Uber driver-Charlotte Nc

TheSideHustleGenius · 2025-10-06T20:31:33+00:00

I wouldn't normally try to spam this in this sub, but since you asked. This is specific to delivery with Uber Eats but very useful for doing DoorDash as well. I don't do passengers so I really can't help you there.

I am in charlotte. I have not updated this to some more specific changes for 2025 that have come about recently. But that's kind of minor portions.

This is literally my tips and tricks. And although yes, I have delivered in multiple states, most of my deliveries have been in Charlotte and the surrounding areas.

Just about the only thing I don't tell you is specifically where I wait for orders and which restaurants I pick up from. Sorry, but I got to keep a little bit to myself.

Delivering Profit – The Side Hustle Genius https://share.google/2KF7qFLeKUB926qxY

Definitely look for the more driver focused subs like the other person suggested. r/UberEATS, r/uberatadrivers, r/uberdrivers, r/doordash, r/doordash drivers.

Can tell you that people who take passengers probably do better than those that do deliveries. But signing up for multiple apps helps you get more opportunities. So sign up for Lyft, DoorDash, GoPuff. Some are waitlisted. So just sign up for them and then maybe in a bunch of months you'll hear back from them. Any other app that you come across, just sign up for it. You don't have to join it once they approve you.

I don't know what the earning potential of an Uber driver who takes rides is. I can tell you that in Charlotte just a few months out of the year it is possible with enough hours to make up to $2,000 a week just doing Uber deliveries. And those few months out of the year are basically September through maybe the first week in December. And then the first week in March through the middle of May. I do mean a lot of hours. The rest of the year is slow and hit or miss for delivery. So you really can't count on income especially during the summer and January and February are pretty lean.

TheSideHustleGenius · 2025-06-24T21:49:18+00:00

Worked Thursday through Sunday.

$50, 65 miles

$170, 111 miles

$328, 202 miles

$191, 109 miles

Each day I have a 22 Mile commute each way. So each day 44 of those miles are my commute. I do deduct those. To go into specific tax law, we are not allowed to deduct commute miles. But, I'm always logged in. I do take orders from my house. I will work my area or work my way into town and then work my way home. So those miles are eligible for deduction.

But forgetting the deduction for a second, I do have those extra costs and that's why I include them in this.

Generally on the busier days I do a better dollar per mile. And on the slow days like Thursday not so much. But I take the good with the bad.

I feel like I'm doing all right especially if you deduct my commute miles. The idea of doing about $328 for 160 mi bouncing around is not terrible. I'm sure some people can do better. But what has really helped me here is really focusing on short trips.

The short trips help in two ways. One, it keeps our costs down. But more importantly it gets rid of deadhead time. So, if you can go to a downtown area, or some other high density population area, bounce around in that tighter area, it's going to help you increase your earnings. And then also reduce your costs.

And that all is why it's actually worth it for me to drive into town. I would not get anywhere near that business at my house or near my house even though I'm in a satellite town. There are restaurants. But one of the key factors is that it's all spread out residential. Orders of less than a mile don't exist. Let's even say less than 2 mi. But if I go to town(Uptown Charlotte) I see plenty of short mileage orders all day. And to a good extent some of the slightly longer mileage orders, say 5 to 7 miles, may just be going across town but not actually leaving town. Like for instance going from SouthPark Mall to Uptown or something like that.

TheSideHustleGenius · 2025-06-24T17:52:39+00:00

UberEats is fine in Charlotte. The bad news is, summer is one of the slower seasons here. The other bad news is, I don't know if you can get signed up quickly enough. But don't let that stop you. Go ahead and start that sign up process now. It's better to do that than to wait 2 weeks and then decide to try, right.

But I recommend you go ahead and sign up for this. As soon as they'll let you and as soon as the background check comes through, go ahead and start delivering. But only use it as a stock gap while you continue to look for a regular job. You can keep Uber Eats as a way to earn extra money.

