How Much Do Grubhub Drivers Make? (Driver Pay 2023)

Grubhub delivery drivers are paid delivery by delivery rather than a salary or hourly wage. Grubhub driver pay consists of Grubhub's base pay, customer tips, and occasional Grubhub driver promotions. As independent contractors, true driver pay for Grubhub is what's left over after expenses.

Does Grubhub pay well? Is it better than other delivery options? Is delivery for Grubhub worth it?

Unfortunately there's no one answer to those questions. Some do quite well, others struggle to be profitable.

Couriers for Grubhub are not employees but instead provide delivery services for Grubhub as a business. That means there is no real guarantee when delivering for Grubhub. At the same time the pay opportunities can often be much better because drivers have the freedom to set their own hours, choose their delivery opportunities and often have more control over what they can earn.

We'll take a closer look at what a Grubhub driver can make, how the pay system works with Grubhub, and some of the things Grubhub drivers can do to improve earnings. We'll look at the following topics:

• How much does Grubhub normally pay its drivers?
• Five factors that impact Grubhub total earnings
• Strategies to use those factors to make more on Grubhub
• Does Grubhub pay for gas?
• Is Grubhub worth it?
• Can you make a full-time living with Grubhub?
• Frequently asked questions about Grubhub income

How much does Grubhub pay its drivers?

Not long ago Grubhub was the undisputed king of the food delivery services. Their commanding lead in market share (as recently as 2019) eventually slipped away.

Just Eat Takeaway bought Grubhub in an all stock transaction worth 7.3 billion in June, 2021. The Dutch delivery giant has has struggled to right the ship and by April, 2022, reports surfaced that they're considering selling Grubhub off.

However, if a sale ever happens, it will take some time to complete. In the meantime, we'll look what earnings are like with Grubhub now.

There are all sorts of numbers out there about what drivers can earn. One app that tracks driver earnings found drivers late in 2021 averaged $15.73 per hour and $10.84 per trip. That's gross pay, before expenses.

The snippet below from Indeed.com popped up on Google claiming that average Grubhub driver pay in Colorado is $51.780 per year. At 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year, that comes out to $24.89. In my experience that's not an unattainable number. I'm not sure it's accurate.

Pay data for gig economy platforms put out by sites like Indeed and Glassdoor is often extremely inaccurate, simply because they're trying to look at employee metrics for gig workers who are mostly doing work as a side hustle and who are not actually employees.

The bottom line is that pay varies widely. One driver can do quite well while another in the same city is barely breaking even. Instead of trying to tell you that drivers will make a certain amount of money, it makes more sense to break down how pay works for Grubhub drivers.

Five factors that impact Grubhub total earnings

Remember that Grubhub drivers are paid by the delivery. Pay from one delivery to another can vary drastically. So can the amount of time it takes to complete a delivery. There's a lot of difference between earning $10.00 in fifteen minutes and earning it over an hour and a half.

The infographic above goes through a lot of different factors that influence how much Grubhub drivers can make in the time they put into deliveries. Ultimately, they come down to six things.

• Grubhub base pay
• Bonus pay
• Incentives from Grubhub
• Customer Tips
• Time
• Expenses

We'll look a bit more at how all of these things work together to determine what one can earn with Grubhub.

Grubhub base pay

We'll start with the base pay. That's the delivery fee that Grubhub directly pays their drivers.

Grubhub states that the base is calculated on the estimated time and distance for a delivery. Generally they'll break down the pay as delivery pay, mileage, and tip. Sometimes they add a bonus.

Grubhub no longer makes their total pay model transparent. Their pay model page used to give an example of paying 13 cents per minute and 22 cents per mile. That example has since been taken down.

Grubhub does provide a breakdown of mileage on its pay reports that lets you get an idea of how part of the base pay is calculated. The time component isn't made public.

Looking at the above screenshot, it's easy to tell how much Grubhub is paying for mileage. The math tells you that it's 23 cents per mile. It doesn't tell how many minutes where involved.

Understand that Grubhub calculates the pay based on time and mileage ESTIMATES. They don't pay for real-time distance or duration. The good news is you know exactly what you get paid. The bad news is you get no extra pay for longer than expected deliveries.

