DoorDash: Food Delivery and Advice for New Drivers

Doordash is a Food specific delivery app that provides delivery for restaurants, fast food, bars, and as well as catering services for said places. Couriers are coined "Dashers" who can log in and schedule themselves time slots to queue in for receiving orders to deliver.

Requirements

• Ideally 1 year of driving experience
• Owning a form of transportation (depends on your area) : Car, Motorcycle, Bike
• Smart Phone (Android / iOS )
• Bank account for Weekly Direct Deposits

Suggested Items

• Mileage Book for Tax Reasons
• Device to hold phone while driving
• Car Charger with Charging Cable
• Additional Food Bags (optional when starting)

What do I need?

Most importantly, you'll need a smart phone (I use an S5 Active just fine) and a reliable form of transportation. It doesn't need to be perfect, but at least something that will continuously get to point A to point B without much concern about deprecation of your transportation's value or failure.

If you own some bags that help keep food cold / warm, you'll most likely want to use them after getting set up. Some orders might take more then one bag.

Most orientations try to sell you "cheap" bags that might last you 6 months. If you have something that is better already, I'd suggest you use that instead. They also have shirts, hats, and larger catering bags. If you want something to wear, that is up to you, but I'd personally stay away from any bag they are selling and invest in something more durable.

They also have no issues with you having another person in the car with you while you drive around which is nice. This makes it simpler to find temporary parking spots and have someone watch the car as you do pick ups and drop offs.

Where do I start?
Doordash isn't available in every city, but it is in major cities. You can start the application process to find out at: https://www.doordash.com/dasher/signup/

Once successfully submitted, you'll ideally be asked to come in for an orientation to get familiar with the app, get a background check taken care of, how to add your bank info in the app, as well as get Doordash card to pay for orders that need to be placed in person, like McDonalds or Taco Bell.

Orientation usually takes about an hour to a hour and a half depending on how many people show up. Background checks normally with get processed and done with before you even leave so you can start doing delivering same day, but that might not happen for everyone.

The Pay
Pay goes as such. (This Payout Model will be changing in the coming Month(s) )

• Doordash pays you $1 per delivery
• You make 100% of order tips on top of the Delivery Pay from Doordash
• If you don't receive a tip from the customer in app, Doordash compensates you with an additional amount. This amount depends on your City. For example, Phoenix, Arizona is $5 min payout per order. Others cities might be higher.
• Peak Periods are rare, but mostly happen in either the morning, lunch, or dinner. These are bonuses that usually revolve around accepting all orders during a certain amount of time in a specific area to obtain a "bonus" per order. This bonus could range from $1-$5+ per order.

Conclusion

I've been with Doordash for nearly 4 years now and have gone through 3 different pay models, with a 4th coming around the corner as of this writing. I don't enjoy that they don't train new drivers on how to deal with situations on the road, but only on how to use their delivery app and that is it. However, if you're already experienced with doing food delivery, then I suppose that is alright. Catering orders are impossible to get through Doordash because people just snag up orders without thinking about it.

I used to do Doordash 25+ hours a week, but I usually just stick with the lunch run for 2-3 hours to avoid freeway traffic. Making any form of profit really depends on your area and where you're doing deliveries in. Doing lunch and dinner runs are usually the busiest and the best, as long as their is a time slot available and their isn't a "Bonus per order" going on.

I've tried Uber Eats, Postmates, and Amazon Prime (when they did food delivery), and I have always enjoyed, for the most part, working with Doordash versus the others. That is just me though and you mileage might be different.

Mercari: Selling Easier and Faster via Mercari's Website

In 2018, Mercari updated their website to allow buyers and sellers to purchase and make postings to their selling platform. This update made it possible to make reposting items to Mercari and communication more accessible for the normal user to the more professional business person. If you're new to Mercari, I might suggest a prior article I work up on getting started (via the app), Mercari: Tips for Selling on the Mercari App .


Requirements

• A working computer with mouse
• Excel or other Spreadsheet program (Google & Outlook.com provide such services)
• 2 monitors for easy viewing info to plug into Mercari's Website (Not Required) 

Save your product pictures from your prior listings for re-use.

