Deliver on Your Business

Deactivations seem to be happening like crazy for Independent Contractors with gig delivery companies like Doordash, Uber Eats, Grubhub and others.

What do you do if you rely heavily on your food delivery business income? How do you avoid having that taken away from you, especially for something you didn't do?

We walk through three different categories of reasons people get deactivated. And then we talk about seven steps you can take to protect yourself from deactivation.

These are not a guarantee. But if you follow these steps you eliminate most of the chances of such a deactivation happening.

You can visit the blog page related to this episode at the EntreCourier site.

We played a couple of clips from interviews from Episode 94 with Bryant Greenling of LegalRideshare, and from Episode 95 with Leah Chasser of Kover.ai.

I mentioned this article from Gridwise about reasons people get deactivated.

I also talk about Doordash's deactivation policy, where you can see more information here.

We mention Episode 7 that talks about having an exit plan.

Affiliate links of note:
As an affiliate, I may earn money when items are purchased from the following links.

We talked about the Rexing V2 Pro, the dash cam that I use personally. You can add GPS to it. Movable cameras allow you to point the camera out the side window and document your deliveries at the doorstep.

One of the most important steps you can take to get protected in the event of a wrongful deactivation is to sign up with Kover.ai. Kover provides income protection if you are deactivated and has a legal service that can write a deactivation appeal letter on your behalf. Use this affiliate link and you can get the first month at no cost.

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Our Podcast page is at DeliverOnYourBusiness.com
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What happens if you are unable to earn because of a deactivation, car accident or hospitalization when you deliver for Grubhub, Doordash, Uber Eats, Instacart or any of these other platforms?

As an independent contractor, you are on your own. There's no backup.

Unless you've created a backup.

Our guest today is Leah Chasser from Kover.AI. Kover is a benefits company for gig economy workers that specializes in income protection. Leah talks to us about the services that Kover offers for delivery contractors and other gig workers.

Leah is also offering a special offer for listeners of the Deliver on Your Business podcast. If you sign up through our affiliate link here at Kover.ai you can get the first month at no cost to you. This gives you a risk free way to check out their services.

In last week's episode, Bryant from LegalRideshare gave a glowing endorsement of Kover. In fact, Kover and LegalRideshare work together to provide attorneys letters to gig companies requesting reinstatement if a driver is deactivated by Grubhub, Doordash, Uber Eats or any of these other gig delivery apps (or rideshare apps).

If you are an independent contractor who relies much at all on your delivery income, you should be providing some form of protection. Kover is one option. There are other things you can look at. One of the most effective things you can do is create your own emergency fund. If you've established a large enough emergency fund, you may not need a service like this.

Personally, I have an emergency fund but also subscribe to Kover. My emergency fund makes me feel comfortable with the mid level package that Kover offers.

Either way, what ever your method is, protect your delivery business.

You can visit the associated blog page for this episode at Entrecourier.com/95

This week's sponsor

We didn't exactly have a sponsored portion of the episode today. I mentioned above that my link to Kover is an affiliate link. That's a form of sponsored link, in that I can receive commission if their service is purchased, and that helps me keep this website and podcast operating.

If you visit Kover off my affiliate link, Kover will provide the first month of membership to you at no cost to you. It's a great way to check out their services.

More about the EntreCourier

You can get more tips and ideas at our website, Entrecourier.com
Our Podcast page is at DeliverOnYourBusiness.com
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We're excited to have Bryant Greening from LegalRideshare.com on as a guest this week.

As an attorney, Bryant found that there were so many things that were different enough involving working with clients in the gig economy such as rideshare and delivery. Six years ago he made the decision to focus exclusively on gig related cases. In that time he's established himself as one of the recognized experts on the legal aspects of rideshare and delivery.

Bryant talks with us today about protecting yourself, putting yourself in a better position to not need help from someone like him, what to do when the unexpected happens. We discuss insurance, dashcams, deactivations and even AB5.

If you are involved in an accident, you can contact LegalRideshare at their website or by calling 312-767-7950.

Bryant also talks about working with Kover AI. Kover provides income protection services for delivery and rideshare contractors. If a contractor is deactivated for something they did not do, subscribers of Kover's service can get a letter sent on their behalf by LegalRideshare. You can learn more about Kover's services here.

You can see a transcript of the interview here.

