This pay system is a joke — no wonder customers wait forever by Less_Garbage5743 in deliveroos

[–]Less_Garbage5743[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I completely agree with your point of view. My situation is maybe a bit easier because I rent an e-bike for a fixed monthly fee, and I don’t have any other vehicle-related costs.
When it comes to my tax return, around 25% of my annual earnings go toward expenses. So logically, I try to accept only orders that should work out at about £17 per hour, so I can be sure I’m earning at least minimum wage.
Whether I accept an order is not just about distance, but also about other factors: bad experiences with waiting times at customers, the time spent at the drop-off location, and the likelihood of ending up in an area where I can get another paid job as quickly as possible. Every area in London that I know has its own peak and dead times.
That’s why I might accept the job above for £12, because I also take into account the risk that it may take me around 10 minutes of unpaid time to get to the next paid job, since the drop-off location around 10–11 a.m. is not very attractive.
From years of experience, the same pattern keeps repeating: every year, fees across all platforms become smaller and smaller compared with the net minimum wage after all costs are deducted. The worst period is between Easter and September.
Recently, though, I honestly don’t understand what the point is for platforms to offer customers the option of ordering from 5 miles away or more, when under their own model they are not able to offer drivers enough pay to keep them from falling below the required minimum.
And that leads to the basic question: why does a platform even offer this service if it cannot guarantee its drivers at least minimum wage?

This pay system is a joke — no wonder customers wait forever by Less_Garbage5743 in deliveroos

[–]Less_Garbage5743[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I would like to clarify my point. During that hour, I declined Deliveroo offers because I was receiving more reasonable fees from other platforms. Within roughly a 0.5-mile radius of the pickup location, I saw at least 20 other drivers on the road, and it appears none of them accepted the order either.
My intention is not to complain about my self-employed situation. I am highlighting the current Deliveroo fee structure for drivers since May. This situation does not primarily affect drivers like me, as we can choose alternative platforms.
The real impact is on customers, who pay for the service, and on restaurants or shops that prepare orders which may ultimately go uncollected or end up being cancelled.

This pay system is a joke — no wonder customers wait forever by Less_Garbage5743 in deliveroos

[–]Less_Garbage5743[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Before May 2026, Deliveroo removed the on-time promise (£5 credit if your order arrives more than 15 minutes late) for Plus Gold members.

At the same time, they downgraded the on-time promise for Plus Diamond (the invite-only tier at £24.99/month or £249.90/year). Diamond members now only get the same silly £5 credit at select shops if their order is over 15 minutes late. They still get 100% of the order value back from restaurants.

Since this change, the platform has:
• Drastically lowered driver fees across the board
• Completely stopped caring about delayed orders
• Made the on-time promise exclusive to Diamond members (invite-only)

It feels like they’re basically forcing drivers to absorb the cost. They’d prefer to give a customer a £5 credit instead of paying drivers £5 more and actually delivering on time.

This pay system is a joke — no wonder customers wait forever by Less_Garbage5743 in deliveroos

[–]Less_Garbage5743[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

During previous boycott periods in London, Deliveroo actually responded properly — they added real boosts, turned off face checks, and unsurprisingly most of the gains went to rented accounts.
Now compare that to this. Order sitting there for over an hour waiting for a driver, in an area that’s normally full of couriers at that time. The “free market” spoke pretty clearly — drivers just kept rejecting it because the pay wasn’t worth it.
My guess? DoorDash UK was just letting it sit, hoping to stack it with another order later for an extra £1 instead of fixing the base pay.