GrabFood: Cash Orders vs No Cash Orders, does it affects earning by a lot?

GrabFood provide Cash on Delivery services, and I'm surprised that some people didn't know about that. (At least my friend didn’t) And in fact, I haven't really mentioned that in details prior to this too.

So I won't be surprised that many aren't sure about how cash delivery works. To be honest, I'm not very sure too myself. LOL. But I have accepted cash on delivery up till the start of December.

Cash on Delivery Orders

Cash delivery happens when customer choose to pay by cash instead of cashless (Grabpay). You'll know if the order is cash or cashless before you accept it. It’ll be indicated on the app.

Source: GrabFood

On GrabFood website, they stated that you're expected to have change for $100 even though GrabFood doesn't allow cash payment for orders more than $50!

You're not auto-assigned Cash on Delivery orders right at the start, you'll have to allow auto top-up OR have money in your Credit Account to be assign cash orders. And to turn on/off auto top-up, you've to chat with Grab operator via their Telegram chat.

Anyway, let’s get back to how the cash order works, and before that, we need to know about the 2 wallets.

There are 2 wallets in the grab driver app - Credit and Cash Wallet.

Cash Wallet

Cash Wallet is the money you earned from all your deliveries. For cashless jobs, Whatever you earn goes straight to your cash wallet. It is also the wallet which you cashout from (from Grab app to your bank account).

Credit Wallet

I don't really know why its there, but it's like the "Debts" account in accounting. Whatever Grab takes from you, goes through this account.


So for cash on delivery jobs, 3 things will happen.

1) The app will show you how much you should collect from your customer. Let's take the above order as an example: customer ordered $12.00 worth of food. They'll pay you $15.00 in cash because they'll have to pay you the delivery fee of $3.

So then what will happen to the $5.11 delivery fee promised?

2) Grab will then top-up the Earning adjustment (distance adjustment of $2.11) so that you earn the promised delivery fee.

3) Grab will then auto top-up your Credit Wallet with the $12.00 which they paid the restaurant on behalf of the customer from your Cash Wallet. And then deduct the $12.00 from your Credit Wallet. Don't ask me why the trouble, but that is how they work.

So in the end, you'll end up with $15.00 - $12.00 = $3.00 (from Customer) + $2.11 (earning adjustment which Grab will credit straight into your Cash Wallet), and that you get the $5.11 promised.

It's quite a complicated process, especially before the update. But it has been much easier now.

Previously, I was told that turning off auto top-up (which equates to not accepting cash deliveries) would affect the number of jobs you received. However, I did turned off the function and stop accepting cash orders for 3 whole weeks and then I compared the number of orders.

Correction: turning off auto top-up doesn't mean you won't receive cash orders! You just have a lesser chance to receive them! Meaning if let's say a cash order have no takers, Grab will still throw it to those people who turned off the auto top-up. However, the rate is not high. I've like received only 1-2 such orders in a month. Annoying it is, as I've to find ways to get enough cash for change. So yeah, maybe it's always good to have some small change with you.

My finding is that there will be a minimum of 5 orders lesser a week as that is the minimum amount of cash orders I received a week. The highest number of cash orders I receive a week is about 8. However, I have no trouble hitting my target (of 25 trips for the weekday) if I work at least 6 hours (3 hours each during lunch and dinner period) even without cash orders.

Anyway, I'll list the Pros and Cons from my own experience.

Pros

- More orders.
- More chance of Tips (keep the change)

Cons

- Need to carry cash (and coins), and a lot of cash (about $100). Yes, I did have to make change for $100 a few times.

- Harder to cashout. You need a minimum of $50 to cashout and 90% of the times, they'll give you a cash order when you've over $40 in your Cash Wallet.

- When the app or your 3/4G is not stable, you might not be able to see the amount you're to collect. Happened to me and it sucks! I got into an unpleasant experience with customer.

- MIA customers. I've once encountered a customer who MIA after order. I cannot contact him via chat or phone call. In the end, have to go through Grab to get my money back since I cannot collect the cash from customer. And you know Grab sometimes very slow in doing that and that will slow you down.

- Customer who doesn't have enough cash ... Yes, happened to me again... -_-" Customer is short of $1... so I give her "discount" loh.