In my experience, Grubhub seems to be the most consistent in calculating their base pay based on distance and duration. By comparison I've noticed Doordash often still paying a minimum for deliveries over nine miles long.

Bonus pay

In the pay breakdown above, you can see a $1.00 bonus on the Dairy Queen order.

Grubhub throws in a bonus often on their pay summaries. It's a wildcard that has no official explanation on the Grubhub website. In my mind it's similar to the trip supplement that Uber Eats uses. I've noticed two common uses for the bonus amount:

1. It's a way to increase pay on a delivery offer to make it more attractive if the customer included a very small tip or no tip at all
2. Bonus pay often gets added to the base pay if the base pay is lower than whatever minimum Grubhub is paying at the time in the particular market.

Grubhub used to have a much more transparent pay model. They paid $3.50 plus 50 cents per straight line mile from the restaurant to the customer. However, they changed their pay model in the summer of 2019.

With that new pay model, Grubhub had a $3.00 minimum pay. During the pandemic, when the demand became extremely high for deliveries, I noticed at one point they were paying a nine dollar minimum. If the customer didn't tip, the total base pay plus bonus was nine dollars.

In most markets, they've backed off of that higher minimum pay. Some new drivers thought that the change was Grubhub changing the pay model, but it was just Grubhub getting back to their normal pay.

In different markets, Grubhub still seems to practice a minimum pay that is higher than their normal $3.00 minimum. And now that Grubhub no longer advertises that $3.00 is the minimum, that minimum could drop. I've seen some social media reports of $2.00 delivery offers now on Grubhub, so it may have been lowered in some markets.

Incentives from Grubhub

There are a number of incentive programs with Grubhub. Because they use independent contractors, Grubhub cannot assign deliveries to you or require you to accept a certain percentage.

They can, however, offer some incentives to encourage drivers to deliver more or to meet certain criteria. They also have a driver recognition program (Premier, Pro and Partner levels) that awards early scheduling if you meet certain criteria. The Grubhub recognition program does not directly involve extra pay.

Grubhub pay incentives.

There are times Grubhub will have special offers and bonuses in exchange for driving peak times, or accepting a higher percentage of deliveries.

For instance, they may offer an extra bonus per delivery if you accept a certain percentage of offers. I wrote once about a four dollar bonus per delivery if I accepted every offer.

They may offer an incentive by email several days or weeks in advance. Sometimes it will pop up in the driver app or they'll send a text message. One has to read their offers carefully, they love to use terms like “earn up to” rather than make a specific promise.

Grubhub contribution and hourly minimum pay.

In some markets, Grubhub offers a minimum hourly pay. Over the years they seem to have backed off of this in a lot of markets.

The program varies by market. An example would be if you accept 90% of offers for the day, you get a minimum hourly pay of $12 per hour.

If the amount you earned for the day is less than the number of hours you scheduled multiplied by the minimum hourly pay, you'll receive a payment from Grubhub to make up the difference. That pay is called Grubhub contribution.

This is not the same thing as hourly pay. The calculations are often a bit complicated and skewed in Grubhub's favor. Generally, the hourly minimum is so low that it often isn't worth pursuing. Also note that the entire pay, including tips, factors into the hourly minimum calculation.

California differences with Proposition 22.

California has an extra piece in the puzzle. Proposition 22 requires gig companies to pay a minimum of 120% of minimum wage (for active time on deliveries) plus thirty cents a mile driven.

That minimum pay is strictly pay from Grubhub. In other words, Prop 22 requires Grubhub to pay drivers directly based on hours and distance. Tips must be paid out on top of that.

Grubhub does not have to pay for idle time. If you are waiting between orders, that wait time does not factor into that minimum pay. It's also based on the total active hours and miles for the week, meaning you could be below the minimum for one day but make up for it with earnings the rest of the week.

Customer Tips

All tips that customers add through the app go directly to the driver.

In my experience, Grubhub is consistently the best or one of the best at recommending a default tip amount when customers place an order. They've often had the best pay per delivery of the major delivery apps because of this.

Sometimes customers will give a cash tip. In rare instances I've received a cash tip on top of what they gave through the Grubhub app. However, most times you'll only receive what was tipped through the app.

