Students reflect on jobs at Postmates, Favor

By Emily Shen     10/20/15 7:50pm

For hungry Owls waiting for a late-night food delivery, a car pulling up to campus is a welcome sight. What they might not expect is a Rice student behind the wheel delivering their pizza.

Crowd-sourced mobile apps like Postmates and Favor can be found in most major cities, and in Houston where driving is a necessity, these services are highly popular. Several Rice students have taken advantage of the opportunity to work as drivers for these services, including Jones College junior Sam Carroll.

Last semester, Carroll was saving money for an off-campus apartment and felt his job at the Rice Telefund was not enough.

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“I had gotten to the point where I said, ‘I will wait tables if I have to,’” Carroll said. “It wasn’t the most luxurious thing I’ve ever done ... but it was effective.”

So he began working for Postmates and Favor in addition to the Telefund. Carroll said he found Favor paid better, since it guaranteed an hourly wage and better tips, while Postmates paid based on distance driven. Carroll said he enjoyed exploring the city, but felt that deliveries to fellow students at Rice were often uncomfortable.

“It’s awkward because I have to do this, and you don’t want to look like you [are struggling financially],” Carroll said. “Everyone else seems to not struggle with money and financial situations, or at least it seems that way at Rice, like everyone seems to be doing everything perfectly.”

Martel College senior JJ Allred said he decided to work for Favor during the summer because of the ease of entry into the position. Allred worked the late shift, from 8 p.m. to 3 a.m. However, he found 3 a.m. to be an unreliable end time.

“You don’t get off at three; you’re off whenever you’re done with whatever got ordered,” Allred said. “People on weekends get home at 2:40 [a.m.] and they order something, and there’s only 12 people on shift usually, so you get slammed with two orders at 2:40, and then you don’t get home until four in the morning.”

He also said he was suspicious of Favor’s management. Favor deliverers report to their shift moderators when they have a problem with a customer. However, Allred speculated that moderators sometimes gave free orders to friends.

“You can tell they know each other because if you have a problem with a customer, you just text the moderator ‘Hey, this person’s doing whatever,’ and then they say ‘Oh, he’s always like that, just leave it on the door, he’ll pay for it later’ or something,” Allred said. 

Payments are not well-documented, and deliverers are not paid until three days after the delivery. Many employees do hundreds of deliveries a week and forget to check specific payments.

Allred said some customers never paid at all. He recalled one who ordered $200 worth of food. Allred was excited about the large tip he would receive, but the customer never paid.

“People steal all the time,” Allred said.

Nevertheless, Allred said he feels he was compensated fairly, averaging $10 to $11 per hour.

Both Carroll and Allred said they would recommend their jobs to Rice students who want quick or extra spending money. However, for students who want a more substantial income, Allred recommends looking elsewhere.

“I think I would do it again,” Allred said. “But only as a summer job.”

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