Fast And Flexible Cash: Here’s A Look At The Top 3 Popular Food Delivery Platforms For Riders
With the rising cost of living in Singapore, it is increasingly becoming a norm for many to complement their income with side gigs like food delivery.
When it comes to food delivery gigs, there are two main factors that prospective riders look out for, namely the delivery rates and flexibility. These two attributes are important as riders come from diverse backgrounds ranging from students, full-time working adults and even retirees who want to earn fast cash without any commitments.
Food delivery is a popular option with relatively low barriers to entry, but before jumping on the bandwagon, here’s a closer look at some popular platforms.
1) GrabFood
A GrabFood rider’s pay typically consists of three parts: the trip fare, the gems incentive and the quest incentive.
A GrabFood rider’s pay consists of the base fare and an adjustment based on distance (longer distances add more to the base fare).
Example: Base fare ($5) + Distance adjustment ($2) = Trip fare ($7)
Grab offers its riders gems as an incentive system. Each delivery awards the rider with a set number of gems. The more gems a rider accumulates, the greater the incentive becomes.
Source: Grab
Source: Guide To GrabFood
On top of the gems incentive system, GrabFood also has a quest incentive system and riders must maintain an acceptance rate of 90% in order to qualify for it.
Example: Each delivery awards the rider an average of 25 gems per delivery. These gems translate into incentives at the end of the day at an estimated rate of $1/20gems. These incentives and daily earnings can be cashed out after the rider ends their work. If they maintain an acceptance rate of at least 90%, they can also get incentives from the quest system.
GrabFood riders can generally earn between $10-$17 per hour based on incentives and other variables.
In terms of flexibility, riders can go online or offline whenever they want which allows them to work as much or as little as they desire. However, fewer work hours means fewer gems and thus fewer incentives. More details here.
2) FoodPanda
FoodPanda riders earn by completing deliveries, but how much they earn per delivery is determined by FoodPanda’s batch system. The batch system ranges from batch 1-6. A rider’s batch rating depends on three elements: their acceptance rate like for GrabFood, actual vs planned hours, which account for the riders’ late log-in or breaks taken during their shift and finally, special hours which refer to how often the rider works during peak hours such as lunch or dinner time.
Their performance is tracked for the week they are currently working in and their batch ranking will be awarded the following week.
The higher the batch ranking, the more the rider is paid per delivery.
FoodPanda riders can earn between $10-$25 per hour based on their batch standings.
FoodPanda has a restrictive approach to their workflow as riders have to book shifts before they can work. As such, they don’t have the liberty to go online or offline freely. Errant riders who frequently log-in late to their shifts or abandon their shifts entirely can have their rider accounts suspended or even terminated for repeat offenders.
More details here.
3) Deliveroo
Source: Deliveroo
While GrabFood and FoodPanda augment riders’ pays with incentives or the batch system, Deliveroo’s system relies solely on effort spent per delivery. Their mapping system not only considers distance, but also traffic flows, diversions and even hills when calculating fees.
Example:
KFC Tampines Hub -> CityLife @ Tampines ($5)
KFC Tampines Hub -> SUTD Hostel ($10)
Deliveroo riders earn an average of $9-$23 per hour based on the distance of the deliveries.
Riders are also not penalised for rejecting orders, which means that Deliveroo is the most flexible out of the three platforms as riders can go online and offline whenever they choose while having the flexibility to pick only the orders they want to deliver.
Additionally, as compared to the previous 2 platforms, Deliveroo only accepts card payments which makes it hassle-free for riders as they do not have to deal in cash with customers.
More details here.
Disclaimer: The fares riders earn for completing each trip is not necessarily the same as the delivery fee consumers pay. In addition, the estimated earnings listed here serve as rough benchmarks for each platform. Actual earnings will depend on the other factors mentioned.
Always check the order number on the receipt before zooming off. Ride safe and happy delivering!
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