Looking to get your favorite food delivered right to your door? Well, look no further than Lyft Delivery.
With this program, you can order food and other items from local businesses. Lyft will deliver them straight to your doorstep.
In this article, we will provide an overview of how the Lyft Delivery program works.
You’ll learn details about pricing and participating businesses. We will also provide information for Lyft drivers interested in becoming a part of this growing program.
Does Lyft Do Delivery?
Yes, Lyft now offers a delivery service in select markets across the United States.
The program allows customers to get a wide range of items delivered, such as retail products, auto parts, and home goods.
If you want food, groceries or other goods delivered to your door, here are your current best alternative options:
- Uber Eats — Get food delivered from local restaurants. Tends to focus more on chain restaurants, but you’ll find some independent restaurants as well.
- Postmates — Get food (or just about anything else that’s legal) delivered.
- DoorDash — Offers food delivery, plain and simple.
- Grubhub — Similar to DoorDash but with a larger reach, Grubhub offers food delivery.
- Instacart — If you need groceries delivered, this is an excellent option.
How Does Lyft Delivery Work?
If you’re wondering how to use Lyft Delivery, it’s simple.
To order a delivery, open the Lyft app and select the ‘Delivery’ option at the bottom of the screen.
You can enter your delivery address and browse through a list of available businesses.
After finding what you need, add the item to your cart and checkout. It’s that easy.
Is There a Separate App for Lyft Delivery?
No, there is not a separate app for Lyft Delivery. You can access the delivery feature directly from the main Lyft app.
Open the app and look for the ‘Delivery’ tab to get started.
Download the app on Google Play or the App Store.
Where Is Lyft Delivery Available?
Lyft Delivery isn’t available in all the cities where Lyft’s rideshare service exists. The company rolled out the delivery option in a few select cities to start the program.
The Lyft Delivery program is available in larger markets like the following.
- San Francisco
- Atlanta
- Indianapolis
- Austin
- New York
- Houston
- Dallas
- San Antonio
- Seattle
- Orlando
- Phoenix
- San Diego
To find out if you can use Lyft Delivery in your area, open your Lyft app and look for the delivery option.
If you don’t see it yet, keep checking back periodically. Lyft will continue to open new markets for this service across North America.
What Can You Get Delivered From Lyft?
The delivery program from Lyft allows you to order items for delivery.
1. Items Less Than 50 Pounds
The main stipulation that Lyft places on delivering any item is that it must weigh 50 pounds or less.
2. Retails Items
You can order retail items like clothing, cosmetics, and technology accessories from Lyft’s trusted partners.
Some of the smaller items you can get delivered include the following.
- Toiletries
- Auto parts
- Grocery items
- Medical supplies
3. Food From Restaurants
If you’re looking to have a hot meal delivered, Lyft Delivery can help.
The company partnered with several restaurants in each market to provide this service.
Lyft partnered with a company called Olo Dispatch to service restaurant orders.
Olo’s Dispatch product helps restaurants partner with apps like the Lyft app.
Lower fees are one of the interesting aspects of the partnership between Lyft and Olo.
Restaurants must pay a large delivery fee to other food delivery outfits like DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub.
These fees can go as high as 30%, making them a big part of a restaurant’s expenses as it tries to compete in this area.
With Olo, the customers pay this fee.
Customers won’t notice much of a difference because restaurants already pass most of these fees onto them when using food delivery apps.
However, many restaurants may start favoring Lyft over other delivery apps.
As they do, Lyft delivery customers may even see their overall rates go down a little.
4. Prescriptions
If you need to get a prescription delivered, Lyft has you covered. The company will pick up and deliver your prescription from the pharmacy of your choice.
Did you know?
Great alternatives to this program are Instacart prescription delivery and Uber pharmacy.
How Much Does Lyft Delivery Cost?
The cost of a Lyft Delivery varies depending on a few factors.
- Distance: The further your delivery is, the more it will cost.
- Weight of the item: Heavier items will also cost more to deliver.
- Value of the item: If you’re ordering a valuable item, you’ll pay a little more for insurance purposes.
In addition to these other factors, there is also a delivery fee. The delivery fee helps to cover the cost of the driver’s time and vehicle expenses.
To get an estimate of how much your Lyft Delivery will cost, open the app and enter your delivery address.
Once you’ve selected what you want to have delivered, you can view an estimate for the total cost.
How to Request a Delivery From Lyft
Requesting a Lyft Delivery is easy and takes only a few steps to complete.
- Open the app and select ‘Delivery.’
- Enter your delivery address.
- Choose what you want to have delivered from the list of available items.
- View the estimate for the total cost of your order.
- Select ‘Place Your Order.’
