Why I don't recommend Favor delivery

Favor claims to be "fun and rewarding!" to deliver for. My experiences have been anything but.

For one thing, they pay their drivers $2 per trip. This does not account for time spent or distance traveled. They did kick in an extra bonus for the rising gas prices--a hefty 50 cents per delivery.

The bonus is also temporary.

This is similar to most of the "rewards" Favor offers: if you run four Favors today after 5 pm, you get an extra $20. If you run 10 Favors today, you get an extra $100.

It feels like chasing a carrot on a stick. Their so-called "rewards" are barely even a fair wage.

They do mandate a tip from the customer, but that's only an extra $2 unless the customer decides to tip more. You know who tips the best? College students. The other night a college student tipped me $3 more than someone living in a swanky apartment, and I took twice as long to deliver to the student.

(I'll get to that in a minute.)

If Favor actually wants their customers to be happy, they need to pay their drivers more. At least $10 per trip.

Oh, but you can sign on to the schedule for more money!

First of all: the selling point of working "for" Favor is the flexibility. If I have to stick to a schedule just to receive a fair wage, then the job isn't actually as flexible as it claims to be.

Second: I've tried. I don't know if it changed over the years because my memory isn't that great about certain things, but you can go "on call" for one hour blocks of time... which is exactly the same as opening the map and selecting "run."

I also didn't see any difference in pay.

Wanna know what their current referral deal is? They're offering an $800 bonus--if the referred runner completes 100 favors within 30 days.

So, sure, if you still want to become a runner after this article, you can use my code to sign up. It's VICTJ3R.

Just be aware that they're also offering their customers a paid survey opportunity. For $100, you get to sit in a room and tell them what you want. No scrambling to get food to the client before it gets cold, no dealing with actual employees, no frustrated circling the building because apparently apartment complex planners do not actually plan on anyone visiting. Just an hour or so of talking.

Speaking of which: you're an independent contractor. No healthcare for you, go fetch. They do offer free car insurance--but only while you're driving for Favor. The rest of the time? You're on your own.

This might seem reasonable if you only look at it from a business standpoint, but it shows a complete lack of regard for their runners' wellbeing outside of work. Reasonable or not, that's an awful mindset to get used to.

They don't even offer in-app messaging, and in my opinion that's a serious design flaw. In order to message the customer, you have to use your own phone number. You text them normally until the run has been completed, and then it tells you to not message them anymore.

Because of this, you cannot update all of your information on your own.

I found this out in the middle of a run. I've had the same number for the entire time I've owned a phone, so I'm not used to changing it. I wasn't planning on using Favor again, because the pay is abysmal.

Enter the customer who lives in an apartment.

I go to ask for clarifying information about the location, and I find that I cannot. No big deal, I think, I'll just change it.

I cannot.

Frantically, I try to find the helpline, and find that the call-in number has been disabled. They were receiving a lot of calls due to covid, you see. Well, we're still experiencing covid, so that's fair enough, but why leave the number up for everyone to try in vain? At least take it down.

When I text the other help hotline at a different number, they don't respond immediately. I flag down a confused resident, who goes to the keypad and punches in a few numbers.

In retrospect, I should have gathered that the display had told me from the very beginning to input the code so I could enter the building, but the only thing it actually said was "dial these numbers and the pound sign," so I thought that I was misunderstanding how to call a specific resident from outside the building, and the audio was way too soft to hear. Also, if you're going to bother requiring a code for the door.... why give out the code for everyone to see? It didn't make any sense to me, which is why I didn't figure it out on my own.

When I finally saw the answer to my text, it was from an entirely different number and I had already made the delivery.

Changing my number required:

• Inputting my basic information
• inputting the last four digits of my runner card
• inputting the last deposit Favor made to my account

This might seem very simple here, but it was a lot more complicated than I expected. I'm allowed to change my email at a whim, but changing my number required two fetchquests and someone else's authorization. I then had to reply "Yes" to the email they sent me, which was, for some reason, in a format that made the font smaller and harder to read, and only then could my number change.

Reader, I picked up another Favor after this.

I know. It doesn't make sense. I was afraid my account would be dinged if I turned down the delivery. Why, I don't know--I'm not planning on sticking with this for very long. I just don't like the thought of ruining my chances.

For unrelated reasons, my phone had died, someone had stolen my car charger from my car, and I had to go home before I could complete the delivery. I'm sure the person wondered what on earth I was doing, and I'm sorry, that was awful. I did grab a phone bank so that I could continue my journey, but it only lasted so long.

How long?

The delivery took me two. hours.

That is ridiculous.

First of all, the map didn't take me to the correct location. Second, I couldn't figure out where to park, so I parked one parking lot over, thinking it would be simple to walk one lot over and deliver the food.

Unfortunately, apartment planners do not know how to number their buildings in ways that anyone else can understand.

The majority of my delivery time was spent walking, trying to figure out if I was going the right way. You know what would have prevented all of that?

In-app messaging. Or, at the very least, the ability to change my information without requiring a trip through a padlocked maze.

(The college student STILL tipped me $5, and I'm incredibly grateful. I can't tell them because I can't message anyone after a delivery is completed. You know who tipped $2? The lady in the swanky apartment who got her order in less than half the time.

Her apartment building had absolutely no visitor parking, by the way. I had to park in the loading zone.)

I did try to figure out if the second delivery would be going to an apartment building before I accepted it, but it wouldn't let me check. The only address it provided me with was the address of the restaurant.

I mentioned before that I've also used the app on the customer side of things, and they don't use any pictures for the products. Now, I know those aren't strictly necessary, but it really helps to have a visual when you're ordering something. The product listings aren't always accurate, either--some items aren't in the store but are on the app, and some items aren't in the app but are in the store. I gave up on ordering from Central Market entirely. It just would not work for me.

The app doesn't always check to see if the store is open either, so sometimes the driver shows up and there's nothing to be done. Once that happens, the driver is the one who has to cancel the order.

The driver is also the one who has to order the food, which might not be a good or a bad thing. I didn't know this on my first delivery in spite of attending orientation, which is either due to an omission or ADHD, and I don't know which.

(Orientation is a single meeting where they project onto a screen, tell you the basics, and then send you off to work on your own. No shadowing anyone, which might be awkward but would've helped. The meeting was also so close to closing time that the guy rushed everyone out of there, even though I wanted to buy some merchandise.

I regret that purchase. The cooler is handy, though.)

Even if you chalk a lot of this up to my own mistakes, they have a bad app design and low pay. I know that delivery is expensive on the customer's end, but they could deign to actually pay employees and give them healthcare and a proper wage. Instead, they chose to deny as much liability as they possibly could, and I really think the customer and drivers suffer for it.

Still wanna work for them?