Top 7 Reasons You’re LOSING Money As An Uber Eats Driver (2025)

[@YourDriverMike]

⚡Driving for DoorDash as well? Avoid THESE DoorDash specific mistakes: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mGTQp6iqoZuGg7s ➡ Track you gig earnings: www.yourdrivermike.com/tracking (spreadsheet) or worksolo.onelink.me/7Viq/YDM (app based; affiliate)

[@boohere2]

Why didn't you check to see if those high paying offers for low miles if you could pay for it? Maybe the total would have been like $7 or something very low. If it's low, pay for it with your own money. Then deliver it. You still would make profit. Depends on how much they order. Sometimes you can use the app for like fast food cuz they give discounts in the app. I know McDonald's does and Wendy's and Burger King. Also....another option is to ask if they could remake it.

[@jeffsalyer7513]

I’ve had some ghost orders from Taco Bell and McDonald’s that were $30-$40. What I ended up doing was spending the 10 or $11 for the order and still delivered it and got paid.

[@healthisWealth288]

Like ordering and paying for the order and then delivering it to finish the order?

[@Loveaintreal]

SMART I thought about doing that. I lost so much money driving all the way to the restaurant and the order was already picked up or cancelled especially Walmart orders

[@teinff7696]

It's a gamble. What if they tip bait you with a fake high tip? How do you know it's actually base pay

[@BringBack2Center]

​@teinff7696 very very rare as a tip that high that Uber actually shows most the time Uber hides the tips same with doordash. You only see those High orders for high base pay most of the time

[@massocial5910]

Yessir. I always do it if I can make a good profit.

[@fufuraar]

Uber Eats is the best. Thank you for such great offers today. One of which triumpt all offers I have received, $5.02 for 35 miles 4 stops. Too bad I couldn't take it because I was on break and eating my sandwich.

[@ChickenThug55]

Their shop and delivers are the best too! Tons of great offers! $9.00 for two customers est 1.5hrs completion, 10miles!

[@mlkrgr]

Also effective to think about paying for the order if you have a high payout and low item count. Got a $68 for 2.5 mile double once at a Taco Bell that said they aren't fulfilling any delivery orders. Both orders ended up beign $35 total (thought it would be $26) but still that was more than enough to justify what I did and much more than what the order would typically pay.

[@bballah9969]

The number one reason you are losing money doing ubereats is because your working for them and accepting those high paying $2 orders 💯😂

[@VillianKPOP]

Few things. The bag photo thing does not matter, they will send you those orders still either way. 99% of stores will not require it. Ghost orders are 99% stolen and easy to figure out (These are also 100% part of why Uber no longer compensates drivers. It happens too often). The base interaction I give with a customer is always a greeting, followed by asking how they are doing, and finishing it by telling them "have a good day/night".

[@sl5946]

I'll always take those high paying ghost orders because occasionally I complete them. Either by having the restaurant remake a stolen order or having the customer change their order if the restaurant is out of an item

[@OldmanJM]

I have done that as well, talk to the customer and get them to accept something else. Very smart.

[@hardboiledfrog]

I always ask the restaurant if they will remake a stolen order and they always say 'no.' As for changing a missing item, would that basically reset a stolen order and force them to remake it? Otherwise, I've never had trouble with something being missing - calling the customer and communiating is easy and doesn't usually require them to change their order in the system - the restaurant usually just changes it on the fly to keep things moving. I can only see asking them to change their order in the system if it forces a remake...

[@OldmanJM]

@@hardboiledfrog Next try a bribe. I offered a guy 5 bucks the other night, and his response was "be ready in 5 minutes".

[@hardboiledfrog]

@OldmanJM now THAT is a great idea!

[@mysticvirgo9318]

Ghost orders ...not only do you lose time , you will also get a hit on cancellation rate

[@hardboiledfrog]

This was happening to me until a few days agob- they finally stopped digging my cancelation rate. And they started compensating me a few bucks again when I get to a store but can't pick up the order. Yesterday the agent told me I had to physically be at the pickup flag in order to process the additional payment. The flag was on the back side of a grocery store, so I drove around back and then the agent gave me a few bucks.

