Grubhub Driver Guide
December 14, 2024

Beginner's Guide to GrubHub ' Part 2


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When it comes to making the most of your earnings, there are many different options. But, if you want to bolster your income potential, working for a food delivery app such as GrubHub could be an ideal option to consider. Still, knowing how to get started with GrubHub isn't always straightforward, which is why our experts have gone a little more detail into making the most of your GrubHub account as follows. This should stand you in good stead to understand how GrubHub works and how you can make the most of your time working as a GrubHub delivery driver.

DOES GRUBHUB OFFER A SIGNUP BONUS?

A valuable source of extra income for your work as a GrubHub driver is promotions. As such, it's worth checking whether there is a signup bonus for new GrubHub drivers to ensure you're not missing out.

This may depend on your region, unfortunately, so it's not always clear whether or not there are any specific sign-up bonuses for GrubHub drivers. However, sometimes, GrubHub drivers can take advantage of special sign-up bonuses based on location. For example, GrubHub has offered a $500 bonus on the first 50 deliveries completed in Honolulu, depending on meeting the terms and conditions. This would equate to an additional $10 per delivery, so it's easy to see how this could be a very valuable incentive.

When accepting offers, however, we cannot stress highly enough the importance of checking the terms. Some offers and promotions might seem very valuable at the outset. However, in reality, they may not be as lucrative or simple as they might seem due to awkward terms. So, always ensure you've checked this before accepting any GrubHub deliveries, to be sure. It's also worth remembering that most GrubHub offers are time-limited, which means you'll only have a certain period of time in which to complete them before they expire (along with your earnings!)

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GrubHub Discounts and Rewards

While there is not necessarily a GrubHub sign-up bonus, GrubHub does offer numerous rewards for its delivery drivers. Some of the different rewards and opportunities available for GrubHub drivers to use. This also covers your gas; so, if you've been wondering whether GrubHub reimburses its drivers for gas, there's a great opportunity to save a little money! Some of the GrubHub rewards include:

  • 40% off Quickbooks for your accounting needs
  • $10 free investment into Stash
  • 15% off services with Jiffy Lube
  • 25 cents back per gallon of gas with Gas Buddy and Car Advice
  • Affordable healthcare plans for health and dental purposes with Stride Health
  • Big savings on Nextbase dash cams

UNDERSTANDING HOW TAX WORKS WITH GRUBHUB

First, let's consider where you stand in regards to tax with GrubHub. It's not always clear to understand this, since as a GrubHub driver, you work self-employed. This means that Grub Hub will not deduct taxes from your income. This does not mean that you can avoid paying taxes on your GrubHub earnings, however. As we explained in the first part of our beginner's guide to working with GrubHub, this means you will pay tax through a 1099 tax form instead. Most people tend to file their taxes through GrubHub quarterly.

Can I Write Off My Gas for GrubHub?

As one of your biggest expenses, you can, fortunately, write off the gas for your taxes with GrubHub. Turbo Tax recommends that you should keep a close record of how many miles you have driven for GrubHub as part of this since you cannot simply write off all of your driving bills through GrubHub. After all, a large amount of the driving you do will likely be personal driving, rather than a commercial for GrubHub.

Where do I Stand with Parking Fees?

If you have to pay parking fees for a GrubHub delivery, you can write these off as a tax deduction from your main taxable income. As such, we would highly recommend you consider carefully how much you pay on parking fees; indeed, even a $1 parking fee can add up if you complete several deliveries per day or per week.

Can I Write Off My Phone Bill with GrubHub Taxes?

Another factor you could consider writing off from your GrubHub taxes is your phone bill. However, this is only applicable if you have a separate mobile device for your GrubHub work; you cannot write off your phone bill on your personal mobile usage, for this reason. Remember, if your device is dual purpose (personal and work), you can still claim back part of your phone bill through your GrubHub taxes though ' keeping a little extra money in your pocket.

Are my GrubHub Tips Taxable?

Many people assume that tips do not need to be taxed, since they are like a 'donation' from the customer for the food delivery. Unfortunately, this isn't the case, and your GrubHub tips are actually part of your main income. As such, as with any food service income, you should always pay tax on all GrubHub earnings, including your tips. This also includes any tips your customers might give as cash ' it's crucial to report these as part of your GrubHub income.

CAN YOU QUIT GRUBHUB AT ANY TIME?

While there's a lot to love about delivering through GrubHub, unfortunately, it's not for everyone. As such, if you decide that you'd rather try something a little different, it's important to ask:

Can you quit GrubHub at any time?

Fortunately, yes. If you'd rather just take a break from GrubHub deliveries, you'll be able to take a break for up to two months at a time. After two months have passed, you might find that your GrubHub account gets canceled, however, and you'll need to reapply to the GrubHub drivers team. However, GrubHub may also deactivate your driver account if you have breached the GrubHub terms and conditions.

