/off mileage tracking. Turn mileage tracking on and off when you begin and end your shifts. From the Earnings screen, tap the tracking button, and you’ll begin recording your miles. Turn tracking off when you finish your shift, and you will stop recording miles until you enable it at the beginning of your next shift.

Pro Tip: If you’re worried that you won’t remember to turn on tracking when you start your shift, don’t be. As long as you have Gridwise running in the background, a reminder to start tracking will appear every time you drive your vehicle. If you’re not driving for business, simply decline, and be on your way to wherever else you're going.

2. Type in your mileage figures. If you want to clock your miles separately, and then add them to your records in Gridwise, simply tap the “+” button on the Earnings screen, fill in the information, and tap “Save.”

The third option, automatic tracking, is available to Gridwise Plus members only. 

3. Automatically track your mileage. This feature enables you to set up the tracker to detect when you move your vehicle, and need Gridwise to track your miles. Tracking stops once your vehicle is parked for a preset “idle” time period, which you can select and adjust. This makes accurate tracking more convenient for drivers who might not remember to turn tracking on and off during their shifts.

Wondering what happens if you make a mistake? What if you forget to turn the mileage tracker on or off? What happens if you accidentally track miles that aren’t tax deductible?

With Gridwise, you can always edit your mileage to make such adjustments. Add or delete mileage that you don’t want to include using these easy steps.

The best mileage tracker for tax purposes and more

Other mileage trackers only tell you how many miles you have driven. Because Gridwise is designed specifically for gig drivers, it enables you to track all the miles you drive for business. If you have a side gig or two that don’t involve driving apps, you can still use Gridwise to help you log all those deductible miles as well.

Gridwise Plus drivers benefit from enhanced features, but the free version of Gridwise is a powerful tool that outperforms other mileage trackers because it’s designed for gig drivers, by gig drivers!

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Maximize earnings with mileage data analysis

You can use mileage figures for more than just tax deductions. Gridwise stands out as the best mileage tracking app for delivery drivers and rideshare workers alike because it provides insightful reports.

• Compare and contrast your earnings and your mileage with the apps you work with, and determine where your time is best spent.
• Optimize routes, with efficiency in mind. You could find that driving those extra miles from one side of town to the other doesn’t pay off the way you thought they might. Pro tip: Use Where to Drive and When to Drive to show you where you can find the money, and when.
• Check out the correlation between earnings and mileage on different apps to see which are the most profitable.

Here’s how to find those useful Gridwise reports:

On the main screen, tap “Earnings,” and you’ll be whisked away to a summary of earnings for the current week and year. You’ll see your gross earnings, expenses, and mileage deduction figures, by week and by day. You can also see these figures by service—i.e., all the different gigs you work with. 

Stay on top of your data and IRS information

The Gridwise app keeps accurate accounts of your mileage and income, and it pays for you to check in with it from time to time, so you’re on top of your gig driving performance and tax compliance. 

1. Review your data on a regular basis. You don’t want to let mileage get lost should you forget to add it in manually. In a similar way, you’ll want to keep an eye out for any instances where you recorded mileage for a road trip that was pure fun, and hence, not tax deductible.
2. Back up your mileage data and earnings information to a source outside of your mobile device. A telephonic catastrophe could ruin your records, and you won’t want to lose the valuable information you’re collecting with Gridwise.
3. Stay informed. Read up on IRS regulations to ensure that you’re in compliance with all the rules that are related to your mileage and other deductible expenses, as well as those involving work in the gig economy. 

Beyond the best business mileage tracking app: Get more with Gridwise

The next time someone asks you about the best mileage tracking app for DoorDash or any other gig you drive for, you’ll know to tell them about Gridwise. While you’re at it, don’t forget to tell them about all the other driver-focused features the Gridwise app offers, including

• real-time weather, traffic, airport. and events information
• earnings insights
• deals and discounts
• tax help
• insurance and affordable health care options
• money-saving connections to automotive and financial services

All these features are available when you download the free app, but when you join Gridwise Plus, the discounts get deeper and the benefits multiply!