[@massocial5910]

I’m a hustla. I usually just do 3 at the same time (grub hub, door dash & uber eats). Especially late night when only McDonald’s or Wendy’s are open. You just gotta make sure the food from all 3 are heading in same direction. Example: If Uber eats gives me a $8order at Wendy’s for 15min trip, I’ll mark it’s not ready, sit there for a couple minutes until DD OR GH gives me orders from same Wendy’s because it’s the only one open. So I just make sure they’re going in sane direction. It’s worked 8 outta 10 times. I’ll have like 3uber eats orders, 1 DD & 1 GH. All going in sane direction. So I’ll go from $8 for one trip to like 5-6 orders at once for $40-$50plus going in same direction. All I do is make sure I communicate with each customer. As long as they know you’re coming and not too late their cool 😎

[@markroth6232]

Not anymore with DD, if you are not on time it’s going to be brutal in 2025

[@massocial5910]

@ yessir, but again, you have to time them correctly. I’m naturally a transporter so I’m very familiar with the area I work in.

[@legendvalley]

Careful out there at night I only work daylight.

[@massocial5910]

@ yea I’m good lol. Super safe

[@alanfelicia2084]

Believe it or not, I have accepted these high offers thinking its a fake order but ended up being REAL! One was just the WED b4 Thanksgiving w/ the offer being $41.00 for 5 miles (one p/u, one drop off) in a new Chicken take out. Was winding down my dinner shift (around 8:45pm), got the offer, was close to the restaurant, accepted, went in the joint & to my surprise, it was a Real order!

[@Bit01]

Uber's system is set up to keep sending orders to drivers after they're reported as already picked up. I've confirmed this with multiple support staff including supervisors.

[@aliali-zh6xy]

Call the place first before for pick up the order happen to me many time

[@legendvalley]

That is a good idea saves gas and maybe a good order

[@larryt510]

Here in California we haven't had any Ubereats quests in more than 2 years.

[@legendvalley]

wow

[@freeenergymobile]

Oil City, Pennsylvania is loaded with quests. Order and Pay always requires the driver to pay.

[@Bit01]

Submitting a pic of your pizza bag does nothing. It will ask for another pic every time you pick one up and reset the verification every time. Without it you still get pizza orders just fine without the extra annoyance.

[@samueldorcil5404]

Man I hit a new low 0% acceptance rating

[@OldmanJM]

Good JOB!!!

[@hardboiledfrog]

Man, post a screenshot somewhere!

[@samueldorcil5404]

Lol I wish KZbin would let me. it went up to 2% today but I have definitely been dabbling in this arena. That app is the wild West

[@iGunSlingeRv2]

I open mine everyday for the past year and never seen a quest. Ever.

[@derekwaggoner7584]

I get quest bonus $2 to $4 per order most every day . Extra $30 for 10 shop and deliver completed in a week.

[@bespokepaintingservices9609]

Thanks for reality check and your time making vid!

[@ccasey1904]

You give a lot of great advice which I usually follow and it works out well. Thanks Mike!

[@manonthemoog]

I sometines drive for Ubereats in Long Island. Last Christmas season I accepted 2 package deliveries, each time I was sent to Manhattan! I did not know the destination until I picked up the packages. I could have canceled, but at that point I was with the customer and did not want to disappoint. They were so not worth it. Question: I now fear picking up package deliveries. Has the software changed to show the destination before accepting it?

[@ccasey1904]

Stuff like those overpriced offers are red flags! They happen ALOT. Ghost orders are ALWAYS way too much money; I get one or two ghost orders every time I go out.

[@nuckin1]

Yep, me too. Im seeing them more often in the last 3 months or so...

[@Data_Science_Weekly]

The order is eligible for a fee @ 4:00 you just have to call them while you have another customer's order and refuse to deliver it unless they pay up

[@heyheystop4674]

Really help helpful

[@heyheystop4674]

I love your videos bro

[@cuzzoholmes3244]

I've never seen a quest from Uber. Only opps come from Walmart and it's usually for $1. I'll be lucky to get a bonus for $2 per delivery for 4hrs. Spark gives out quest everyday

[@malchiem]

Interesting, my Work Hub does not have a Bag section, all it has is Alchohol/Connect/Shop and Deliver

[@paulschockner1445]

Shop and delivers were good about 2 months ago. Approx $20 per shop for 1 mile

[@IvnGs]

Thought on the pro card

[@catturner23]

I turned down a shop and pay for $18 for like 15 items bc I didn’t know the store at all. Never seen it, never heard of it. Decline, for safety measures.

