Like millions of Americans, Jeff Miller makes deliveries from major retailers as an independent contractor.
But his work doesn’t often involve delivering groceries or a single restaurant takeout order. Instead, he often picks up heavy or bulky orders that other drivers can’t — think bags of mulch as customers start gardening in the spring or air-conditioning units as the weather gets hotter — through a gig delivery app called Roadie.
“If it’s huge, it really takes a lot of the drivers out of the ability to take it,” Miller said of heavier orders in an interview with Business Insider.
Roadie is one of several apps that fill and deliver orders for major retailers using workers who are independent contractors. Like Instacart or DoorDash, Roadie shows workers specific deliveries available to them and the payout for each.
Waiting is a key part of maximizing his pay, Miller said, since compensation for a delivery job often rises the longer it sits unclaimed by a driver.
“It’ll sit there for a couple of hours, and it’ll go up from $49 to $75,” he said.
Making money has become more challenging for many gig delivery workers over the last few years, with more people signing up to work for delivery apps.
On some apps, pay-per-order has also declined in the past year.
Miller, who lives in St. Cloud, Minnesota, said that Roadie serves him orders that involve driving hundreds of miles. But many of the deliveries he takes involve driving to smaller towns about an hour away.
Deliveries in rural Minnesota through Roadie tend to be more profitable than ones in more populated areas, Miller said, since there are fewer drivers around to take orders. He’s noticed that similar orders generally pay less in Minneapolis and St. Paul, he said.
“They’re worth less because there’s more people driving there,” he added.
He saves money on gas by driving an electric vehicle, he said. Miller also uses a small trailer to haul the bulky orders he tends to pick up.
His most profitable orders tend to come from Home Depot stores in his area, he told BI. These orders can involve delivering “anything from really small orders to huge orders with plywood,” he said.
“I’ve done water heaters,” he added. “Anything that’ll fit in my car and trailer, I’ll take.”
Tractor Supply Company stores are another common source of orders for Miller through Roadie.
Miller said he also checks GrubHub, Uber Eats, and Walmart’s Spark for the highest-paying orders, but he avoids taking small orders on those apps. “I don’t take $3 orders for anybody,” he said.
“Having the four apps, I can cherry-pick real nice,” he added.
A Roadie spokesperson said the app has about 200,000 contractor drivers in the US. UPS acquired Roadie in 2021.
Delivering big and bulky items, including for retailers, is one area where Roadie is expanding, the spokesperson said.
In June, the company launched RoadieXD, a service that allows delivery drivers to pick up large items directly from cross-docks — sites where products are delivered from suppliers and immediately distributed for delivery, without having to sit in a warehouse or store first.
“Drivers who take on these larger deliveries are not only meeting a critical market need but are also contributing to a more seamless and satisfying delivery experience for customers,” the spokesperson said.
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