When a person begins to work in the on-demand food deliver business, depending on the company that they are contracting with, they will learn real quick that there may be times when they have to place orders at restaurants themselves. Of course, this is not always the case, and how often you do this will depend on the company you are delivering for. In this article, we are going to focus on Postmates and let you know if, when, and if so how often you have to place a customer's order yourself.
When a Postmates driver receives a ping for a delivery, they have no idea whether this will be an order where they have to place the customer's order themselves when they arrive at the merchant, or whether the order has already been placed and all they have to do is pick it up. Most drivers usually hope that the order has already been placed, but they won't know for sure until they accept the order.
Once an order is accepted, a Postmate driver can analyze the order and see whether they will have to place the order themselves or not. If they want to continue on with the order, they just have to continue on to the merchant. If they really despise restaurants where they have to place the order themselves, they can cancel the order. In all honesty though, it would be best to go on and complete all of these orders. It is worth it in the long run.
Why do Postmates drivers have to place the order?
It all comes down to partnerships. Postmates has partnerships with many merchants, and these partners usually have a tablet or some other way of receiving orders from Postmates. When Postmates customers place their order, the order is instantly transferred to the merchant, and they start preparing the food. The Postmates drivers that receives these orders just have to arrive at the merchant, pick up the food and deliver it.
The non-partnered restaurants are the ones where a Postmates driver will sometimes have to place the order themselves. This is not always the case though with non-partnered merchants. Sometimes, Postmates will call in the order themselves. In these cases, the Postmates driver need only pay with the Postmates card then they arrive. There is no need for them to place the order.
In situations where for one reason or another Postmates cannot call in an order for these non-partnered merchants, the Postmates driver will have to place the order themselves. Once arrived at the restaurant, the Postmate driver will place the order just like any other customer. In reality, it is actually not even necessary to tell the restaurant that it is a Postmates order. I mean, it is no big deal if that fact is revealed, but after a while I have found it not even necessary to let them know.
How often will I have to place Postmates orders myself?
This is really impossible to answer as every Postmates driver will have a different experiences, but I am going to give my experience here. I would say that in 50 percent of all orders received from Postmates I have had to place the customers order myself. Truthfully, when I first started delivering for Postmates, I hated it. I entered this industry by means of Doordash, and although every once in a while you had to place an order yourself, it was not very often. With Doordash, I would say that I only ever had to place the customer's order myself about 5 percent of the time. It was not very often. Postmates was a whole different story though.
Won't I be losing money sitting around restaurants too long?
This is something that I'm sure most drivers would worry about. Who wants to spend extra time at the merchant? That is exactly what will happen if you have to place the order yourself. You may have to stand in line like a regular customer. After placing the order you will also have to sit around and wait. All of this can be very time consuming compared to just walking into a restaurant and picking up your already prepared food.
You may spend 20 minutes or more at the restaurant. This is why Postmates offers their drivers wait time pay. Yes, you actually get paid from the moment that you arrive at the merchant. Every region has a different pay amount, but in my region if I had to wait 20 minutes, the wait time earned would be $2.20. This is on top of the pick up, drop off, distance and customer tip pay. As a Postmater we prefer not to wait, but it is nice to know that when you do have to wait you are being compensated for it.
Being precise and accurate when placing Postmates orders
When you place the customer's order, you will need to be very precise. Customers will leave little notes, and it is up to the Postmate driver to read these little notes. For example, the customer may have ordered a double cheeseburger, but on the notes they put no onions, extra pickles and tomatoes on the side. Sometimes, orders are very large and have lots of notes. You must be very accurate when placing orders. If you are not careful, you may have an angry and unsatisfied customer. Also, an unsatisfied customer is not likely to leave a tip, and that is very important with Postmates. Good service on Postmates can make a world of a difference with your tip earnings.
Isn't placing orders for Postmates a hassle?
As I mentioned earlier, I hated placing orders at first, but honestly it became very easy after a while. Just like anything else in life, the more you do it the better you get at it. It is not really a hassle at all. Knowing that you are being compensated for your time at the restaurant also helps and makes you feel good. If there was not any wait time pay it would be a different story. I would most likely cancel every single order that I knew was an order yourself call.
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