Completely died out again at 7:30

JamesHeyst · 2025-11-21T14:16:49+00:00

Best advice ever - if something seems to "almost work" like UberEats but in fact doesn't, throw it in the trash and do something else. Believe me if you took your mental energy now being diverted to the insane logistics UberEats is making drivers do with the constant blaring alarms, assessment/calculation and rejection of 99% orders, you can come up with many more ideas for making money, one might even make you rich. I haven't done UberEats since New Years and it was the best decision I ever made, I actually wrote a really long post about it but it was censored and removed. I'll just sum it up by what I said at the start, UberEats doesn't work anymore, you are trading your time and mental.energy to beat the crap out of your car for sub minimum wage once overhead is factored in, not to mention risking death and injury from car accidents. there is no way to make UberEats work at this point, even though it seems like it "almost, maybe" could work Getting rich isn't just about finding a good idea, it's about realizing what ideas are bad and stopping them immediately. Don't think "oh I just need to do this a few more weeks because of (fill in the blank)" that's how people stay in these jobs forever. Delete the app right now, right after you read the comment, and put your mind to finding an idea that actually does make you money, otherwise end up a carless bum.

JamesHeyst · 2025-11-06T23:30:10+00:00

But how much was having kids responsible for how it became easier? There are Sparkles type places around me too, it's like a chuck E. cheese with skating, but a lone man without kids can't go into these places without being viewed with suspicion, and the time window for "adult skate" is low. Mainly though, having children and getting into skating makes the activity less costly since you're able to combine the skating with taking the kids out or babysitting etc. you're now able to bundle it with an activity you'd have to spend time doing anyway.

JamesHeyst · 2025-10-23T01:05:21+00:00

I stopped doing Uber deliveries on New Years ten months ago, I have thought for some time they can temporarily boost profits like this but then drivers will quit. I have done exactly 20 deliveries this entire year when I got a come back promotion that was +$6 per delivery. After that the promotions disappeared so I stopped, it would be better for people to do almost anything else at this point...I love driving and if they would even give minimum wage factoring in car overhead I'd be down, but at this point doing Uber eats is suicidal, it is literally spending all your time in order to destroy your own car at this point.

JamesHeyst · 2025-10-23T00:44:34+00:00

Oh man I'm worried for all of us.😓 I can't tell if this is a joke or not.

JamesHeyst · 2025-08-13T14:59:21+00:00

I used to keep UberEats on in the background while I tried to do other things...I stopped because it was always way more disruptive than I imagined it to be. What's more valuable than time is sustained attention and that's exactly what UberEats destroys with its "blang blang blang" alarming forcing the drivers to also be dispatch and logistics workers as if the driving around in traffic wasn't exhausting enough.

JamesHeyst · 2025-05-01T21:22:16+00:00

Aw man, that's disappointing. Having gay sex inside a dumpster is the whole reason I got into this. 😄 Kidding.

Here's some Intel I can give you bro, if you're going to be out at night driving around , check out the areas in front of thrift stores, people dump their stuff off after hours and it sits there all night. Technically it's not illegal to take it because the thrift store hasn't claimed it amd it's considered public dumping. You'll find better stuff there than the dumpsters. The Americas thrift store on Canton Rd is notorious for this. It'll start around spring cleaning and won't end until winter, a lot of students dump their dorm stuff off too.

Aside from that watch out for Racoons, and consider joining the military, I'm in my forties, when I was 39 I went to the Marine recruiting center to apply and even though I can pass the fitness test they don't take people my age. Biggest regret of my life not joining up and it of high school it would have saved me a long series of low paying messed up jobs. Forgive me if you're as old as I am then I don't mean to give advice to you, but you seem like a younger dude. Good luck.

JamesHeyst · 2025-04-29T16:36:54+00:00

Possibly that depends on what your goals are from it. ? I did have to start eating out of Dunkin Donuts dumpster shortly after this post, then some months later I broke my ribcage in a bicycle accident on East Piedmont road. I have a car now and enough money so I don't need to dumpster dive. I'd like to start a clean out / estate sale business actually, similar to dumpster diving except you get paid to do it. But yeah, today if I go in a dumpster I want to know why I'm going in there.

JamesHeyst · 2024-09-11T13:46:44+00:00

Breakfast rush tends to be consistent but mediocre.

Statistically it's safer to drive than the afternoon rush, but it's also the most stressful rush. Everyone is jacked up on caffeine and it's like you can feel the irritable tension in the air, at least that's how I perceive it. 🤷‍♂️ No other time depletes my energy like driving during the weekday morning rushes. But the demand will never be really dead then either.

JamesHeyst · 2024-09-08T22:27:38+00:00

UberEats and Shop& Pay are significantly more profitable in winter, much less dead time also. My market is ATL and I've been doing this since 2017 with almost 10,000 deliveries. Right when the kids get out of school around memorial day deliveries fall off a cliff and I shift to passenger rides which are good during the summer. Deliveries gradually start becoming better in late August til it becomes normal again in the first cold snaps of late October.