This week's sponsor:

Our sponsor this week fits in very well with today's topic. Bryant stresses the importance of getting a dashcam. We are affiliates of Rexing USA who provide a variety of dashcams. You can check out Rexing here. or you can find them on Amazon here.

Note that some products and services are sponsored or affiliate links, meaning that I may receive compensation, which helps keep the Entrecourier website and this podcast up and running.

More about the EntreCourier

You can get more tips and ideas at our website, Entrecourier.com
Our Podcast page is at DeliverOnYourBusiness.com
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In starting out the episode, I mention that I just ordered a Rexing dash cam. I ordered a VP2 Pro with a GPS attachment. I am an affiliate, so I do get some commission for sales. You can order at Rexing.com. If you order during Prime Days (October 13 and 14) use the coupon code RexingPD30 for 30% off.

How do you feel about going out and delivering? I always thought I was a bit of a nutcase for enjoying it so much, however I've run into several who feel the same way. I play a couple clips from previous podcast episodes - Kevin Ha from FinancialPanther.com was on Episode 84 and Mike Bisceglia from the Mike Delivers podcast was on Episode 78.

A lot of the stressors with traditional jobs are gone. That can make it easier to enjoy the work. There's still a lot of garbage out there we deal with. But we can choose how we let that impact us.

We offer six suggestions for how to better enjoy your work in your delivery business.

1. Remember your why (See episode 3)
2. Balance your work with your why
3. Create a great work environment
4. Dwell on the good stuff
5. Gamify it.
6. Take advantage of your time out on the road.

More about the EntreCourier

You can get more tips and ideas at our website, Entrecourier.com
Our Podcast page is at DeliverOnYourBusiness.com
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How many of us are not tracking our expenses because it's just too complicated?

Bookkeeping has a high intimidation factor. It doesn't have to be that complicated. Keep it simple. Here's seven rules to help make it easier for you.

1. If you think it's related to your business, track it.
2. If the expense is reasonable and necessary for the operation of your business, it's an allowable expense.
3. Track your miles.
4. Keep a record of the money your delivery business earned.
5. Organize your expenses and income into transaction types.
6. Find a tool for organizing your transactions that makes it easiest and most likely for YOU to keep tracking.
7. Have someone who understands taxes take your records and do your taxes for you.

You can see images, and an associated video on the related blog post at EntreCoureir.

This is about bookkeeping - tracking expenses, not taxes. You can read more about taxes on our tax guide. It includes several articles on tracking miles, expense categories, and how taxes work.

We talked about some tools you can use.

Check out my review on Quickbooks Self Employed.
If interested, you can use my affiliate link for Quickbooks Self Employed for Android or on IOS in the App Store

Check out our recent overview of GoDaddy Bookkeeping for delivery independent contractors. You can use my affiliate link to get that program here.

Hurdler is another cost effective but feature rich option that I'm beginning to really like. This too is an affiliate link

You can also check out affiliate links for Quickbooks Online and for Freshbooks

More about the EntreCourier

You can get more tips and ideas at our website, Entrecourier.com
Our Podcast page is at DeliverOnYourBusiness.com
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I didn't expect to get back to Uber Eats so quickly after we talked in Episode 83 about how Uber Eats is now including the expected tip in the offer amount.

The feedback on that has been surprising. A lot of people commented on the associated blog page that they are making a lot less money under the new system.

Is Uber Eats paying less or is tipping lower under this new system? The issue caught me off guard because my results have been the opposite. I've made more money than ever on Uber Eats now that I know the total tip amount.

We dive into what has changed about tipping on Uber Eats (nothing) and what may be causing some to do better while others do worse.

Some articles of interest:

In January 2019 Uber Eats began allowing customers to tip when placing the order. This feature has been in place for a year and a half. This aspect of things did not change with the new update.

In November of last year we talked about the new Uber Eats pay model.

When Doordash came out with their new pay model last year, we talked about the Desirability factor. It's something similar to Uber Eats's Trip Supplement.

What has changed with Uber Eats? What remains the same? Is it better or worse now that you know how much  you're earning? We talk about those questions and then get into three secrets of how to better evaluate Uber Eats delivery offers with this new change.

