UberEats Lockdown Day 2/3

Good morning! As always we’ll start the day with coffee. Straight black. “All the Euros drink Espresso”. After coffee we’re going to deliver somewhere else. We’re leaving delivery jobs in the suburbs of Brisbane. Instead – we’re going to do what the foreigners do – head straight to the CBD. Brisbane City that is. Let’s take a look at how the day went.

Haven’t read DAY 1? Click here: https://jaiven.travel.blog/2021/01/08/ubereats1-3/

Heading into the city this morning I knew from the map there wouldn’t be boosts. Which is fine. I was however hoping for frequent jobs within a short distance. I’ve never been a fan of big cities anywhere in the world really… But I didn’t expect it was going to be this quiet and pointless…

Cycling in Brisbane is actually pretty good overall. However, there are components of the Australian culture which don’t appreciate cycling or cyclists or anyone on a bicycle. As a sport cycling in Brisbane is thriving. When it comes to utility cycling though – that is – ordinary people using bicycles for transport, the local culture, infrastructure and design of the city is not welcoming. It could be worse, yes – but given Australia’s GDP, skills, general wealth and standard of living – it’s not up to scratch. This is not Copenhagen. The Australian culture is car-centric. Our national ID is still a drivers licence. LOL.

So here we are on Queen ST. The centre of Brisbane CBD. It’s totally dead. There’s a few foreigners walking around, mostly exchange students and the odd photographer here and there looking for angles to sell to the news papers. It is after all a lockdown. A pretty unique situation we’ve found ourselves in.

I take some video footage and post it on Pond5.

The first pickup from Maccas was pretty easy. The delivery was from here to an apartment-hotel room. I hated it. I buzzed the intercom and was let into a labyrinth of stairwells, elevators and hall ways. It seems like a waste of time for the both of us. On one hand the customer wants to eat ASAP and we want to deliver ASAP – but instead the customer is wasting time giving directions (usually they’re unfamiliar with their own building) and we’re wasting time trying to find the customer. Not all customers are like this in big buildings. Some will just meet you in the foyer… But this is why I prefer suburbia. There’s no massive buildings.

I remember doing some deliveries with Bolt Food in Estonia. There were situations when finding the customer’s room door took more time than the actual delivery itself…

It’s now been a while since that one delivery. My streaming Spotify which keeps me entertained. My phone’s battery is getting flat so I recharge it via an underground car park that has some accessible power points.

Another delivery drops in. It’s coffee from The Coffee Club for a foreign exchange student. He lives in a residential sky-rise building but meets me out front which makes the delivery really easy. I use my template message to thank him.

I decide to call it quits in the CBD. Brisbane City is dead. I grab an expired Oat Bar from some Asian corner store for $1.99 and begin my ride back to the Northern suburbs of Brisbane.

Escaping the city and fortitude valley I feel at home. Brisbane’s suburbia has a sort of village like feel. There’s a few good suburbs to visit. Ascot, Hamilton, Toombul/Nundah are all pretty convenient for public transport.

The whole day was a bit of a flop. 2 deliveries and about 40K worth of cycling. Comparing the distance and earnings of yesterday today hardly seemed worth it. But look that’s the gig economy for you. I definitely don’t recommend UberEats in Brisbane City. At least not during a lockdown / pandemic era. Most people these days are working from home. Those living in the city are mostly foreign exchange students who are out doing deliveries.

I can’t believe we’re sold out of toilet paper. Again. Didn’t people learn last time that COVID isn’t cured by toilet paper? A lot of the fear around COVID has impacted UberEats. Restaurants aren’t allowed to have dine-in customers and some of the owners aren’t even sure if they’re allowed to open at all. Tomorrow’s plan is to try UberEats during the lunch period – in suburbia.

• 40: Kilometers
• 20.6: Average Speed (km/h)
• 265: Elevation
• 2: Deliveries
• $15.39: Dollars
• $119.26: Earnings this week so far.