[@Stompinwind]

I'm auto accepted into quests

[@johnanthony9548]

I check almost everyday been driving for 7 years but only delivery this past year and no quests or bonuses ever

[@smokeeatertexas6931]

31% AR i still cherry pick its gotta make sense or I’m not accepting it, honestly i don’t take anything less than $5 , were out here to make a profit this isn’t charity work, the most annoying thing about delivering is the Meet at door ( generally having to wait on the customers )/ needing a Pin to complete order, and apartment complexes ( in general lol i despise them! ) Almost 250 deliveries in i have only not received a tip 1 time. The great thing about it is the flexibility i prefer UE App setup far more than DD.

[@damarisgomez-yo6cx]

Shop and pay , be carefully miles va $$ vs time

[@tommyaudio]

what's crazy about those ghost orders is that it's high pay from uber, not the customer. you'd think it was the custy upping the tip because nobody delivered, but it's actually uber raising the pay. so does that mean the longer it takes for a driver to commit makes the rate go higher?? every time i've had one of those the restaurant said somebody already picked it up. very strange. might be the customer picking it up but I've customers that sounded really mad

[@ccasey1904]

To @tommyaudio: those ghost orders are either the algorithm or the AI are set wrong. What is the point of putting $2 or $3 orders out there because algorithm decided it was slow then when restaurant is closed, put it out there for $30 to go to another town when restaurant will be closed in 2 minutes????? So those $2 or $3 than no one looks at but just hit decline; eventually some end up overpriced because the idiotic algorithm realizes “hey, no one picked order up and restaurant is closing”. I mean, duh.

[@tommyaudio]

@ccasey1904 not sure what u are trying to say, but if u are saying yes they raise the price for unaccepted orders, then why would these orders have high prices if they had already been picked up? which is what all the restaurants say

[@ccasey1904]

@tommyaudio: I will try to be clearer. The restaurant may say the order was already picked up but the customer does not have their food! And either the AI or the algorithm knows it. Uber eats told me recently there are “software glitches” where we see the order but the restaurant never got it but say whatever they say. I also always call or text the customer to tell them either restaurant closed or restaurant does not have a current order for them. Customer never has the food. Then I have them contact support to find out how to get their food because these orders should have been routed to customer service support I the first place and not be wasting a driver’s time and gas. Does that make better sense?And besides, we as drivers don’t have access to same info that support does so support needs to figure out where the order order is; not just have an algorithm fake order for $77 ( saw that recently). The algorithm puts out the fake order because it knows order has not been delivered. The thinking process sure is stupid; unhappy customer and unhappy driver.

[@jessicapadron7886]

I got a current opportunity to get $30, I get $20 after 10 shop orders and another $10 after another 5 shop orders. I am doing the shopping orders anyways its a nice add on for orders I would do anyways. I get ride bonuses on lyft, but not uber. I got a recent one that was $75 for 30 rides. It wasnt bad because I got the money for the 30 rides plus $75. I get a lot of good shop and deliver and I am typically pretty fast shopping and generally they have low items. They keep me going, without sometimes I would have nothing

[@healthisWealth288]

I haven’t seen quest bonuses in some months here in south Florida market

[@Jem1963]

Allways call 1st to varify order is still there?

[@mejiabrandin]

I'll tell you this if you get like a $40 offer for like a low amount of mileage and you're right next to the place I took it and the right most of the time it doesn't pay off but one time it did if you're next to the place I would risk it

[@philiprosenberg7532]

Just today I was sitting in a pizza place having a couple of slices. I received a $25 offer from that place, going 1.3 miles. I checked with them & it was legit. You never know.

[@sadgearmy]

I take lots of those and make money. Its like 30% chance of ghost

[@freeenergymobile]

I always prefer to hand food to the customer.

[@TheGamer-ij5my]

Shop & delivery are mostly not too good

[@DmitriOcean]

Hey there. Those ghost offers do exist. I grab them if pickup location is within a mile or so. Usually it's one-two item orders. If it was picked up by someone else some restaurants still will remake them if you ask politely. If not then call support. Agent will tell you that UE is no longer compensate for time and mileage traveled to the restaurant. Tell the agent that you request to escalate this matter to a supervisor and you'll get $10 or $15 so called "adjustment". Works every time for me so far.

[@healthisWealth288]

Good info to know

[@teinff7696]

By some restaurants you should mean very few. At least where I live. 95% refuse to remake them

[@RCSurf]

drivers steal the food and then cancel the order on ue so then it sends the order to another driver , its only until someone calls CS does the snowball stop. They need to make restraunts force drivers to confirm the order when they pick it up.

