The problem with same-day delivery on Office Depot for Uber Eats and DoorDash drivers

Did you know that if you order same-day delivery from Office Depot, your order will likely be delivered by Uber, DoorDash, or Shipt?

Contracting with delivery apps is a convenient way for retailers like Office Depot to catch up with Amazon’s delivery speeds.

But there’s a problem: Delivery drivers on Uber and other delivery apps aren’t getting paid very much to deliver your order. The pay is so low that many drivers skip Office Depot orders entirely, leading to longer wait times for customers and missed delivery windows.

Here’s what some Office Depot same-day deliveries look like for an Uber Eats delivery driver:

The driver is being offered $4 for an 11-mile, 33-minute order. That works out to around $8 per hour or $0.36/mile.

And keep in mind that these drivers are self-employed and responsible for their own fuel, maintenance, and other expenses. Anything less than $15/hour or $1/mile is unprofitable for most drivers.

The problem with Office Depot same-day delivery: There is no option to tip!

Tips are a significant percentage of a driver’s income on apps like Uber Eats. Without tips, the base pay from Uber or DoorDash can be as low as $3 per order.

There is no option to tip when you order same-day delivery at OfficeDepot.com. That means your delivery driver will only get the base pay from whichever delivery app processes the order, and base pay is often too low.

Check out my sample order below. I chose free same-day delivery and there was no mention of delivery apps like Uber Eats or DoorDash, and there was no option to leave a tip for my driver.

Another issue: Heavy items

Many Office Depot customers order heavy items like printer paper, printers, and other office equipment. Some delivery drivers might try an Office Depot order to see what they’re like, but they get burned by a big delivery with multiple boxes of printer paper that only pays a few dollars.

More examples of low-paying Office Depot orders

Below, an Uber Eats driver got an offer to do 3 Office Depot deliveries for only $7. The estimated delivery time is nearly an hour!

Here’s an offer for $8 to do a 16-mile drive that will take 44 minutes. Drivers have to pay for gas and upkeep! This is an unprofitable trip.

Last but not least, a 27-minute delivery for only $4. Who is accepting these offers?

The consequence: You’re going to get a worse experience

Without the option to tip, just about every Office Depot order will have low pay, and drivers will be inclined to pass the order on to the next driver. That can mean longer delivery times or even missing your delivery window.

When a driver finally takes your order, the driver isn’t going to go the extra mile to give you a good experience. Expect communication problems or a poor drop-off.

Solutions: Increase base pay or add a tipping option

A quick fix that many other retailers have added is an option to tip your same-day delivery driver and more information about the service that is delivering the order. If customers know that DoorDash or Uber Eats are delivering their order, they may be more inclined to tip.

Another solution is that the delivery apps can increase the base pay for same-day deliveries to make them more valuable for drivers. The typical base pay + tip pay system for restaurant delivery doesn’t work for same-day package delivery, so the base pay should increase for deliveries that will never include a tip.

Driver quotes about Office Depot orders

“I declined an Office Depot order four times today before it came back at a decent pay. 11$ for 5 miles. It was five boxes of copy paper”

“My offers are usually $2.40 and they come out over and over”

“I’ve never seen a package delivery that wasn’t garbage to be honest”

Read more about delivery apps

• Why delivery drivers don’t like Petco orders
• See much do Uber Eats drivers actually make
• See 10 of the lowest-paying orders on Uber Eats