April 9, 2024
Editorial Guidelines
Experts in this article:
Tariq Babieh is a gig worker and delivery driver who's based in South Carolina. He has extensive experience with DoorDash,...
Erica is a freelance writer and proofreader. As the owner of Words with Erica, she helps indie fantasy authors polish their...
If you’re a gig app worker, you’re probably familiar with most of the companies that hire delivery drivers, such as DoorDash and Instacart. However, you might not be as familiar with Roadie, which is a smaller name in the courier space.
How does Roadie compare to its more famous competitors, and is it worth working for? Read on for our comprehensive review of Roadie.
Roadie is a delivery platform that claims to deliver just about anything you can imagine, including tools, equipment, groceries, and even medicine.
Businesses or individuals can schedule deliveries in advance or get urgent, same-day, or next-day delivery.
As a driver for Roadie, the app will try to match you with deliveries that will take you along routes you’d already be traveling down, theoretically making it more efficient than other driving-based gig work.
When you become a driver on Roadie, you’ll be able to see available gigs in the app. They’ll appear on a map of the surrounding area.
Tapping on a gig on the map will show you all the details about it, including how big the items are, where you need to pick them up and drop them off, any special instructions, and how much you’ll get paid.
In contrast to many delivery apps, when you accept a gig, you won’t automatically get it. You have to submit an offer and wait for Roadie to approve the match. The approval should take no more than fifteen minutes.
To help us create this review, we contacted Tariq Babieh, an experienced Roadie driver who’s earned more than $6,000 on the app (as well as a total of more than $46,000 on other delivery apps, such as DoorDash). He told us that he usually lands the gigs he applies for on Roadie—with a success rate of about 80%—and that the main factor in whether or not you’ll be accepted is your proximity to the pickup spot.
“Roadie assigns a gig to the closest driver in most cases,” he said. “If four Roadie drivers apply for the same gig within 5 minutes of it being posted, typically the closest driver will be the one selected.”
Babieh also noted that driver ratings are a factor. If one driver has a bad score in the app, it’ll hurt their chances of being accepted.
Once you’ve been matched with a gig, the app will give you all the information you need to make the delivery within the specified time period. You’ll notify the customer when you arrive at the pickup location by swiping. If there are any issues with the order, you can contact customer support.
When you arrive. at the drop-off location, you must take a photo to show where you left the item, and if required, get a signature. You can also communicate with the customer or contact Roadie support if you run into any trouble while making the delivery.
In general, Roadie is one of the lowest-paying courier apps. It pays significantly less than its competitors, which include DoorDash, Shipt, Amazon Flex, and Spark. Roadie’s poor rates are a common source of criticism among drivers, which Babieh told us he “strongly agreed with.”
He went on to say that the primary reason to use Roadie is to pick up deliveries that will take you in a direction you were already planning on going anyway. For instance, if you have to drop a DoorDash delivery off and you notice a Roadie order that will take you into that same neighborhood, it might be worth accepting it.
“It’s very difficult to rely on Roadie without supplementing your income using other gig applications,” he said.
Some online estimates suggest that you can earn between $9 and $15 per hour with Roadie. Babieh said that he’s sometimes able to earn as much as $40 per hour, but that this requires being highly strategic about the orders he accepts.
On their website, Roadie says you can earn up to $13 per trip, but many drivers report that pay rates in the app fluctuate regularly. Babieh told us that pay on Roadie “really varies on a day-to-day basis,” and that short-distance trips with no tip attached often start around $7.
The pay for each Roadie delivery depends on several factors, including:
“Roadie categorizes gigs by size,” said Babieh. He listed five sizes: Small, Medium, Large, X-Large, and Huge. “A Small gig that needs to go 20 miles may only pay around $10 minimum. A Huge gig going 20 miles may pay $40 minimum.”
Babieh told us that Roadie customers can enable a feature to increase the pay of a gig if it sits unclaimed for an extended period, usually starting 15 minutes after it was posted.
Gigs that initially offer low rates may double in pay over the course of several hours, but this doesn’t always happen, since during peak hours Roadie is often saturated with drivers who will accept gigs regardless of the pay.