Dragging picture files before "dropping" onto the Selling Page

Create a folder specifically for Mercari pictures, ideally on the desktop for easy access. If you haven't already saved any pictures, then I suggest you do so from Mercari's website itself by going to the product page and saving each picture for that product. Taking the pictures from the website will give you the already ideal pictures you want to use and will saving you from having to crop pictures or do any further editing again.

Our method of organizing the saved pictures is to name our pictures with the Title of that item that you'll be using on Mercari and adding a 1, 2, 3, 4, and etc to the end. Doing this will automatically sort the pictures out in where ever you have your pictures saved, ideally in that special folder you made for Mercari pictures.

Now the amazing feature (in our opinion) of the Mercari Website for selling is the ability to drag and drop selected pictures straight on the selling page from the folder.
Now because of this, this allows for quick drag and drops for reposting items from your Mercari folder. Just make sure that whatever picture you select first is going to be the main picture, which should already be easy since your pictures are organized with the way their titled as suggested earlier.

Using Excel to store product info for Mercari Listings

Outlook.com allows you to use an Online version of Excel for free. Just make
sure to select the code line for copying and pasting info (Its the "Fx" line)!

Depending on how often you're planning reposting and selling an item, it highly advisable to save your Title Info and Description info in a way to be able to copy and paste instead of having to go back to the sold item and copy and paste from there.

If you plan on selling the same thing many times over like we do, make the description typed in a way that rarely will need to be changed. 

Amazingly, spreadsheet cells can hold a lot more information then just 1 or 2 lines worth of info. In our descriptions, we have at least 3 simple paragraphs of info saved under each item, which is a lot easier then having to retype it all each and every time.

Also, if your not in the mind set of creating new tags for each item, you can save said tags in another row of cells with the three tags. An example of this would be to have the tags written out like so, "Minecraft Xbox LanyardsFireGleam", and if you were to copy and paste these into the tag section as they are, the site will automatically fill in that section with those 3 words as tags. Pretty snazzy! 😁

The Only things needing done Manually every time...

Unfortunately, not everything can be copy and pasted in, such as the category for the product since its a programmed drop down menu, at least for now. There is the automated guessing for what it should be, but half the time it doesn't give the right option. It does try though!

The zip code section might be able to be auto filled in if the settings for your browser are set in place. However, we don't believe that is possible since the coding of the website isn't set to ask for a Zipcode for the browser to understand and fill in. There might be a 3rd party add-on to fix this so its automated, but we haven't found anything to test it yet. Will update if we do. 

Lastly, the pricing should probably be left as a manual entry since it can be quickly filled in with the 10 key pad with a flick of a few fingers and since pricing can always fluctuate, its better to be manually done.

Conclusion

Hopefully this gave you some better idea on the positive use of Mercari's Website versus using the phone (or an app emulator) for constant reposting of items, which is what we used to do quite often at times.

For us, using the process above has increased the speed of doing reposting considerably versus when we were using an App Emulator on the PC to run Mercari as that was slightly faster then using the app on a phone, but not a lot due to the glitches that came with the emulator. Don't get me wrong, we were able to use info from a spreadsheet, but sometimes the copy and pasting would sometimes not stick and not work. The pictures are another story on top of the glitches we encountered. So overall, were pretty happy with the update that Mercari did to their website.

So in the end, if you're someone that has a lot of items, getting the information and pictures saved and set up might be daunting and time consuming. However, having things set up easily to relist in the matter of 20-30 seconds (or less maybe) for each product is worth it, at least time us.

If you have any suggestions or comments about this informational article concerning Mercari, please feel free to drop a comment down below! Thanks for reading!

Pet Sitting

Age Category 12 - 70
Requirements: Knowledge of Basic Animal Needs and Care, Responsible

"Help! I need someone to care for my dog while I'm out of town!"

Sometimes when people go on trips out of town and can't take their pets with them, this is what happens. They call their friends and family from all over town seeing if someone can care for them while they're away. Allot of the time if they can't find someone at all, they'll go into the phone book or online to find a person offering a Pet Sitting Service. That is when (hopefully) you come into play.

