Pre-GPS anecdata: I delivered pizza for Domino's for awhile and made surprisingly way more than I ever would have guessed. Now, I worked this job while going to community college and getting my life on track but I'd consistently average never below $15/hour and often around $25/hour. This was the mid 2000s. You had to use your brain to navigate and I really enjoyed it. By the end, I could tell you which side the odds/evens were and which hundred block it was for every block in our delivery radius if you pointed anywhere on the map. I'm a little extroverted and while you do have the occasional crazy person being rude, handing you a handful of change (that you have no idea if it includes a tip or even the correct amount), and slamming the door in your face, I'd say 80+% of all human interactions were pleasant with another 19% being neutral at worst. Walk on the sidewalk, SMILE, say hello, call them if a train is delaying you, pick up their newspaper or alert them they have mail, etc. People appreciated good customer service from someone who didn't look like a vacant junkie and I think tipped accordingly. Overall, the human interactions were a big positive for me. It felt GOOD to deliver pizza to a family with kids on a Friday night or to the person in the apartment who did NOT feel like cooking something.
We had several co-workers who worked full-time jobs elsewhere and had kids/families and would come work 4:30-7 or 5-8 or whatever dinner rush shifts a couple days a week. Hourly wages were only ~$5/hour (when min wage was $7.50 I think in that particular state at the time) and for a mileage proxy I think we received about a dollar per delivery (Domino's had no delivery fee on the customer side but the store would pay its drivers a set amount per delivery) but the real value came from cash/cc tips. After awhile I became one of the "late drivers" (basically you're not the "closer" who stays last with the manager and cleans/locks up but the 2nd to last driver to go home, you and the closer and maybe one other driver would be the only ones working from say, 8pm to 10pm and that's when you would clean up!). I'd work as the late driver for either Friday or Saturday each week and end up with $100+ in cash in my pocket, plus the hourly wages which would be about another $30-$35. Add to that 2-3 other dinner rush shifts each week with $30-$50 in tips each shift and the aforementioned pittance of an hourly wage and it really added up.
Have you considered delivering food locally to supplement your main income? I.e. keep your main job but tack on a side hustle. An extra ~$200 per week with a good amount of that in cash could be enticing to some. Listen to your own music while getting to know your own local neighborhoods better and you receive discounted food? Worked well for me at that point in life!
We're only a one car household now and wife needs it to commute but if we ever go back to having two vehicles, I'm very tempted to work 1, 2, or 3 nights a week for 2-4 hours and make some extra moolah. That's different from quitting a career to shift to a pure delivery one but wanted to throw in my experience.