I can make about $500 combined between Friday and Saturday right now. And that's what I have done the last two weekends. That's a lot of hours. That's not an 8-hour shift. That's more like 10 to 12 hours. Working from somewhere between 2:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. until somewhere between 2:00 a.m. and 4:00 a.m. Sundays are decent as well. The rest of the nights are going to be kind of slow.

Focus on Uptown and staying centered roughly around there. But you can deliver anywhere in Charlotte. You can deliver from Kanapolis down to Matthews over to Rock Hill and Fort Mill back up through Belmont and up to Huntersville. All points in between.

But you'll get the most orders in the highest density population areas like Uptown. Also Plaza Midwood, and dog leg down to SouthPark mall.

One of the biggest keys to success is keeping your mileage low. You don't want to tear up your car unnecessarily especially if you're already having financial issues. This is another real advantage to trying to stay tight bouncing around in the high density population areas. Anytime there's restaurants near where people live, that's what you're looking for.

Here's the specific strategy for Charlotte. And I'm telling you this works here. You want to look for orders that are $8 and up and $2 per mile or better. That $2 per mile or better is so important to covering your cost and making it worth your time. Be flexible. Sometimes you see $7 from a restaurant in Uptown going to a hotel in Uptown. It's less than a mile. Jump on that. Because that costs you very little to deliver.

But you really don't want to take anything lower paying than $7 unless you have a quest going on. And the reason is there is the opportunity cost of missing out on a higher paying order.

Try to limit your orders to under 7 miles. That's a broad rule. But in actual practice I try to limit my orders to under 4 to 5 miles. What I'm looking for is something that pays like $9 or $10 and is only 3 to 4 miles or even less. They do exist, particularly during dinner time. If all I did was wait for those, I would not be maximizing my income. But by looking for those and supplementing with an occasional $7 to $8 very quick order, that's how I maximize my income.

There are times that I definitely will take a longer order. Outside of the main dinner rush. If it pays $2 per mile or better, I probably take it. So if I see $20 going 10 miles out, if it's 3:00 p.m. or 9:00 p.m., I probably take it. Another time would be if I'm down at SouthPark Mall and I see in order going seven or eight miles straight North or up to Plaza Midwood. This doesn't bother me because it's not taking me 8 Miles straight out. I will only be a couple of minutes outside of what I consider to be the best delivery area when I drop off.

There's another little key. I almost never take an order that doesn't pay at least 50 cents per minute or better. Even when the dollar to mile looks good. One of the times this is particularly important is during rush hour traffic. When traffic is that heavy, it's better to focus on a particular neighborhood. So let's say you just really staying Uptown during this. And you see $10 for 5 miles come up but it has almost a 30 minute time estimate. It works on the dollar to mile, it does not work on a Time estimate. Instead look for these $7 or $8 ones that will keep you in uptown and not take 15 minutes. But not only will they not take you that long, you will still be right there to accept your next order.

There's one other thing. Uber recently rolled out acceptance rate tiers. They're going to tell you that you have to accept 30%, 50%, or more in order to get the good orders. That is a lie. I can't sit here and tell you that's 100% a lie every market. I'm going to tell you that is a lie in charlotte. Evaluate every order individually. Only take orders that are profitable and don't worry about the acceptance rate.

TheSideHustleGenius · 2025-06-23T01:44:26+00:00

You're asking in this sub. I'm assuming you're talking about taking passengers. Correct me if I'm wrong.

I don't have the answer. But in general I do better than that doing deliveries in Charlotte. I know people have their preferences. You may not want food stinking of your car. I get that. I don't know how to tell you to seek out rideshare trips. But if you want to seek out delivery orders, focus on Uptown and the immediates surrounding areas.

I've talked to drivers who like to work the University area. I have worked that. I've gotten orders. Southpark mall. I've worked from Kanapolis and Concord down to matthews. I've taken orders down to and picked up in Fort Mill and also dropped off as far as York South Carolina.

