This article was written in part by dictating as I went through the day working in my car. It was finished up at home between the hours of three and four in the morning. It is a bit rough in form and perhaps also in verb tense. You can blame the Midnight Oil Editorial Department for that.
The day started as any other. I got up at 6:00, had the girls to the school bus, then drove straight down to Logan via a stop at the grocery store to pick up a delicious breakfast burrito, three bananas, and a bottle of Pepsi. Then it was off to Walmart in Logan to get gas for the car. At the Walmart gas station I filled the tank, cleaned the windshield and the back window, then did a quick trip to the loo, and turned on my DoorDash app for the day.
I set the app with a finish time of 3:00 p.m., That’s my usual finish time for my first session of the day. It works out to about a six-and-a-half-hour shift with no breaks. Yesterday was a normal day and it put 249.6 miles on the trip odometer on the car. But that includes a trip back up to Idaho to pick my kids up from school and take them home, have a short break and visit with Missus, maybe eat supper, and come back down to work again. There’s a 50-mile round trip or so right there.
From Walmart as I pull away from the fuel pump and put on DoorDash, I reset the odometer, and drive towards McDonald’s in the center of Logan or Chick-fil-A as a good starting point. Chick-Fil-A tends to pay closer to $7 per run, but McDonald’s at $4 or $5 a run will keep going and going. The other reason I like McDonald’s, is it their bathrooms are just two or three steps easier to get to than Chick-Fil-A. It’s the little things make a difference. I decided to start today off by Chick-fil-A. I parked near and waited.
Yesterday’s fuel cost $40.93 out of what I earned, which was a little over $120. That left me a practical earning of about $80. Then there is whatever food I buy. On top of that there needs to be consideration for taxes and anything else such as wear and tear on the vehicle. After all that, there is my time and what I’m actually worth. By the time the day ends, that is about ten hours of work and the time to go back up and get the kids, making for more like 14 hours out of the house by the time I get back in the evenings.
First order comes in for $4.50 from Burger King, despite me being parked near Chick-Fil-A. At least their bathroom is in between the front door and the counter but their electric hand dryer wasn’t working. The first delivery was about one and a half miles from the restaurant.
The delivery was to someone who lives in some apartments. I’ve seen an eviction notice hanging on the front door of a comparable complex recently. The back rent due was over $1,600. I can’t even imagine having to come up with that kind of money just to cover a monthly rent on an income like mine with DoorDash. After the expenses I mentioned above, it does not pay well enough to cover rent and utilities and everything else. On top of that, I’ve got a tire that’s going bald on the back right of the car that’ll want replacing and I know that when I go in to get one they’re going to tell me it’s four wheel drive and they can’t replace just one because they have to be the same size and wear evenly to prevent damage to the transaxle. That’ll be a full set of tires and upwards of $1,000 right there. I also need to change the oil about once a month, which I do myself to keep the costs down. Our family qualifies for Medicaid without even taking into account my work expenses. People often ask me how DoorDash pays. I give out 14 hours of my day to make it work on school days. On the three-day weekend for Idaho kids, I will do my day differently, starting to drive for work around 10:30 in the morning and finishing at 8:30 at night. That makes for an eleven-hour day with about 30 minutes out for lunch, not including time down and back.
I went back over by Chick-Fil-A and hoped for a high-paying run. My intention is to give it about half hour or so waiting for a run, then go back by McDonald’s. I also hope to go onto Earn By Time, as that tends to be longer runs and slightly better pay than earning per delivery. It also works out that when they put a driver on Earn By Time, the delivery from the restaurant to the customer tends to be a long way away, and the fuel economy in the car is better for that.
Of course, the app makes a liar out of me. Declined.
Second run for the day was Burger King for $4.50, less than a mile from store to delivery location. As I dropped it off and was considering what else to include for this article, I wondered why I’m still in the habit of walking so fast while I work. I move as quick as I can when I have hot food in hand. I also avoid walking on people’s grass as much as possible out of courtesy. All habits I have from past work.
Third order! This time it’s from Wendy’s by Sam’s Club. It’s not very far and for not very much, but it’s something to do, and it’s money earned, so I take it. Besides, if I decline it comes up in the app as a percentage that will harm my ability to earn. So let’s not pretend I have much of a choice here as I try to keep my acceptance rate as close to 100% as possible. I lose my status with DoorDash if I go below 80%, and one does need the room to decline once in a while because there are offered deliveries that would result in paying DoorDash for the privilege.
Back onto my day.
10 minutes till 10:00AM and I can normally expect it to go quiet till 12:15 or 12:30, so I’ll go sit outside McDonald’s a while.
After a while, I’ve done a few deliveries for Crumbl Cookies and for Einstein Brothers Bagels. I’ve been delivering carbs and made $24.00 in 14 miles. I figure I can estimate out about three bucks just for gasoline.
I get a South Carl’s Jr. and I am up to $29.30. I decided afterwards to go take a short rest on Center Street because I like the vibe. It reminds me of a town I lived in for a while in California when I was going to college.
Naturally, I said above that Chick-fil-A runs tend to pay better, and on this morning they have been paying like $3 to $3.5 per run. That’s about half what it pays normally. As I lose myself in the day trying to write and make the money I need to, I arrive at $36.30 on my earnings clock, and honestly, I don’t really feel very well mostly because of a little tingly feeling I tend to get in my arms when I have worn too many layers of clothing for too long. I never did get on well with GAP’s styling, even though I always liked the look when I was younger. I park again by middle McDonald’s. I find myself feeling a bit lonely.
By 12:30PM today my running total has made it to $65.00 and I’m just on my way back from Richmond Utah, which is quite a way out there from the center of Logan where I try to work. Whenever I get up Richmond way I am always tempted to just carry on home after the delivery. Because I need more money it’s back to Logan I go on a long drive.
I carried on for the day and was about at $90 by the time I had to head up to Idaho to get the kids and meet the hay man to pay him for a large bale of hay that will last a few weeks, and for some gravel for the driveway. I made that a quick visit, though I wanted to talk a while as it has been some time since we have had the chance to catch up. But back down to Logan I went to earn more money, which in the end was only about $37. But it all adds up, and while the start of the week always feels like it is a long slog to the goal I set myself to finish the week at, I have to endure and get there little by little like this.
By the time I got home in the end, I was pretty tired and after sitting in my chair a few minutes, I was ready to crash out in bed. I got a little time in with Missus and the kids, which in the most important part of my day. It’s what I am doing this all for. Six to seven days a week. Just to scrape by. Honestly, it would be much easier if I were not carrying any debts right now. I think we could then plan to grocery shop, rather than me bringing home little by little according to what we need at the moment.
Drift off to sleep.
Awake to finish this article up at the normal time people my age wake up in the middle of the night. Then back to sleep again. It’s a Friday, and I get to start a few hours later for my sins.