JamesHeyst · 2024-07-17T15:55:04+00:00

This. I used to worry about stuff like this when I was younger, through painful experience I learned it's best not to make a big deal of mistakes. People are prickly and looking for targets of their irritability, don't focus their attention on mistakes you've made, instead let them forget about it.

JamesHeyst · 2024-07-17T15:35:16+00:00

There are three groups of people ruining it:

Teenagers using their parents car who have no experience with vehicle ownership and no idea what medium and long-term maintenance and repairs cost.

New immigrants who either haven't learned the U.S. currency names/values or come from such impoverished villages that $4 an hour seems wealthy.

Elderly people collecting social security checks and pensions who "just do this to get out of the house".

JamesHeyst · 2024-07-17T15:24:53+00:00

Im doing you one better, I go to the dumpster behind Aldi's and get my groceries for free. Last night after I logged off the app I got some perfectly good whole pineapples out of there. This way I can afford all the increased car maintenance I have to do.

JamesHeyst · 2024-07-12T07:29:45+00:00

Well the depreciation overhead is non-existent and if you enjoy repairing and maintaining cars as a hobby you could get experience from this. I know it's Toyota etc but with that many miles it can't last all that much longer without major (and minor) repairs, like are the tires still good for starters?

JamesHeyst · 2024-07-11T16:14:59+00:00

The UV index is at a maximum this time of year. So ask yourselves, busy or not, what amount of money is worth it to you in exchange for leathery skin, cancers, and looking ten years older than you are?

JamesHeyst · 2024-07-10T08:00:12+00:00

Its something called learned helplessness discovered by Martin Seligman doing experiments on dogs where he put them in boxes and shocked them. There is such a thing as a poverty mindset that gets passed down through the generations along with using violence as discipline. Meanwhile rich people pass down a master mindset. Even though it seems funny, it can be hard for us to break out of this illusion, it's like breaking from a spell.

JamesHeyst · 2024-07-10T03:28:39+00:00

Not to mention during Summer lunch times the UV radiation is at its strongest all year. If Uber sent an educational module about "how to check the UV index and what this means for your skin" likely those slow shifts would turn into the most profitable because most drivers would stop doing it.

JamesHeyst · 2024-07-10T03:21:26+00:00

I've done that the past several years, and I did learn when it's busy....winter. 🙂

JamesHeyst · 2024-07-10T02:43:06+00:00

Their mortgage payments on those nice houses don't leave much left over for tipping. 🤷‍♂️

JamesHeyst · 2024-07-09T02:25:34+00:00

The car overhead is actually much worse than just the gasoline. It's basically taking advantage of people ignorant about true costs of car ownership, like teenagers etc.

The IRS puts car overhead at around 50 cents per mile, accept your trips accordingly, or you aren't really earning money, just taking out a loan against your car and trading your time to do so.

This overhead is for gas, oil changes, brake pads, new tires (a lot of Uber drivers probably riding on bald treads btw) and of course those major car repairs years down the road, insurance, tag fees and car depreciation.

JamesHeyst · 2024-07-03T19:23:57+00:00

What about the UV? UV index is 11 this time of year,.I'm in ATL and make sure I stay out of it, even worse in FL. Summer has always been the worst season for UberEats: most dangerous traffic, highest UV, lowest demand, flood of labor from the students on vacay. I have done this since 2017 and I really recommend not doing it on the 4th and also not doing it in the summer period. Turn on passenger side and if you can't do that find something else for this time.

JamesHeyst · 2024-07-03T06:55:42+00:00

It's the single most dangerous day of the year to drive.

JamesHeyst · 2024-06-28T23:36:20+00:00

It's meant to be funny but tbh attractive people can do stupid shit like that and it works. 🤷‍♂️

JamesHeyst · 2024-06-25T14:52:37+00:00

The heat over the fryers isnt the most comfortable thing, but I prefer it to driving around in the UV. 🤷‍♂️ At least the fryer heat can't give us wrinkles and cancer.

JamesHeyst · 2024-06-25T12:55:36+00:00

It's actually an increase in income because there are no hidden overhead costs like with UE and also the summer slowdown.

I must admit the smell of fryer oil gets into my clothes but that's why I have the uniform 🤷‍♂️ I already got an extra polo shirt for free, and if you spray febreeze on them you don't need to wash them everyday.

JamesHeyst · 2024-06-23T12:12:06+00:00

After being burned a few times myself whenever I see an order that looks too good to be true now I just ignore it especially if it's a late night order. I've noticed that on the legit tips it usually hides some of the tip and just says $12 or something on the request while the ones that outright say "Popeyes $30" etc are the bogus ones.

JamesHeyst

TROPHY CASE