Roadie customers can tip, but it’s optional. Babieh told us that tips were relatively rare, but that they were “still important” to your overall earnings.
“I only receive tips on urgent, time-sensitive deliveries that are typically medical-related Roadies,” he said.
The tip—if there is one—will be included in the price of each order before you accept it. While it’s possible for the customer to add a tip after the delivery is complete, Babieh told us this virtually never happened.
You have a couple of options when it comes to getting paid by Roadie. Consult the table below for details:
| Option | When you’ll get paid | Requirements | Associated fees |
|---|---|---|---|
| Direct deposit | Weekly every Tuesday (deposit will appear in your account in 2–3 business days) | None | None |
| Instant Pay | Within minutes | Completed first gig more than 7 days ago Delivered at least 5 gigs total Debit card info on file | $1.99 |
Roadie operates in all fifty US states, so you can work for them from virtually anywhere. However, more populated areas will have more gigs available.
Getting extra cash for making a few pit stops certainly sounds nice, but no app is perfect. We’ve already mentioned Roadie’s biggest downside, which is its relatively low pay compared to its competitors.
In more detail, here are Roadie’s pros and cons:
Roadie is accessible to most people. You just need to meet these requirements:
Note that your auto insurance policy must meet or exceed the minimum requirements in your state, and it also needs to cover gig driving. Not all insurers do—it’s possible yours specifically excludes delivery driving and ridesharing (aka taxi services, like Uber).
Before you sign up for Roadie, check to make sure you’re adequately covered.
When you start the signup process, have this handy:
You’ll need to take snapshots of your important documents and upload them to the Roadie app.
Roadie will run a background check using the information you provide. This will inform them of any traffic violations or criminal activity they should be aware of before bringing you on as a driver. (This is very common for gig apps—most of Roadie’s competitors also run checks on applicants.)
The process may take a few days, but in general, it isn’t anything to worry about. You’ll pass unless you have serious black marks on your history, such as a felony conviction or a DUI.
That said, anecdotally, some applicants have reported that their background checks stalled out for no apparent reason and that they had to contact customer service or submit their application multiple times. Babieh told us he hadn’t experienced anything like that and that his signup process was easy, but that Roadie customer service isn’t always easy to reach, and that he could “understand the frustration of other applicants.”
“It is important for Roadie to improve these issues,” he added.
Getting started as a Roadie driver is simple:
You’ll need to download the Roadie Driver app to finish filling out your profile and start the verification process. Download the app with the appropriate button below:
Once you’ve been verified as a driver, you’ll be able to view and make offers on delivery orders within the app and start earning money.
This is the big question we’re here to answer: is driving for Roadie a worthwhile side hustle? Before we answer that, there are still a few things to consider—namely, your expenses.
Gig workers are independent contractors. That means when you work for Roadie, you’re essentially running your own business. You can’t think about your pay like an employee would—you have to budget for expenses, just like any other small business owner.
Typically, a delivery driver will spend about 35% of their income on business expenses. That leaves 65% as your paycheck.
What this means: Let’s say you accept a Roadie gig that pays out $13 (which Roadie claims is fairly common). You’ll find that once you factor in your expenses, you’ll actually take home just $8.45.
Let’s go over the main expenses that will reduce your profits:
Plan on budgeting: 10% of your earnings
Roadie expects you to pay for your own fuel. Since you can’t make deliveries without it, there’s no way around this expense.
If you’re wondering how much to set aside for gas, about 10% of what you make is usually a good idea (although the exact percentage obviously depends on current gas prices and your vehicle’s mileage).
Plan on budgeting: 10% of your earnings
Vehicle maintenance is another necessity to keep your car on the road and money flowing into your pocket.
You’ll be putting a lot of miles on your car by making frequent deliveries, so it’s important to get regular check-ups and oil changes.
You also don’t want to be caught in a situation where your car breaks down and you don’t have enough money for repairs. That’s why many drivers recommend devoting 10% of your income to vehicle maintenance.