- Customer who wants you to buy other things for them. Well, there are all sorts of customer. There is one customer who ordered a packet of Milo and then asked me to deliver a packet of cigarettes along with it. Of course I declined! Who knows if he is a minor or if he would really pay me back!! No one in my nuclear family smokes, I don't need that cigarette!
 
- Customer who don't want to pay. (So far I've not encounter this!!Choy!!!!!)

Well, it does look like the Cons out weight the Pros but its really up to individuals. Some people don't mind carrying cash around with them and some need the orders to hit the targets. But I would like to highlight that most customers are nice people who will pay and don't mind you taking the small change as tips.

But for me, I pretty much am happy with cashless orders now.

GrabFood Reminder: Check your compensation!

This is a reminder and perhaps a "warning" of sort to all the hardworking GrabFood riders out there!

I've recently realised that GrabFood no longer automatically compensate the "Goodwill Reimbursement" and that if you do not check, you may end up not getting your compensations!

It happened twice to me.

Just last week, I received an order whereby the customer input the wrong address. I called him when I couldn't locate him and he requested (actually he demanded) that I send the food to his address which is almost 1.7km away.

Well, I asked the CS in the telegram chat and he told me that if I'm still willing to send the food, I'll have to screencap a chat with the customer's asking for a change of address, and then snapping a photo of the unit or block number when I make the delivery as prove.

Then I'll have to wait for the operator to complete the job for me or I can get penalise/ban for dropping at a different address as the stated one.

Well, I did as instructed and waited for a long time before the operator completed my order. He told me compensation (if any) will be made within 24 hours, which of course never did happen.

Then there was a 2nd time whereby I went to the store and it was closed. I called the store owner to confirmed that they're not open. I tried contacting the telegram chat but they took forever to respond, so in the end, I cancelled on my end, after informing the customer. I stated the reason that Restaurant is closed and then updating the telegram chat about it. They responded with a "Noted."

For both cases, compensation was not made within 24 hours, in fact, when I asked for the compensation today, it has been at least 72 hours.


My "Goodwill Reimbursement" adds up to be about $4, which is almost the price of one trip! That to me matters, I worked hard for them!

So GrabFood riders out there, please note down the orders that you should receive "Goodwill Reimbursement" and make sure you get them!

GrabFood Rant: Grab have a really interesting way to reward their delivery partners!!

The new incentives for walkers have been release and I'm pretty shocked to know how Grab is rewarding their delivery partners for their hardwork!

I mean, we see a great jump in minimum number of trips to qualify for the Quest incentives while the incentive bonus has been decreased!

What do I mean?

Well, let's see the incentives from last week.

You need to complete 25 trips to get $30 incentives and 15 trips for $15 for the Weekday Quest! Now, that is pretty reasonable, considering the time needed to deliver an order. (You can get a rough idea from my previous post I calculated the hourly rate of a GrabFood Walker and ... )

Now the new Quest incentive is like this:

 

Let's have them compared ... 

You'll need at least 25 trips to even qualify for the incentive and then you get $5 less (it's $30 previously, now it's only $25!) They do add another "tier" which you need 40 trips to qualify... and that, I can tell you is quite impossible! Well, of course unless you work VERY long hours or say, get a PMD!

I work for an average of 7 hours daily and then I could only do about 6-7 trips, and this is the maximum I can do. And there will be days whereby I struggle to get 6 jobs within that 7 hours. I usually rest from 8-8:45pm to watch a show and have my dinner. After that, if I'm lucky, I get another 1-2 order between 8:45-10pm.

It is possible to get 8 trips per day but that would means that you've to work more than 7.5-8 hours per day and you must be fit enough to cover all that distance. Remember, I'm working 7 days a week.

As for the weekend Quest, the incentive decreased from $20 to $18 for 15 trips. And then... the new "tier" ... 25 trips in 2 days ... I'll just say this -  I'm not training for marathon nor do my muscles have that capacity!


Remember, I calculated an average of about $6/hr? Now, it'll just go lower because the incentives have decreased while the higher tiers are impossible to meet.

The other side to the PMD ban on footpaths!

Source

I know this is not going to be popular but I feel there is a need to also present the other side of the story, or at least let others be aware of what the cyclists face on the "roads".