There’s even more value to being a Gridwise driver! The Gridwise community offers support from other drivers, along with special contests and giveaways. Join our Facebook community and follow us on Instagram to connect with awesome Gridwise drivers who share your issues and interests.

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More about mileage and other tax deductions for drivers:

• Avoid these mileage mistakes
• Explore options for deducting mileage and other expenses
• Choose the best mileage tracker app
• Maximize your tax deductions
• Download Gridwise today!

As an Uber driver, you want to make the most money possible, right? To accomplish that, you need a sound strategy, mapping out optimal times to find passengers. You’ll also want to be assured that those customers will pay what you need to reach your desired hourly earnings rate.

How can you figure out the best times to drive and quickly discover what peak times will work with the rest of your schedule? We get into it in this blog.

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Passenger patterns: What are the best times to drive for Uber?

Surely you’ve seen the “heat map” on your Uber app. It shows the areas of town where there is supposedly the most demand for drivers. Sometimes it’s totally on the money, but at other times it doesn’t work so well. One reason might be that there’s a rush of other drivers only too willing to jump in for a chance to score the extra surge prices.

Even when the heat map is at its most torrid, it might not show you the most profitable places to drive. For instance, if there’s a huge concert, game, or festival, there will be a monstrous demand for Uber drivers. Once you race over to the site of the surges, you might also find that you’re stuck in traffic for an hour or two. This will make your trip to pick up Swifties, hockey fans, or denizens of the No Shoes Nation anything but profitable.

It always pays to factor in congestion and delays when you make your driving plans. Keep that in mind when you notice times that seem to be particularly popular with passengers. Uber’s website advises drivers to focus on weekends, rush hours, and evening hours, but these are not the only times you will find peaks in passenger demand. Here are some others.

• The weekday morning commute is always good for catching people on their way to work or caretakers bringing children to school. These will be short rides, by and large, but demand will be high and so will fares.

• Don’t miss out on weekday morning airport runs, particularly if you drive in a large metropolitan area. Business travel is still a thing, and people must be ferried to and from their flights. Hang out around hotels for departing guests and the airports themselves.

• Lunch meetings still happen on weekdays, perhaps for business, or just for fun. Some workers will want to run errands or make personal appointments on lunch breaks, so your availability will be just what the doctor ordered.

• The brunch crowd will be out in force on weekends. Cruise trendy neighborhoods or other areas where omelets, crepes, and pancakes are served up with mimosas, Bloody Mary’s, and piping hot coffee.

• During after-work and after-school commute times, as university classes change over, even short rides can keep you busy with the college crowd if you get enough of them.

• Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights are busy nights in urban areas as passengers set out to celebrate the weekend at restaurants, bars, and events.

Is passenger demand predictable?

While it’s sensible to start putting your strategy together by considering ebbs and flows in passenger activity, you need more information than these general points provide. For one thing, every rush hour isn’t the same, not every airport time-window is equally lucrative, and some events attract more passengers than others. 

You’ll also find different patterns depending on where you live. Every area has different traffic patterns, and a variety of events. For instance, you’d definitely want to know the opening and closing hours for museums and other tourist attractions in New York, but in Cleveland or Kansas City, the office and school traffic might make up more of your passenger count than tourist traffic, especially in the winter months.

This brings up another variable in passenger demand: weather, which affects Uber volume in different ways. While there may be less activity when outdoor conditions are too hot, cold, or stormy, demand for your rideshare services will soar because walking is out of the question. 

As you can see, you need more information to get a more accurate read of what’s happening in your area and when you can expect the traffic to surge. You need data from drivers who are working in the same areas at the same times you want to work. Fortunately, you can get it very easily from Gridwise!

Use Gridwise and know when to drive

Gridwise is designed for drivers, by drivers. The When to Drive feature gives you insights no other app has to offer. It shows you the volume of earnings drivers experience at various times, based on actual figures! There is no guesswork involved in these numbers. Gridwise anonymously gathers earnings figures from drivers and brings them to you, so you know the best times to drive in your specific area!