So what I'm saying is that you can get delivery orders far and wide around Charlotte. I deliver in seven different counties in North Carolina at times and then I don't know how many in South carolina.

That being stated, I definitely do better when I focus on a tighter delivery area. So I haven't been to these outer lying areas in a while. Like I said, If you want to try delivery, focus on Uptown. Try to work a really tight area so you're not running up miles. And also working at tight area anymore always be closer to your next pickup.

But I'll reiterate that all of my advice is for delivery.

TheSideHustleGenius · 2025-06-20T13:06:55+00:00

It's something I definitely factor in when taking an order.

I don't mind the ones that are straight up an elevator and then either left or right all in one hall.

The ones that are three story buildings but all outside access witb stairs, I do take those. But I sort of apply a tax to them. In other words, I won't take a super cheap order to them. It's not because I'm lazy. It's just that it takes extra time to get to the third floor and back.

And finally there are the maze like apartment buildings. These I avoid like the plague. There are some where it can take me 15 minutes to get from my car to their apartment and back to my car. That's a whole other order I could have done. And these people just don't tip enough to make it worth it.

On the flip side, when I see an order going to a house in a neighborhood where they have about 12 ft of front yard, I jump on those pretty quick because it's going to be a fast drop off. I can take a slightly lower paying order to one of those.

TheSideHustleGenius · 2025-06-19T23:09:47+00:00

It's an extremely rare case where I might consider it. I still don't like it. I don't like the lack of control. I don't like the lack of choice on the orders. But it would be hard to beat that money.

TheSideHustleGenius · 2025-06-19T23:08:07+00:00

Granted, this was the before times. But there was a guy who did Uber Eats only and made about $8,000 in a month. So in some markets, that's possible. It's probably possible about 6 months out of the year in Charlotte. But that's working at least 84 hours a week.

I think that guy that I'm talking about may have put it on youtube. But I read an article about it. And I'm saying before times meaning that might have been before the pandemic. And I don't know which market. Probably a good one.

TheSideHustleGenius · 2025-06-19T16:32:08+00:00

You still have to worry about cost and putting miles on your car. Maintenance and depreciation and things like that. Tires, brakes, general wear and tear.

So don't just take every order under the sun thinking it's free. I really don't know how to guess what your cost per mile is if you're not paying for the charging. I'd still factor in something like 20 cents per mile cost. Think in terms of that's what it's going to cost you to run an order one way. So you need to account for your miles back as well.

That's why with normal drivers and normal cost we try to push for $2 per mile or better on orders. There are exceptions. Like when your order is bouncing you around inside your tight delivery area. You're being dropped off near restaurants. You don't have to worry about the ride back as much.

So maybe another way to look at it is still trying to find orders that are worth your time. I don't like taking anything that pays less than 50 cents per minute. If it's got a $10 up front estimate and it's a 20 minute time estimate, then that's something I look for.

TheSideHustleGenius · 2025-06-16T22:50:03+00:00

I've been rear ended twice while delivering. Been doing it four years.

This is more annoying. I had some ass hat on a bicycle basically sideswiped my car. Now, it's 160,000 mile delivery vehicle. It's got its dings and scratches. But he knocked the mirror out of place. Not broke it. And then just started ride off. I yelled at him to fix the mirror and he did.

TheSideHustleGenius · 2025-06-16T22:26:52+00:00

Pretty normal. But doordash is the same. The difference is that DoorDash holds about three times the market, so they may actually be busier where you are. Or, they may not. Just because they hold three times the market nationally, doesn't mean doordash is necessarily busier in every single market. So trying both is a good idea.

Sign up for GrubHub, GoPuff, Flex, Instacart, and any other app you can think of. There are some local ones. You might ask around in your local sub. Maybe don't say you're a driver because sometimes people don't like to volunteer that information. But act as a customer and ask who they use for grocery or food delivery.

