Everything you need to know about becoming a Deliveroo rider.
If you’re finished with the job or moving on to something else, eBay is your best bet for selling on your gear. Luckily for us, there’s a weird trend in workwear fashion, so Deliveroo jackets are selling pretty hot right now; you can actually sell them for more than you bought it for from Deliveroo. Great success!
Check out this link for more info on selling with eBay: http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/sell/sell-getstarted.html
Yes.
You can use your own kit if it suits the requirements. To be honest, you only have to show the required items when you show up for your interview, and then after that, you can use any item you like.
For example, they say you “have” to wear the Deliveroo jacket, but I find it as breathable as a piece of cling film, so I just use my own jacket. The delivery box is probably something you should use because it’s unlikely you’ll find one which suits this purpose online. You really don’t want to turn up at a pizza joint and find out you can’t fit the boxes in your bag. They also want you to use a thermal bag as well, which is useful at first but it can take up too much space in your delivery box. They have really specific requirements at Deliveroo for the kit you use, so they can push you to just buying their own branded equipment. It’s really annoying because they’re basically making money off their riders, but it’s part of their whole push towards the “unemployed” vibe.
Sign up to Deliveroo through this link to receive a free £50 signup bonus (when you complete 20 deliveries)
When you start riding, you’ll soon find that Deliveroo cyclists have lots of variations on what kit they use. Not many wear the jacket because of how sweaty you get when cycling (they’re not very breathable) and also some boxes are covered in stickers to hide the Deliveroo branding.
Overall, you should feel free to use whatever gear you like, it just has to meet the requirements when you sign up. I would personally recommend you get your own cycling jacket (it will cost you like half the price of the Deliveroo jacket) and then try and get the delivery box and thermal bag on eBay (you can find some good deals from retired Deliveroo Riders). The gear is really expensive if you buy it from Deliveroo.
As a new rider, you might be wondering how much the new Deliveroo kit cost. In this post, I’ll go through all the details of pricing for the required kit.
Deliveroo has now made the Deliveroo kit FREE for new riders! Brilliant!
Here is a list of what Deliveroo kit is included in the free deal for new riders:
Jacket – FREE
Courier Box – FREE
Thermal Bag – FREE
Helmet – FREE
Phone Holder – FREE
There have also been massive reductions in the price of kit for current riders. The jacket is now £17.50 (down from £40), the courier box is £22.50 (down from £50) and the thermal bag is £5 (down from £10). This is a really good move from Deliveroo and shows that they are listening to their riders. Good move!
SIGN UP HERE (£50 bonus) – roo.it/NI132274
The core kit for a cyclist is the jacket, courier box and thermal bag. All of these can be bought from the Deliveroo shop and cost as follows:
Jacket – £40
Courier Box – £50
Thermal Bag – £10
You can also buy extra items for more. 💸
The total cost of the core kit is £100, and you get charged £25 of this win you sign up, and then the next £75 is taken out of your wages.
I think it’s really bad that Deliveroo now charges such an extortionate amount for the kit (they used to just make you give a £150 deposit which they would repay when you hand it back). I mean there is just no way the courier bag costs them £50 to make, which means they are actually making money out of the riders.
Uber eats also charge their riders if they don’t have the required gear. However, the only thing they require you to have is a delivery bag (which can be bought from them for £30 upfront).
These “food on demand” companies are all moving to the riders buy the gear system because it’s part of their effort to demonstrate that all riders are unemployed. This means that the riders are technically freelancers and so they need to provide their own gear (such as delivery bag and jacket) to suit the requirements of the job. The problem is, the requirements which companies like Deliveroo give for the riders are so specific that pretty much the only equipment which fits it is the stuff they sell themselves!
If I were you, I would get the bag second hand on eBay and then buy your own jacket. This will easily save you about £60. And if you sign up using my link here, then you get a £50 signup bonus 👍 which will easily cover your equipment costs. Bear in mind you can still sell your gear on eBay when you finish.
Deliveroo also give you another £50 voucher to spend on gear once you complete 50 deliveries. I used this to get another jacket which I then sold on eBay for £50!
Because you are technically self-employed, Deliveroo can’t force you to buy their own kit, However, because of their extremely specified needs (e.g. a full foil thermal bag and a 40% reflective jacket), it can be extremely difficult to find any of the gear by yourself. In your interview, Deliveroo will give you the link to their website where you can buy the gear from them.
Even though you are self-employed, Deliveroo requires you to have the following items:
I would also personally recommend you get a portable phone charger as well. Your phone will definitely run out of charge during a three-hour shift, and you don’t want to be stuck without it. I usually find I need about one full recharge per session.
It’s also surprising how many calories you burn while you’re cycling and running up and down flights of stairs. This and the combination of looking at a ridiculous amount of tasty food will make you extremely hungry. I would recommend bringing a banana with you or something to snack on, as well as eating a shit ton before your shift. Also, bring some water with you. You’re doing a lot of exercise and not all restaurants are friendly enough to offer you a glass (they usually try their hardest to get you out of the door as quickly as possible).
