I’m thinking about using the Roadie app for local deliveries and side-gig income but I’ve seen really mixed opinions online. Some mention low pay, long wait times between gigs, and issues with support, while others say it’s an easy way to make extra cash. Can anyone share honest Roadie app reviews, including earnings, reliability, and how often you actually get jobs in your area, so I can decide if it’s worth signing up?
Short version. Roadie works for some people, wastes time for others. Depends a lot on your area and your expectations.
Here is how it usually plays out from what I have seen and from my own runs.
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Sign up and approval
- Background check is quick in most states.
- After that you sit and stare at the app. No jobs at first, then a few pop up.
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Pay and real earnings
- Typical local gigs in my city: 8 to 15 dollars for 5 to 15 miles.
- Longer routes, like 40 to 80 miles, pay around 25 to 45 dollars.
- Airport or home improvement store runs can pay better, but they vanish fast.
- After gas, wear, and unpaid time, many people end up around 10 to 15 dollars per active hour, not counting waiting. Some days it is closer to 8.
- Roadie does not pay waiting at pickup or drop. If you sit 20 minutes at a store, that is on you.
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Competition and wait time
- In dense areas, jobs appear and get taken in seconds. You need to refresh often.
- In slow markets you see almost nothing for hours.
- There is no queue. Roadie picks who gets the gig. Some drivers think older accounts or high ratings get priority, but Roadie keeps that vague.
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Scheduling and stacking
- The app sometimes lets you combine multiple deliveries on one route.
- Those stacked runs can make the numbers look better. For example, 3 small packages over 20 miles for 32 dollars is decent.
- If you chase single 8 dollar gigs across town, your profit drops hard.
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Support and issues
- Support through chat or phone feels hit or miss.
- If a customer is not home or an address is bad, you sit there waiting on instructions. That time is unpaid.
- Missing or damaged item disputes are stressful. Roadie tends to side with the customer and the store. You need pictures at pickup, pictures at dropoff, notes in the app.
- Deactivations happen if there are repeated complaints or delivery issues. Appeals are slow.
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Safety and hassle
- Most gigs are store to house. Simple.
- Some are odd, like heavy appliances or sketchy apartment complexes at night.
- Roadie pays a bit more for oversized items, but not much after you factor in the risk and time. You also risk your back if you do it alone.
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Car wear and gas
- Roadie does not reimburse tolls or gas.
- If your vehicle already has high mileage, extra trips cut into long term value.
- You need to track your miles for tax write offs. That helps a lot. The IRS mileage rate often beats your actual fuel cost, but you must log it.
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Where it works best
- You are already driving that direction for something else.
- You use it as a filler between higher paying apps like Instacart, DoorDash, Amazon Flex.
- You live near an airport or big stores that use Roadie often.
- You treat it as side cash, not your main income.
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Where it feels bad
- You depend on it as a full time job.
- You chase every low paying gig across town.
- Your market has many drivers and not many offers.
- You expect strong support and consistent pay.
Practical tips if you try it
- Do 5 to 10 gigs before you judge it. Different times of day look very different.
- Track every single trip in a notes app. Pay, miles, gas used, total time. After a week, check your real hourly rate.
- Pass on anything that pays under about 1 dollar per mile total, unless it is directly on your way.
- Take photos at pickup and dropoff, every time. Front door, labels, any issues. Saves you later.
- Avoid heavy items unless the pay is strong and you know you can move it safely.
- Do not sit parked for hours waiting. If nothing good pops up after 20 or 30 minutes, run another app or do something else.
If you keep your expectations low and treat Roadie as “extra gas money while I am out anyway,” it tends to feel fine. If you hope for consistent 25 dollars per hour income from it alone, you will be dissapointed.
I’ve run Roadie on and off for about a year, usually alongside DoorDash / Instacart, so here’s my take that kinda lines up with @cacadordeestrelas but not 100%.
Where I actually like Roadie:
- Airport runs: In my area, those are the only ones that ever felt “worth it.” I’ve had 30–40 mile airport jobs at around $35–$40 and I stacked 2 in a row once for about $70 in 3 hours including wait. Not amazing, but decent for side cash.
- “On the way anyway” trips: If I’m already driving across town, grabbing a $10–$15 package on the route is easy money. As a primary gig by itself, it kinda sucks. As an add‑on, it’s not bad.
Where people underestimate the pain:
- Dead time: The mixed reviews you’re seeing are usually about this. You might see 10 decent gigs one afternoon and literally nothing the next day at the same time. That “sit and stare at the app” phase never totally ends in some markets.
- Routing: The app sometimes creates routes that look fine on the map but in real life are traffic nightmares. A “25 minute” trip becomes 45 with no extra pay. I’ve canceled a few after realizing the route was nonsense.
Where I actually disagree a bit with @cacadordeestrelas:
- The “$10–$15 per active hour” thing: In my market it averaged closer to $12–$20 per active hour when I only accepted good routes and ignored anything under about $1.25 per mile. The catch is that I was ruthlessly picky and used other apps to fill gaps. If you try to live off only Roadie, your hourly tanks.
- Photo paranoia: They suggest pics every time, which is smart, but in practice I only go full photo-documentary mode for high value or fragile stuff. For basic retail dropoffs, one pic at door and a quick note has been enough for me. Haven’t had a serious issue yet. Maybe I’ve just been lucky, but drowning everything in photos slowed me down.
Real problems you should know about:
- Support: Honestly kind of trash. Script responses, long holds, and they often feel more worried about the store than the driver. I had a case where a store gave me ONE of TWO items and tried to blame me later. Only reason I got paid properly was because I had the pickup screen and a photo of the single item. Without that, I’m prob screwed.
- Oversized stuff: The app lowballs heavy or bulky deliveries a lot. They’ll offer like $20 for something that takes two people to safely move and 40 minutes to load/unload. If you value your back, skip that nonsense unless pay is very obviously worth it.
- Inconsistent market behavior: In one part of my city, Roadie is basically dead. In another, it’s popping during certain times. You kind of have to “map” your city for a week and see where jobs actually show up.
How I’d test it if I were in your shoes:
- Give it 7–10 days, but only at times you’d be out driving anyway.
- Track: start time, end time, miles, gas estimate, total pay. Don’t guess; write it down.
- After a week, calculate:
- Effective hourly (including wait)
- Pay per mile
- How stressed/annoyed you felt on a 1–10 scale
If you are under $15 per hour including wait and under ~$1 per mile, and you feel annoyed above like a 6, it’s not worth it except for rare “on my way” jobs.
Who Roadie is good for:
- You already multi‑app and want another option to fill gaps.
- You live near an airport or big chain stores that push a lot of Roadie volume.
- You’re cool with “extra gas money” mindset, not rent money.
Who Roadie is bad for:
- You want something predictable and steady.
- You hate refreshing an app 100 times to grab a single decent paying gig before someone else.
- You plan to baby your car and avoid extra mileage. Roadie will eat miles fast if you chase far‑away pickups.
TL;DR: As a main source of income, hard no for most people. As a background app to snipe a few decent runs while you’re already out or running other gig apps, it can actually be pretty solid if your market isn’t oversaturated.