But before I begin, I want to make it clear that this is not a post to side anyone or blame anyone. This is what I experienced while walking around to deliver food and on the few times that I did ride my bicycle to help me deliver fast.

While its a confirmed (plus chop) thing that PMDs will be banned on footpaths, I think the problem won’t be completely solved, not when some of the pedestrians are not willing to use the footpaths responsibly or be accommodating enough to share the path with others, be it bicycles or people.

It’s just sad that some of the pedestrians are showing this “triumph attitude” towards all users who are not on foot! It’s very extreme what some would do to other users.
 
I’ve experienced more than a few times when I’m cycling around when people started swearing, “Hey! You can’t cycle here!”, for no apparent reasons. But of course, sometimes these responses are triggered by the ringing of bell! 

Just the other day, I was cycling as usual and I rang the bell to warn others as the path is pretty narrow, but it's definitely still wide enough to let 2 bicycles pass each other. I was cycling towards an elderly man, and as usual, I ring to warn him. He looked at me with annoyance and then without warning, lifted his umbrella (with a pretty sharp metal tip) and pushed it forward and slightly sideways towards me. Its not totally directed at me but its so close I’ve to stop to avoid any contact with the umbrella! And then he just walked off with a victorious look on his face.

I find his action dangerous and totally uncalled for!! I was going really slow, slow enough to avoid his sudden swing of "weapon" and he still have to do that? Does he not care about the safety of cyclists?

I just hope the pedestrians stop and think for the cyclists too. Don't be hostile towards all of them, not everyone speed and disregard to safety of others.

Also, don’t walk like “pong mahjongs tiles” (row of 3) on the cycling paths! It’s actually safer if pedestrians just avoid walking on the cycling path and stay on their footpaths! There is a reason why the government wanted separate paths for both - to avoid accidents!


Before you started getting angry and leave a bashing comment, stop to ask yourself if you're one of those with the "triumph attitude"? Are you hostile towards all cyclist and are nasty towards them? Do you give way to other pedestrians? If so, why can't you do the same towards a bicycle?

Ordered Lay's Chips Again! Many New Flavours included!

It seems like buying potato chips (especially Lime and Cucumber flavoured ones) have become an annual "tradition" for my family. My mum loves them and when I ask her if she wants them for CNY, she would always say "YES!".

Anyway, I didn't wait for the double 11 sales to get them as I've won a discount coupon for TMall plus TMall is having their own promotion at the time of purchase!

I got 18 bottles of potato chips (14 of them are 104g and 4 of them 90g) and a packet of 145g chips for about SG$25, after all the discounts. But of course, shipment to Singapore is not included.

Unfortunately, TMall doesn't offer the new, more exotic flavours Lay's Chips (more about them later on) and I've to get them from some smaller stores. These exotic flavours chips are quite hard to get as they sell really fast, so I've to buy from 2 separate stores to get all the flavours I wanted.

Surviving Rate

I always trust TMall with for the packing and deliver service as from my previous experience buying from them, the parcel arrived in good condition and the chips well protected. I remember being able to have some whole chips instead of bits and pieces. But well this time round ...

Not so good. It's obvious that the package have not been well packed, hence the packet of chip arrived squashed and all the air have escaped. There are not enough anti-shock airbags to protect the bottles hence the bottles were all over the place too. So its not surprising that when I picked up the bottles, I hear some of crushed, broken chips. I think I can use them in cheer-leading -_-.

I haven't open them to eat yet, I'll update with a photo when I do.

As for the ones from the smaller stores... I was prepared for burst packages as I saw from the photo provided by PingAn International Express when it arrived in their warehouse, that the box was squashed.

But surprisingly, the casualty is little! Out of the 7 packets I bought, only 1 of them had burst open, the rest are still in good conditions. Btw, the chips in the burst package is still crispy.

 

I must say, I'm quite happy with PingAn International Express and the overall packaging of the smaller stores.

Total Costs

Shipping sensitive items like Potato chips from overseas is never cheap and so, take a deep breathe and prepare yourself before I reveal the total cost of everything including shipment!

TMall - ~SG$25
Smaller Store 1 - ~SG$4.50
Smaller Store2 - ~SG$5.50
Shipment - SG$22

Total - SG$57

$57 for 27 items of potato chips, so each item is about SG$2.15! Not very cheap but not really expensive. But since they're not available in Singapore, then well, its worth it!

