Key Takeaways
- Block scheduling allows drivers to pick shifts that fit their personal schedules.
- Scheduled drivers get order priority, ensuring consistent work and earnings.
- Flexible scheduling enhances work-life balance and driver satisfaction.
- Successfully committing to blocks can elevate your Grubhub driver level, offering more perks.
What Is Block Scheduling?
Block scheduling is an efficient time management strategy used by many industries. At its core, it divides a schedule into fixed time slots and helps efficiently distribute resources.
In the context of food delivery apps, drivers are the most important resource. Managing the driver workforce can be challenging since most of them are simultaneously active during peak work hours. This leads to two problems.
First, there’s a surplus of drivers between noon and late evening, most of them unable to find work since there aren’t enough orders for everyone to take.
This leads to the second issue: there’s a shortage of active drivers to deliver orders between nighttime and early morning.
Grubhub solves this issue by letting the drivers arrange the schedule by themselves through the Grubhub app. We’ll explain how it works.
How GrubHub Scheduling Works
Grubhub scheduling divides the day into segments known as time blocks. Grubhub drivers pick suitable blocks and create shifts that fit into their personal schedules.
Block shifts are highly customizable. For example, if you’re free for a few hours on Tuesday morning, Grubhub scheduling lets you choose a short morning shift.
On the other hand, if you’re completely free on Friday, you can commit to a day shift.
Naturally, some time blocks are more profitable than others, such as the ones around lunch and dinner time.
How does Grubhub prevent all its drivers from flocking to specific blocks?
Each block allows for a limited number of drivers based on the demand, and filling up the quota works in a “first come, first serve” fashion.
Do I Have to Schedule Blocks to Use Grubhub?
You don’t have to schedule blocks to work as a Grubhub driver, even though you’d miss out on the advantages that I have outlined below.
Instead, you can opt for “Available Now” deliveries, which are more flexible since all you have to do is log in and start working anytime.
With ‘Available Now,’ you make no commitments when working and will receive no penalties if something unexpected comes up during a work day and prevents you from working.
On the downside, you’ll only be picked for deliveries if scheduled drivers aren’t available, and there’s no guarantee of predictable or consistent earnings.
How Your Driver Recognition Level Affects Grubhub Scheduling
Grubhub’s driver recognition program evaluates each driver’s performance and assigns them a level.
Drivers with high levels enjoy extra perks when scheduling blocks. Most notably, the perks include early access to high-demand blocks and general access to exclusive, lucrative time slots.
The driver recognition program benefits experienced and new Grubhub drivers alike since the level isn’t determined by factors like account age or the number of deliveries.
Instead, Grubhub drivers are evaluated every Monday based on their performance in the previous 14 days. Having good stats, such as a high completion rate and many deliveries made on time, improves your Grubhub recognition level.
Improving Your Level As a Grubhub Driver
To improve your level, you must understand what the driver recognition program looks for and how it evaluates your stats.
During the first 20 deliveries made on your account, you’ll have the Entry Driver level, which doesn’t offer any special perks. After 20 deliveries, you’ll be placed into one of three levels: Partner, Pro, or Premier.
Your level is determined by three stats, the first being your commitment rate. It’s based on how many orders you accept and follow through with.
A commitment rate of less than 80% lands you in Partner, 80-95% is enough for Pro, and more than 95% gets you to Premier.
Another statistic is the “on-time arrival at merchant rate,” based on how quickly you arrive at restaurants to pick up an order. A rate of less than 70% gets you into Partner, 70-80% is for Pro, and Premier is for 80% or more.
Finally, your schedule commitment rate is based on how many Grubhub scheduling blocks you complete and how often you drop blocks.
The Partner category is for scores smaller than 80%, Pro is for 80-95%, and Premier is for anything above 95%.
Scheduling Blocks: What Are the Advantages?
Here are the top advantages of scheduling blocks on Grubhub for drivers:
1. Task Priority
Since scheduling blocks show a driver’s dedication and reliability, the application prioritizes their accounts and directs orders to them instead of unscheduled Grubhub drivers.
