Lost luggage delivery jobs are a side hustle that some people use to make extra money. I’ve had mixed success with doing lost luggage delivery. My main issue is that the airport isn’t very close to me, so going out to the airport to pick up lost luggage doesn’t seem worthwhile, especially when I can do easier things like deliver food for DoorDash or Uber Eats.
I also prefer gigs that have more flexibility, where I can work anytime I want. From my research, a lot of the lost luggage delivery jobs out there are more like full-time or part-time jobs. Side hustles like this don’t work that well for me, unfortunately since I need more flexibility in my schedule.
However, there is one app that I’ve used for doing lost luggage delivery that has worked out decently well. The app is called Roadie and while it’s not an app that most people will make a lot of money from, it can still be a way to make some extra money doing lost luggage delivery.
In this post, I want to share my experience with delivering lost luggage using the Roadie app and discuss how you can fit Roadie into your own side hustle life.
Roadie Lost Luggage Delivery
As a brief primer, Roadie is a delivery app that primarily focuses on delivering products from big box stores (think places like Home Depot or Best Buy). In addition to delivering products from stores, it also delivers lost luggage from airports.
The app initially started as a crowdsourced delivery app where people could list items they needed delivered and then have delivery people (called “Roadies”) deliver the items. The theory behind Roadie was that there were a lot of people traveling places and people who needed items delivered to places. Roadie could work by connecting people traveling somewhere with people who needed something delivered to the same place. By doing this, someone going on a road trip, for example, could make some extra money by delivering something to a city they were already driving to.
Over the last few years, Roadie has shifted away from being a crowdsourced delivery app and now works more like a traditional delivery app where you’re delivering products from stores.
In addition, Roadie also partners with most of the major airlines to deliver lost luggage. Lost luggage that needs to be delivered to customers is listed on the Roadie platform, where Roadies can review and accept the offers.
As a Roadie, you’ll see how much the order pays, the pickup location, the delivery location, and the mileage between the two points. Lost luggage deliveries are provided on a first-come, first-served basis, so if you want to do lost luggage delivery with Roadie, you’ll need to regularly check the app for offers.
Requirements To Sign Up For Roadie
The requirements to sign up to deliver for Roadie are as follows:
- Must be 18 years old
- Have a Social Security Number
- Have a valid and current U.S. driver’s license
- Current auto insurance policy
You can find more details about becoming a Roadie driver on the Roadie website.
Note that Roadie also conducts a background check when you accept your first delivery request, so you likely won’t be able to deliver for Roadie if you have things like felonies or major driving violations.
Can You Deliver Lost Luggage Without A Car?
While Roadie does require delivery people to have a car, in practice, it is possible to deliver for Roadie without a car. You’ll still need a valid driver’s license and current auto insurance policy, but as long as you have those two items, Roadie doesn’t actually know what vehicle you’re using when you’re doing Roadie deliveries.
Indeed, while I signed up for Roadie with my driver’s license and vehicle information, I typically do my Roadie deliveries using my bike. For most orders, delivering for Roadie with my bike isn’t a problem because the delivery items aren’t usually big. Even Home Depot orders, which you’d expect to be large, are actually often small items, in my experience.
That being said, delivering lost luggage on Roadie will usually require a car because of how far most airports are and how difficult it can be to bike to most airports. As well, you’ll also need a way to carry luggage if you’re going to use a bike.
I’ve found two ways to deliver lost luggage without a car. The first is using my electric cargo bike. I have an Urban Arrow, which is a large, Bakfiets-style bike that makes it easy for me to carry even large pieces of luggage. I live in Minneapolis, where biking to the airport is actually pretty easy to do too. Mind you, delivering lost luggage from the airport isn’t easy for me to do, but it is possible and I have done it before.
A second way to deliver lost luggage without a car is to use public transit. I’ve done this occasionally where I’ll take the train to the airport, pick up some lost luggage, then deliver it using the train or bus. I only do this if the delivery address is close to a mass transit stop, but it is possible to do it this way.
The good thing about luggage delivery is that most people don’t need it by a set time. So, even if it takes you longer to complete the delivery, it won’t bother most customers. Note that the app does give you pickup and drop-off times, but for lost luggage deliveries, I’ve never noticed any issues with picking up or delivering outside of those times. You just need to make sure you’re heading towards the airport to pick up the luggage at the appropriate time or else the app might unassign you for taking too long.
The Process Of Picking Up A Lost Luggage Delivery With Roadie
Picking up lost luggage at the airport can be a bit tricky the first time you do it. The first thing you’ll need to do is look in your Roadie app to see if there are any offers that look good to you. The Roadie app will show you how much the delivery is paying and how far you’ll need to go to deliver it.
If you’re in a car, you’ll probably need to park somewhere unless you have someone with you who can wait at the terminal with your car. Roadie does reimburse parking fees when doing lost luggage deliveries from the airport, so make sure you get a receipt.
The app will walk you through everything you need to do when picking up and delivering the luggage. This will mainly involve taking some photos of the luggage when you pick it up and drop it off, but the app will tell you what you need to do.
Finding where the luggage is kept can be a bit difficult, but the Roadie app will tell you where the lost luggage is located (typically somewhere in the baggage claim area). The lost luggage will be marked with a Roadie tag and all you have to do is match the tag with the number in your app.
Once delivered, you’ll confirm everything in the app and then you’ll get paid to your linked bank account.
Final Thoughts
Roadie is an app that can work out well if you’re looking for a lost luggage delivery job. It’s not an app that you can do full-time or expect to make a ton of money from, but as a side hustle, Roadie can work out well, especially if you happen to live or work near the airport. I can see this working out really well for someone who already works by the airport and can potentially pick up lost luggage on the way home from work.
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