“My specialties include macaroni and cheese and ordering Chinese-food delivery.”

Ad-Rock, Musician

Pros and Cons of Becoming A Food Delivery Rider

You think about becoming a food delivery driver.

While there are some benefits to this profession, a career in food delivery also implies many downsides.

Hence, stick with me since I show you all the pros and cons of being a food delivery driver in the following article.

Food Delivery Driver Job Profile

Advantages of Working as a Food Delivery Driver

1. You can work rather independently
2. Food delivery drivers can make some extra money from tips
3. You can avoid working in classical office jobs
4. Food delivery riders stay fit
5. You don’t have to go to the gym
6. You can work some extra hours to make more money
7. Food delivery riders may get food for free
8. You will meet many different people
9. You don’t need a college degree for working in food delivery
10. You can avoid student loan debt
11. Food delivery riders can become independent rather soon

You can work rather independently

One advantage of being a food delivery rider is that you can work quite independently while policemen and many other people have to work in a rather rigid manner.

While many people who work in classical corporate jobs will always have someone who is looking over their shoulder, people who work in food delivery will have more freedom how to do their work.

Sure, you will also have to get things done as a food delivery guy.

Yet, you will have a higher level of freedom regarding which route you want to choose and when to take a short break.

Consequently, working in food delivery can be great for you in case you are a rather independent person and want to organize yourself instead of following the commands of your boss all day long.

Food delivery drivers can make some extra money from tips

While the base salary of food delivery drivers is rather low, you may be able to make some extra money from tips.

Especially if you work in the nighttime, people will often be sorry for you and your poor working conditions and will give you some tips to compensate you for your hard work.

This can be quite lucrative, especially if you are good-looking since people will often give you even more tips.

Thus, even though the base salary of people who work in food delivery will not be great, you should not underestimate the money that you can make on the side.

You can avoid working in classical office jobs

Through a career in food delivery, you can also avoid classical office work.

While some people love their office job, many others just don’t like their jobs at all and are just in the game for the money to pay their bills.

Many of those people secretly wish to quit their jobs, yet they are so stuck in their routines that they don’t know what to do.

As a food delivery driver, you don’t have to work in an artificial office environment and stare at a computer screen all day long. Instead, you can be on the road and see many different quarters of your region every day.

Food delivery riders stay fit

Since you will have significant time pressure when it comes to delivering food to your clients, you will also stay fit as a food delivery guy.

In fact, you will work out during your job in a completely natural manner, especially if you work for a company that uses bicycles instead of motorbikes to deliver food.

Consequently, you will also be less likely to suffer from obesity and the unpleasant consequences that may come along with it.

You don’t have to go to the gym

Since you will exercise as a food delivery rider in a natural manner, there will also be no need for going to the gym.

While many other people who work in classical office jobs will have to go to the gym to lose weight and to stay fit after work, you can spend your leisure in a more enjoyable manner.

For instance, while other people are in the gym, you could meet up with your favorite people or spend time with your kids instead.

You can work some extra hours to make more money

Many food delivery companies are also rather flexible when it comes to the number of hours you want to work.

Quite often, you can decide if you want to work more or less and in times when you urgently need money, you can just work a higher number of hours.

Therefore, if you are willing to work hard, you can work many extra hours and make significantly more money from food delivery jobs.

Food delivery riders may get food for free

Depending on the company you work for, you may also get discounts on food or even get food for free.

If this is the case, you can save lots of money on food and can use this money to buy other nice things for your daily life.

You will also no longer have to cook and this can give you additional time to spend on things you like more.

You will meet many different people

During your career as a food delivery guy, you will also meet many new people.

In fact, you will have hundreds of clients every day.

Hence, if you are a rather extroverted person who loves to talk to people about politics or other important things, chances are that a job in food delivery can also be great for you in this regard.

You may even be able to make some new friends, especially with those people who order from your company on a regular basis.

You don’t need a college degree for working in food delivery

Another benefit of being a food delivery rider is that you also don’t need a college degree for working in this field.

In fact, most food delivery companies are not demanding at all when it comes to education as long as you speak the local language and have some basic skills.

Consequently, while many other people will have to spend many years in college, you will be able to make money right after finishing high school.

You can avoid student loan debt

Since you will not have to go to college or get any other fancy degree, you can also avoid taking on student loan debt.

In our current state of the world, it has become quite common to use student loans to finance college.

While those student loans can make your time in college more enjoyable, they can also get you into serious financial trouble since you will have to pay them back in the near future.

