Southern Indiana Business March-April 2020 | Page 31

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Desiree
Shepherd
Customer service by day,
delivery driver by night
Desiree Shepherd cruises down Veter-
ans Parkway, the radio up and window
down. It’s Thursday night and the streets
are packed. It’s almost like she’s out old-
school cruising, but the route she drives
isn’t determined by where the cool kids
hang out.
Shepherd is on her way from Buffalo
Wild Wings in Clarksville to an address
in Jeffersonville, delivering an order of
wings as a driver for GrubHub. Most
companies pay a flat rate per delivery,
she said -- this one is just over $11,
which includes the GrubHub rate and any
pre-paid tip. She keeps any cash tip on
top of that amount, and can write off the
mileage on her taxes. As soon as she hits
the “Delivery Complete” button on her
driver’s app, the next order rings up and
she’s off to KFC.
During the day, Shepherd works from
home as a customer-service representa-
tive for United HealthCare. And several
days a week, she delivers for not only
GrubHub, but Door Dash and, occasion-
ally, Postmates.
She gets the most work on weekend
nights, when she says she can bring
home upwards of $200 a night. But if
she can’t work one of those shifts — or
just doesn’t want to — she doesn’t log
in. “That’s the bonus,” she said. “You set
your own schedule, you are your own
boss. You get out of it what you put into
it.”
Shepherd and her husband, Jay, got
interested in food delivery after his
schedule and some health issues inter-
fered with traditional working hours. For
him it’s a full-time gig — he works most
Desiree returns to the car with order in hand as she prepares to complete the delivery.
days delivering orders — and Desi picks
up the weekend shifts after she gets off
work. Her 13-year-old son, James, even
gets in on the action, often riding along
and sometimes taking point running the
delivery up to its designated front door.
Her advice for people interested in
delivery driving is to jump in when it’s
busy. “If you really want to get a feel for
how fast-paced it can be, start on a week-
end,” she said. “Start on a Friday or Sat-
urday around 3 in the afternoon and run
until you just can’t run any more. You’ll
really get to see how busy it can be, and
you’ll realize the potential of what you
can earn if you really invest time into it.”
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