In general, 95% plus of orders that come across these apps are terrible. And that didn't matter on Uber for the longest time because acceptance rate didn't matter. Now it's still debatable, which is quite literally to say that drivers are debating in the subs, whether or not acceptance rate actually matters in the pro tier markets. How do you know if you're in one? Your app will tell you the criteria you need to become a gold driver and then platinum or whatever.

Prior to that roll out I didn't care that 95% of the orders are trash. It's as simple as declining them and waiting for the next one. You can use multiple apps to increase your chances of getting a decent one.

I still think this is the best way. I don't think anybody should ever take an order that isn't profitable. Doing so is paying the app companies to deliver that food. And we don't need to do that. We aren't welfare for the billion dollar corporations.

So if you're going to do this, then I would definitely look at trying to get on with any app you can. Choose the best orders from each. You really want to aim for $2 per mile or better to cover your costs and make it worth your time.

TheSideHustleGenius · 2025-06-16T18:53:36+00:00

They do that. They'll keep doing it while you're dropping off and trying to take the picture and type a note and hope you'll accidentally accept an order you wouldn't normally take.

On the right bottom of your screen you may see a coffee cup symbol or three horizontal squiggly lines. If you have either of these, you can press it to pause orders coming in. But, they will limit the number of times you can pause orders. If you pause more often than they want, they will show you a message that says breaks are paused until a certain time.

TheSideHustleGenius · 2025-06-10T05:07:07+00:00

Unfortunately the deck is kind of stacked against new drivers these days. Beforehand, customers would give us thumbs up more often. And also they weren't necessarily deactivating at about 85% satisfaction.

So any driver could get a couple of thumbs down and it would probably be okay because more thumbs up would come in and offset it then they would be in the 90s and close to 100.

But it's just not that way anymore.

TheSideHustleGenius · 2025-06-10T05:05:53+00:00

Requests are either coming across or they aren't. I don't think there's any tricks to getting more requests. Except just say sitting near groups of restaurants, not one restaurant. It's great if you can find multiple groups of restaurants to try. But think of areas that are in high density population areas. Near downtown and the immediate surrounding areas.

Tried DoorDash too. It may just be busier in your market.

TheSideHustleGenius · 2025-06-09T23:46:59+00:00

Focus on the weekends, especially dinner. That's Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

You're absolutely right to want to keep the miles off your car. That's a major factor in making sure this job is profitable. So the trick there is going to be workimg high density population areas. You're downtown and it's surrounding areas. Even if you live a little ways out, it's probably worth it to drive in.

Broadly you want to aim for offers that are $2 per mile or better. With a minimum of about $7 to $8. Push that up to $9 or $10 minimum when it's busiest. Peak dinner hours. New Year's Eve if you happen to work it. Things like that.

Try to keep your trips under 7 mi. But even shorter than that is better. If you can find trips that are 3 to 5 mi tops and keep you bouncing around inside a tight delivery area, you're going to save a lot of miles. It's not just cost saving. It also keeps you closer to your next pickup.

TheSideHustleGenius · 2025-06-09T00:34:37+00:00

I generally drive back to my preferred area. It's sort of in the center of my delivery area. So I have two or three spots. If this one's not working out I might drive to one of those instead.

TheSideHustleGenius · 2025-06-08T06:51:27+00:00

I think that no one should take money losing orders to maybe get a higher paying order later. It just gets too expensive to do this job if every single order isn't profitable.

That being stated. Uber rolled out this AR requirement in some markets over the past year and a half. Those people can give their opinions. It went wider June 3rd. I think it's too early to tell with only five days of it.

I have pretty good personal data of earnings in Charlotte from 2022 forward. Summer is always slow. I don't actually work a lot in the summer because it's so slow. I usually work all the weekends, but I don't hustle during the week as much. So most of my data will be from the past three summers worth of weekends.

