How You Can Thrive During Inflation (And What We Are Doing to Help)

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Inflation is undeniably striking us where it hurts now. Indeed, across the board, prices have climbed a staggering 9.1% over the last twelve months alone. In fact, this massive and worrying figure represents a forty-year high, according to the Financial Times. However, while many people are panicking about what this might mean for our lives going forward, there are plenty of excellent ways that you can continue to thrive during inflation.

With this thought in mind, we've outlined several key ideas and opportunities you could consider to help you find the ideal solutions for your lifestyle going forwards. Plus, we've looked at how the Para personal dispatch tool is helping people like you earn more from their deliveries and stay safe while on the road.

WHY ARE WE CURRENTLY EXPERIENCING SUCH STAGGERING INFLATION?

It's highly important to consider why we are experiencing such high inflation as part of your goals to cope with the changes. However, overall, the main cause of inflation is largely due to the massive gas and energy price spikes.

With increasing energy costs, the cost of living has jumped massively. What's more, this doesn't just apply to the power you use to heat or run your home. For example, the increasing costs of commercial power mean that the price of food manufacturing is also higher ' and, of course, this translates to higher weekly shopping bills for families and individuals.

Of course, increasing gas prices is hard-hitting for all of us. However, as a delivery driver, this is even more painful to bear, considering that increasing gas prices mean we'll have to pay more for our fuel bills. But don't worry ' there are ways that you can ensure you're in a good position to get through this period of inflation.

Inflation Isn't Something New

As soon as we hear the word 'inflation,' we often begin to panic. However, by its nature, inflation isn't something new. In fact, as Investopedia explains, inflation is simply the general price increases seen in an economy. Generally speaking, we see inflation every year; as such, with each passing year, the purchasing power of our money tends to fall. It's measured by the consumer price index or CPI.

Now, in some cases, a slow and steady level of inflation can seem like a good thing. It helps borrowers get more generous interest rates on their loans. In addition, it also tends to mean that you get more cash in your pocket at the end of each month, which always feels great (even if it's technically still worth the same). However, sudden and rapid inflation, such as we're seeing now, can represent a massive shock to the economy, and wages can struggle to keep up with the sudden changes.

What Does Inflation Mean for Us?

Inflation isn't necessarily the 'evil' idea many people claim, but when it jumps so drastically (as it has now), it can severely hinder our ability to live a happy, affordable life. People on the lowest incomes hence tend to feel the effects of inflation most prominently. For example, if you were previously scraping by with a small amount spare at the end of each month, the sudden 9% inflation rate may now leave you with very little surplus. That's a worrying and scary situation to be in.

But while this can seem terrifying, there are ways to continue to thrive, even during inflation. We've outlined six simple tips for our delivery drivers to help ensure you can lead a great lifestyle during inflation, accordingly.

6 SIMPLE TIPS TO CONTINUE THRIVING DURING INFLATION

If you're feeling a little bit wary about the looming threat of inflation, we strongly recommend that you consider the following six simple tips. They're not big changes. Still, you might just find they're enough to overcome the challenges you've been facing. After all, earning $1000 per week is still absolutely possible ' but you'll need to be smart about things.

So, whether you're just getting started with delivery driving for a new income source or if you're an old hand looking to maintain your earnings, these six tips should help.

#1 Prepare for Lower Tips

As a delivery driver, you work in the service industry. And, just as with waiters and waitresses, the level of income you receive from tips is substantial. In fact, estimates suggest that around 58% of income comes from tips alone ' in other words, your biggest source of income could be from tips.

However, there's a catch here. Tips rely on the generosity of your customer ' there is no requirement for customers to leave a tip. The generally accepted tip is around 10-20% or $4, whichever is more. However, the issue here is clear: in times when customers don't have much money to spare for themselves, they're much less likely to leave generous tips.

Unfortunately, this is just something that delivery drivers are going to have to learn to live without tips for a while. However, on the flip side, we recommend looking out for deliveries that are more valuable in themselves, such as larger orders (that may still have a good tip) or otherwise orders with a fair base pay. Indeed, it's still absolutely possible to make an income during inflation before tips ' with tips being an added bonus.

#2 Make the Most of Promotions

Another crucial tip we can give to help our delivery driver community get through inflation is to make the most of promotions. As inflation continues to wreak havoc on our wallets, it's unlikely that peak pay promotions will be quite as generous as before. After all, fewer people are ordering. However, apps such as GrubHub and Uber Eats still offer excellent promotions that can help bolster your income.

#3 Consider Driver Levels and Programs

Did you know that many food delivery apps have driver levels and programs that help increase your income opportunities?

The GrubHub Driver Recognition Program is a key example of this. By increasing your metrics and performance, you'll be able to access larger and potentially more valuable orders ' helping offset the lower income opportunities from tips potentially. These programs require a lot of consistency in your attendance, acceptance rate, and block drop rate ' but they certainly pay their way if you can meet these.