More about the EntreCourier

You can get more tips and ideas at our website, Entrecourier.com
Our Podcast page is at DeliverOnYourBusiness.com
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What is it like delivering on an e-Bike for Doordash, Grubhub, Uber Eats?

I share my experience shifting into using an e-Bike for food delivery on Doordash, Uber Eats and Grubhub.

Can you earn good money on bike deliveries? I'm pleasantly surprised.

You can see pictures referenced at the associated blog page.

I referenced Grant Peterson's book "Just Ride." Here's the Amazon affiliate link.

You can check out Episode 84 and my interview with Kevin Ha who was making $40 plus per hour on e-Bike deliveries.

Episode 32 was one of my first times addressing using your bike for delivery.

In August 2019, Doordash rolled out a bicycle mode on their app. I wrote about my experience here.


More about the EntreCourier

You can get more tips and ideas at our website, Entrecourier.com
Our Podcast page is at DeliverOnYourBusiness.com
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All of these gig apps seem intent on thinning the herd of drivers by way of mass deactivations.

Doordash is tracking late deliveries as contract violations. Grubhub and Uber Eats are calling late deliveries "fraudulent.

It's getting crazy out there.

What do you do and how do you weather all these contract terminations?

In August there was another such wave at Doordash, that time due to a glitch that terminated people for multiple accounts when they had none. Another glitch this year terminated people for violating the referral policy when they hadn't referred any new drivers.

In episode 73 we talked about another wave of deactivations.

You can see the screenshots of some of the examples on the associated blog post for today's episode.

We mention in the episode that Grubhub has a form you can submit for account issues. You can get to that form here.


More about the EntreCourier

You can get more tips and ideas at our website, Entrecourier.com
Our Podcast page is at DeliverOnYourBusiness.com
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What's the best way to evaluate delivery offers?

I'm going to tell you that the best way is what works for you. If you are happy with the results from a certain method, then stick with them.

I have issues with certain groups who will tell you their way is the only way. Some get almost militant about it. My beef isn't their philosophy, it's their tactics.

We look at a few approaches: As we do we stress the best way to evaluate is profit per hour which we talked about in Episode 8

You can read the associated blog post here: #DeclineNow vs #TopDasher vs 50 cent rule

Top Dasher / Grubhub Premier / Take Everything.

There are people that this approach can work for. There are markets where this approach may be more necessary. Program levels offer benefits in exchange for taking more offers, but you have to evaluate if the cost is worth the benefit?

Cherry Pickers / DeclineNow / Minimum Dollar Amount

It was among Grubhub drivers that the term cherry pickers came to be popular. Referring to people who reject offers until they find the one that fits. I'm a cherry picker in a loose sense of the definition as I am extremely selective.

A more recent movement has been the #DeclineNow Facebook group. Essentially their approach is to reject anything less than $7. They also stress a theory that Doordash adjusts offer amounts upwards as they are rejected by drivers - a theory put out on this site before the current pay model was fully introduced. There was an interesting article referenced in the episode about the DeclineNow group.

Dollar per mile club

Popular among Doordash drivers is the approach that says it has to pay a dollar per mile or more to take. It's a great way to weed out some bad offers but leaves too many bad offers on the table. In my opinion.

Fifty Cent Rule

A delivery has to pay 50 cents a minute to be worth taking. (Or 40 cents or whatever rule you wish to implement).

Originally introduced here as the 40 cent rule I've since given myself a raise.

The bottom line is

You do you. I emphasize the 50 cent rule because I think it works. But note the words: "I think."

If you choose a different way of deciding or choose not to decide, that's your business decision. I'm not getting emotional over your choice.

When I begin to form a negative opinion is when a philosophy becomes something that its followers insiste I (or anyone else) have to follow.

More about the EntreCourier

You can get more tips and ideas at our website, Entrecourier.com
Our Podcast page is at DeliverOnYourBusiness.com
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Today we launch the 31 Day Courier MBA course. I won't link to it since it's been started already, however, in celebration of that I want to talk about this idea of being a business owner.

MBA in the course stands for Master your Business Attitude. 

Whether you feel like it or not, whether you want to be or not, as an independent contractor you ARE a business owner. Today we talk about seven characteristics of business owners and how they can help you take control.

More about the EntreCourier

You can get more tips and ideas at our website, Entrecourier.com
Our Podcast page is at DeliverOnYourBusiness.com
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