After working as a GrabFood Walker for a Month

I've actually been with GrabFood for more than a month now, and I've kinda mixed feelings about GrabFood.

Well, it obviously doesn't feel good when you've your pay cut (see previous post about the adjustments in bonus and incentives) but it's definitely not just about these adjustments!

Ok, why not we start with what I enjoy/like about working as a GrabFood walker.

Pros

1) Own time Own Target (OTOT)

I guess it's pretty obvious that it's very flexible working for GrabFood. I can turn on the app to accept jobs whenever I want and where-ever I want. I can choose to just "nua" (rot at home) and not work for days without having to be warned or anything!


2) Exercise

Let's face it, how motivate are you about exercising? Now, you get paid to walk around! Just imaging this, walking to the nearest McDonald's to collect the food and then down a few blocks can earn you $4-4.50, why not?


3) Decent earning

It really depends on how hardworking you're, but it's possible to be able to earn enough to feed yourself, pay your bills and still save some money.


4) Know the food around 

What other better ways to know about what is popular and what is new in your area? I mean you're delivering them to the eaters! How can you not know enough about them?


5) Little social interaction

Although GrabFood is a "service industry", it's not one that you need to do extensive social interactions. It's really good for people like me who is kinda socially awkward. The usual "enjoy your meal" and "thank you" with a smile is usually enough to satisfy the customers. Afterall, its the food they care about.

6) Hotline/Help System is good

I've faced a few problems while delivering (app hanging/lagging, customer cancelling, payment problem) and when I contacted the CS or the telegram chat, I usually get respond pretty fast. (Of course not immediate but at least you don't end up waiting for 15 minutes and still nothing!) They're pretty helpful and willing to help you solve your problems.

Updated: Their Telegram chat is very slow to respond lately. You can expect to wait up to 20-30 minutes to get a respond. For more urgent issues, you might have to call in.

7) "Hot" heat map indicator
 
Grab have updated their app to show the "hot" zone whereby you're more likely to receive orders. They're usually mark in a different shades of red rectangle (the redder = more demands = more likely to receive orders). This is really helpful for those who wants to camp and wait for orders or wish to do for short hours only.

Cons

1) Under the sun/rain

Being a delivery person means that you've to delivery the goods (food) within a reasonable time frame when you accept an order. So you must be prepared to walk under the sun or if it rain suddenly. I was caught in the rain thrice but I still have to deliver the food.


2) Heavy food

There is no way you can know the content of an order until you accepted the job. I've gotten a few orders that consist of 6 upsized combo meals (6 large drinks!!), 20 items of Dim Sum or zi char for a family of 5! The most memorial order I ever sent was this order from Popeye that is as heavy as a small sack of rice! Lucky for me, the order was to be delivered to a nearby shop-house (within 0.4km), which I can still tahan.

I usually try not to cancel order after I accepted them, but I guess there will be one day that I just have to because there is just so much weight I can carry!


3) Out of the way (Far orders!)

I've no idea how GrabFood define "walking distance" because I've received orders that are far away. It's either the pickup location is far away from me(current location) or that the customer's house is far away from the pickup location (store/restaurant) itself! And the worst, sometimes, you get both the situations mentioned! The furthest I've walked, 2.6km. It's a grouped/batch order which means, 1 pickup location (store) to 2 customers. For batch orders, GrabFood would determine the dropoff sequence and sometimes it's not the best sequence and you end up taking a longer route.

Update: I've gotten a single order that is 3.02km!!


4) Busy/Slow Stores

Some stores are just super busy and crowded on certain days or timing, and if you've orders from there, you must be prepared to wait at least 10-20 minutes! And then you might meet some stores that OFF their grab receiver (or whatever you call that) and they'll only switch it on when you arrive to pickup orders. And I can me tell you, at some places, the app/receiver takes a long time to boot!

Updated: I waited almost an hour at a restaurant!


5) Data Consuming

To receive orders, you need to be connected to either 3G/4G or wifi, there is no other way around it. With that said, you need to have a data plan and it should be as stable as possible. I've faced problem/delay with delivery (due to stupid Starhub being unstable). I got disconnected and logged out of the app. I couldn't log back in since I've crappy network and I couldn't see the customer's address.

A rough estimation of data usage: I'm on 3G and I've used about 6.8GB of data in 20 days! My usage are for about an average of 5-6 hours on the GrabFood app per day, with about 1-3 hours of YouTube and social gaming (while waiting for orders and during my breaks) daily.

You can expect at least 0.2-0.3GB of data usage daily if you do want some entertainment while delivering/waiting for orders.

6) Long waiting hours in between jobs/unpredictable

The demand in number of orders really depends and changes daily. On slow days, I can wait for 3-4 hours and only gotten 1 or 2 orders and then there will be days I can have back to back orders.


7) Walkers are less desirable

Unfortunately, I've faced customers that prefers non-walkers because walkers are considered "slow" to them and they can say somewhat nasty things like, "don't accept job when you're on foot!" Perhaps they failed to understand what "walkers" mean.

Grouped/Batch Order

Grab has released its newsletter and had mentioned that there will be improved grouped/batch orders. You can receive a 2nd or even 3rd or 4th order while on your way to the restaurant or before you pickup your last order, as long as they're from the same restaurant.

So let's say I got an order (order 1) from McDonald's and on my way there, there is another order from the same McDonald's to somewhere quite near to order 1, I'll be auto-assigned that order (order 2). Of course I can cancel it if I think its not convenient or so, but yes, penalty will incurr.


Why I included this in a new "section" of its own is because I've a love-hate feeling about grouped orders. I've gotten a few of them. Some are really good (like just opposite blocks or a few blocks down) but some are miles apart, like at least 4-5 bus stops away or at different parts of the zone. Also, the delivery fee calculation of grouped orders are always puzzling.

And pray hard you don't get huge order (like 6 upsized combo meals!) for grouped orders, or you'll need 8 tentacles to carry them! LOL.


Overall, it's still pretty good to work for GrabFood as a walker. I mean at least now its still pretty worth it, even after the adjustments. I can't say for the future though, as I heard that the the bonus and incentives have been removed completely for the GrabCar drivers, leaving them with much lower earnings.

Well, we can only pray and hope.