Plan on budgeting: 15% of your earnings
Another reality of being a business owner is reporting and paying your own taxes. Roadie won’t withhold your taxes for you, so you’ll need to save up and pay them yourself. On the bright side, the other expenses we just talked about can be deducted from your overall tax liability.
To get an idea of how much you’ll owe, try this self-employment tax calculator. That will give you a good baseline to strive for, and you’ll get better at estimating the taxes you owe over time. If you’re feeling lost, start by saving at least 15% of your income for taxes. If you want to be extra cautious, put aside even more.
All in all, these expenses will add up to 35% of your income—10% for fuel, 10% for maintenance, and 15% for taxes. The end result is that you’ll only take home 65%, or $8.45 of that initial $13.
This is a substantial drop which will further reduce Roadie’s already fairly low pay. The net effect is that it’s hard to make driving for Roadie economically viable—at least if you do it on its own.
If you do it in tandem with another side hustle and only take the best jobs (which should either be quite quick or should pay a lot more than $13), it gets significantly more attractive.
As we just mentioned, Roadie is best combined with other driving-based gig work.
Babieh emphasized this point to us. If you’re already running a DoorDash or Instacart side hustle (or you’re interested in starting one), adding Roadie into your mix of apps might not be a bad move, but it shouldn’t be your only app.
In addition, Babieh also told us that Roadie is best for people who:
If you fulfill the criteria above, Roadie might be worth trying. On the other hand, if you conclude that it sounds like too much trouble and you’d rather just use another app, that’s also a reasonable decision. Ultimately, it’s up to you.
Because the pay on Roadie is relatively low, it’s crucial to use the platform efficiently. Babieh gave us several pointers:
The right way to use Roadie is to snipe the high-paying jobs when they pop up and ignore the less desirable ones entirely (unless you happen to already be driving in exactly the direction they’ll take you).
When Babieh evaluates offers, he told us he looks at:
Sticking to these criteria may lead to you rejecting the majority of the offers that you see, which is fine.
Babieh stressed that you should usually avoid longer-distance gigs, which “take more time and seem to pay less than a dollar per mile.” When you factor in the cost of gas (and the opportunity cost of not taking a higher-paying gig on a different delivery app), that rate just isn’t worth it.
Although not all Roadie gigs come with tips attached, some do. Babieh recommended focusing your energy on those, since they “will pay more for less distance.”
He singled out healthcare providers as some of his best customers. “In my area, during weekends and nights, medical facilities as well as nursing homes may need medication for a patient or resident,” he said. He noted that these gigs often have large tips attached “due to the urgency of the delivery” and that he’s been paid up to $40 for them, despite them sometimes taking under 30 minutes.
$40 for 30 minutes’ work is an entirely respectable rate for a gig app, and well above what you’ll usually earn on Roadie’s competitors. The catch is that you can’t earn this rate on Roadie reliably—you can only get it by being picky about the jobs you apply for.
Roadie won’t automatically send you a notification when a new gig becomes available. Babieh told us that in his experience, it’s important to check the app every few minutes to make sure you don’t miss one of its few worthwhile offers.
He told us that most retail outlets that use Roadie, including Home Depot, Tractor Supply, Walmart, and CVS, post their gigs during normal business hours (between 6 am and 6 pm). He specifically mentioned Home Depot as a source of many of the best gigs and recommended getting an early start if you happen to live near one.
“Home Depot typically sends a lot of orders that need to be delivered during weekday mornings,” he said.
In contrast, healthcare providers and nursing homes that need medical deliveries typically post these gigs after 6 pm. If you’re planning on focusing on that type of delivery, drive in the evenings.
With any type of gig work—and, for that matter, with any kind of work in general—it’s always possible to make mistakes. With an app like Roadie, arguably the easiest mistake to make is delivering an order to the wrong address.
It’s important to avoid that kind of error on any app, but Babieh told us that it’s especially vital on Roadie, which he described as “less tolerant of errors made by drivers” than its competitors. He said that he’s seen instances where drivers’ accounts were locked for an “investigation period” following an (alleged) mistake.
Moreover, he told us that getting any help Roadie’s driver support can be difficult. He’s had to contact them several times and said that long wait times were a “major issue,” adding that “some agents are less helpful than others.”