Grubhub does not hide tip amounts from drivers in the way that Doordash and Uber Eats do. The entire pay amount (which includes Grubhub pay plus tips) is displayed to the driver when the offer is presented.

I've seen one negative with Grubhub when it comes to tipping. When Prop 22 passed, and Grubhub had to pay more in base pay, they added a surcharge for delivieries in California. To make it look like they weren't increasing fees, Grubhub started discouraging tips. The default order included no tip or only a dollar instead of their usual 20%.

Time

The amount of time a delivery takes to complete is the most under-appreciated factor when it comes to pay. Too often people only look at the dollar amount.

All twenty dollar deliveries are not created equal. A twenty dollar trip that takes an hour and a half to complete is nowhere near as one that can get knocked out in fifteen minutes.

Unfortunately, average delivery time is the most negative part of my experience with Grubhub. Unless things are busy enough for there to be a backlog of deliveries, Grubhub sends delivery offers to the driver at the same time they do to the restaurant. That leads to far greater wait times and slower deliveries.

Expenses

It costs money to deliver for Grubhub, and that money comes directly out of the driver's pocket.

With gas prices increasing tremendously in 2022, drivers are feeling the pinch more than ever.

However, it's far more than just the cost of gas. I call cars credit cards on wheels because every mile driven adds an expense that will have to be paid at some point down the line.

Each mile driven is a mile closer to big ticket repair or replacement items (brakes, tires, timing belts, etc) and to regular maintenance.

Each driven mile also reduces the value of a car. If you run a bluebook value on your car, and then run it a second time but add several miles to the odometer, you'll find that the value of the car drops. For most newer cars, that per mile loss of value is over ten cents a mile.

The IRS lets you claim 62.5 cents per mile (second half of 2022) as a business expense. While the actual cost per mile is lower for many food delivery drivers, it's probably not as much lower as many think.

There are other business expenses related to delivery as well. That's why I point out on other earnings estimates that none of them are taking expenses into account.

What you make as a Grubhub driver is not what you get from Grubhub and from tips. It's what's left over after your expenses are taken out.

For this reason, I really encourage drivers to think in terms of profit per hour instead of just gross earnings. Subtract car expenses from total money coming in, divide that by the time you put into delivery and you have a better feel for what you made.

Strategies to use those factors to make more on Grubhub

The important thing is to find the best combination of earnings, time, and minimum expenses. Knowing each factor lets you weave them together for better earnings.

Our instinct is to try to get the most out of each factor. However, many of them can work against one another. A higher than normal delivery pay may require much longer driving distance and take a lot longer. You can make more with three $8.00 deliveries in an hour than a single $15 trip.

Below are some strategies that help combine all of these factors together into more a profitable delivery business for you.

1. Treat this like a business.

We can get into a discussion whether or not delivering for Grubhub really is a business. The bottom line though is that as a Grubhub driver, you agreed that you are providing your delivery services as a business. That's the nature of being an independent contractor.

I do think that Grubhub exploits the independent contractor status. They're trying to get people to act like employees while only paying for contractors.

At the same time, being an independent contractor gives you a lot of rights that you don't have as an employee, including setting your own schedule, setting your price by accepting and rejecting opportunities, and working with Grubhub as your customer rather than as your boss.

The best way to avoid exploitation as an independent contractor is to embrace this idea that you're running a business. That means two things in particular:

1. Remember that you're the boss. Grubhub is not.
2. Think of Grubhub as your customer instead of as your employer.

Think of delivery offers as bids for your services. Accepting or rejecting offers is a business decision, not an assignment by an employer.

2. Set your price.

While we cannot negotiate a pay rate or formula with Grubhub, we CAN set our price by rejecting offers that do not meet our price.

Setting a price does not just involve the dollar amount. Grubhub loves sending out super long distance delivery offers that can take a long time. The higher pay on those offers can be deceptive.

Instead, look at the total picture: How long will it take? How much will it cost?

My price is $30 per hour. I have to believe a delivery can pay $30 per hour for me to take it. A five dollar delivery that takes ten minutes pays $30 per hour. A $20 delivery that takes an hour does not meet my price.

