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2022 Delivery Person Advisory Forum 1

26July,2022 / Australia

In June 2022, Uber Eats in partnership with RPS Group held the bi-annual Delivery Person Advisory Forum with 14 Delivery Person Advisors from across Australia. For this forum, the advisors selected Earnings and Safety as the topics they would most like to discuss and Uber Eats also encouraged a discussion around Earner Model Preferences off the back of the recent IPSOS survey.

Have Your Say Survey & Open Hours Discussions

Feedback from the Have Your Say survey and Open Hours sessions were well reflected in the Forum discussions and we want to thank the 644 Delivery People that shared their views via the Have Your Say survey and the 65 delivery people who spoke directly to an Advisor of their choice via Open Hours Sessions. Sharing these insights helped the Advisors to better understand the challenges Delivery People like yourself face in regards to Earnings and Safety and how we can best work to improve the experience.

Earnings

Based on feedback from the Have Your Say Survey, the top three earnings-related topics highlighted by delivery people were;

Cost of Delivering
48.58% top choice
Promotions (Boost & Quest)
37.42% top choice
Fare Transparency & Comprehension 
30.34% top choice

These insights helped shape the discussions around earnings in the forum and we heard from advisors more about what they felt the biggest issues were. These included;

Earnings Transparency
There is a lack of transparency and understanding around the structure of earnings
Other delivery apps have more defined expectations about what can be earned per trip
Understanding how earnings are calculated is important
Wait Times
How is this calculated and compensated?
Are merchants penalised for extended wait times?
Batched Orders
There are some issues with earnings on second deliveries
Batched orders sometimes have issues / bugs in the app
Promotions
Are they consistent and achievable?

Safety

The top three safety-related topics highlighted by delivery people that took the survey were;

Delivering during times of bad weather or in conditions with low visibility
43.69% top choice
Delivering orders to homes with no lights on / without clear instructions
40% top choice
Access to safety training and information on how to handle food safely
39.89% top choice

These insights helped shape the discussions around safety in the forum and advisors shared the feedback they had heard around safety through the Open Hours Sessions and their own experiences delivering. These included;

Merchant Respect
Some merchants are not respectful of delivery people's time
Some merchants lack respect when communicating with Delivery People
Challenges completing deliveries
Finding consumer locations can be extremely difficult, especially at night
Consumers sometimes do not provide information on pets at the premises
Delivering heavy or multiple items to difficult locations
Distractions while delivering
Consumer messaging can be distracting while travelling
Pop up messages cover the screen upon arrival, making it difficult to locate the drop-off location

Earner Model Preferences

In the forum, the topic of Earner Model Preferences was also discussed. Advisors were asked what potential social benefits they would most prefer and how they felt about the independent contractor model. These were the most notable callouts;

Majority of advisors present in the forum agreed that the independent contractor model was preferable over employment
All advisors agreed that there was room for improvement in terms of social benefits and would like to consider the viability of some of these protections within the Uber Eats platform
Of the potential social benefits that could be offered, advisors noted that super contributions and an estimated earnings amount would be the most important to them, however not at the cost of flexibility on the app
Advisors also understood that our current legal frameworks don’t allow for these support and benefits to be provided while maintaining flexibility

These insights will help define our efforts in areas such as earnings and earnings transparency, safety, and our shared vision for the future of the gig economy.

Thank you to all delivery people who participated in the Open Hours and to our 14 Advisors. Based on your feedback and insights, we have been able to develop recommendations and priorities to help improve the delivery person experience and we are already working on bringing those recommendations to life.

Learn more about the Uber Eats Advisory Forums