[@legendvalley]

I had that happen to me with a can of paint yesterday at Lowes. They said the first driver took it, but I was the third driver to show up. I called it in and got 3 bucks, lol.

[@nala3038]

@@legendvalley I heard they’re not given three bucks anymore

[@j3marty320]

I got a shopping order from uber once 35 dollar pay from Uber for 2 things of cookie dough plus he tipped 2 Only a couple of miles. How does that happen?!?!

[@teinff7696]

Nobody took it and Uber kept bumping up the pay until you got it

[@blakowl]

I know this video is about Uber Eats, but did DoorDash just kind of greenlight cherry-picking with their new Dasher Rewards?

[@dougmosher2273]

I jade a few of those too good to be true orders. I will make it work if it makes sense.

[@sirleeproductions]

nice

[@CNTablet-sg7qx]

I reject 80 % of UE orders

[@MississippiBoyy]

Is it just me or is it that every time I see a female with an African name they are sure not to tip ? Anyone ???

[@nuckin1]

Its not just you.....

[@nala3038]

That’s so racist and not even true!

[@charlesclaridy8646]

If the app sends us and it's not there, that is negligence on the app company's part. They offered and we accepted. Made up my mind, I am suing the next time. It will include my time filing cost, going to court, money lost because of their negligence because I had to waste time to recover the cost of the contract breech! And... some for punitive damages. Enough of these suits and they will be more careful.

[@stuartmcalpine9468]

I used to get $3 for each of these. Three or four times they remake them for me especially if it is easy like a sub.

[@CadddyAdddict]

UE IS Dumpster Sh7t Compared 2 the other food delivery platforms. It's Sad BUT TRUE.

[@AzulQueso_]

Greedy drivers should be fired

[@christopherpcreation]

Uber eats is squid games at this point

[@ccasey1904]

And apparently recently , Uber eats has said it’s “software glitches” when you get somewhere and they have no record of order. One restaurant around here always says someone already picked it up. I sense they are lying and have no 😮idea where it is. I always contact the customer to tell them either restaurant is closed or that restaurant does not have their order. Then I tell them to contact Uber eats support to find out how to get their food. I feel quite bad for people waiting for food that is not coming, plus if they contact support then the next 5 drivers don’t end up wasting time on a ghost order.

[@massocial5910]

Nah, it’s because the driver kept the food and canceled it because the restaurant never made him confirm in front of them. So driver walks out and cancels it and keeps the food.

[@haroldjordan7286]

I get bonus pay every weekend on delivery in pittsburgh. I have taken low paying orders and the customer put the tip on after delivery. Also some low paying offers will bring me back closer to home after a long distance delivery.

[@markg7540]

I have a Mexican restaurant my area They have a sign on their door to clearly says if you don't have a food bag don't even bother coming in. Some restaurants are trying to protect their brand and protect the quality of their service to their customers. This also helps weed out the drivers that just go around and steal food. If you want to be taken seriously you need to have a food bag

[@markg7540]

@nathanklooster1744 I have Allstate I fully disclose to them what I'm doing with my vehicle. Commercial insurance is for taxis cover the liability of other people in your vehicle. As far as my state and in my insurance company is concerned I'm not required to have commercial insurance. My previous insurance company I told them what I was doing with the vehicle as well and I never got a response from them. I was not delivering and I hit some pheasants. I tried to make some a claim they asked me what I do and they dropped me. Even though I was not delivering at that time

[@bubbasue74]

UE is hot garbage

[@noche202002]

Just take the ghost order and just go close the the drop off and get paid it works every time.

[@massocial5910]

I’ve done that too lmaooo. Got $47 bucks

[@beamingkun]

What do you mean explain?

[@massocial5910]

@@beamingkun take the order anyway , drive to the property and mark delivered. Even tho u ain’t deliver nothing.

[@757bgully]

Yep lol

[@noche202002]

@massocial5910 i call it the waste of time order UE never pays you for going out of your way to show up.

[@ianmiller8222]

Yeah,I see crap like that all the time. GUARANTEED a 30 dollar McDonald's order is not real. NEVER. UE is AWFUL in my market. A typical UE order is something like: $4 for an 18 mi drive. Ridiculous. My AR is in the low teens.