It sounds complicated but it's actually very simple. Double the price of an offer and that gives you the maximum number of minutes a delivery should take. If I get a $7.50 delivery, I ask myself if it can be done in 15 minutes. If yes, it meets my price, if no, it doesn't. A $25 delivery has to be done in 50 minutes to be worth taking.

Obviously you can set your price to whatever you feel you need to make. You'll also need to determine if your delievery area supports your price. Don't be too quick to limit what you can earn though, too often people think it's impossible to make a certain amount and it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy.

3. Expand your opportunities

Remember this point we made earlier: Grubhub is your customer.

And Grubhub chose that relationship when they insisted on an independent contractor relationship.

There are some important implications to that. One that we talked about already is your right to accept or reject delivery offers. Offers from Grubhub are bids for your services, and that's all.

Another one is, it's a bad move by just about any business to rely on only one customer. Is Grubhub not meeting your price often enough? Someone else may. Doordash might pay even better, or Uber Eats. Catering options like DeliverThat or package delivery options like Veho or Curri, or grocery delivery such as Shipt may pay better at a certain time than what Grubhub is offering.

However, don't make this common mistake: Too many times someone quits Grubhub and moves over to Doordash, Uber Eats. All you do there is play the employee game. Don't quit Grubhub, but work with them in conjunction with the others.

When Grubhub is paying the best, deliver for them. When someone else pays better, go that route.

3. Pay careful attention to Grubhub incentives.

You have to read Grubhub offers like a lawyer sometimes. When the weather gets bad, Grubhub can send you a notification that says you can earn up to ten dollars extra. That's not a promise. That “up to” phrase is very intentional.

Many of their missions and bonuses have a requirement added. “We'll give you $X if you accept Y% of deliveries.” You need to know what that stipulation will cost you. How much less do you make if you accept every order? What do you normally make? Will that incentive pay you more than what you lose by following that requirement?

A lot of advice out there recommends achieving Premier level in the driver recognition program. Usually that advice comes from people who never drove for Grubhub and are just regurgitating stuff they read elsewhere.

If you accept 95% of delivery offers and meet other criteria, you do get earlier access to scheduling with Grubhub. That early access is the only real benefit to Premier or Pro driver levels.

How important is scheduling access? Can you get scheduling blocks on Saturdays as a partner, or get good offers if you deliver off schedule? If you can't get on a schedule without premier status, does the pay you make with a high acceptance rate exceed what you could make with other food delivery platforms?

Evaluate both the cost and the benefit of any incentive that Grubhub offers. Grubhub doesn't offer these just to give you more. They want something in return.

You have to ask yourself if what they want is worth whatever they're offering.

4. Keep your costs down.

The cost of delivering with Grubhub is much higher than most people think. You MUST realize the tremendous cost of wear and tear, or the loss of value the miles creates for your car.

Grubhub seems to be among the worst of the food delivery apps when it comes to average delivery distance. Obviously this can vary by market.

One theory about why is that they try to time your arrival at the restaurant with when they will have the food ready.

In other words, if it will take the food fifteen minutes to prepare, Grubhub may send the offer to a driver who's fifteen minutes away rather than to someone who's across the street from that local restaurant.

Focusing on accepting shorter and more efficient trips will help keep your cost of driving down.

Making dumb mistakes can cost a LOT ofmoney.It's critical you have the right car insurance. Most personal insurance policies will not pay out if you have an accident while logged in to the Grubhub app. Grubhub provides no insurance at all. Failure to prepare for taxes can leave you in a real bind at tax time.

Finally, keep track of earnings and expenses. Income tax for independent contractors is based on profit, not on what Grubhub and others pay. You'll pay about 15 cents in additional taxes for every mile you fail to track and write off.

5. Deliver more quickly.

This one tip here will usually earn you more money than just about anything you could do to make more money with Grubhub.

The average time to delivery orders for Grubhub tends to be about 30 minutes. If you can get that down to twenty minutes per delivery, you increase your average hourly rate by 50%.

That's huge.