Here are the steps to using the When to Drive feature on Gridwise:

1. Download the Gridwise app.
2. Sign in, tap “Insights,” and then scroll to “When to Drive.” This shows an overview of the big earning days in your area for the current week. 

3. To get additional data on the best times to drive, tap the bar chart and you’ll see further earnings numbers for different times of the day.

Now you can choose the time frame you want to learn about. Tap in the lower right hand corner where it says “Evenings,” and you’ll arrive at the screen that offers options.

4. Select your option (the display will change) and you’ll see the information for the time period you’re most interested in.

5. Gridwise When to Drive also provides the ability to compare the best times to drive for all the different services you work for. Tap “Compare Services” on the Insights screen. This takes you to a chart that compares all the services available in your area. You can change the time intervals you want to learn about by clicking on the time shown on the lower right-hand side of the screen.

Note that there are also comments indicating trends in earnings for the services that have experienced gains and losses over the time periods specified.

Gridwise is the very best source for information about the best times to drive. Don’t miss out on this valuable resource! Download the Gridwise App and get When to Drive, along with tons of other features to boost your earnings.

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Learn more about the best times to drive for Uber and other services:

• Details about the best times to drive for Uber
• The best times to drive for Uber Eats
• The best times to drive for DoorDash
• The best times to drive for Lyft

"Ultimately, the power of Uber is the six-and-a-half million earners who are on our platform and the services they provide for everybody." Those were the words of Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, as reported by Business Insider, at an appearance in Bengaluru, India, in February of this year. Khosrowshahi mirrors what many CEOs say: “Employees make the company.”

As Khosrowshahi spoke these words, the Gridwise Annual Gig Mobility Report revealed other news about gig economy trends. Uber and Uber Eats led the downward curve in gig driver earnings in 2022 and 2023. For rideshare, Uber drivers’ monthly income dropped 17.1% in the last two years. Uber Eats drivers saw a drop of 15.4%. 

For investors and analysts it’s essential to understand the importance of drivers to the success of a gig platform. We’ve all experienced having to wait twenty minutes for a rideshare or even longer for a meal to be delivered. Part of that problem is not enough drivers. If you want to understand gig drivers, the Gridwise Annual Gig Mobility Report is the best place to start. Download your copy here. 

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How did Gridwise Analytics gather this information?

Gridwise markets a companion app for gig drivers: rideshare, food delivery, grocery delivery, and parcel delivery. The app gives drivers various insights into their earnings—when and where to drive, information on special events, traffic reports, weather reports, etc.—allowing them to be more efficient in their work.

In addition to helping gig drivers earn more, Gridwise captures driver information—where rides originate, where they end, time of day, driver earnings—then anonymizes and aggregates it into mobility and delivery data. These transportation analytics reflect activity across twelve gig platforms, correlating up to 98% against quarterly metrics reported by these platforms. 

For the Gridwise Annual Gig Mobility Report (AGMR), researchers interviewed 528 US-based gig drivers from November 27 through December 19, 2023. Gridwise also interviewed another 1,000 US-based gig consumers on January 19, 2024. 

Unless otherwise noted, all numbers in this blog post are from the AGMR. 

The ecosystem of gig driver platforms

We can generally divide gig platforms into four categories. 

• Rideshare. Uber and Lyft are the leaders in ridesharing, with market shares of 65% and 35%, respectively. 
• Food delivery. This market is dominated by DoorDash, with a whopping 78.6% market share. Uber Eats is second (18.7% market share), followed by Grubhub (2.7%). 
• Grocery delivery. Instacart dominates this market at 72.5%. According to a report by EMarketer, DoorDash, Uber, and Shipt make up the market’s remainder of the market. Walmart has its own proprietary gig driver delivery service called Walmart Spark. 
• Parcel delivery. Several companies share this market, including Amazon Flex (Amazon packages only), Roadie, and other smaller platforms. At various times rideshare drivers are also called upon to deliver items. One former Lyft driver reports he once delivered blueprints, car keys, industrial parts, and hair products. 