It's also worth noting that, if you need to, you can drop a GrubHub shift at any time. You can even drop your shift at the time of the shift. But, if you cancel within 24 hours or less before the shift, this will affect your block-drop rate. If you cancel with more than 24 hours' notice, this is absolutely fine ' although if you cancel more regularly

If you're still determined to cancel your GrubHub driver's account, don't panic ' you can quit working for GrubHub at any time. To delete a GrubHub account, as explained by Alphr:

  1. Navigate to the GrubHub for drivers support page
  2. Contact the GrubHub customer representatives
  3. Complete the contact form
  4. Request to delete your driver's account
  5. Wait for the GrubHub team to approve the cancellation

At this point, your account should be canceled. You can check this by heading to the GrubHub app and attempting to log in as normal ' if you cannot log in, this should be a good sign the account is canceled.

Before You Cancel!

If you're thinking of canceling your GrubHub account, it's worth taking a moment to check if this is really the right option. Indeed, in many cases, people attempt to cancel their GrubHub account because they assume that they aren't able to make a good income through GrubHub. However, if you've been having poor results through GrubHub, we would recommend considering whether you could bolster your earnings by avoiding the slowest days for driving or otherwise integrating the Para app.

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MAKING THE MOST OF THE PARA APP FOR YOUR DELIVERY DRIVING

Now that your delivery account is set up and ready to go, it's important to consider how you could optimize your earnings. And, as we covered in part one of our beginner's guide to GrubHub, there's a lot to love about the Para App for delivery drivers. However, did you know that you can further bolster your earnings with delivery driving by integrating the Para app for multiapping?

After all, Para is designed for delivery drivers across multiple different platforms. Plus, new features are always being rolled out to make the app as effective as possible. Just a handful of the excellent features available through the Para app for drivers on different platforms include:

  • Estimated total payout so you can know before you accept an order
  • Dollar per mile, total drive time, and distance making it easier to accept more valuable orders
  • Delivery location - house or an apartment so you can decide whether or not to accept the order
  • Food ready by time, so you know how long you may have to wait
  • Flagging restaurants, properties, and buildings to help you avoid customers you've had bad experiences with during previous deliveries.

These are just four of the additional features that make the Para app so widely praised by customers. In fact, the Para app has achieved average reviews of a whopping 4.4 stars out of 5 on the Apple App store ' it must be doing something right!

What Feature is the Most Valuable for Para Delivery Drivers?

Of all the different features, perhaps the most popular ones are knowing house or apartment, accept/decline, and flagging features. These help ensure that every delivery driver knows what their delivery is likely to be worth before they go. In doing so, it's substantially easier to determine which orders are likely to be valuable and which may be less worth the time (such as those orders without a tip at all!) In turn, you can substantially boost your income, potentially achieving around $50 per hour or more simply through a little clever planning.

The opportunities are out there for delivery drivers to earn substantial incomes, especially when you work on multiple apps! However, if you want to make the most of these opportunities available to you, it's first critical to ensure you've got the right tools to hand. Luckily, as an ideal personal dispatch tool, the Para app might be just what you need.

May be an image of text that says "7:321 Para $0.79/mile (15 mi), Tip: $0 almon Creek Barberton azel Dell Orchards Five Corners Walnut Grove ncouver Field ort Maps Portland Jersey Mike's 11600 SE Mill Plair Blvd Ste D, Vancouver order $11.86 total Accept offer Reject offer"

Does Para Actually Work?

Does Para actually work? It sounds too good to be true really, and that's understandable! However, the Para app offers numerous great features, and as such, it's received impressive ratings from many past customers. Some of the feedback from past customers on the Para app include:

Jacob Waffle: 'This app crazy dope!!! I do catering orders for doordash and hated that i would never get that many of them, turns out i just needed para. Para tells you so many important details of the dash before you have to except the order, this is great for trying to keep that 100% completion rate you need to keep doing catering orders. Ive also yet to see an app that can do anything close to what para can do. This is a must have app for doordashes uber eat drives and grub hub drivers. It makes you more consistent day to day, [which] lets you make sure your going to hit your goal by the end of the year.'

Anonymous User: 'Para has helped in estimating countless amounts of tips especially recently when doordash made base pay vary on distance which made extremely difficult to predict hidden tips on the fly. But other than that, para also shows me things such as items being ordered or the subtotal which is a wonderful and useful feature for orders like CVS and Walgreens! It can really turn those high risk orders that can have a hidden tip but far distance into something much more secure and worthwhile.'

FINAL THOUGHTS

If you've been planning on starting a new job as a delivery driver, it's worth considering some of the key factors we have outlined today to help inform your decision. After all, delivery driving is an excellent part-time side hustle. Or, with a little planning, you could even make deliveries into a full-time career! Still, taking those first few steps into your new career as a GrubHub driver is undeniably tough ' which is why we hope today's guide will have helped you learn a little more. From making the most of your sign-up bonus on GrubHub through to answering the key question, 'can I write off gas for GrubHub' and more, there's a lot to consider ' but with the right strategy, you'll hopefully see great results.

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