Here's a quick list of ways to deliver more quickly with Grubhub:

• Accept shorter deliveries
• Work in areas where the typical deliveries are faster
• Avoid accepting from local restaurants that take too long preparing food
• Focus on peak hours and busier delivery times: during peak times Grubhub is less likely to send the order to you the same time they do to the restaurant
• Know the parking places that let you get in and out.
• Understand traffic patterns and know how to avoid getting stuck
• Make sure restaurant staff know you're there for a pickup without having to tell them. The way you dress and having your delivery bag can get you in and out quickly.
• Treat restaurant staff well. They remember when you do. They also remember when you don't. You need their cooperation to get out quickly.
• Be quick to communicate with customers to know how to get food dropped off quickly.

Does Grubhub pay for gas?

Grubhub does not reimburse you for gas or provide any separate gas allowance. As independent contractors, Grubhub drivers are entirely on their own for gas costs.

The base pay formula for Grubhub does include a certain amount per mile. That however is not a gas reimbursement. In the same way, mileage for California drivers under Prop 22 factors into adjustment pay from Grubhub but that's not a reimbursement either. It's just part of a formula to calculate pay.

In March 2022, Grubhub announced they would pay an additional adjustment based on miles driven and current gas costs. This was to offset the rising cost of fuel. Grubhub never said how much money they would pay, and the adjustment was often reported as only pennies per mile driven. Some drivers reported no longer receiving the adjustment only weeks after it began.

Is Grubhub worth it?

Delivering for Grubhub can be very much worth it. It also can be pretty unprofitable. It depends on a lot of things including how you operate your business, the delivery offers you accept and reject, the quality of delivery orders Grubhub offers to you, and how busy Grubhub is in your particular delivery area.

Many times, even if Grubhub isn't worth it as a primary source of delivery income, they still offer enough good deliveries that they can fit in with several other opportunities as part of a multi-apping strategy.

My experience has been that Grubhub has sometimes been the best delivery option for me in my market, and other times the very worst. This is one reason I'm such an advocate of having delivery relationships with multiple gig economy companies.

Much of it depends on what you're trying to accomplish. Are you running a full-time business? Or is this just a side hustle to make a little extra money? Do you prefer working with just one company or do you enjoy weaving all the different opportunities into a much greater earnings potential?

I can't tell you if Grubhub is worth it. You may be able to find out from other drivers in your area how it works for them, but even then, it depends heavily on how they do things.

If you're able to find drivers who say it's worth it in your area, that says a lot more than the ones who say it isn't. If someone is able to succeed, that means you may be able to as well.

Can you make a full-time living with Grubhub?

Absolutely. Obviously, it depends on how profitable you can be in your area with Grubhub. It also can depend on whether you incorporate other streams of income into your business.

Having delivered full-time as a gig economy worker for several years, I can tell you that there's definite potential for making a full time living. Don't buy into the rhetoric that it's only intended to be a part time gig.

The very fact that you're engaging in a business to business relationship (you as a business are providing a service for Grubhub as a business) means that the potential is there.

I had times where Grubhub made up the vast majority of my delivery earnings. They were the one platform who always had the best chance of keeping me profitable by themselves. With Grubhub losing market share and slowing down, that's become less the case in my experience lately.

This means two things if you're thinking of making it a full-time gig: One, things change. Two, if you want to do this full time you MUST have several options. That way, if Grubhub slows down, you can still make money with someone else.

Frequently asked questions about Grubhub income

There are alot of questions about how much you can make with Grubhub. Some have been answered above, some need more specifics, and others haven't been touched. I decided to add a section with specific questions to allow you to jump quickly to what you may be looking for.

• What is the Grubhub Driver Recognition Program?
• Can you make more money with Grubhub as a Premier driver?
• Does Grubhub pay better if you're on a schedule block than if off block?
• How much do Grubhub drivers make?
• How much do Grubhub drivers make without tips?
• Does Grubhub steal tips?
• Does Grubhub hide tips from drivers?
• Can Grubhub drivers see tips?
• How does Grubhub pay drivers?
• Can Grubhub drivers cash out early?
• How often does Grubhub pay?
• On what day does Grubhub pay?
• How much does Grubhub pay per delivery?
• Do Grubhub drivers get paid hourly?
• Is Grubhub contribution the same as minimum wage?
• Why didn't Grubhub pay contribution if I accepted all my deliveries on block?
• Why didn't Grubhub pay contribution when I made less than the hourly minimum?
• What kind of Grubhub salary can you earn?
• What is the Grubhub base pay?
• How much does Grubhub pay per mile?
• How much does Grubhub pay per minute?
• Does Grubhub pay for long waits at the restaurant?
• Can you make good tips on Grubhub?
• Does Tip Baiting happen on Grubhub?
• Does Grubhub charge a commission against my pay?
• Is the Grubhub pay model based on customer delivery fees?
• Can you really make $20 per hour delivering for Grubhub?
• How does Grubhub pay compared to Doordash?
• How does Grubhub pay compared to Uber Eats?