When it’s winter I also pack a jumper. You usually spend the beginning of your shift (sometimes the whole of your shift during off-peak hours) sitting around waiting for an order. This means getting very very cold. However, when you start cycling you’ll most certainly warm up and begin sweating if you’re wearing a jumper (which will make you even colder when you stop, and also it’s just gross). I like to pack a jumper for those periods when you’re hanging around with nothing to do.
Now you might be wondering “Ok nick, this is great and all, but where the hell am I gonna put all this shit?”. And you are correct in thinking that. The box you get is for food and it would get pretty messy if you’re jamming all your own stuff in there with it. That’s where I like to use the shelf. The delivery box has a velcro shelf which is completely useless apart from for this purpose. By placing the shelf a couple of inches above the bottom, you can still fit your thermal bag in, but you also have room for all your schniz in the lower section. Easy peasy.
The following is the much-loved process of completing a Deliveroo delivery.
Deliveroo vs Uber Eats. The ultimate battle. Which has better pay? better conditions? better shifts? Read this article to find out which company to sign up for.
This really depends on the area you’re working in. If you’re in a really quiet area then Deliveroo is definitely the go to because of their pay per hour scheme. This means that even if you get no orders during a shift (which has happened to me loads of times), you’ll still be getting paid.
However, if you’re area is super busy or you’re working at peak times, then the Uber eats pay per drop fee will see you earning a lot more. Deliveroo also does a pay per drop in some areas, but it is less than Uber’s fee (£3.75 compared to £5), and Uber also offers a minimum hourly pay in some time slots (between £10-18 per hour). However, there is no tipping system through Uber, and although tips are rare, I have had £10 in tips from a 3-hour evening shift with Deliveroo. 👌
The startup fee is also lower for Uber cyclists. Uber charges £30 for their delivery bag (which is the only requirement for working), whereas Deliveroo now charges you £100 for the box, jacket and thermal bag (all of which are requirements for working).
At the moment I think that Uber is only available in London and surrounding areas, which does limit it as an option to riders, but it should be expanding to other areas in the country.
Support wise, I personally think Uber is better. The email support is much quicker (I would say only a third of my emails to Deliveroo even get a reply), but Deliveroo does have a well-delivered phone support.
The app experience is better for Deliveroo. The Uber directions can often lead you to the completely wrong location. Furthermore, Uber does not see the difference between cyclists and moped couriers, and so I have been directed onto a dual carriageway before during a delivery for Uber Eats.
So far Uber sounds like the best, but the problem is you have to have the orders coming in the first place to make the most out of it as a rider. Even though Uber might pay more per drop, you will probably get fewer drops per hour on average than Deliveroo. This means that you’ll actually have a higher hourly rate working for Deliveroo. This might change as Uber Eats gets more popular, but currently, it leaves the choice between the two companies as a very hard one for future couriers.
After you have scheduled a Deliveroo interview, Deliveroo will send you a message with the details of everything you need to bring for the interview. This includes a passport, ID, smartphone, kit (if you want to use your own) and a credit card (if you want to buy the kit).
They call it an “interview” but it’s really not. All they do is check your documents and talk you through the app. I don’t think it’s actually possible to fail it. You also need to order all of the gear from them (for a ridiculous price) and then you can get on the road and start earning money!
The office where you have an interview is usually really hard to find. For mine, I had to walk through an estate agents office and then down some stairs to the basement. In the basement were loads of computers and deliveroo boxes stacked high around the desks.
The whole process takes about an hour or so. You start by showing your passport and then they send you a link to download the app and sign up. You also need to choose the are you would like to work in. They’re pretty sneaky about this because when you sign up they make it seem like you can work anywhere you like, but a lot of the places are already full. I wasn’t able to work in my neighborhood and so I had to sign up for the next door one which was a bit of a pain. You also get to select the shifts you want to do. I would recommend selecting every single shift at first and then just missing the ones you can’t do. It’s so much easier to get rid of shifts than it is to get new ones, and Deliveroo is super chill about you not turning up to shifts every now and again. You’ll then have to sign are few forms (all done on your phone) and buy the equipment. Make sure you ask for lights and a helmet as well because they give those out for free!
Have fun!
This is easy-peasy. All you have to do is signup through this link here (my special referral link), and you’ll be given a £50 bonus once you complete 20 orders (which you can do in a day). That’s it!
👉Sign up here: deliveroo.com/free50signup
It’s exactly the same as the normal signup process except this way you’re making an extra £50! This works for Cyclists, Motorbike/Mopeds and Car drivers 🤑
The Deliveroo application is really easy and only takes a few minutes. After that, you will need to go for the interview where you collect all your gear and get talked through the app.
Deliveroo was probably the easiest job I’ve ever had to sign up for. There are no hard interview questions, long waits or competition. I don’t think anyone has ever failed an application to become a Deliveroo rider.
Deliveroo used to have a cycling proficient session where you would cycle around your city with an instructor, and they would check whether you could ride a bike safely. I think a few people did use to fail this. The problem was this whole process just took way too much time and money, and Deliveroo needed riders on the road as quickly as possible. By moving to an online system, they can “educate” all of the riders before they even meet them, and get them out cycling on the road within an hour interview!