Uber is credited with founding and popularizing the gig industry with rideshare in 2012, followed quickly by Lyft. Food delivery and grocery companies promptly followed. Although rideshare grew in popularity, food and grocery delivery platforms stumbled along until the pandemic in 2020; then they skyrocketed as people quarantined in their homes. Meanwhile, rideshare took a hit. Four years later, rideshare has recovered, while food and grocery delivery continue their popularity. 

Growth of the platforms

The Uber rideshare platform saw the most significant trip bump in 2022 and 2023, with a 66.3% increase. Lyft trip numbers also increased by 52.1% in the same period. 

DoorDash experienced solid growth in food delivery, with a 34% increase during the reporting period. The platform now dominates the market with a 78.6% share. Uber Eats orders are slightly down. Their market share has shrunk to 18.7%, but food delivery is a significant part of Uber’s income. 

Gig driver preference for platforms

• Food delivery has surpassed rideshare in the last 12 months, with 76% of drivers saying they’ve worked the food delivery platforms. 
• Grocery delivery came in second, with 32.2% of drivers working these platforms in the same period.
• Rideshare came in third, with 28.8% working on these platforms. 

As many as 41% of drivers work multiple platforms, a practice called multi-apping. Drivers work platforms simultaneously or one at a time, depending on the peak hours of individual platforms. More about that later. 

If you want a closer look at the companies that employ gig drivers, get your copy of the Gridwise AGMR. Download your report today. 

Gig economy workforce earnings

Here is a review of gig drivers’ monthly earnings on the various platforms for 2022 and 2023. 

What role does tipping play for the gig economy workforce?

There is a marked difference in tipping for drivers on the different gig platforms. Food and grocery drivers earn more than 50% of their income from tips, while rideshare drivers earn only about 10% of their income this way. 

There is also a difference in tipping frequency on the various gig platforms:

• 28.3% of rideshare trips result in a tip 
• 74.5% of grocery delivery trips result in a tip
• 88.5% of food delivery trips result in a tip 

Of the drivers surveyed, 78.4% say tips matter significantly to their overall income, while 68.6% claim that tips bolster their enthusiasm and job satisfaction. 

Consumers of gig driver services are surprisingly aware of the importance tipping plays in gig driver income. Of those surveyed, 76.4% recognize that gig drivers rely heavily on tips, and 58.5% feel obligated to tip gig drivers. 

However, there is a clear difference of opinion about the amount suitable for a tip.

SOURCE: Gridwise Analytics Annual Gig Mobility Report

What has caused the drop in gig driver earnings?

While Uber drivers monthly income showed a marked decline, this isn’t true for all the platforms. Lyft rideshare and Grubhub are up 2.5% and 6.0%, respectively. We can, however, make some general observations about why earnings are down overall. 

• Oversaturation of drivers. In a previous Gridwise blog post, How Much Do Uber Drivers Make In 2024?, we reported that the ranks of Uber gig drivers swelled by 31% in 2022. This means two things:
  • More drivers are competing for rides, driving down individual earnings. You’ll often hear this referred to as an oversaturation of drivers. 
  • New drivers who are not familiar with rideshare strategies tend to make less. 
• A more savvy rideshare consumer. Passengers are getting smarter. Many have figured out that waiting fifteen minutes after the bars close or an event lets out allows surge prices to pass. Articles such as this one in The Penny Hoarder inform rideshare passengers of other techniques to save money on rideshare.
• Gig platforms are still tweaking formulas. Uber’s profit report puts pressure on the other companies running gig platforms to show black ink. Platforms will continue experimenting with how much they charge the consumer and pay gig drivers. 

Gig earnings will continue to fluctuate as these factors and others put pressure on the market. To get a better look at gig companies' earnings, have a look at the Gridwise Annual Gig Marketing Report. 

Gig economy workforce demographics

According to a study from the Pew Research Center, in 2021 more than 16% of the US population had at least experimented as a member of the gig economy workforce, either in rideshare, food delivery, or package delivery. This includes those who work just a few hours a week to full-time drivers putting in 40 to 60 hours a week. That Pew number, by the way, was compiled before Uber swelled its US driver numbers by 31% these last two years. 