Update: I just realised that Lime flavoured Lay's Chips (packet version) are being sold in NTUC, but well, its the bottle ones that taste better, trust me on this one!

Exotic Flavours

Well, well, it has finally come to the part which I'm very excited about - The exotic flavours! Care to guess what creative flavours they're this time round?

Packet Chips

 

 Top Row: 1st (from left) Grilled Eel, Sour Plum, Spicy Crayfish.
2nd Row: Fried Crab, White Peach

These flavours only comes in packet form and doesn't comes in bottles. I've yet to try them, so can't comment on its taste. But well, I'm excited over the sour plum and white peach one!

Update: I tried the spicy crayfish chips, it doesn't taste too bad. It's on the saltish side and have... well, it has this faint curry taste quite similar to Twisties'. Do I taste crayfish? Erm... what do crayfish taste like?

Bottled Chips

Left to Right: Chinese yam with pork ribs (brown), Purple Sweet Potato with coconut milk (Purple), Avocado with Wasabi (Green) and Pumpkin with caramel (Orange)

Seriously and honestly, I'm not very excited about these flavours except the Avocado one and it's because I like wasabi. LOL

Hopefully they don't taste too bad! Will update again about how they taste!

GrabFood Rant: I calculated the hourly rate of a GrabFood Walker and ...

I finally found the time to really collate and calculate (roughly) how much I work and how much I earned.

So I can, really divide out how much was earned per hour. But you know these are just estimation and varies daily. But I can quite confidently say that the daily earnings on Weekdays won't fluctuate very much, unless the weather is bad.

Anyway, while I'm able to give you these information, I do think that you guys might not want to hear... LOL. Don't say I never give you warning, it can get quite demoralising.

Note: I can only provide statistics for Walkers, so it may be different for others (Bicycle, Motorcycle and PMD...etc)

I would also like to add that some of these trips were done with the help of a bicycle, so if you're purely on foot, you might do lesser jobs than this (due to time taken to collect and send the food!)

Daily earning

*Note: Time shown are the time when job was accepted, not when it was done!

On a particular weekday, I earned a total of $32.11, completing 7 jobs. Well, that doesn't sound too bad, right?

But what if I tell you that I started working at 4:26pm in the evening and only got home few minutes shy of 10pm, with only an hour of break in between?

That is 4.5 hours for 6 jobs (there is one job which was done in the wee hours, so that doesn't count), making ($32.11-4.70 = $27.41).

Hourly Earning Without Quest Incentives

So if you're curious about the hourly payment, it's $27.41/4.5 = $6.10 (rounded up)/hr. That is less than what you get working at McDonald's.

But let's be fair and factor in the Quest Incentive, shall we?

Hourly Earning With Quest Incentives

The Weekday Quest incentive is at $15 for 15 trips and $30 for 25 trips. Let's assume we'll hit the 15 trips and so, we'll have a $15 bonus.

$15/5days = $3 bonus per day.

So if we add that in it'll be $30.41. And the the hourly rate will be $30.41/4.5 = $6.76. Close but still lesser than McDonald's hourly rate.


Well, let's see another day, still a weekday, I earned $33.83 from 7 jobs.

 

I ended work at 8:21pm. I remembered it clearly because I've wanted to rush home to watch the 8pm show when I got an order which sent me over 2.1km! My Acceptance Rate (AR) was low, so I HAVE TO take it!

This day is a little different, I started at 12:46pm and did 2 jobs till about 2:30pm, after which I just sat at a hawker, waiting for more jobs. There was none, so I headed home and rested for about 1 hour.

Hourly Earning Without Quest Incentives

So I worked for 6 hours (7hours - 1hours of break) and made $33.83 from 7 jobs. So that is $5.65 (rounded up)/hr. Still, we're making less than McDonald's hourly pay of $7!

Hourly Earning With Quest Incentives

$33.83 + $3 = $36.83. $36.83/6 = $6.14/hr! -_-


Ok, the final one.

 Although this is a Monday, it's actually considered Weekend due to it being a public holiday!

Made $28.71 from 6 jobs. I could have done more but I fell and got hurt. It's not serious but since my sister asked me to pack dinner back, I headed home and treated my wound.

