Here at Young Adult Money we are all about side hustles and increasing income.
Increasing income is typically the best way to reach your financial goals.
We aren’t opposed to saving money, but there is only so much that can be cut out of a budget.
Today we have yet another side hustle idea for you: delivering with Deliv.
What Deliv Does
In their own words, “Deliv bridges the last mile gap between retailers and customers.” The way Deliv does this is through coordinating same-day delivery. They accomplish this through three ways:
- Integrating the new delivery option into an existing ecommerce site or in-store checkout
- Paying “regular” people to make the deliveries happen
- Quality assurance checks and driver ratings ensure execution of delivery
It may sound simple, but this is really the first company that is coordinating same-day delivery for retailers and customers for a reasonable price. Not only that, but it offers a great side income possibility for drivers.
How Deliv Works
While they have a really good, visually-appealing explanation on the Deliv website, I will give you a brief run-down here as well.
The high-level process, as described by Deliv, is as follows:
- Customer checks out on a retailer site or in store, selects same day delivery and schedules a time window
- The Driver receives a delivery notification and associated set of tasks
- Quality assurance at pickup: Driver confirms order number and items at pickup
- Customer is provided with real-time tracking
- Quality assurance at the Customer’s door: Driver confirms order content and collects digital signature
- Customer rates the experience. Drivers are offered delivery tasks based on ratings.
Got it? Again, Deliv has some great graphics to go along with these explanations so head on over to their website to see them.
Deliv as a side hustle
I’m really excited about the potential of Deliv as a no-maintenance side hustle. There are plenty of side hustles – like blogging or freelance writing – that take a considerable amount of time to get “off the ground.” Bloggers can easily go 6-12 months without turning a profit. It can take just as long for a freelance writer to start getting consistent work.
Deliv is different because all you really need is a car, a smart phone, and some time. It’s also really flexible as opposed to, say, delivering pizzas. With delivering pizzas you don’t set your own hours and have to get time off approved. With Deliv you can sign up same-day for delivery work.
Deliv is perfect for people who are looking to pay down debt, make some extra money to boost their savings, or fund a vacation.
Here are some key things to keep in mind if you are considering making a side hustle out of Deliv:
- Pay – As can be expected, pay varies by city. A typical driver will make $20-$22 an hour if there are deliveries.
- Scheduling – There are two ways to get scheduled as a driver. The first is to sign up a week in advance and get priority for deliveries during that time. The second is to sign up day of for deliveries.
- Routes – To make deliveries more efficient, multiple deliveries are bundled into routes. All instructions on what and where to deliver is included in information via the Deliv app.
There is a lot more detail in Deliv’s Driver FAQ on their website including insurance questions and what to do if you don’t feel comfortable making a specific delivery.
Markets where Deliv is active in
Deliv currently operates in six markets:
- San Francisco
- San Jose
- Downtown Chicago
- Oakbrook
- Glendale
- Santa Monica
Here are four additional metro markets they will be expanding to in mid-October:
- Washington, D.C.
- Seattle, WA
- Wayne, NJ
- Houston, TX
Keep in mind that Deliv is a startup, so they will be expanding in the near future. They will be present in an additional 26 metro markets in 2015. The list of new markets is currently being finalized.
_____________________
Hopefully this review gave you a little bit of insight into Deliv and what they are all about. This service has huge potential and serves a need that every company is working on: same-day delivery. Retailers win, the people delivering win, and ultimately the consumer wins because they don’t have to drive to a store.
If Deliv currently isn’t active where you live, consider bookmarking Deliv (or this post) and check back later on. I can guarantee you know at least one person who could benefit from being a part-time driver for Deliv. It could be just what they’ve been looking for in a side hustle, so please consider sending them to this page.
Have you heard of Deliv before? What do you think of their business? Is this something that you or someone you know could benefit from as a side hustle?
_____________________
Photo by Travis Rigel Lukas Hornung
Check out some of our favorite personal finance resources:
Are you getting the best credit card rewards? Check out the top cash back credit card offers (updated daily)
Make extra money: 15 ways to make money from your computer
Get the First Chapter Free!
Join our online community and get the first chapter of the book Student Loan Solution absolutely FREE!
Interesting!! I’ve never heard of this outfit before, but I like the concept. Thanks, DC!
Dc,
Great concept, but Hawaii will probably be last. We don’t even have task rabbit here. Any side hustle $20+ is worth it.
Never heard of it! I think that sounds awesome though. I love new start-ups that disrupt everything!
Charles@gettingarichlife Last if at all! Just kidding, but yeah Hawaii seems like a tough market.
Laurie TheFrugalFarmer No problem, Laurie! Glad you like the concept, I think it has potential to make a big difference for people who are looking for a side hustle that is easy to get started.
Holly at ClubThrifty There seems to be quite a few of them these days! I like their concept because it allows people to participate without having to be full-time employees of a company. Why not utilize people who have free time and are willing to deliver things in their local area?
I wonder if this will take off in NYC. I think it would be tough since so few people have cars.