As a food delivery driver, you will not have to deal with those issues since you don’t need to go to college and can make money right after school instead.

Food delivery riders can become independent rather soon

Another upside to working as a food delivery driver is that you can become independent of your parents rather soon.

While many other people have to live at their parent’s home for many years to finance their college degree and to pay off student loans, you will be able to rent your own place pretty soon in your life, at least if you are willing to work hard and work some extra hours.

As you can see, working in the food delivery industry can have many important advantages.

Yet, we should not forget to also have a look at the downsides that come along with this career path.

Disadvantages of Becoming a Food Delivery Rider

1. Food delivery drivers often have to work on weekends
2. You may have to work at nighttime
3. Holidays are not always free
4. Poor work-life balance for food delivery riders
5. You will not make that much money
6. Many food delivery guys need a second job
7. Working in food delivery can be stressful
8. Your clients are not always nice
9. Rather limited promotion opportunities
10. You may get stuck in food delivery forever
11. Food delivery riders have a rather low social status
12. Hard to get a mortgage
13. Old-age poverty can be a serious problem for food delivery riders
14. You may not be able to pay your medical bills
15. Time pressure can be enormous
16. People may make fun of you
17. Risk of traffic accidents
18. You are replaceable pretty easily
19. Working in food delivery can be exhausting
20. Questionable future job prospects for food delivery drivers
21. Working in food delivery may get boring in the long run

Food delivery drivers often have to work on weekends

One disadvantage of being a food delivery rider is that you will often have to work on weekends while financial controllers and people working in many other jobs with standard workweeks can enjoy nice days off with their families.

People order food throughout the week and especially Friday and Saturday nights are busy times in the food delivery industry since many people enjoy their leisure, hang out with their friends, watch some sports games and order pizza or other food from food delivery services.

Consequently, you will have to work on weekends quite often while many other people enjoy their leisure and have fun.

You may have to work at nighttime

If you work in the food delivery industry, it will also be quite common for you to work at nighttime. Sure, you will not make night shifts every day.

Yet, you should be prepared and willing to work during those late hours since people simply mostly order food during the evening.

Hence, if you don’t want to work that late, make sure that you go for a different career path since you will just not become happy by working as a food delivery rider.

Holidays are not always free

In some cases, you may even have to work on holidays.

In fact, some food delivery companies offer delivery 24/7, 365 days of the year.

Thus, if you work for one of those companies, don’t be surprised if you have to work on important national holidays.

Poor work-life balance for food delivery riders

Since you will have to work on holidays, weekends and also at nighttime, you will also have a rather poor work-life balance in general.

Not only will you have to work while many other people enjoy their leisure, but working at nighttime may also destroy your natural sleeping rhythm and you may suffer from serious sleeping problems in the long run.

You will not make that much money

Another problem with working as a food delivery rider is that you will just not make that much money.

In fact, many people who work in food delivery barely make a living from what they are doing and are not able to afford any luxury at all.

This is especially true if you live in expensive regions where rents and other expenses are quite high.

Many food delivery guys need a second job

In extreme cases, you may even need a second or third job to pay your bills.

Your income from your food delivery job may just not be enough to cover your basic expenses and you may really struggle to pay your bills.

This can be really annoying since it means that you will have barely any leisure at all and that you have to work long hours every day.

Working in food delivery can be stressful

You should also not underestimate the stress level that comes along with working in food delivery.

Many food delivery drivers have strict goals to meet and if they don’t meet those goals, chances are that they get fired pretty soon.

Consequently, if you don’t want to work in a stressful and challenging environment, you should go for a different career path instead.

Your clients are not always nice

While many people will really enjoy your work, others will not be nice at all.

In fact, if it takes you a little bit longer to deliver food to your clients and this food may get cold, clients may not be willing to pay for it and you may be the one who will be in trouble.

Some people are also just not nice in general and will try to bring you down for no reason at all.

Consequently, before you decide to work in food delivery, make sure that you are emotionally stable enough to deal with those issues in a healthy manner.

Rather limited promotion opportunities

Another downside of becoming a food delivery driver is that you will just have no promotion opportunities at all. It doesn’t matter how long you will be in the company.

Chances are that you will do the same job as a beginner even after decades of working in this field and you will barely have any chances to get to a higher level.

You may get stuck in food delivery forever

Since you will not learn that many skills that are important on the job market as a food delivery rider, you may also get stuck in this field forever.

You may just not find a job in a different field since you will simply lack the necessary qualifications.