I started at 11:41am and then worked all the way till 3:40pm, a total of 4 hours. The hourly earning will be $28.71/4 = $7.18. Finally, we've something about or slightly more than McDonald's hourly rate!

Well, I told you that you'd be demoralised when you find out the hourly rate of a GrabFood walker. It's just about $6/hr, possibly lesser on some days! The only time you perhaps could make more or close to McDonald's hourly rate is during weekends and public holidays.

GrabFood Rant: Longer distance

Just another quick update!

I've realised that there are increasing orders with longer distance and crossing over to another GRC! These orders takes a much longer time to complete and hence I'm completing lesser orders and getting tired faster.

Seriously, its really a little over to expect walkers to walk over 3km (not to mention 3.4km!!) and still deliver within a reasonable time frame. I know google map would quote a 30-37 minutes walk but that is impossible as that do not include the waiting time (traffic lights etc), road conditions (uphill, downhill), terrains and walking with load (food). I can safely say that it takes at least 40-45 minutes to walk that distance IF you're in tiptop conditions, flat roads and the load is light (like just a packet of chicken rice).

Neck hands-free Fan/Sport fan Review

It has been a while since I last review on products I bought online. LOL. Now, it's time to get "back on track".

I've gotten a hands-free neck fan recently from Taobao. I thought it would be good to have one when I deliver on hot days.

It is about the same price if I were to get one on Shopee, but since there is something I wanted to buy that wasn't available on Shopee but Taobao, I decided to get both items from Taobao instead.

This fan cost me about SG$7-8, including shipping fees.

The Packaging

The box is very simple paper box that came slightly squashed due to the shipping. The specifications are printed on the side of the box.

The fan came with a 2000mA battery and promises 4-12 hours usage, depending on the speed you choose. Included in the box are: 1 Micro USB cable for charging, a paper manual and of course, the fan with in built battery.

The Product

The product is a simple U-shaped plastic band (which house the mechanics and battery) with 2 flexible thick cables extending out of each end. The extended cables are then connected to 2 mini fans blades that are enclosed safely in a "cage". There is another version whereby you can take the battery out and replace it but I didn't get that one.

 

The "fans" may look a little small but they are quite powerful, especially on speed 2 and 3. Yes, the fan came with 3 speed. They're controlled by pressing on the on button (once to turn On at speed 1, twice to Speed 2 and then once more for Speed 3). The button will blink according to the fan speed (it's not obvious btw) but you will be able to feel the difference from the strength of the wind.

 I did a simple Gif to show the strength of the wind of different speed.

Charging is via Micro USB and there are lights to indicate the status of charging and battery life. Red for still charging or low power and blue when its done or when there is still enough juice. 

Using it

 

Unfortunately, putting the fan on can make you look kinda ... comical. The neck band is a little stiff and inflexible. Comfort wise, it's quite ok as it doesn't really put much pressure on your neck. The flexible cable, on the other hand provides enough flexibility and strength to hold the fans at the needed angles.

The fans are of course cooling enough in most cases. I haven't use it when I was out delivering but I did use it when I got home after all the walking and when I was helping mum to cook, it's pretty satisfying!

However, there are a few occasions when I was making "big" movements and the fan moved out of position and I've to readjust it. So kinda not as "hands-free" as I expected.

Battery life is quite ok, as I've tried it non-stop for 1 hour 10 minutes on Speed 3 and its still going strong. However, the battery life indication, which is the at the On/off button is not at a position whereby you can see it when in use so you may not be warn in time.

Conclusion

Pros

- Strength of wind is good and powerful
- The cables are flexible and strong enough to hold the fans at the needed angles
- Battery life is Ok. (Tried non-stop for 1 hour on Speed 3 and the fan is still going strong) 
- Hands-free in most situations
- Charging status indication
- Charging time is reasonable
- Quite Comfortable and light

 
Cons

- It's slightly noisy (just very slight)

- Neck band is inflexible
- Comical to wear
- Battery life indicator is not at a place you can see
- The fan can move around due to your movements

I've only been using this for a few days, so this is my "first" impression of it thus far. I actually regret not doing enough research before buying one as I did see there is another "Upgraded version" whereby the neck band looks less bulky and more flexible. It cost more but perhaps it will look less comical, just my guess.