Can you pick up your own Uber Eats order? You may be asking yourself this question if you’re thinking about ordering food through Uber Eats.
In short, you absolutely can pick up your own Uber Eats orders. Here’s how it works.
Uber Eats has two main types of ordering systems. The first is delivery, where you can place an order in the app and get it delivered to you by a Uber Eats driver. This is the most common way to use Uber Eats – you place an order and a driver delivers it to you.
The second way to get your order is by placing an order for pick up via the Uber Eats app. When you do this, the restaurant receives your order, they you go and pick it up yourself when it’s ready.
In this post, we’ll take a quick look at how you can pick up your own Uber Eats order and why you might want to do that rather than have it delivered to you.
Can You Pick Up Your Own Uber Eats Order?
As previously stated, yes, you can pick up your own Uber Eats order. To do so, first, log into the Uber Eats app. At the top of the Uber Eats app, you’ll see various options, Rather than selecting delivery, you’ll want to select the pickup option.
When you click pickup, you’ll be able to see a map of your area, along with all the restaurants that offer pickup. Unlike delivery orders, pickup orders are not limited by your location, so you can place a pickup order at a restaurant far away from you.
After placing your order, you’ll get a message that tells you when your order will be ready. You can then go to the restaurant and pick up your order. Most restaurants will only ask for your name, but some might ask you to show them your phone. From there, you’ll just get your order and eat wherever you want.
In a few cities, Uber Eats also offers “dine-in” options. This is similar to pickup, but rather than leaving with the food, it’ll allow you to place an order ahead of time and eat at the restaurant. The main reason you’d use the “dine-in” option is if you want to avoid the line.
Placing pickup orders has some advantages compared to delivery. The main thing is that it allows you to avoid the delivery and service fees that Uber Eats typically charges – indeed, there are no fees for placing a pickup order. That being said, it is important to know that while Uber Eats might not charge a fee, many restaurants will charge higher prices for orders placed through the Uber Eats app to offset the commissions they pay to Uber Eats. As a result, you might not save money on a pickup order if the restaurant marks up the prices.
The other potential advantage is that you don’t necessarily need to tip on pickup orders. With Uber Eats delivery orders, tipping is highly recommended because, while Uber Eats drivers can’t see if you tipped, they can generally tell if the customer tipped. As a result, if the customer didn’t tip, the order will likely be a low-paying order and many drivers won’t accept the order. In contrast, with pickup orders, restaurants will always prepare your order, even if you don’t tip. Indeed, most of the time, there isn’t even an option to leave a tip for restaurants in the Uber Eats app.
That being said, you may still want to consider tipping when you place a pickup order, as restaurant workers do deserve tips for preparing your order. The practical imperative to do so, however, isn’t as important, so it is an additional expense you can avoid if you want.
Can You Pick Up Your Own Uber Eats Order As a Delivery Driver?
Another question people often ask me is whether you can pick up your own order as an Uber Eats driver. A common situation is when you place an order for pickup via the Uber Eats app and are also logged into your Uber Eats app. The hope is that you can get assigned your own order, allowing you to pick up your own food and earn a bit of money for it too.
The answer is that, theoretically, yes, you can get assigned your own Uber Eats order. However, in practice, it’s unpredictable whether you’ll get assigned your own order.
Whenever I place an Uber Eats pickup order, I often also turn on the Uber Eats driver app in hopes of getting assigned my own order. Unfortunately, I haven’t had much luck getting my own order assigned to me, and it’s only happened a handful of times. The Uber Eats algorithm and how it assigns orders is fairly random and even when I’m in front of the restaurant, Uber Eats will often assign the order to someone farther away. I have no idea why they do this, but it’s been my experience that the algorithm seems pretty random.
If you want to get your own order assigned to you, your best bet is to be near the restaurant and not leave a tip. If you don’t leave a tip, the payout will be low, and hopefully, that will deter other Uber Eats drivers from accepting the order, making it more likely that Uber Eats might send the order to you. There’s no guarantee that it’ll work, but it is a strategy you can use (and one I’ve used in the past).
Final Thoughts
When it comes to whether you can pick up your own Uber Eats order, the answer is yes you can, both as a customer and potentially as a delivery driver.
For customers, picking up your own order comes with some advantages – mainly you can get your food faster and avoid paying delivery fees and tips.
For Uber Eats drivers, whether or not you can pick up your own order is ultimately going to be fairly random and there’s no guarantee you can get assigned your own order, even if it seems obvious you should. To give yourself the best chance of getting your own order, try to make your order as unattractive as possible – i.e. don’t leave a tip and consider ordering from a restaurant that’s far away from you so that Uber Eats drivers would have to travel a long distance to deliver it.
I hope that information was helpful. If you have any questions, please feel free to leave them in the comments.
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