What is the Grubhub Driver Recognition Program with Grubhub?

Long before Doordash introduced their Top Dasher program, Grubhub had their Premier, Pro and Partner driver levels. More recently they call it their driver recognition program.

If a driver has a 95% acceptance rate, 95% attendance rate (they complete scheduled blocks) and drop less than 10% of schedule blocks they sign up for, they achieve Premier level. At 85% acceptance rate, 90% attendance, and less than 20% drop rate, a driver earns Pro level. Everyone else is considered a Partner.

A Premier driver in the Grubhub recognition program has access to the next week's schedule on Thursday. Pro drivers can do so on Fridays, and Pro drivers get the last pick on Saturdays.

Early scheduling is in most cases the only real benefit of Premier or Pro driver status.

Can you make more money with Grubhub as a Premier driver?

It may be possible, but it's also possible to earn much less due to the high acceptance rate required. If it's impossible to get blocks scheduled at a lower recognition level and you can't get good offers driving unscheduled, you may earn more by being premier, simply because you can drive more.

Grubhub also claims to priority offer access to large catering orders where available. It seems that that has become less and less of a thing over time and phased out in many markets.

Does Grubhub pay better if you're on a schedule block than if off block?

The pay structure is no different if you are scheduled to deliver, or if you just go available to deliver now when not scheduled. Grubhub has been known to prioritize scheduled drivers over unscheduled drivers, however more and more drivers seem to report getting the same quality offers off schedule.

How much do Grubhub drivers make?

Grubhub drivers are paid on a delivery by delivery basis. Pay is a combination of base rate plus customer tips. Driver pay varies widely enough that there's no one good answer as to what drivers make.

How much do Grubhub drivers make without tips?

Grubhub pays a base fee that's calculated by estimated time and distance for a delivery. That pay often starts as low as $3.00, although I've seen some report being offered as low as $2.00.

Does Grubhub steal tips?

Grubhub has not experienced the same controversy or accusations of stealing tips as Doordash has. Grubhub drivers receive all tips and has historically been more transparent about pay than Doordash.

Ironically, Grubhub has been practicing a minimum pay model in many markets that is actually very similar to Doordash's old pay model. If the base pay and tips don't equal the minimum, Grubhub makes up the difference. With that practice, if a customer tipped several dollars, the driver actually received no more than if the customer didn't tip at all.

I think there are a couple of reasons that this didn't get the same attention. One, Grubhub was offering a larger minimum than Doordash did, especially when offering a nine dollar or larger minimum. The other thing was, the base pay for Grubhub was always much larger than the $1 base under Doordash's old model.

Does Grubhub hide tips from drivers?

Grubhub does not appear to use the tip hiding tactics that Doordash and Uber Eats have used. The pay offered is almost always what the actual pay is, with no sign of capping the amount when there's a larger tip. I have experienced times when Grubhub has experimented with different ways of displaying pay, such as not showing total pay at all. However, those have always been short term tests that never resulted in a permanent change.

Can Grubhub drivers see tips?

Drivers can not see the tip when being offered a delivery but can see how much the delivery will pay. If Grubhub is not practicing a minimum pay (where they supplement lower tip deliveries) drivers can often figure out if a customer hasn't tipped.

At times, after accepting deliveries, drivers can see the tip amount in order details on the Grubhub driver app. Grubhub has often switched things up, sometimes making that available after accepting, other times after the order was picked up, and sometimes not until the order is completed. Grubhub does have an arrangement with Chase Bank where drivers can cashout without

How does Grubhub pay drivers?

