Video summary
The video documents an Uber Eats driver's experience working on Easter Monday, a public holiday in Australia, to determine his potential earnings over an eight-hour period. Starting early in the morning with a McDonald's order that paid $20 for 14 kilometers, the driver navigates through various challenges typical of gig work, including fluctuating quest availability and strict time windows. He notes that while tips are rare in this market compared to other regions, his primary strategy involves stacking trips across multiple days to complete weekly quests rather than relying on daily bonuses alone. The morning rush brings a mix of standard deliveries and unique "pack and deliver" orders involving items like packing boxes and energy drinks, highlighting the diverse nature of requests he encounters while driving around Townsville under crisp winter skies.
As the day progresses, the driver faces significant mental hurdles regarding order selection, specifically his tendency to decline any job paying less than $10 or offering poor value relative to distance traveled. This selective approach leads him to sit idle on the side of the road for extended periods, burning fuel without earning income as he waits for better opportunities. He acknowledges this mistake and eventually adjusts his mindset to accept lower-paying orders, realizing that constant movement is essential for profitability in Uber Eats. By mid-afternoon, after accepting more modest jobs including a Hungry Jack's order and a Coles click-and-collect task, he manages to push his earnings past the $200 mark before taking a brief break around 3:30 PM to attend an appointment, demonstrating the flexibility of gig work that allows him to fit personal commitments into his schedule.
By the end of the shift after driving for eight hours and twenty-six minutes covering approximately 184 kilometers, the driver has completed 27 trips with a net fare total of $258.17 before expenses. After deducting roughly $40 in fuel costs based on an average consumption rate of about 10 liters per hundred kilometers, his take-home pay sits around $220 for slightly more than eight hours of active work. Although he did not complete the full weekly quest that day due to time constraints and a lack of early morning quests, he successfully completed 24 out of the required 65 trips needed for the bonus structure. The video concludes with an analysis showing his effective hourly rate hovering between $28 and $30 without tips or promotions, emphasizing that while some days may be less lucrative than others, consistent effort over several days is key to maximizing earnings in this competitive landscape.
Read the full video transcript
Sup, guys? How we doing?
Another public holiday and another day
driving Uber Eats to see just how much
money we can make
in
a period of time.
And at this point it's undisclosed. I
don't I don't know how long um I'm going
to be working for today, but
we're out here. I've got my first order.
It's McDonald's.
And it is going to be paying me $20,
which is a really nice start. 20 bucks
and change for 14 and 1/2 km. So,
uh it's What is it? 8:37 at the moment.
There's a quest that begins at 9:00.
It's Easter Monday, 9:00 Monday morning.
It goes until Thursday night at 11:59
p.m. So, and the first uh tier of the
quest is 60 trips.
So, the only way I've got any hope of
achieving any quest this week is uh is
through multiple days of work and just
stacking those those trips until I reach
at least 60 trips in the next 4 days.
Will that happen? Only time will tell,
but what I do know
is that I'm not going to achieve any
quest
um
any quest uh today between
8:00 when I started and um
and 4:00 and at least 4:30 because there
is another quest that begins at 4:30. It
goes till 9:30 and um
it offers you a certain amount of money
for 12 trips. So, from the hours of 8:00
till 4:30 there will be absolutely no
quests um achieved. And so, it's just
going to be straight
base fare earnings plus tips. Plus tips,
but I will say in Australia, tips are
few and far between.
So,
we are out here.
We have some Mickey D's on board. I'm
going to deliver it, and our kitty after
about half an hour of online time will
read $20
and a few cents.
So, as we move through the day, I'll
have my great pleasure of
updating you guys.
And hopefully by then I will be fully
awake because at the moment
I'm not.
Um but yeah.
It's a nice day out here, blue sky.
The mornings in Townsville are getting
slightly more crisp
as the weeks go on towards winter and
I am a massive fan of that.
So,
let's get going, guys.
There's only one way to earn money in
this game.
