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So UberEats came up with a new way to earn on the platform and that is the flat rate system, where it seems like an Earn by time clone, which shocker that Uber copied from another playbook right?
So in this article, We are talking about:
EVERYTHING You MUST Know about the New Flat Rate System on UberEats
What they tell you vs how it ACTUALLY is
Everything in between!
Disclaimer: The content of this article does not contain and is never intended to be legal, business, financial, tax, or health advice of any kind, This video is for entertainment purposes only. It is advised that you conduct your own research and consult with qualified professionals before applying anything you find online.
I also want to be clear that everything that we will be going over is very market dependent, so what applies to me and my market, may not apply to you.
How Flat Rates Work
Opt-in to a flat rate opportunity: Check the Opportunity Center for available upcoming flat rate periods. If there are periods available, you can opt-in to specific times and at set rates for a future period.
So it isn’t like the normal Uber experience where you can just click go and start driving, you have to sign-up for it specifically. If you don’t see the tab, that just means it isn’t available. I got the notification for this and I didn’t see this available so don’t be surprised if that happens to you.
Begin your flat rate period: Whether you’re already online or when you go online during the set period, you’ll start receiving offers at the set hourly rate. In order to maintain the flat rate, you can decline or cancel one offer per hour. If you cancel more than one offer, your flat rate period will automatically end. You will be able to resume accepting standard Uber Eats offers if your flat rate period ends.
Note how they said that, “you’ll start receiving offers at the set hourly rate” not being paid for your time. This is the significant difference between active time and online time. Just because you are “online” doesn’t mean you are earning money.
So regardless, you are still paid for the work you do and not your time.
How flat rate earnings work: Your earnings will be based on “Active hr” which means the hourly rate will be applied towards the portion of an hour that a trip takes from acceptance to completion. You will also keep any applicable promotions and 100% of customer tips.
Example: A trip that takes 30 minutes from acceptance to completion, at a $20/active hour rate, means $10 earned + tips & promos. Note: The estimated earnings you see for an offer are based on how long we think the trip will take. Your actual earnings may be higher or lower depending on how long the trip ultimately takes.
Keep in mind that is an example and will vary from market to market. Also, with how the example shows it, it seems more alluring than it would be in practice. Standard marketing technique.
Why are we Piloting Flat Rates?
Flat rates provide you with upfront information on earning potential for specific time periods. The flat rate option provides more earning choices and is available for a limited time. Flat rates may not be available in all locations or for all couriers at this time. Keep an eye out for any potential flat rate spots in the Opportunity Center in your Driver app.
So they don’t want to keep raising the prices on orders that keep getting rejected. So instead they put them in this system in an attempt to save money on spending too much on crappy customers.
What Time Counts Towards the Set Flat Rate?
Your earnings during the flat rate period will be based on the hourly rate and calculated based on the portion of time spent on each delivery, from acceptance to completion. This includes wait time at merchants and time in between batched trip deliveries.
This is cool if you are okay with waiting for orders and want to just accept an hourly rate, because at the end of the day it only makes you money when the restaurant doesn’t want to do their job.
What About Tips?
You will receive 100% of customer tips and any applicable promotions.
Don’t expect that much though, most orders are there because no one was taking them.
Are there any other terms or conditions that I should know about?
Uber may modify or end the flat rate offering at any time. Access to flat rates is not guaranteed and may be revoked. Uber’s other policies and terms continue to apply to the flat rate offering, including for example Uber’s Community Guidelines and your Platform Access Agreement. Uber reserves the right to delay payment for purposes of investigation and to withhold payment or deactivate account(s) if Uber determines in its sole discretion that a person has used or attempted to use flat rates mode in a fraudulent or abusive manner, or in violation of any applicable law or regulation.
This is true across all platforms though, on Doordash, The Rational Driver actually mentioned on the behind the wheel discord server, Doordash removed the Earn by time mode.
Nuggs was deactivated with a Earn by time hack with Airplane mode, and sure he got reactivated and yes that is great for him for sure, but most people are not in his position and would have been deactivated permanently.
So don’t be that guy, not only is it against ToS, but it doesn’t actually help you either. Stop trying to game the system, because it is only hurting you.
Can I Reject or Ignore Offers When Using Flat Rates?
If you reject 2 or more trips within an hour, your flat rate ends. You can still accept standard Uber Eats offers. Declining or canceling more than one offer within a 60 minute window will result in your flat rate period being automatically ended. Once you exit a flat rate slot, you cannot return to that same slot. However, you can visit the Opportunity Center to opt-in to available future flat rate slots.
This is standard for Flat rates and earn by time opportunities, you can say no once and that is it. It works better for Uber in the sense that there are no “zones” because it isn’t like you are less likely to get orders if they send you out of your “zone” since they aren’t any.
What Happens if an Eater or Merchant Cancels a Delivery?
The same payment and cancellation terms apply to flat rate periods as to standard offers. For example, if an eater or merchant cancels a delivery, you will generally be paid for your full time on trip if you’ve already picked up the order. See Uber’s full terms for more information.
Note how they said, "if you've picked up the order already." If the order is canceled when you didn't get the order, like if an order was picked up by someone else or they don't have an item and the order is canceled, you wouldn't have picked up the order.
Since you never picked up the order it was a waste of your time and energy, which is the kind of technicality they would use to screw you over.
However, the cancellation will not count towards your cancellation rate and will not impact your use of flat rates mode.
Considering I have had orders canceled and have had it counted against me in inconsistent frequency, I would say don’t be surprised if that last line is less than true.
Also there is a difference between you canceling an order and having an order canceled. So if you need to call support and they say something stupid like:
Uber Support: So go ahead and cancel the order, and don’t worry it won’t count against you.
They just don’t want to do their job. So make you tell them to cancel it on their end, and in most cases they will just cave and do their job but on others they go.
Uber Support: Oh we can’t do that on our end.
Yes you can, Stop lying and do your job, you dumb ass bitch.
Scams Build a Scarcity Mindset
We touched on this a bit earlier, but trying to game the system and trying to get the most out of the hourly rate is just displaying to yourself and your creativity that you are just trying to squeeze from this one company and one system.
This is only going to create resentment for the work you do, dependence on the company you are doing this with and limit your growth in your income across the board.
Still Not as Good as Multi-apping
Look, I have said it before and I will say it again until I am blue in the face, the best way to make money as a gig worker is to diversify your gig portfolio with multiple apps and niches and develop an exit strategy.
Great, you are on UberEats, that's awesome my guy. How about Doordash, how about Grubhub?
Food delivery is slowing down, what about grocery delivery, Instacart, shipt, spark.
Grocery Delivery isn’t your thing, How about catering? Deliverthat, Zifty Foodfetched, etc.
Package delivery? Medical Courier? The list can go on for literal days.
Did you develop an exit strategy? The gig economy is an income bridge to what would be a long term goal, not the goal.
Are you building a business outside of this? Are you investing your money into stocks or real estate? Or something to that effect?
This way if something happens to one of your gig apps, it isn’t financially or emotionally painful for you, and overtime you don’t have to worry about the money you make anymore.
All in all, just make sure you are doing what you can to remove any dependence on these apps as you can. Because no one is looking out for you better than you are.
If you would like to add some other perspective to how Flat Rates work on UberEats, feel free to email me: drivenwyld@gmail.com and who knows? Maybe your email or perspective and be featured in a post as well!
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