Earnings for deliveries accumulate in a virtual wallet on the Grubhub app. At the end of the week, Grubhub sends the accumulated earnings to a driver's bank account via direct deposit.

Can Grubhub drivers cash out early?

Grubhub does have an instant cashout feature. You can take out up to $500 per day, with a 50 cent transaction fee. Depending on your bank, instant cashout payments can be immediate or take up to three business days. Grubhub does have an arrangement with Chase Bank where instant cashout fees are waived for payments to certain Chase accounts.

How often does Grubhub pay?

Grubhub sends payment for the previous week's earnings by direct deposit once a week. Drivers may access earnings earlier using the Instant Cash out feature. Grubhub doesn't limit the number of instant cashout withdrawals.

On what day does Grubhub pay?

Grubhub processes the direct deposit payment on Tuesday (or the first business day after if Tuesday is a holiday). Most drivers receive that payment on Thursday, but some may receive that payment earlier depending on processing time for their bank.

How much does Grubhub pay per delivery?

Grubhub pays a base pay and adds the customer tip to that base. That means payment could be as low as two to three dollars and can be quite a bit higher depending on the tip.

Do Grubhub drivers get paid hourly?

Grubhub drivers are not paid hourly. Pay is on a delivery by delivery basis. In some cities Grubhub advertises a minimum hourly amount, often around $12 per hour, but in practice that is not a true average hourly rate. The calculation for minimum pay is misleading.

Is Grubhub contribution the same as minimum wage?

No. The contribution that comes if you did not meet your market's hourly minimum is not the same as minimum wage or as an hourly rate. Rejecting delivery offers may disqualify you from the hourly minimum. Also, the hourly minimum is not based on how many hours you worked.

Grubhub calculates minimum pay as the number of hours SCHEDULED (not worked) times the hourly minimum rate for your market. Then they compare that to the total pay for the day.

For instance, if you scheduled four hours and your minimum rate is $12 per hour, they see that as $48 that you should earn for the day. If you only earned $20, Grubhub makes up the difference. Then if you continued to work off schedule and made $60, Grubhub compares your TOTAL earnings FOR THE DAY to that hourly minimum.

If you worked more hours than scheduled, Grubhub does not increase the minimum. If you earned more money later in the day, Grubhub does add those earnings to your daily total.

Why didn't Grubhub pay contribution if I accepted all my deliveries on block?

Grubhub requires a certain acceptance rate for the day in order to receive a contribution that ensures the hourly minimum. It is not an acceptance rate during the time scheduled. If you reject any delivery during the day, even when not scheduled, that rejection goes against your acceptance rate and can disqualify you from the contribution amount.

Why didn't Grubhub pay contribution when I made less than the hourly minimum?

Grubhub doesn't calculate hourly minimum on the actual hours worked, but on the time scheduled. They compare that to total daily earnings, not just money made when scheduled. Both factors work completely in Grubhub's favor and against the driver.

Say your hourly minimum is $12 per hour, you scheduled four hours, worked an additional four hours, made $70 total for those eight hours. That comes out to $8.75 per hour worked. However, Grubhub is only guaranteeing a minimum of $48 because you were only scheduled four hours.

In that scenario, Grubhub includes pay worked off schedule, but does not include the hours. Therefore, the $70 earned exceeded the $48 minimum.

Another scenario is if you accept a delivery with a minute left on your two hour schedule, and that delivery takes an hour. You worked a total of two hours, however Doordash only gives you credit for the two hours you scheduled.

What kind of Grubhub salary can you earn?

Grubhub does not pay a salary, as drivers are not employees. Driver pay is best calculated as profit per hour (money received minus expenses, divided by time worked). That hourly profit can vary dramatically, from well below minimum wage, to in excess of $25 per hour depending on many factors.

What is the Grubhub base pay?

Grubhub base pay is usually $3 or higher, depending on time and distance. Many are reporting lower offers recently, suggesting they may have dropped their minimum.

When Grubhub introduced their current pay model, they suggested the formula would be in the neighborhood of 13¢ per estimated minute and 22¢ per estimated mile, varying by market. However, Grubhub has taken that information off their website. In my experience, base pay seems consistently close to those numbers.

