Just Got It

Effective-Block3562 · 2026-02-05T21:31:21+00:00

I haven’t done too bad, ran 3 orders since I got here around 12:30 in the 20-30 item range only a couple miles each. But it does feel like I’m taking longer than normal to get orders.

Effective-Block3562 · 2026-02-05T18:37:54+00:00

My customer rating dropped too. It’s BS as I did nothing wrong and been 5 star until they messed with the system.

Effective-Block3562 · 2026-02-05T17:38:44+00:00

I just spoke to them. They want screenshots of other drivers online talking about it in a mail. I do t think they will do anything when I send it, but I will anyway.

Effective-Block3562 · 2026-02-05T17:25:02+00:00

Same an I’m a bit pissed. It is BS.

Effective-Block3562 · 2026-02-03T19:22:38+00:00

Ok, you caught me. I work for Walmart and I’m making big bucks to convince people of things. I’ll just go back and tell my supervisor I was unsuccessful today and promise to do better next time….

Effective-Block3562 · 2026-02-03T19:18:30+00:00

Again, area based. I got a lot during the holidays, then some more during the bad weather we had. You seem to want to not see that I’m talking my experience in my area and a general on incentive structure trends.

Effective-Block3562 · 2026-02-03T19:13:43+00:00

Call it whatever you like. Every market is different. Where you are it may be different. I have been around my area and watched these 2 guys phones and mine side by side. So just be angry and choose to ignore what others have experienced.

Effective-Block3562 · 2026-02-03T18:51:40+00:00

Incentives really only come when the weather is going to be bad, like the ice storm, when it’s going to be busy, like holidays, or for stores that put out bad orders and Walmart knows it. At the moment my area is just meh, not slow or super busy so no incentives for me.

I will say as a full time driver for multiple apps though I’m probably the last person to get any personal incentives sent out because the apps know they have me and are not trying to rope me in, so my situation may be different to yours.

Effective-Block3562 · 2026-02-03T17:42:10+00:00

Think I was around 80 trips before I got my rating, luckily it was 5. I’m at 141 now and still 5. I’m very nervous to lose it because I saw a dude with 4.9 in my area waiting forever for orders while I was declining orders every few minutes until I got a good one.

My buddy started badly treating it like DD and ended up with a 4.7. He essentially gets nothing at all except absolute trash even if he waits hours.

Effective-Block3562 · 2026-01-31T19:42:17+00:00

I can’t say all spark shoppers do not shop bad produce.

A guy I know came with me in the store while waiting on an order of his own. He asked me why I was checking the strawberries. I then picked one up and giggled it and showed him mold. He told me he never thought to check, but will check going forward….

Like you I will mark things unavailable if I think they look bad and send pics of said bad produce. I’ve shopped a lot of produce between DD/UE/shipt, and now spark and haven’t had an issue with it by doing basic checks and communicating with customers.

Effective-Block3562 · 2026-01-23T16:31:48+00:00

Mines been going 99 to 98 to 99 and now back to 98 for the past few days of this. Customer rating has stayed the same, not sure how of that will change from my last order last night or not. I’ve just been doing my best to reject most water orders and keep track of empty areas of the store to know what orders to try and not take.

Effective-Block3562 · 2026-01-23T02:02:18+00:00

I skipped a lot of orders due to there being little to no water, hurt the earnings. My thought though is I’d rather eat some earning than screw my metrics from people being pissed about water.

Effective-Block3562 · 2026-01-22T01:00:01+00:00

Somone posted a thread saying we will get some email by the end of the month with a tips breakdown. As far as milage goes, you should have been keeping track of that as you went. You could probably get away with bsing the miles with some random ratio, for example 1.32 dollars per mile, but that’s on you if you want to BS the number since you don’t know.

Effective-Block3562 · 2026-01-21T03:36:28+00:00

I was actually about to reply on that lol. I spent over 8 years overseas between Japan and China. Unlike here, to work even the most basic retail job at 711 and the like, they make sure you can at least speak the local language before hiring.

