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Permalink Reply by Lorena Cupcake on February 14, 2012 at 4:20am

I’m going to go ahead and assume you’re talking about Uptop Delivery Network.

 

My boyfriend works for Uptop. Here are a couple of things I’ve picked up from him. This is all secondhand, so don’t take my word as gospel.

 

-You’ll be assigned to either downtown or Wicker Park delivery areas. Downtown is busy early shift and dead late shift; the reverse is true for Wicker Park. Sports events, days where people are hungover, and days with terrible weather are the busiest days. Bank holidays are dead downtown.

 

-Start every shift with a pen and your own loose change to make change for people.

 

-If you live within your delivery area and are fast enough to get to all your restaurants in ~20min, you can standby at home. Otherwise, you’ll have to find places to standby; I hang out at Cal’s Liquors a lot, people standby there downtown. I know when Jerry’s is calling orders into Uptop (they also have their own delivery people) people standby at the bar there, too.

 

-You’ll figure out which restaurants will have your order ready if you head there straight when you get the text and which ones you can wait on because they take forever to get orders together.

 

-Messenger backpacks work much better than messenger bags for food delivery because the pockets can hold liquids upright.

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Permalink Reply by Andrew M on February 14, 2012 at 5:55pm

Actually it's New York Deli, but it all still seems applicable. Thanks!!

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Permalink Reply by Kevin House on February 15, 2012 at 4:21am

I work as a food delivery rider currently in the Gold Coast.  

-My advice for the different kinds of food you are delivering would be just be aware of how you organize it your bags.  Simple stuff like don't put a six pack of coke on top of a sandwich.

-What area of the city will you be delivering?  The most important part of the job is knowing the best routes to get to your delivery.  Pulling up google maps on your phone every single time you have a delivery will only slow you down.  Allies and side streets can be your best friends.

-Don't exhaust yourself early in your shift.  I thought I was in good biking shape before I took a bike delivery job and I got my ass kicked in the first few weeks trying to keep up.  My body eventually got used to all the extra riding I was doing and I learned to properly pace myself so I could make it through a day of riding.  I always eat a good meal and do lots of stretching before a shift.

-Remember to ride on your days off.  This may sound silly now but when biking becomes part of your job you can forget to truly enjoy it on your days off.  

-You will be surprised by the amount of people who don't tip.  As the economy got worse people didn't stop eating or drinking out less, they just started tipping less.  I have had days where I am covered in snow and will get attitude from a customer for being a few minutes late on my delivery.  I am still learning to not let that get to me.  But if you do deliver to a business or school and the secretary says she can sign for it always say "I need the cardholder to sign for it."  I would say half the time that someone sign's for someone else's food they don't tip you.  

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Permalink Reply by Fran Kondorf on February 16, 2012 at 10:27am

Here's a cool idea to help make deliveries-

 

http://www.bikehacks.com/bikehacks/2012/02/pizza-delivery-front-rac...

 

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