Sounds like an interesting side hustle that would be easy to break into. I kinda considered Uber but this is probably better for me. Too bad they’re not in NYC yet. I don’t see why not? Sure…most in Manhattan don’t have cars but there is the outer-boroughs…
This actually sounds kind of fun. Unfortunately we don’t live close to any large metropolitan areas. But who knows? We still haven’t decided where we’re moving to yet! I’ll also pass this info along. Thanks DC! :)
This sounds pretty good. I hope it keeps growing and gets closer to my area.
brokeandbeau I know there is some delivery service…crap can’t remember their name…that is based solely in NYC. People deliver packages sometimes within 20 minutes! It’s all through bikes. I think Deliv would have to do the same thing (depend on bikes) to get merchandise delivered.
Andrew LivingRichCheaply I think they are just in such early stages of their startup life that they simply haven’t had time to get to some new markets. I’m really hoping they bring it to Minneapolis-St.Paul in 2015.
kay at frugalvoices Move to Minneapolis-St. Paul! Great place to live : ) I’m biased though. Born and raised and went to school and have worked here my whole life. Thanks for sharing the info, though. I’m excited for this service to expand and I think more businesses will get behind it once it’s in more markets.
Aldo @ MDN Same here. I hope Minneapolis-St. Paul is one of the 2015 metro areas they expand to.
I love that it might add some competition to UPS or Fed Ex while giving an average person a chance to earn some extra income.
That sounds like a cool start up. I think it will be popular once people start hearing more about it. Nice review DC!
This is an interesting idea for a startup. I like how crowdsourcing is focusing on cars lately. It’s almost like a version of Uber without having to interact with anyone! Plus their requirements are more lax – my car is too old for Uber. Deliv isn’t around here yet, but I have to imagine they will be eventually.
DC @ Young Adult Money Charles@gettingarichlife – I have dibs when we open a Hawaii office ;-)
It’s intriguing that’s for sure. I’m not sure I like the idea of driving downtown Chicago delivering packages though, honestly I wouldn’t touch it for less than $50 hour, the amount of gas, traffic, parking, parking tickets, etc makes it not worth the $20-$22. Also what’s to stop someone from registering their vehicle and then taking the train, bus, bike, to go drop it off?
Eyesonthedollar Yeah it makes a lot of sense. Why not utilize resources (i.e. people already in the local area) who are willing to spend time delivering?
DebtRoundUp Thanks Grayson! I also think it’ll be more popular as they expand to new markets. They have some solid retailers on board but there’s definitely room to grow there.
Erin @ Journey to Saving I like it better than Uber because of that very reason: you don’t have to transport people. I wouldn’t mind talking to people at pick-up and drop-off sites, but overall I would prefer driving without having to deal with people at the same time.
EvenStevenMoney I don’t think there would be an issue with taking the train, bus, or bike to drop it off, assuming they deliver it on schedule. $50 an hour is asking a lot, but there is a service in NYC that operates totally off of bikes. I imagine that Deliv would be open to that kind of model as well.
Very interesting. This could be something I might get behind, but I have to wonder how patient I am to sit in santa monica traffic. Still, it’s nice to have that option, and sometimes you gotta do what it takes.
Beachbudget Traffic is something that you can’t really control, so I agree that it may be frustrating to hit traffic while going on one of these deliveries. I can’t imagine they’ll pay you more if you end up getting stuck in traffic. I would think the ideal time to do this would be during the day or early evening. It could work well for someone with a flexible schedule.
Hmmm this is probably the sort of idea we should be thinking of creating ourselves :), rather than working for the start-ups we should be the start-up haha..
This sounds like a great innovation, haven’t heard of the company before, the only main point I’d have is that it is trading time for money.. I like the idea that they’ve come up with though, wonder how profitable it’ll end up being for them
Ross Dakin DC @ Young Adult Money Charles@gettingarichlife Haha, save a job for me at the Hawaii office! My wife would be on board.
Yes you certainly can. In fact, this can work well for everyone, as driving people around tends to be busier during mornings and evenings, while deliv’ing packages tends to have the most activity mid-day.
mycareercrusade I wonder if they’ll ever expand to Australia ;) But yes, in my perfect world I would be the person who starts a start-up like this. Deliv has HUGE potential imo.
There’d definitely be a market for it out here or at least the demand, whether there’d be enough demand to justify coming down under.. We’ve got a touch of 23 million people, a small fish country I’d say haha..
What’s holding you back DC? :), I’ve actually been considering this myself and am really looking into saving up sufficient funds for about a year and a half, going full time on a business while I’m young single and have relatively few responsibilities.. Watch this space!
mycareercrusade Nothing has been holding me back, really. I’m just being smart about it. I don’t plan on quitting my job for a startup. I plan on starting something on the side. I also don’t want to feel a “rush” to get something going. I’m constantly trying to think of new ideas and looking into problems that a business can solve. The full-time job is perfect for where I’m at in life and it wouldn’t be the worst thing if I ended up working 9-5 corporate life long-term. But if I can think of the right start-up idea and get it off the ground, that would be ideal.
Deliv sounds very interesting. Hopefully Atlanta is on their 2015 expansion list.
Cool, yeah I agree, sometimes the grass really is greener on the other side.. I feel that it can be all too easy to rush into something and maybe I’ll need to take more of a consistent approach until I start making money and figuring out the value I will add to others rather than making rash decisions..
Thanks for the perspective DC, a wise comment there :)
Jason @ The Butler Journal Atlanta seems like a good market for them to expand to. I’m also really hoping Minneapolis-St. Paul is on the list for 2015.
Very interesting! I wonder how long it will take to reach Philadelphia.