10 of the lowest-paying orders on Uber Eats that drivers have ever seen

Pay for most Uber Eats delivery drivers averages around $15–$25 per hour, but the averages don’t tell you how high—or how low—the pay for any one delivery can really be.

Most customers don’t know that the minimum pay for an order is around $3, or $1.50 for an add-on order. That’s low!

And when the payout estimate is particularly low, some drivers will snap a screenshot to show the world how low their pay is on some days.

Here are the 10 lowest-paying orders that we found on Uber Eats. Remember, tip your driver at checkout or your order might look as bad as one of these!

The lowest paying orders on Uber Eats

This driver below got an offer to deliver 3 orders for only $4.08. And remember, tips left at checkout are included in these pay estimates! That means that all 3 customers didn’t tip.

This offer pays only $7.73 for 4 deliveries that will take over an hour. That’s below minimum wage in nearly every city.

Check out this offer that pays for $2.29 for 2 deliveries, or $1.14 per drop-off. The estimated distance is only 1.1 miles, but the numbers still don’t add up.

Add-on orders can be some of the worst offenders. This one would add 2 orders for only $1.50 extra and 8 miles of extra driving. Pass!

How about half an hour of work and 12 miles of driving for $3.96. Most drivers would only accept 3x this, $12 or more.

This Walmart delivery route only pays $13 to do 10 stops that will take an hour and forty minutes. Walmart orders and other multi-stop routes can be some of the worst-paying orders.

Both of the orders below only pay $8 for an hour of work. That’s less than minimum wage in most areas, and most minimum wage jobs don’t require paying for your own vehicle expenses!

The offer below ticks none of the boxes. At $6 for 48 minutes of delivering, it’s way less than $1 per mile and way less than $15 per hour, 

2 deliveries for only $3.86 can feel like an insult.

The order below pays $3 for 20 minutes of delivery work. Even if you scored back-to-back offers like this, you would max out at $9 per hour.

Why is pay so low on Uber Eats?

Over the years, base pay and overall pay on Uber Eats has been trending downward. Many drivers are finding that Uber Eats doesn’t pay enough anymore.

So why is Uber paying less if drivers are unhappy? One explanation is that drivers continue to accept orders despite low pay. Some hope for a tip after the delivery, and others need the cash flow.

And if enough drivers skip a low-paying order, the pay will gradually increase until a driver accepts it. So many of the lowest-paying examples are the opening bid, not necessarily the final amount that another driver ends up accepting.

Another reason for low pay is that Uber isn’t required to pay more. Uber Eats drivers are independent contractors, and there are no laws governing minimum pay for this type of contract work.

Always seeking to increase profits, Uber will try to get away with the lowest prices possible.

It’s not always this bad: See higher-paying orders

The offers above are the worst of the worst. But not every delivery on Uber Eats is this bad, and drivers still have the flexibility to decline any offer that comes their way.

Uber Eats drivers can still score big paydays, with huge tips and pay up to $1000 per week.

But those results aren’t typical either! Income on delivery apps like Uber Eats is very unpredictable.

Not only is every order different, but Uber regularly tweaks the payout model. You have to constantly re-evaluate your standards and adjust your delivery strategy.

To see more average, ‘typical’ results across the country, check out our study on average Uber Eats pay that uses data from many different sources to give you a clearer picture.