That is to be in it. You got to be in it
to win it. You never know what order's
around the corner.
So, let's just hope for the best. It's
Easter Monday.
I don't know what type of business a
public holiday's going to bring in. I
don't think I've ever worked public
holiday. So, I suppose it's just a
matter of hoping that most places are
open, which I think they are.
Or it could be McDonald's and Burger
King all day. Either way, I'll see you
guys later. All right, so we got a
bit of an interesting one. I I got a I
got a McDonald's order for
10 bucks for 10 K's. I thought, well,
look.
I had about 15 minutes to spare
before the quest for the week starts.
So, I took it and on the way to
McDonald's I got an additional order
to Office Works
to pick up a four-pack of Monster Energy
Drinks and six large packing boxes.
So, I don't know what
this fellow is doing, but it seems he
needs some energy to pack something.
And they've actually sent me there
first. So, I'm going to Office Works.
I'm going to pick up that. Then I'll go
to McDonald's to pick up that.
Deliver both orders. That'll be three
orders done.
And the best thing about it is I got
paid 10 bucks for the first $17 for the
OfficeWorks order. So,
um you know, whether it's I could have
denied it. I could have waited until the
quest started
to get my
$3 extra per order effectively.
Um but [clears throat] I didn't. So, $17
for uh 4 1/2 K's, I am never going to
say no to that. The only catch could be
this this order does seem a little too
good to be true. And when that happens,
it's usually because the place is
closed.
And the order just gets cycled and
cycled and cycled until, you know,
eventually it it sort of goes off the
Uber Eats map. So, hopefully it's open.
If it is,
happy days. If not, we move on. I'll let
you guys know.
>> left on Walkers
>> All right, guys. I'll tell you what, you
wouldn't believe it,
but for the very first time we have
packing boxes
being delivered through Uber Eats. I
have never picked these up before. I've
picked up I've picked up Monster Energy
drinks plenty of times in the past, but
I've never had packing boxes. So, there
you go. $17 for 4 1/2 km, six packing
boxes, and one single
one single can of uh Monster Energy
drink. They must have just thrown that
in there. So,
we've got the goods, man.
We've got the goods.
The store did open just as I got there.
So, that was lucky. And now we're off to
Maccas for the second time
today.
Um and then the next order we take,
being that it has ticked over to 9:00,
we'll be working towards the quest,
although that is not going to be
achieved today. Thanks, guys. See you
soon.
Right, guys. We're sitting at 47:17,
three trips completed, 9:22 in the
morning.
>> on Bristol Street.
>> I began this at about 10:08. 9:22, 47
bucks in the bank.
I can't complain with that. I've just
taken just taken [clears throat] my
first pack and deliver order. Not ideal.
Not ideal, but it is a double stacker.
So, I've got two pack and delivers, 13
total items paying $27.
And if that's not a good deal for you,
then I don't know what would be.
It was either $20 or $27. Either way,
we'll get these two shopped, delivered,
and move forward.
Right guys, just checking in. It is
10:34. We've at this for over 2 hours
now, and we've completed six trips, four
of which are going towards the week's
quest,
which begins at 65.
But for anyone wondering,
seven trips, my mistake. $94.03
in coming up 2 and 1/2 hours. So,
we've been all over the place, to be
honest. We've been picking up picking up
packing boxes, um
pet toy,
uh McDonald's, some Mexican,
some shop and delivers at a supermarket,
and I think that's about it. So,
nothing's coming through at the moment.
I might just try and swing into the city
somewhat, but an order will come
through. It's inevitable. It's it's This
is not like DoorDash. I think DoorDash
you've got to be you know, they make I
I think overall they may pay higher per
order or per kilometer, but
you've got to wait for them. And Uber is
Uber's Uber's the way to go, for me at
least.
I do have an account with with DoorDash.
It hasn't really been used, to be fair.
Um I guess it's there just just in case
something happened with the Uber app or
whatever, and I still wanted to make
some money, but for me, Uber Eats is
where it's at.