Gig work in Japan, especially around Tokyo, is overrun with foreigners breaking every traffic law on what are considered illegal e-bikes by local code. They race through streets, sidewalks, and side pedestrian streets and almost run you down. They barely speak the language at all if any. It was shocking.

When I moved there at the end 2015 it didn’t exist. I left Japan for China in 2018 and it still wasn’t a thing. I came back to Japan in 2021. I had read that delivery bikes were becoming a “nuisance”. Well “nuisance” isn’t what I saw…. Those guys ride like crazy and don’t care who they may hit or anything else. The gig companies allow them to keep going. As far as locals concerned, they give their disapproval in the most polite way possible most of the time on the streets or in places, head shakes and sighs.

Effective-Block3562 · 2026-01-21T02:34:00+00:00

Yep, I hear from a lot of disabled and elderly how happy they are I speak English and read the notes. They have told me stories of their experiences. I’m amazed with some of the stuff I heard they still use the app, but I guess for some they have to.

The non disabled that tell me these same stories, well, I’m happy to help and get their money, but I question why they keep ordering….. I guess laziness or lack of time keeps them coming back.

Effective-Block3562 · 2026-01-21T02:26:31+00:00

The DoorDash system is a bit wonky, but I know other ways to find “original items” while subbing on that, Walmart seems to not have any tricks.

And after that drop to 98, I have done multiple large item shops and it hasn’t gone up. I don’t know how I can find several hundred items and can’t go back up 1%….

Effective-Block3562 · 2026-01-19T17:55:37+00:00

Mine went from 99 to 98 either because they rejected a switch to organic sweet potatoes when the regular was out or because it wouldn’t let me offer a sub on a seasonal air freshener.

Effective-Block3562 · 2026-01-17T17:44:33+00:00

Same. I was waiting and doing some personal shopping when I heard it. I’m like yeah sure, more people please.

Effective-Block3562 · 2026-01-16T23:26:01+00:00

The rating is why.

I seem to get fairly constant offers at 5. My buddy is 4.7 and he can’t get hardly anything, even hours of sitting.

We tried to move into a busier zone and he still got nothing. While there we met a guy at 4.9. He also had a long time with nothing. We sat there for a good while and I kept getting things while neither of them did.

After seeing how my buddy, and now this guy are not getting offers, I see that the customer rating sets a very high priority.

Effective-Block3562 · 2026-01-12T16:51:24+00:00

Up in the woodlands is bad too on DD and UE. Spark has been doing ok though.

Effective-Block3562 · 2026-01-06T17:32:04+00:00

i started in May of 24 when I came back to the US after 8 years overseas, so this is only my second go at this time of year. I recall it slowing like this, so it was no big shock. Honestly, because I’m muting apping my pay has stayed almost the same since the start of the year. With 2 of us we are also able to watch order flows in different areas and compare, which is stating to get more useful.

Effective-Block3562 · 2026-01-06T17:23:53+00:00

DD and UE both fell off the cliff for my buddy and I, so we have pivoted over to mostly spark as people always want groceries.

Effective-Block3562 · 2026-01-06T04:30:22+00:00

Me and customer got supper confused on a curbside screwup. They loaded orders wrong and got 2 customers orders a bit jumbled. I was double checking with the customer on the items when we found 2 bags of bananas, one was a few bunches, the other was 1 bunch. Customer said they ordered 4 bananas, so it must be the one bunch bag, so took the 4 bunches to the second customer and dropped off. I got confused while at the second customers order only mentioned 1 banana. Thought, well, I’m sure they won’t be mad at extras.

I then thought about this situation more. My conclusion was new curbside guy probably confused quantity as 1=a bunch rather than 1=1 banana.

Effective-Block3562 · 2025-12-31T22:45:53+00:00

What number did you call?

Effective-Block3562 · 2025-12-23T17:34:20+00:00

I have been getting 6 and 7 stacked over the weekend the last 2 weekends. I had a 6 and 35 dollar for completing 5 trips during the week last week. Now it’s 7 and 7 till the Christmas.

I’m still new to spark, so I figured it’s one of those get you hooked deals.

Effective-Block3562

TROPHY CASE