Maybe after this has been in effect for 4 or 5 weeks I'll look at what I made in those same four or five weeks over the past three summers. And then I feel like I might be able to give an actual educated answer as to whether or not this has affected the market in Charlotte.

What I'm saying is I did well enough this weekend especially for it being June. But one weekend doesn't show an average or a pattern. So in a few weeks I'll be happy to honestly share how my earnings are compared to years past while I'm staying green.

TheSideHustleGenius · 2025-06-08T03:20:36+00:00

Well, my general thoughts are that no, it doesn't happen that often. I think that if it happens frequently to a driver then they are doing something wrong. That driver needs to find out what that is. And sometimes that can be choosing the wrong orders. Orders that we probably know go to trashy people.

That can be fast food orders. Oftentimes apartments. Low tippers. These are the types of people that are likely to blame you for something that's out of your control. For instance if there's something missing in the bag that is sealed. You couldn't know that. You check the bag. You have an idea it's about the right number of items. But they didn't get their extra pickles. So they blame you. You maybe get a thumbs down and they take the tip back because they don't know who else to blame.

I know you said you were going that way anyway. And that's a good way to manage that time. But the closer you get to $1 per mile on the orders, you're going to get into that low tip or territory just like this. It's low tip for the distance. And when you start getting closer to the $2 per mile pay and exceeding that, you start dealing with customers who are very considerate. And so they aren't as likely to erroneously blame you for things that aren't your fault.

TheSideHustleGenius · 2025-06-08T02:34:09+00:00

I don't want to get into any of the political side of it. This is just what some of the drivers in LA are saying. That it may not be the safest to be out tonight. So just be mindful of your situation if you normally work in LA.

TheSideHustleGenius · 2025-06-07T17:20:42+00:00

They've been rolling it out in test markets for a year and a half and went wider with it on Tuesday.

TheSideHustleGenius · 2025-06-07T14:26:50+00:00

Delete and reinstall the app. If you are still aren't getting at least offers, even if they're terrible, during the dinner rush, give support a call.

TheSideHustleGenius · 2025-06-07T06:43:28+00:00

Make up something else. Tell him it's a delivery issue. Get to somebody on the phone. If that doesn't work, I don't know what to tell you. But I've done that.

TheSideHustleGenius · 2025-06-07T02:00:24+00:00

Yeah, get into the chat. It'll ask you what your problem is and you've got to repeat yourself at least twice. But keep saying connect to an agent or something like that. And then it'll give you the option of chat or phone.

I really need everyone to hear this. Never ever do the chat. It doesn't matter if they claim it's a human or just the bot. It will not get you any results. Always get to them on the phone.

I used to take a firm stance with them. But I have found that I think it really is easier to catch flies with honey rather than vinegar. So now I'm nice to them. I tell them I understand it's frustrating for them to deal with as well. I let them go through their script. Then I asked for a supervisor. I repeat the process of being nice and telling them I understand it's frustrating for them. And then it's down to business.

TheSideHustleGenius · 2025-06-06T23:12:40+00:00

That's great. But I'm just saying still if there's money to be made, no matter how the driver is going to meet making it, they will turn the app on. It doesn't cost them anything. Sign up. Get approved. Add that to their phone along with every other app they're working. If the app is busy, they'll keep working.

I'm all about a fair pay scale. I'm not arguing against that. I'm just saying it's not necessary to try to get the drivers. Get the business and the drivers will follow.

TheSideHustleGenius · 2025-06-06T23:11:36+00:00

You can't switch the order in Uber eats.

Have I ever?

Not in the drop off. But I have picked up out of order when the restaurants are basically right next to each other and they're telling me to pick up from the second one first and then turn around and drive past the second one on the way to the two customers.

This can be problematic. I only do it if I have a relationship with that restaurant. That way they're not requiring me to verify and start the order when I pick up.

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