Who doesn’t appreciate the ease of ordering online and having it delivered to the door?  In this pandemic, home delivery has exploded with new customers.

Postmates is a service that allows a driver to be able to pick up any food order and deliver it to people’s houses.The service is similar to Doordash and Uber Eats, but Postmates delivers anything, not just meals.  That includes groceries and merchandise.  Postmates has recently been bought by Uber Eats for $2.6 billion dollars. 

Senior Josh Todd has been working for Postmates since September 2020.  Todd discovered this job through advertisements on social media.

“I heard about Postmates through various people on social media. Many celebrities and influencers use the service to get deliveries, and I saw their posts on social media talking about it. When it came time for me to get a job, I looked straight to Postmates, as it seemed the most reasonable job for me,” said Todd.

Todd reveals many of his challenges doing Postmates such as finding houses and restaurants that customers want.

“The most challenging part of this job, I’d say is finding the houses and restaurants that customers want me to go to. Finding houses is difficult in any delivery job, honestly, since some places are in the middle of nowhere and some places are in very crowded townhouses and apartments.” 

Todd delivers mostly in the Frederick City area.

“Since I do most of my deliveries in the downtown Frederick area, there’s been a few times when I have to search for the exact apartment in the exact building the customer wants me to deliver to, which can get confusing when there’s so many options.”

It works both ways. Not only are the customer addresses difficult, but also, Todd must know all of the local restaurants and businesses. 

“Finding the different restaurants on top of that can also be a bit challenging. Sometimes people want me to pick up from crowded places in the center of downtown, and finding parking and the restaurant itself can be quite the difficulty,” said Todd. 

Money earned from Postmates all varies by certain factors. Some of them can be the delivery place, the time it takes to get to the food place and many other factors.

“It all really depends on the day you’re delivering, where you’re delivering to, which restaurants you’re delivering from, and a whole other array of factors. Most people think that I get paid hourly, which isn’t true. I get paid for each delivery I do in a day. Drivers get a small base pay, added to a pay based on how far the customer is from the restaurant, and how long the driver has to wait for the food,”said Todd. 

Postmates can be a good job for young adults because of the flexibility, but some parents would be uncomfortable about the use of the family vehicle or students traveling to unfamiliar homes and addresses.

“I truly recommend this service to people trying to make money or looking for a job. I’ve had a blast doing it and have made a fair amount on top of that. To really get money from this job, you just have to really plan out how and where you’re going to work each day. You’re kind of your own boss,” said Todd. 

The income from Postmates is all dependent on how much a person wants to work on that day. 

“That’s one of the great things about this job: you get to choose your own hours. There is no mandatory amount of time you have to work, and there’s no limit for the time you do get to work. I could be working at 3 a.m. on a Monday and no one could stop me. This also means I can take as much time off as I want to. If I want to stop working for the next six months, I could with no penalty against me. The only thing is, since I get paid based on each delivery I do, I really only work at times when many people are ordering food, like around dinner and lunch,” said Todd. 

Delivery workers must be 18 or older.  

“Honestly, to get the job you only need to be 18 or older, and have a driver’s license. That’s all. To really thrive in the job though, you have to get to know the Frederick city area well, and be confident and comfortable talking to lots of people,”said Todd. 

Postmates has covid requirements.

“Every driver has to wear a face mask/covering. We’re told to stay six feet from anyone as much as we can, and in general are obligated to follow other CDC recommendations for preventing Covid-19,” said Todd. 

The difficulty of doing Postmates can all depend on how busy certain days are. 

“It all really depends on the day. Sometimes, when you’re getting bombarded with complex orders being delivered to hard to find locations in a small amount of time, it can get a bit overwhelming. Then there’s other times when you have a small amount of simple orders, being delivered to very simple locations, and it feels like a smooth breeze,” said Todd. 

Todd’s parents completely supported the idea of Postmates. 

“My parents were thrilled with the idea. They just wanted me to have a job, they didn’t really care what it was,” said Todd. 

“Well, I haven’t had a rude customer yet. The majority of people I’ve delivered to are incredibly nice people. Out of the many deliveries I’ve made in my time working, I haven’t come across anyone directly mean towards me, knock on wood,”said Todd. 

Tips are very helpful for Postmates workers as it helps them make more money. 

“It all really depends on the day you’re delivering, where you’re delivering to, which restaurants you’re delivering from, and a whole other array of factors. Most people think that I get paid hourly, which isn’t true. I get paid for each delivery I do in a day. Drivers get a small base pay, added to a pay based on how far the customer is from the restaurant, and how long the driver has to wait for the food. The amount I make changes with every delivery, but on average I get around $6 per delivery. Then the factor of tipping is added onto each delivery, which really depends on if and how much the customer wants to tip,”said Todd.