After the steps above are complete, you’ll receive notifications about your order as it gets prepared and picked up.
Once the driver arrives, they’ll let you know they’re there.
You’ll need to be present to sign for your delivery.
How to Cancel an Order
If you need to cancel your Lyft Delivery for any reason, you can do so up to 30 minutes before your driver arrives.
- To cancel your order, open the app and go to your ‘Delivery’ tab.
- Select ‘Cancel Order,’ and confirm that you want to cancel.
If you have any trouble canceling your order, you can always contact Lyft customer support.
As with any other food delivery service app or Lyft’s rideshare services, communication is the key to a pleasant experience.
If you have any questions or concerns about your order, contact the driver directly.
You should let the driver know about parking challenges or any other delivery instructions before they arrive.
For example, will your driver need to know how to get into your apartment to complete the delivery to you? Or, is your office on the 9th floor and there is no elevator?
If you can’t be there in person, you can provide instructions on where to leave your order.
If you do this, make sure that the location is safe and accessible for the driver.
Lyft Delivery for Drivers
If you’re already a Lyft driver, you might wonder how this newer service works for you.
Is it worth it? Can it help you pick up extra work?
Let’s find out the answers to these and other questions.
Do You Have To Deliver?
No, you don’t have to deliver if you don’t want to.
You can still give rides and pick up passengers like normal. Lyft gives you the option to opt into this program or not.
If you don’t sign up now, you can always sign up at a later date.
You can also sign up now, try it, and then opt-out if you don’t enjoy doing deliveries.
Can You Deliver and Drive Riders at the Same Time?
No, you can’t deliver and drive at the same time.
If you’re in the middle of a delivery, you won’t get any notifications to pick up any passengers.
Once you complete a delivery, the app will allow you to accept both types of rides again.
Staying busy is one of the things that Lyft delivery drivers already like about the program.
There are times when rideshares aren’t as available as you would like.
If you join the Lyft Delivery program, it gives you more opportunities to earn money.
Sitting in your car waiting for rides doesn’t help you.
With deliveries as another option for making money, you may find that your overall income rises.
Not dealing with people in your vehicle is another benefit that some Lyft delivery drivers point out.
You can listen to the music you want to since the package you’re delivering won’t mind.
Further, you won’t need to worry if the package drank too much, resulting in a mess in your backseat.
How Much Do You Make on Deliveries?
You make about the same per delivery as a Lyft passenger ride.
You should earn the typical $15 to $30 per hour, depending on the length of each delivery trip.
How Do You Sign Up To Deliver?
If you’re interested in becoming a Lyft Delivery driver, Lyft makes the process simple for you.
Step by Step Instructions
Sign in to your Lyft driver account.
Then, go to this page on the Lyft website.
You’ll need to take the Lyft Deliveries course to get started.
The course breaks down into three categories.
- Intro to defensive driving
- Safe food delivery
- Responding to sexual misconduct
You may have already taken the defensive driving and sexual misconduct classes in the past.
If so, you’ll need to focus on the “Safe food delivery” course.
It only takes two minutes to complete.
In it, you’ll learn about your state’s food carrying requirements.
The course discusses the importance of keeping each package or container closed.
Make sure none of the packages you pick up look tampered with or damaged.
Some locations ask to see your identification during pickups.
Make sure to bring your license and phone in with you.
You’ll learn that you need a cooler to keep cold food below 40 degrees Fahrenheit.
Hot foods must remain above 140 degrees Fahrenheit.
Upon dropping off any type of delivery, the course reveals that some organizations want you to take pictures of the delivered packages.
The driver app should prompt you when you need to take a picture.
Other delivery types may ask you to check the recipient’s ID before leaving packages with them.
The last four points the course leaves you with is this summary.
- Always deliver packages in their original packaging and unopened
- Hot foods must remain above 140 degrees
- Cold foods must remain below 40 degrees
- Practice proper hygiene and stay home if you feel sick
That’s it…you’re now ready to start accepting Lyft Delivery trips on your quest to earn additional money.
Lyft recommends that you always check your app for the delivery instructions area.
If you need to call the organization making the delivery, you can tap the phone icon.
It’s located next to the pickup address in your Lyft driver app.
If you can’t find a package, you can use the red triangle to cancel the ride.
Wrapping Up
Lyft Delivery makes it easy for customers to get items delivered and for Lyft drivers to improve their incomes.
If you’re a customer, open your Lyft app to see if Lyft delivers in your area. If so, give it a try.
If you’re a Lyft driver, take the required course and sign in to start making deliveries for customers.
Don’t bother applying to be a GoShare driver if you’re female. They’ll say you’re “not a good fit”, even if you possess all the qualifications and pass their exams.