My partner and I lost our jobs in first lockdown and had to temporarily take lower paid jobs in our decent careers. My pay cut was £10k my partner £15k less. So, we signed up to do Deliveroo to fill the shortfall, which did mean working 7 days a week, and having to go out on the evening after a full day at work.
The fee you as a customer is charged for delivery isn't the fee we get paid. Bear in mind, companies like Deliveroo charge the customer a service fee and delivery fee and also take up to 35% off restaurants per order too.
When we sign onto the app, you get job offers. It shows you where it's going from and to, along with the fee you'll be paid. You can accept or reject any job that comes through. So, for example, I would reject jobs from outlets where there were long waits for orders, outlets where it's hard to park, deliveries to unsafe areas, or simply as the fee is too low.
Lowest fee I've seen is £3.15. Which I rejected. Best fee I've had for one job is £15 (it involved getting the food from the local M1 services, so app factored in travel on motorway). I'd say that average fee is £5-£6 per job. But on busy periods, they do fee boosts and you may get a double order, delivering to two customers from same place. Jobs take anything from 10 minutes to 40 minutes to complete.
it's paid per job, not per hour. It's in our interests to collect and deliver quickly and get next job. Most I've made is £32ph. Average rate is about £12-£13ph though.
Don't forget, we have to do own tax returns, and also pay extra for vehicle insurance that allows us to use car for "hire and reward". Plus fuel.
Most people don't tip. I'd say 20% do. A tip can make such a difference, I'd go out with an amount in mind that I need to earn before I can sign off. Say £50 for 2-3 hours. I can get to £45 and someone tips me a generous fiver, which means I can go home sooner.
It was a real eye opener doing the job. My two big things that I took on board is the tipping, I always tip when I make an order myself. The other is you MUST make your address easy to find. There's a box you can add notes, like "Turn left as you come into street, third house on left with red door". It's SO hard to see house numbers from the road in the day, at nighttime it's near impossible.
God know how riders and drivers are making money now, given the fuel prices.