More recently, Gridwise Analytics has compiled demographic information on these drivers. 

The gender breakdown of the gig economy workforce

The Gridwise Annual Gig Mobility Report breaks down gender into the four main gig platform categories. 

• Rideshare: 25% women, 72% men
• Food delivery: 40% women, 59% men 
• Grocery delivery: 43% women, 54% men
• Package delivery: 33% women, 65% men

The survey also revealed that women are twice as likely as men to be concerned about the safety of having a stranger in their car. This explains why food and grocery delivery see a higher percentage of women drivers. 

How did drivers define the commitment level to their gig job? 

• 68% considered it a side job
• 41% drove less than 10 hours a week
• 31% considered it their primary job
• 29% drove 10–30 hours a week
• 8% stated they drove more than 30 hours a week 

Longevity of the gig economy workforce

Driver churn, the term referring to the number of drivers who leave the job, is a problem for gig platforms. According to the Gridwise Annual Gig Mobility Report

• 74.8% of drivers started in the last three years
• 49.4% started in 2023
• 38% work five times a week or more 

FintechNexus.com reports that “the cost of turnover is estimated to be 0.5 to 2 times the employee’s earnings, even for a gig worker.” This is a drain on the bottom line for the gig platforms, requiring these firms to spend money and resources on recruiting drivers. 

The Gridwise Annual Gig Marketing Report is a complete look at gig drivers, their demographics and motivations. Get your free copy here. 

Other factors that contribute to those seeking gig driver work

There are also societal factors that make gig work attractive to individuals who previously worked 9-to-5 jobs. 

• The Great Resignation. The COVID-19 pandemic compelled a number of workers to re-evaluate their jobs and lifestyles. Folks quit working in droves, looking instead for jobs that offered more flexibility and freedom. Gig-driving jobs provide these things. The money may not be as good, but many people have re-prioritized their lives. 
• The aging of baby boomers. The children of baby boomers, Gen Xers, and Millennials find they must care for their aging parents as they encounter the infirmities of old age. Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia are at record highs. In 2020, there were over 55 million people globally who have dementia, according to the website of Alzheimer’s Disease International. “This number will almost double every 20 years, reaching 78 million in 2030 and 139 million in 2050. Much of the increase will be in developing countries.” The children of these patients need jobs with flexibility to accommodate their caregiving activities, and gig driving offers that flexibility. 

How do drivers see their future working on a gig platform?

According to the 2023 Griwise AGMR, 45% of drivers see their commitment to gig driving as a long-term plan instead of a temporary job. Another 26% see it as a short-term remedy to their job situation. Finally, 29% say they are unsure about their work as a gig driver. 

What role does multi-apping play with drivers?

A common practice for many drivers is multi-apping, in which drivers run two or more apps simultaneously. According to the Gridwise AGMR, only 24.3% of drivers switch between apps during a working period, but there’s plenty of curiosity about this practice. Of those drivers interviewed, 41.7% have experimented with the various gig platforms in the last year. Many drivers find the information they get from the Gridwise app allows them to multi-app more efficiently. 

Gridwise Analytics has the ground truth

One of the keys to success for investing in gig platforms, especially the emerging ones, will be understanding the drivers who deliver these services, whether it’s rideshare, food delivery, package delivery, or any other service that may develop in the coming years. Successfully recruiting these drivers means having an insight into what motivates them. Gridwise Analytics, with insights into the activities of hundreds of thousands of drivers, can deliver that insight. 

Get in touch with us today to discover what we can deliver. 

Check out these articles to learn more about Gridwise Analytics:

• Read the Gridwise Annual Gig Mobility Report 
• Harnessing Gig Mobility Data and Analytics for Growth Opportunities 
• Data-Driven Strategy: How Gig Mobility Drove Fleet Efficiency in an Autonomous Vehicle Company’s Strategy
• Why We Launched Gridwise Analytics