Insight
Show me the money
How much does Just Eat pay per mile?
Nov 19, 2024
✦
Alfie
Delivery driver pay is complicated. Unlike most jobs where there is one simple metric (usually £/hr), there are lots of different ways of measuring how much drivers are paid, all of which have strengths and weaknesses:
£/hour (online time)
£/hour (on-order time)
Average £/order
Average £/mile
To make matters even trickier most apps will not calculate metrics for you, many don’t show you key numbers like distance travelled or time online and none give you an easy option to export your data.
So how much does Just Eat pay?
Just Eat doesn’t show you how long each order took or how long you spent online but it does show how many miles you travelled on each delivery (although it should be noted that this is based on Just Eat’s routing rather than the actual one).
We can therefore calculate the average £/mile for Just Eat orders and see how this has changed.
In October the average pay per mile on Just Eat orders (excluding those <1 mile) was £1.94. However, there is a big difference between London orders which average £2.49/mile and those outside London which average £1.82/mile.
How has this changed over time?
Just Eat pay has been falling continuously for the past year. Pay is down more than 12% before even considering inflation. At no point have Just Eat explained how they calculate pay or informed drivers of any pay reductions.
How many orders pay below £1/mile?
At the bottom end of the range there are some spectacularly bad orders. In October more than 5% of orders outside London paid less than £1 per mile. When you factor in pick-up time, driving time and vehicles costs these orders will almost certainly have paid well below minimum wage.
How does this vary for vehicle type?
The average £/mile varies a lot by vehicle type. At the top end are cyclists who get paid the most per mile. The lowest pay is for car drivers.
Which orders pay the highest and lowest £/mile?
Unsurprisingly short orders have a much higher pay per mile than long orders. This means that you will definitely spend less on fuel and vehicle costs by completing short orders but the flip side is that you are likely to spend more time waiting for orders or idle between orders.