What do I need to know first before taking on this job?
The first things you'll probably want to know and have before hand are as follows:

• Knowledge of Different Animals (Very Important!)
• Responsible Behavior (Also Very Important)
• Animal Toys & Supplies (Optional)
• Having  your own Pet (Optional)

Knowledge of many different animals should be your number 1 objective. You don't have to go ape and start borrowing every animal book at your local library (unless you want too), but common information should be known. Most of the pets you'll be caring and watching over will primarily be dogs and cats, so learn more about them first before anything else.

Responsibility is just as important as knowing about the type of animal your watching over. Without a strict stance of responsibility, then no one, and I mean NO ONE will give you a chance. You need to prove to the owners of these pets that your not some misfit. With a solid responsible behavior, people will put their trust into you easier and that means that you'll be able to do business with those people.

You might want to offer to the owners if they wouldn't mind if you brought toys over to help keep their pets occupied. More then likely they'll pass since they'll already have their own toys for their pet(s), but it doesn't hurt to ask. However if an owner says its alright, please, please make sure the toys are sterilized, because of you don't clean them with bleach or something, you could get get that owner's pet sick cause it was contaminated. Would you give your own child a toy from another kid who is sick? I sure wouldn't.

Having your own pet can prove to that owner that you know how to care for animals and it tells them that you love animals too. Offer to show them your pet or even talk about your pet. Pet owners like talking about their pets. It creates a common interest between owners.

I would like to make special note that was brought to my attention by a friend and fellow pet owner. The worst scenario, other then the pet getting hurt while under your care, is to have the pet escape. If this were to happen, well.. I'm just gonna say the consequences would not be good at all. You could be sued and forced to pay XXX amount of dollars for negligence. You could also be Black Listed from doing Pet Sitting ever again... Now that we got the negative part of the job taken care, shall we continue to something more positive? *smile*

Where do I start looking for people that need a pet sitter?
Best place to start is start letting Friends, Family, and Colleges know that your trying to start a side business and are offering to watch and take care of people pets. Even if those people don't have pets themselves, you should still tell them cause they could reference you if someone you don't even know asks. (This is called networking by the way.)

Another way for yourself to be heard is to start up your own website to advertise your services. Learning Basic HTML isn't that hard (I learned it when I was 10.) or you could always have someone make one for you, but usually people are gonna charge you for that. Also you can post your service up on Craigslist which is free. There area also Pet Setting Directories online which you can upload your all your info to.

You could also post up fliers around your town advertising your service which is another great way to get yourself heard. I'll post link to a flier template for those that are interested at the bottom of this blog.

The Pay
Now usually, the pay for any job already has a set amount, but pet sitting is vert different cause your the one that has to figure out how much to charge your client for certain tasks. For this, I'm gonna give you a link to an already thought out process on how to charge clients. I'd recommend you read it word by word. Link is at the bottom.

Conclusion
Pet Setting can be a very rewarding job and even business if you start one up. You get to be with animals you love and care about (Hopefully you do care about them.) Plus the pay isn't bad once you figure out that part when you start everything. Be a loving, responible person, and you'll go far! I promise you that.

Links
CraigsList - http://www.craigslist.org/  
Figuring how much to charge for Pet Sitting
Flyer Template 

Collecting and Selling Pallets for Money

Last Revised - January 7, 2013

Requirements: Driver's License, an F 150 (or higher) Truck, Rope/Tie Downs

Get Your Pallets! Nicely Used Pallets!

Your average 48 by 48 pallet

Have you seen them on the road? Your probably asking, "Seen what??" Well those 18 wheelers stacked sky high with pallets or maybe a a regular truck stacked with at least 20 or more pallets?? Still no? Well you don't really see them very often on the road cause the people driving them are behind malls and shopping centers collecting used pallets. These people have an actually business going on. They collect pallets and take them to a dealer who then buys the pallets from them. Sound interesting? Then shall we continue?