What's up, guys?
Eight bucks. Eight bucks for 6 Ks.
Mhm.
Not right now.
Um what do we what do we got? It's
11:50.
We have done
11 trips.
And we've earned $127.09
without
completing a single quest. So that's
averaging over $10 per
order. Uh which is which is about where
I like to be.
Unless I'm chasing down a quest. So um
it's 11:50. We started at 10 past 8. 20
more minutes, we'll be at 4 hours. 127
bucks. If we can If we can get another
10 $12 order that I can complete in the
next 20 minutes, that'll get us up to
140-ish
in 4 hours.
Less petrol.
And for anyone wondering, I did just
fill up my tank. It is full. I don't do
that often. I thought, why not?
Um it cost me 130
smackeroonies.
Just for anyone wondering. 130 bucks
for something like 570
to 600 km. Give me a Tesla, man. All
right, we're sitting at $148.43.
It's 12:51. We've been online for 4
hours and 40 minutes.
And I'm making a really bad a bad
mistake at the moment. I am I'm
declining anything that's under $10 and
I'm declining anything
where the kilometers are more than the
dollars paid. And what that means at the
moment in this particular market on this
particular day at this particular time
is that I'm literally
declining every single order that comes
through. So I'm sitting here on the side
of the road doing nothing.
So I got to I got to I got to break out
of that mindset, man, big time. It's
just really hard to accept that accept
something for any less than like $8. Put
it that way. Even if it's going to take
15 minutes, it's 3 or 4 km, it's like
Uh
>> [clears throat]
>> I'm just not in that mindset, but I need
to be. And so, sit on the side of the
road for long enough
not earning any money
burning petrol because I need the air
con on. You're going to start accepting
things.
So, um
the morning was was fruitful.
See, look at this.
$5
$5 is 2.1 km.
But, I just I just can't do it. I'm not
I'm not in that frame of mind right now.
I might be on Thursday when I'm
mowing down the remainder of of the
quest
um because I do plan on it's 65 trips
for $160
through Monday through Thursday. So, if
I will get to 65 trips by Thursday. I'll
make sure of that.
Um
Yeah, we'll deny that. But, um for
today, as far as the quest is concerned
we're 11 of 65 through. So, I I'm not
going to go home until I at least hit 20
trips,
which will be 23 total for the day.
Um so, we've got nine more trips to go.
And with nine more trips, I'm hoping at
least 100 bucks will go home
with
around 250
less petrol. We'll see.
But, like I said like like I said, I've
I've just denied two more trips. I've
been pack and deliver is kind of off the
table for me at the moment.
Anything under 10 bucks is off the
table. Anything with kilometers higher
than than dollars is off the table. And
basically, from this moment on, all of
those three types of order have to be
back on the table or else this isn't
this isn't going to happen.
And you'll find yourself in situations
like this.
So,
you just got to get going. It's like,
once you accept the order, okay, sweet.
Well, we're off now. We're driving. And
driving is the name of the game. That's
that's
If we're driving, we're either driving
to pick something up or driving to
deliver something. And at the end of the
day,
that is where we make money. So, I need
to accept something.
And I need to accept it soon. Come on,
man. Please. Come on, bro. Come on.
Be nice. Give me some Give me a 20 a $20
order. I mean, I'd go pack and deliver
for 20 bucks. All right. Well, I'll see
you guys at $200. How's that? We're at
148.43.
All right. So, I took a bit of my own
advice and started taking the
low-hanging fruit.
And we have reached uh 255. I've got two
orders with me. One McDonald's order Oh,
sorry. Hungry Jack's.
And a uh
Coles
uh click and collect order.
So, once I've delivered these two, it'll
take me to 22 total trips today, and we
will hit the $200 mark. So, it's 2:56. I
should get rid of these within 15
minutes.
And that'll take us over
the
7-hour mark officially. I've got
something to do today.