Hence, before going for a career in food delivery, make sure that this is really what you want to do for a long time since it can be pretty hard to get out of this industry.

Food delivery riders have a rather low social status

While people will often be grateful for your hard work, you will still not have a high social standing as a food delivery driver.

In fact, many people will belittle you and even your family and friends may not understand why you decided for this career path.

In turn, chances are that you will have to deal with many nasty comments and you should make sure that the opinions of others don’t bother you in this regard.

Hard to get a mortgage

Since you will not make that much money as a food delivery guy, you may also have problems getting a mortgage for buying a home.

In fact, many food delivery drivers will never be able to afford to buy their own homes and will rather have to waste lots of money on rent.

Old-age poverty can be a serious problem for food delivery riders

Due to the relatively low salary of food delivery riders, those people will often also suffer from old-age poverty.

If you don’t make much money, you will also not be able to save enough money for retirement.

In turn, if you get to retirement age, you will just not have enough financial measures to pay rent or to cover other basic expenses.

Hence, if you don’t want to struggle financially once you get older, chances are that you should also go for a different career path instead of becoming a food delivery driver.

You may not be able to pay your medical bills

Since you will not make that much money from your job, you may also not be able to afford proper health insurance and will also not be able to afford costly medical treatment in case of emergency.

Consequently, also your life expectancy may be lower than average.

Time pressure can be enormous

You should also not underestimate the time pressure that comes along with working in food delivery.

In fact, you will not have that many opportunities to take breaks since food delivery companies will set strict goals for you and if you don’t meet those numbers, you may get fired pretty soon.

People may make fun of you

While some people will greatly appreciate your work, others may just try to bring you down and may even make fun of you.

In fact, I have seen many people on the streets making fun of food delivery guys and you should make sure that those comments will not bother you before you decide to work in this field.

Risk of traffic accidents

Since you will have significant time pressure during work, you may have to make risky traffic maneuvers to deliver food on time.

However, this also means that you will face a significant risk of getting involved in traffic accidents and you may even lose your life sooner or later or suffer from long-term health issues.

You are replaceable pretty easily

Another problem with working in food delivery is that you will be replaceable pretty easily.

In fact, you will not need that many skills for working as a food delivery driver and this means that barriers to entry are pretty low.

Almost everyone can do the job and this implies that you have to deal with fierce competition.

In turn, you will not have any job security at all and may get fired from one day to the other.

Working in food delivery can be exhausting

A career in food delivery can be exhausting, not only on a physical but also on a mental level.

You will always have to worry to be on time and fear the consequences of being late.

You will also not be able to make long-term commitments for the future since you will not know whether you will be able to keep your job or not.

All this can lead to serious mental problems and worrying about those things is just not healthy in general.

Questionable future job prospects for food delivery drivers

Food delivery drivers will also suffer from rather poor future job prospects.

In fact, many jobs in this field will vanish sooner or later and you will have to find a job in a different field instead.

Working in food delivery may get boring in the long run

While your job in food delivery may be exciting in the beginning, your initial excitement may fade pretty soon and you may just get bored in the long run.

In fact, it can be a quite boring routine to do the same job every day and you will just not have that many exciting moments during your workday as a food delivery guy.

Top 10 Being a Food Delivery Driver Pros & Cons – Summary List

Should You Become A Food Delivery Driver?

Now that I showed you all the advantages and disadvantages of being a food delivery rider, you have to make your final decision of whether you still want to work in this field or rather want to go for a different career path instead.

If you still want to become a food deliver driver, you should also get detailed information on the salary, prospects, future outlook, working hours, work-life balance, educational requirements, job satisfaction of food deliver drivers and much more.

Also make sure to check out the following articles:

Advantages and disadvantages of working as a postman

Advantages and disadvantages of working as an author

Advantages and disadvantages of working as a facility manager

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_delivery

https://www.statista.com/outlook/374/109/online-food-delivery/united-states

About the author

My name is Andreas and my mission is to educate people about the different career paths that are possible in our current state of the world. In my opinion, people often make the mistake to choose their profession solely based on how much money they can earn from it instead of doing what makes them really happy.

This is quite sad and I just want to give people a more objective picture of how a fulfilling career could look like. I did the same when I started working in consulting after finishing my Master’s degree in Economics. However, I’ve quit pretty soon after that since I haven’t found true meaning in my job.

Now I can do what I really love to do and I want to enable as many other people as well to go this exciting path towards happiness instead of money.

I conducted various interviews with employees to give you a good impression of what working in different fields will look like and that you can make the best possible decision regarding your future career choice.

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