What would I need to have first before pursuing this kind of self-employment job?
The things you'll first need before you can do anything really are as follows:

• Drivers License
• A Truck
• Rope or Tie Downs
• A Good Sense of Direction
• Self-Motivated
• Hammers and Nails
• Hand Drill, Drill Bit(s), and Screws (Optional)

Truck with a Flat Bed

Any truck will do, as long as you can hook ropes or tie downs to its side, it still runs and can handle the weight of all the pallets, then you should be fine. However, if you want to really get the job done and be able to carry a larger load at one time, then you'll need to use a truck with a flat bed, like the picture to the right.

If your gonna use rope, make sure the rope is in good condition cause the worst thing that could happen on you while transporting a full load of pallets is to have the rope snap, make a turn at a corner, and you'll have all your pallets in the road or side walk. Also make sure that there are no existing knots in the rope cause knots reduce the strength of the rope by a good percentage depending on how many knots there are (20% +). I'd recommend you use the Trucker's Hitch. Its a very effect knot that is easy to do and easier to pull apart when you unload.

If you don't know how to make a Trucker's Hitch, here are some good video tutorials that show how to make one.

As for tie downs, make sure the straps aren't severely damaged or that could also lead to disaster because the last thing you want happening is to have 30+ pallets sliding off your truck, going into the street, and into incoming traffic. Which could get people severely hurt depending on where people are at on the road and how fast people driving

A good sense of direction and self-motivation are key to being successful, which can be said with any business, specially if its a self-employed business. If you don't have both, then you are bound to fail. I can't stress to have your family or friends give you support in your business venture specially if you are doing this solo. You could also ways have a family member come with you to help you on your job. Getting the family together would make it a family business instead of partnering with someone, which could lead to disaster if the business doesn't go well.

OK! I'm ready to get started. Where do I start?
First things first. Your going to need to locate a company or individual in your area that buys used pallets. Try looking up on Craigslist or your phone book for people selling pallets. Give them a call (if a number is supplied) and ask if they buy used pallets from people.

Once you have that taken care of,  I want you to think every place around your area or town that receives large quantities of goods. (examples : Wal-Mart, Sears, Ralphs, Target,) Now go to those businesses and ask the Manager/Owner of the store if you could take their wooden pallets off their hands for free. Usually, they should say Yes (unless they have someone already doing it for free) since most businesses have to pay a company to pick them up from their store. If they say Yes, ask if you could come by on a regular basis to pick up their pallets. By doing this, you are establishing your own Pallet Pickup Route, which is very important.

Once you have your pallets, call the pallet company that you contacted before, and confirm with them that you'll be coming in with a truck load of pallets to sell to them.

Repairing Pallets
This is where the hammer(s) and nails come into play. You'll probably run into your fair share of busted pallets. The best way to repair them is to take apart another busted pallet that has some good pieces still and use those pieces to repair other broken pallets. Do note that most pallets are sometimes very hard to nail through, this is due to the different types of wood that are used to make pallets. Usually, the heavier pallets are the ones that are more difficult to nail into and repair. So you might need to use a hand drill to drill a pilot for your nails to go through easier. Now you will have some more good pallets that you can sell and make more money then you did before repairing.

A 2nd Life To Severely Damaged Pallets.
You might run into pallets that are way to damaged to even be worth sacrificing a lesser damaged pallet in order to fix it. It will always be a judgement call when encountering such pallets in which you'll need to calculate if it time put into it is worth saving a single pallet or not.

However, there might be a 2nd option for such severely damaged pallets. This 2nd option, though not fully investigated, is cut or saw damaged pallets into 1 - 2 foot pieces of wood and bundle them up together, advertise on Craigslist, and sell the bundles as firewood. Price would be your discretion. Just make sure there is are no nails in the wood that you bundled up as you don't want to cause injury to yourself or to anyone else.

The Pay
You'll most likely be paid in cash or check and the pay will be based on the amount of pallets you sell to any specific company. Depending on the size of the pallet, you could receive $1.50 - $3.50 dollars per pallet. I know that might not sound like allot, but if you accumulate 50-100 pallets a load, then that is roughly more then $100 bucks. If you do that 5-7 days a week, then you got some a good cash flow going to your pockets, bank account.

Conclusion
Collecting and selling used pallets isn't that hard to start. Its hard work of course, but hard work always has its rewards, and making a decent living is one of them. Work hard, be smart, be safe, and start selling those pallets!