In addition, Uber Eats offers an excellent Pro's Scheme that provides fuel savings, subsidized gym members, tuition coverage, priority support, and more. As such, if you're delivering for Uber, be sure to make the most of these. They can make a world of difference when times get tough financially.

#4 Try Multi-Apping

Have you ever thought of trying multi-apping? We'll warn you now, multi-apping does require more focus and attention than 'standard' delivery driving. However, if you're in a position to make multi-apping work for you, you could substantially increase your earning opportunities. In times when tips are scarce, this can be hugely important.

Multi-apping is different for everyone, but in many cases, it's easy to increase your profits per hour by around 50% just through multi-apping. This also makes it easier to complete more deliveries in a day and reduces your fuel costs per delivery. In short, it's a winning solution all around for a little extra thought.

#5 Consider Cycling

Did you know that you can complete local deliveries by bike rather than car? The majority of people use either a motorbike or a car for their food deliveries, but you can absolutely cycle for smaller deliveries ' and, of course, this doesn't come with any fuel costs!

You'll likely make less per hour, of course ' but if you need quick income and don't have the spare money this month to pay the fuel bill, cycling for some local deliveries could be a good option to consider. It negates the need for a gym membership and is frankly great fun, too, so there's a lot to love.

#6 Write Off Your Gas During Tax

None of us likes paying tax, as it represents a very significant chunk of our money! However, while paying taxes is a painful process, you can, fortunately, make it a little easier as a delivery driver by writing off your fuel bills.

Of course, this only applies to fuel you've used to make deliveries. As such, you can't write off fuel for that 100-mile round trip you made the other day to see family or friends or go to the airport! Nevertheless, if you've tracked how many miles you do, you'll be able to save a lot of money on your delivery work.

There is also another small ray of good news. As a self-employed delivery driver, you'll be able to write off your driving gas bills ' and in line with rising fuel bills, this has increased by almost 10% to $0.625 per mile.

As such, if you're traveling around 100 miles per week or more for your food delivery work, that can add up to a significant deduction over a year of approximately 5,000 miles, or over $3,100.

Luckily, the Para app is incredibly valuable in this regard as it provides a simple and easy mileage tracker for your deliveries. As such, if you use Para with each delivery, you won't have to worry about manually adding up or tracking how many miles you've done when the taxman calls. This is just one of the many excellent features the Para app can offer its drivers ' we'll look at this more later.

HOW THE PARA GIG DRIVER APP IS SUPPORTING FAMILIES THROUGH INFLATION

We're currently going through an immensely difficult time, but the Para gig driver app is here to ensure you have the opportunities you deserve. After all, everyone deserves the chance to lead a comfortable, happy life. And, whether you're a full-time food delivery driver or just do it as a side hustle to top up your income, the Para driver app will be here to help keep the income flowing.

There's a lot to love about the Para app ' and the concept behind the app is simple. It's a completely free-to-use delivery driver app that helps drivers manage their time, find the best orders, and the like. In addition, Para also provides numerous solutions that can help bolster your income. And during these difficult times, the team behind Para is working harder than ever to ensure that gig drivers have access to the tools and resources they deserve!

Para's goals for a more sustainable, perfect gig working system are simple:

• You deserve to be in charge of the work that you do
• You should get the chance to have a say in how you work
• Your time is valuable and shouldn't just be worth cents to big businesses
• You own your own personal data ' and no one has the right to share it but you!

Key Para Features that Help Delivery Drivers

Para offers countless features, and many of these can be incredibly helpful for delivery drivers looking to make ends meet. Some of the main features you might use while delivery driving for Para include:

• Auto decline (so you don't take offers that are not worth your time)
• Total drive time and mileage (so you can predict whether the base pay will be worthwhile)
• Estimated total payouts (so you can judge whether or not an order is likely to pay fairly)
• Apartment vs house deliveries (helping you get moving again faster ' and avoid stairs!)
• Flagging (so you know when not to deliver to a certain customer again)
• Dollar-per-mile and dollar-per-hour estimates (making it easier than ever to decide if a job is worth it)

Just because inflation stops people from tipping as much as they might normally, doesn't mean you need to lose out. Indeed, with the Para app, you can find numerous excellent opportunities to keep your delivery-driving income strong. And, when we all come out on the other side of this current bout of high inflation, you might just see your income from home deliveries skyrocket once again!

And remember ' just because things seem tough, doesn't mean there aren't still great opportunities out there!

FINAL THOUGHTS

While we're all facing inflation at the minute, it's worth remembering that this doesn't have to be an impossible time to get through. Indeed, by making a few little changes to your normal routines and the like, you can continue to thrive during inflation ' even if job opportunities for delivery drivers seem a little more limited.

After all, apps such as Para are on hand to help you come through this difficult period stronger than ever; so why not see how Para can help you earn more driver income today?