Not only does getting priority on orders make you more money during peak demand times, but it also improves your schedule commitment rate.
2. Guaranteed Work
Whether you drive for Grubhub as a side gig or deliver orders for a living, you certainly want guaranteed work with a reliable income stream.
Grubhub scheduling provides you with both of these boons during your scheduled time slot. This guarantee is invaluable since you won’t have to spend most of your working hours waiting for orders to pop up on your screen.
3. Flexible Schedule
Scheduling personalized time blocks allows for a flexible schedule based on your lifestyle and external commitments. This flexibility is vital for those who work other jobs or treat Grubhub as a side gig.
Additionally, flexible schedules allow for a better work-life balance, which leads to fewer burnouts, improved productivity, and better physical and mental health.
4. Optimizes Your Time on the Road
Block scheduling is a win-win situation both for the driver and the platform. For Grubhub, it allows them to strategically deploy their drivers and ensures maximum coverage throughout the entire day.
As for the driver, having a scheduled shift means you won’t have to compete with others over tasks. Instead, you’ll have consistent, guaranteed work throughout your chosen time slot.
This can be immensely lucrative if you choose high-demand blocks.
5. Hourly Rate
Another advantage of Grubhub’s block scheduling is the potential hourly rate. Given that your market has a guaranteed minimum, Grubhub will pay you hourly if you accept 90% of orders within a time block.
For example, if a block’s guaranteed minimum is $15 per hour, and you only get one order in a five-hour shift, Grubhub will pay the remaining $60 to you.
This feature is an incentive for taking those slower time slots that nobody wants.
6. Boosts Your Driver Level
Successfully committing to scheduled blocks improves your Grubhub stats, which can elevate your driver level. A higher level means extra Grubhub perks and privileges that increase your potential profit.
Brett’s Take: Thoughts From an Expert
I’ve talked to quite a few drivers about how scheduling blocks impacts their chances of getting more or better offers. Overall, it seems that the benefit of scheduling may depend on individual markets and times.
Some drivers report seeing an impact on quantity and quality, while other drivers report noticing a minimal change.
I have also noticed that while scheduled, I have received more frequent offers, but not necessarily ones of higher value than those I receive while not scheduled.
However, scheduling blocks can lead to more consistent back-to-back orders, especially during busy times, which can oftentimes increase earnings overall.
How to Choose the Block for You
Choosing the right time blocks is a way to ensure a relaxing, productive work week. Therefore, before setting up your work schedule, evaluate your personal schedule to identify when you can completely commit to delivering orders.
In addition, consider peak demand hours, such as breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Adaptability is essential if you want to make as much money as possible. You need to be open to occasionally dropping blocks and setting new ones based on factors such as seasonal variations and holidays.
Block Release Times
When you first sign up as a driver, you’ll find that scheduling blocks absolutely isn’t as simple as you might expect, as all the good shifts are most likely taken.
While time blocks don’t have a standard release time, the time when they become available to schedule can vary depending on the market, as well as Grubhub’s area policies.
On the upside, block release times are communicated in advance through the app. This way, Grubhub drivers gain some time to plan their schedules in advance.
Dropping Scheduled Blocks
Grubhub understands that unforeseen circumstances may arise at any point, which is why they allow you to drop blocks within the same minute you add them.
Nevertheless, if you’re unable to commit to a shift, click ‘Drop Block’ as soon as possible so your fellow drivers can quickly pick it up instead.
On the other hand, if you consistently drop blocks within 72 hours of scheduling, it shows a lack of commitment and can lead to penalties such as restricted access to Grubhub scheduling or a decreased attendance rate.
Final Thoughts
Grubhub encourages its drivers to use block scheduling mode as it utilizes the platform’s resources more efficiently.
Block scheduling divides the day into time slots and lets drivers choose shifts that fit into their personal schedules.
To craft your perfect shift, consider your schedule, the area’s peak hours, and market demand. If you later decide you can’t commit to a block you chose, it’s best to drop it as quickly as possible.