The upshot is that if you do make a mistake (or a customer claims you did), resolving the situation may be a headache. Do everything you can to avoid issues like this in the first place.
When you’re weighing whether or not to try a gig app, your first concern is probably how much you can make. However, money isn’t the only thing that matters. It’s also important to consider what the actual experience of working for the app will be like on a day-to-day basis.
As far as Roadie is concerned, this question can be a little hard to answer because it’s best used as a supplemental app, not your main source of gig work. Most of the time that you’re using Roadie, you’ll also be signed into another driving app (for instance, Babieh told us he also delivers for DoorDash and Uber Eats).
If you’ve already started driving for another app, you already know what this will be like. If you’re completely new to delivery gig work, here’s what to expect:
All in all, delivery work isn’t perfect and it isn’t for everyone, but it’s a decent enough side hustle if you have a fuel-efficient vehicle and you enjoy spending time behind the wheel.
Roadie arguably isn’t the best app to start a delivery side hustle with, but if you’ve been been doing it for a while and you feel like you’ve got the hang of your primary app and are ready for another, it may be worth giving it a try. Just remember to be choosy about the jobs you apply for.
Roadie’s main competitors include:
Some of these apps are focused on grocery and food delivery (like Instacart and Uber Eats), whereas others are primarily focused on delivering packages (like Amazon Flex). However, they all function in more or less the same way that Roadie does—you can sign onto the app whenever you want and accept or reject gigs freely.
As you know, Roadie pays less than these other apps do, at least on average. However, it still has the occasional worthwhile gig, and, importantly, you don’t have to choose between it and its competitors. You can and should install several apps at the same time and accept work on whichever one happens to be paying the most at any given moment.
Babieh, who uses DoorDash as his primary gig app and also uses Uber Eats, strongly emphasized the need to do this. “It is important to be on multiple gig applications at once to make sure you are getting the best offers and reducing down time,” he said.
If you’ve read this review and concluded that Roadie is too much hassle for too little gain, it’s worth considering other types of gig work entirely.
The table below shows how the average pay for delivery-based gigs compares to other side hustles with popular apps you can use to find work.
| Side Hustle | Popular Apps | Base Pay (Hourly) |
|---|---|---|
| Delivery driving | Uber Eats DoorDash Grubhub Instacart Postmates | $20 |
| Ridesharing (providing taxi services) | Uber Lyft | $20–$44 |
| Helping people move | Dolly Bellhops Lugg | $30–$50 |
| Lawn care | LawnGuru Handy TaskRabbit | $40–$50 |
| Microtasking (taking online surveys, etc) | Swagbucks | Under minimum wage |
| Mystery shopping | iSecretShop | $15 |
| Pet sitting | Wag! Rover Care.com | $12–$19 |
| Teaching or tutoring online | Wyzant Preply | $10–15+ |
| Walking dogs | Wag! Rover | $10–$17 |
Delivery app rates tend to hover around $20 per hour on average. If you add Roadie into your quiver of apps and use it strategically, you may be able boost that a bit, but it’s approximately what you’ll make.
As you can see, delivery driving is in the middle of the pack as far as profitability goes. It generally doesn’t pay quite as much as either ridesharing (i.e., providing taxi services on Uber or Lyft) or doing physical labor (i.e., yard work or handyman services).
That isn’t to say that courier work is worse than either of those side hustles, because it also comes with perks that they don’t. It’s usually more relaxing than ridesharing and doesn’t require you to interact heavily with customers (in contrast to ridesharing). It also limits the wear and tear to your car rather than your body (in contrast to manual labor).
It’s up to you what kind of side hustle you pick. If you decide that delivery driving is your speed, experimenting with Roadie isn’t a bad choice. Just be sure you’re using it correctly. It shouldn’t be your main app—it’s best used as a tool to increase your earnings at the margins.
Tariq Babieh is a gig worker and delivery driver who's based in South Carolina. He has extensive experience with DoorDash, Instacart, Roadie, and Uber Eats. His cumulative earnings across all four apps total more than $52,000, and he's earned over $6,000 on Roadie specifically.
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