Jobs In The Gig Economy - US Gig Workers

The U.S. Department of Labor doesn’t track the number of jobs in the gig economy. Gig workers are independent contractors. Technically they’re not reported to the Department of Labor because gig workers aren’t employees. At the end of the year gig workers receive a 1099 for their earnings but that information goes to the IRS in conjunction with the Social Security Administration.

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If you’re looking for jobs in the gig economy you’ll have a lot more choices than if you were looking for a regular job. Regular jobs usually require experience and education. Most gig jobs require nothing more than a clean driving record and the successful completion of a background check. Even with a criminal record, most gigs will hire you as long as you haven’t been in trouble for the past 7 years.

The majority of jobs in the gig economy fall into three categories – Delivery, Rideshare, and Services.

Delivery – Delivery gigs are by far responsible for more job opportunities than the other categories. You can deliver building supplies, groceries, prescriptions, beauty supplies, video games and accessories, paint, gas grills, ice cream, Starbucks coffee, and on and on. We’ll break down the most common delivery gigs below.

Rideshare – Rideshare services such as Uber and Lyft are what started the gig economy. They were the first gig jobs and were met with resistance from cab companies, police, and some cities. Today Uber in particular is synonymous with needing a ride.

Services – If you love pets, there are gig jobs you’ll love as an independent contractor. If you’re a painter, handyman, carpenter, or roofer, there are gig jobs you’ll love. If you’re a computer geek or know IT, programming, web design or WordPress, there are gig jobs waiting for you.

Delivery Jobs in The Gig Economy

Delivery gigs could be delivering food, groceries, prescriptions, or a variety of general merchandise such as products from Walmart, Home Depot or Lowe’s. Most of the deliveries are easy. Some require a large vehicle with trailer. For some of the deliveries you’ll have to go into the store and shop for the items.

Our recommendation is to first find the type of delivery you love, whether it’s food, prescriptions, groceries, or packages containing general merchandise. Once you’ve discovered your passion, sign up for every appropriate gig and do them all. You don’t have to do just one gig. Check all the apps and grab the delivery that works best for you.

The most common delivery gigs are

DoorDash¹
Grubhub²
Roadie³
Spark⁴
Uber Eats⁵

DoorDash is the best known food delivery service. You pick up the order at a restaurant and deliver it to the customer. DoorDash deliveries sometimes include shopping for the order. Sometimes you order from a restaurant that isn’t on the DoorDash platform and wait for the food to be prepared. If it’s a Home Depot order, you’ll have to go into the store, shop for the items, and pay using a prepaid DoorDash card.

Grubhub is another food delivery service. It has nowhere near the brand recognition that DoorDash and Uber Eats do but it might be a viable option if you prefer food delivery.

Roadie is a third-party delivery service that coordinates deliveries for many major retail stores such as Walmart, Home Depot, Tractor Supply, PetSmart, and several pharmacy chains such as CVS and Osco Drug. The major benefit of Roadie is that you can see a list of items included in the order. The last thing you want is to arrive at Home Depot in a Toyota Camry and find out you’re picking up a fully assembled gas grill.

Spark is a delivery platform owned by Walmart. Most deliveries are grocery orders from Walmart. These can be a single order, double, or triple. The pay is decent but some of the orders can be huge. You’ll also be expected to deliver to multi-story apartment buildings with no elevator. Since the customer is always right and Walmart doesn’t want to lose a single sale, you must do whatever it takes to delivery the order.

Walmart also offers a while label delivery service called Walmart GoLocal. This allows major retailers to offer delivery to customers in a seamless integration with their shopping carts. These deliveries are completed by Spark drivers. The most noted stores that use GoLocal are Home Depot, Sally Beauty, GameStop, Sherwin-Williams, and Advance Auto. For all of these stores you simply pick up the orders at the customer counter and deliver them to the customer(s).

Uber Eats is now a mixed bag of deliveries. It includes food delivery from restaurants but also includes pretty much every other type of delivery. You might pick up general merchandise packages from Walmart. You might have to go into stores and do the shopping for the items in the order. The truly sad aspect of Uber Eats is the base pay. Uber always takes its cut whether it’s a passenger trip or store delivery. Since so many workers in the gig economy are willing to work for peanuts, Uber jumped on the band wagon, lowered its base pay, and is taking a larger cut of the delivery fee it charges to the stores.

Rideshare Jobs in The Gig Economy

If you’re looking for the absolute easiest gig job then rideshare is definitely it. No delivering groceries to a third floor apartment, no shopping for orders, no hoping you can deliver food to a real shitty neighborhood before something bad happens. If you can drive, you can make money as a professional rideshare driver.

By far Uber⁶ and Lyft⁷ are the two best known rideshare gigs. There are over a dozen lesser-known rideshare gigs but we’ll focus on Uber and Lyft because they’re the most used apps and are the easiest to get started with.

Lyft has an extremely thorough background check. If you’ve ever been convicted of any type of felony you probably won’t pass the background check. Some misdemeanors will also disqualify you from driving. Uber recognizes the Second Chance Initiative and gives felons a break as long the crime wasn’t violent and occurred more than 7 years ago. If you’re able to pass the Lyft background check, you’ll clear the Uber check with no problem.

There are a few considerations when deciding whether you want to become a rideshare driver. How safe is your area? How many other rideshare drivers are already in your area? As a general rule, the larger your area, the more rideshare drivers you’ll find. The best places to drive are rural or suburban areas where the population is spread out. You’ll find the most passengers in the cities but that’s also where you’ll find the most Uber and Lyft drivers. They’re usually parked on every street corner.

Service Jobs in The Gig Economy

These are the gig jobs most people overlook. Angi (formerly Angie’s List) is a gig job. List the services you offer and wait for the bookings to roll in.

Similar to Angi, Mr. Handyman is considered a gig job because everything can do done through an app. This is probably the most expensive gig job because you’re required to invest in a franchise and have tons of equipment. If you’re a retired carpenter or plumber, Angi might be the perfect opportunity for you to pocket some extra cash without going back to working full-time.

If you love pets, Rover is a gig job. You can offer pet sitting services in your home or in the customer’s home. List the types of pets you specialize in, include your preferred pet sitting hours and location, and wait for the calls or texts to come. Typical services include pet boarding, pet sitting, pet walking, and pet drop-in visits.

If you’re a computer geek, IT specialist, programmer, data analyst, WordPress guru, Shopify nerd, or have any specialized computer knowledge, there’s a gig job for you. Fiverr is a freelance marketplace where you can offer your services. Customers post the jobs they need done. They can either contact you based on the skills listed on your profile, or you can look through the job postings and contact them.

Sign Up For Jobs in The Gig Economy

The above sign-up links are NOT affiliate links. We do not earn a referral bonus or any type of incentive if you sign up for any of the gig jobs listed on this page or anywhere on this site.

Be sure to join one or all of our gig worker groups. Our Admins are full-time gig workers and are constantly in the groups to help newbies and answer any questions they can.

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