MisterChilidog
Well-known member
- First Name
- Thomas
- Joined
- Sep 28, 2020
- Threads
- 2
- Messages
- 90
- Reaction score
- 134
- Location
- Lehi, Utah
- Vehicles
- Cybertruck
- Thread starter
- #1
Don't misunderstand me; I didn't quit my day job - I'm still a full-time software developer. BUT...
Back in September, as the Federal EV tax credit was approaching expiration, my niece's car died on her. I had already leant my second car (a 2004 Chevy Impala) to my brother, while his Honda was in the shop. I told my niece to go ahead and keep the Impala as long as she needs it - my wife and I already knew that we wanted a Tesla Model Y to be our second car (the Cybertruck will be number one, for us, for the foreseeable future). Prior to my brother's car troubles, we were projecting the Model Y would likely fit into our budget in about two years; maybe three. Now, we had to consider whether or not we could accelerate that timetable, to take advantage of the tax rebate. We maybe got a little excited at the prospect of a new shiny toy, but yeah, we decided to place an order for the Model Y in time to get the rebate.
After taking delivery of the new car, we remembered why we had planned to delay the purchase a couple more years. The budget got tight. We expected this. We had already considered Turo as a means to earn back some of the monthly payment. But as it happens, last year I thought it might be fun to do DoorDash deliveries and/or Uber rides in our Cybertruck, and get people's reaction to the World's Most Distinctive Automobile. The applications processes being what they were, I actually had got signed on to drive for GrubHub and Lyft. I still haven't picked up my first Lyft rider, but I did a few GrubHub deliveries. Turns out people are more reclusive about food deliveries than I had expected, so I didn't get to see reactions like I had envisioned. No worries - it turned out to be a very interesting experience, and I quickly discovered that I actually kind of enjoy the deliveries.
ANYWAY, as the budget tightened, it occurred to me that I could drive for a few hours a week - before I go home from the office, on my non-telework days, for instance - and this might help offset some of that new monthly payment. So, over the Christmas/New Year break, I resolved to schedule myself some blocks on GrubHub, to see which days and hours held the most promise for earnings. I was more than a little surprised to discover that in just a few hours in the evenings, when I would usually be looking for something to keep me busy around the house, I wasn't just offsetting the Model Y payment; I was offsetting the Cybertruck Payment AS WELL.
Now, these earnings aren't in one week. No, we're talking about a few hours in the evening, five nights a week. OR, I could achieve the same results in a couple full days, on the weekend. I've been impressed how many hours out of how many days are viable times to earn. The point is: buying the Model Y turned out not to be an additional expense, but rather a money maker. I hadn't thought, before, that GrubHub could churn up that much income with such an easy commitment of time. But there's more to it than that.
EVs are perfectly suited for deliveries. Stop-and-go traffic doesn't destroy their fuel economy like it does for ICE cars - and the cost of fuel would otherwise do severe damage to delivery income. Tesla's FSD is another game-changer. When I accept an offer from GrubHub and tap the 'Naviate' button, the app sends the geo pin to whichever Tesla I'm driving that day, and all I have to do is fasten my seatbelt and tap the 'Start Self Driving' button in the car (or truck). FSD then takes me to the pickup, repeat for the drop-off. And while I'm en-route, I can check the app to see what hot spots there are, check my stats, etc.
I'm sure there a some here who have already made this discovery... maybe not, I don't know. What I DO know is that this is REALLY low hanging fruit. Driving deliveries in a Tesla with FSD is relaxing to the point of being enjoyable, and you get paid to do. Let that sink in for a moment. YOU CAN GET PAID TO BUY A NEW CAR! And a very nice new car at that. Anyway, I don't know how long I'll continue to drive for GrubHub, but I don't see any reason to stop - I'm still having fun doing it. Maybe I'll finally get around to driving for Lyft and see how that goes. The bottom line: if you're here daydreaming about someday buying a new Tesla, my proof-of-concept exceeded expectations.
Anybody else come up with anything similar to this? I love spit-balling ideas.
Back in September, as the Federal EV tax credit was approaching expiration, my niece's car died on her. I had already leant my second car (a 2004 Chevy Impala) to my brother, while his Honda was in the shop. I told my niece to go ahead and keep the Impala as long as she needs it - my wife and I already knew that we wanted a Tesla Model Y to be our second car (the Cybertruck will be number one, for us, for the foreseeable future). Prior to my brother's car troubles, we were projecting the Model Y would likely fit into our budget in about two years; maybe three. Now, we had to consider whether or not we could accelerate that timetable, to take advantage of the tax rebate. We maybe got a little excited at the prospect of a new shiny toy, but yeah, we decided to place an order for the Model Y in time to get the rebate.
After taking delivery of the new car, we remembered why we had planned to delay the purchase a couple more years. The budget got tight. We expected this. We had already considered Turo as a means to earn back some of the monthly payment. But as it happens, last year I thought it might be fun to do DoorDash deliveries and/or Uber rides in our Cybertruck, and get people's reaction to the World's Most Distinctive Automobile. The applications processes being what they were, I actually had got signed on to drive for GrubHub and Lyft. I still haven't picked up my first Lyft rider, but I did a few GrubHub deliveries. Turns out people are more reclusive about food deliveries than I had expected, so I didn't get to see reactions like I had envisioned. No worries - it turned out to be a very interesting experience, and I quickly discovered that I actually kind of enjoy the deliveries.
ANYWAY, as the budget tightened, it occurred to me that I could drive for a few hours a week - before I go home from the office, on my non-telework days, for instance - and this might help offset some of that new monthly payment. So, over the Christmas/New Year break, I resolved to schedule myself some blocks on GrubHub, to see which days and hours held the most promise for earnings. I was more than a little surprised to discover that in just a few hours in the evenings, when I would usually be looking for something to keep me busy around the house, I wasn't just offsetting the Model Y payment; I was offsetting the Cybertruck Payment AS WELL.
Now, these earnings aren't in one week. No, we're talking about a few hours in the evening, five nights a week. OR, I could achieve the same results in a couple full days, on the weekend. I've been impressed how many hours out of how many days are viable times to earn. The point is: buying the Model Y turned out not to be an additional expense, but rather a money maker. I hadn't thought, before, that GrubHub could churn up that much income with such an easy commitment of time. But there's more to it than that.
EVs are perfectly suited for deliveries. Stop-and-go traffic doesn't destroy their fuel economy like it does for ICE cars - and the cost of fuel would otherwise do severe damage to delivery income. Tesla's FSD is another game-changer. When I accept an offer from GrubHub and tap the 'Naviate' button, the app sends the geo pin to whichever Tesla I'm driving that day, and all I have to do is fasten my seatbelt and tap the 'Start Self Driving' button in the car (or truck). FSD then takes me to the pickup, repeat for the drop-off. And while I'm en-route, I can check the app to see what hot spots there are, check my stats, etc.
I'm sure there a some here who have already made this discovery... maybe not, I don't know. What I DO know is that this is REALLY low hanging fruit. Driving deliveries in a Tesla with FSD is relaxing to the point of being enjoyable, and you get paid to do. Let that sink in for a moment. YOU CAN GET PAID TO BUY A NEW CAR! And a very nice new car at that. Anyway, I don't know how long I'll continue to drive for GrubHub, but I don't see any reason to stop - I'm still having fun doing it. Maybe I'll finally get around to driving for Lyft and see how that goes. The bottom line: if you're here daydreaming about someday buying a new Tesla, my proof-of-concept exceeded expectations.
Anybody else come up with anything similar to this? I love spit-balling ideas.
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