Once again, that's the flexibility of
this. Um I've got something to do at
3:30, so I should
yeah, drop these off and be in the
vicinity of of my appointment um
just before it just before it starts.
So, I'll go to the appointment, and then
I'm going to I think I'm going to head
home after that. So,
this video will be titled
something along the lines of how much
can I earn on Easter Monday
or on a Monday
without quests
in 7 hours. And we have um
we've answered that question.
Just over 200 bucks.
But, the specifics I will run through
after we're finished. All right, guys.
We have officially logged off, and we
have officially arrived home. I went a
little bit longer than I'd expected. I
started my kilometers
uh trip
meter at the beginning, exactly when I
left the house. And uh I've just arrived
back to the house. So, this is This is
exactly how many k's
I've driven.
And exactly what the fuel efficiency has
been, and exactly how much money we have
indeed made. So, okay. So, that's
actually the next quest um that we were
Well, that we we could possibly do, but
um
So, that's 4:46. We began at 10:08, but
I did have to stop at about 3:30 to do
something. Then I jumped back in my car
and continued. I wasn't finished yet.
But um $258.17,
27 total trips.
We are indeed at the Uber Eats platinum
level for another 3 months, which is
good. So, $258.17,
27 trips.
And if we come down here,
uh we'll look at
driving time.
So,
we have been driving for 8 hours
and uh 26 minutes. 8 hours and 26
minutes, $258.17.
We'll see what what the breakdown is.
It's Yeah, 8 hours 27 minutes active
time, 7 hours 11 minutes, 27 trips.
We've got $258.17
net fare, no tips, and no promotions.
As well as that, we have driven a total
of 183.6
km
at an average
of
10.2 L per k. So, let's call it 10, and
let's call it 180.
So,
that would be 18 L,
and I paid 220 220 for a liter. So let's
just call it
18 L 220
40 bucks.
Something like that. Let's call it 40
bucks. So $258.17
less about $40
is 200 Let's call it 220.
I'm going to give myself the benefit of
the doubt. $220
from 8 and 1/2 hours.
No quests, no tips. Well, 8 * 3 is 24.
So we're at, you know, between Yeah, I
mean it's between 28 28 and $30 an hour.
All of that will be revealed in the next
uh slide with the breakdown of of
everything, but
no quests, um
almost $30 an hour,
27 trips completed, and and 24 of those
towards my 65 trip quest, which will pay
$156.
I'll just give you a quick look at that.
This is basically what I'm going to be
working towards
over the remainder of the week. 24 of 65
156. The next five after that pay $26,
which is over, you know, $5.20 per trip,
which is really good. The next 10 is 42,
which is 420 per trip, which is really
good. 25 So they've they've kind of
they've got us
They've got us doing the bulk of the
work for
less than $3 extra per trip. And then
once you get to 65, then you can sort of
reap the rewards. But I mean, 70 80
To do 105 trips over four days is
actually quite a lot. You've got to be
willing to put in the the hours.
And um
And that's what I've always said.
You know, if you're willing to put in
the hours in this game, you will earn
the money. Some days are going to be
better than others.
Today was interesting. 8 and 1/2 hours.
And uh 200 258 dollars
less expenses.
So, call it what you will. Is it a good
day out?
I don't know. Could have been better.
Will today's efforts flourish
on, I'd say, Wednesday when we finally
meet meet that quest? Yes. And an extra
156 dollars in my account is is going
going to be um
much appreciated. Either way, I've got
to go home. I've got kids that are
waiting on me. I'm I'm an hour later
than I said I was going to be. I'll hear
about it.
But um hey, I just went out earning
money, not spending it. So, that's a
win. It's school holidays. It's first
day of school holidays, effectively.
Monday being Well, it is a public
holiday. So, tomorrow would be the first
day of school holidays. And then I've
got 2 weeks
um to uh try and entertain these kids
whilst
making a living and
working two jobs and all the rest of it.
So, thanks for watching, guys. The
breakdown will be coming next, and I
will see you in the next one.