Sometimes Grubhub will inflate the base pay to compensate for other factors or to meet the minimum pay for a delivery. Other times they'll add a bonus amount. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to when they do either one.

How much does Grubhub pay per mile?

Grubhub does give a breakdown of the pay and it includes the mileage pay and how many miles it's based on. That pay seems fairly consistent with 23 cents per mile, but can vary based on the market. The mileage is not the entirety of the base pay, the remainder is supposedly based on time.

How much does Grubhub pay per minute?

Grubhub has never said what their per minute rate is. When introducing the current pay model, they gave an example of thirteen cents a minute. I reached out several times for clarification as to the rate for my market with no response. Unfortunately the time portion of base pay is never broken down so it's hard to say what the exact amount is.

Does Grubhub pay for long waits at the restaurant?

No. Grubhub's base pay is calculated on estimated time. Their estimates aren't always very good. You get the same if the food is ready immediately as you get if you have to wait an hour.

Can you make good tips on Grubhub?

Tipping can be very good on Grubhub. My experience has been that tipping with Grubhub has been the best of all the major delivery companies. Tipping often depends on what tip amount is suggested when an order is placed. My experience is that Grubhub defaults to the highest tip for orders in my market. That obviously can vary by market.

Does Tip Baiting happen on Grubhub?

I have never noticed any instance or accusation of tip baiting on Grubhub. I don't know of any example of Grubhub taking a tip away from a driver after the order is completed. In my experience, Grubhub seems the best at honoring the offered price, even if the customer received a refund or canceled after the delivery.

Does Grubhub charge a commission against my pay?

No. Grubhub does not play the commission game that Uber and some others play. Grubhub's delivery fee is calculated based on time and distance, with some other factors fitting in. Nothing is taken out of that fee.

Is the Grubhub pay model based on customer delivery fees?

No. Grubhub pay is determined by the estimated time and distance that a delivery will take. It's entirely independent of the delivery fees paid by the customer. The customer pays Grubhub, and Grubhub pays drivers and the calculation for those payments are not related.

Can you really make $20 per hour delivering for Grubhub?

Grubhub often posts ads similar to the one above that suggest things like earning up to $20 an hour. There are two things that must be pointed out: One, they say UP TO, meaning it's not guaranteed. The other is that the amounts they list refer to gross income. In other words, it's what you bring in before expenses.

Having said that I've often been able to profit far more than $20 per hour on Grubhub deliveries. More recently, it's harder to do in my market IF I deliver only for Grubhub. That's my experience, others may have different perceptions of how they earn.

How does Grubhub pay compared to Doordash?

This can depend widely on circumstances in select markets. The base pay structure on Grubhub is usually better than Doordash's, and tips from customers seem higher on Grubhub, meaning pay per delivery can often be much higher.

However, many factors can change that. Doordash is a busier platform, so offers can come more frequently. In my market, waits at the restaurant are often much longer on Grubhub than on Doordash, and average distance of deliveries is also longer on Grubhub.

If you can complete more deliveries at a lower cost on Doordash than you can on Grubhub that can often offset the better pay per delivery. Personally, I prefer to compare things on a delivery by delivery basis. One deliver on Grubhub may pay better than what I'm getting from Doordash, but the next might favor Doordash.

How does Grubhub pay compared to Uber Eats?

Grubhub's base pay seems to be better in most cases than what Uber Eats offers. Uber Eats has recently cut their base and doesn't seem to increase pay as much based on distance and time.

When I started, tipping on Uber Eats was terrible, but Uber has really upped their game. Tipping seems pretty comparable more recently, with a maybe a slight edge to Grubhub.

Uber Eats in my experience does a better job at having the food ready when you arrive, and at keeping trip distance down. In general, that swings things in favor of Uber Eats.

One factor that can vary a lot is frequency of orders. At times, Uber Eats is much busier in my market. However, Uber doesn't try to control how many drivers go available, and if too many drivers are logged in, there can be long waits between offers.

Just like I said with Doordash, I prefer to evaluate on a delivery by delivery basis. If the offer from Grubhub is better than what I've got from Uber Eats at that moment, I'm taking Grubhub.

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