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Manda Specht’s part-time job as a delivery driver has been feeling more full-time lately.
As music venues closed and events were postponed indefinitely, her main job as a concert and lifestyle photographer disappeared. Meanwhile, the need for food delivery is more in demand than ever. So now, in the middle of a pandemic, she's traveling from restaurant to restaurant, Amazon warehouse to Amazon warehouse and door to door in order to make ends meet.
For two or three years, Specht's gig as a delivery driver for Amazon and Door Dash was just a casual side hustle that afforded some extra money. Now, as nearly every open restaurant in town has transitioned to takeout and delivery, it's a stressful full-time job that she feels lucky to have but puts her at risk every time she leaves the house. Even Amazon, which she's been trying to avoid working for, has still been giving her deliveries as more people depend on ordering everything online.
"For a while I was only doing Amazon because DoorDash just wasn’t really busy," Specht says. "But ever since the virus and the lockdown, people have been ordering more DoorDash."
Below, she tells us how it feels to venture out every day as a delivery driver.
Amazon has slowed down a lot. I just read online that apparently there was one confirmed case at the Euclid warehouse that I picked up from and there was another confirmed case at the warehouse in North Randall. I think I’m done picking up from the warehouse for a while.
I wear gloves whenever I pick up packages and then I have bottles of hand sanitizer that DoorDash has sent me, so I just keep all of that stuff in my car. I’m not as concerned doing DoorDash as I am with Amazon because when you do a block, you just have so many packages. If you go into an apartment, you’re touching so many door handles.
DoorDash changed its policy so that the customer or the driver can choose to do a no-contact delivery. So that’s been good. And for Amazon — they do Whole Foods, too, which I’ve been delivering from more often too. And those are easy because I can just drop the bags off at the porch. Doordash, they actually even sent us a letter to show if we got pulled over by the police or anything. We have this letter to show them that we're essential delivery workers.
It has been hard. When the virus isn't a concern, I do enjoy delivering packages for Amazon. I normally prefer doing because it’s a bit less stressful. But with DoorDash you only get assigned one order at a time, so between orders you’re just stuck there. It has been more stressful picking up with DoorDash, especially if we have to wait for a long period of time at the restaurant. There are just so many other people in the same spot, so that’s been a little sketchy.
I do feel anxious going into certain restaurants, especially certain ones that aren’t as strict about keeping people six feet away from each other. Especially at fast food places — they usually just let everyone in and everyone is standing way too close to each other. So that has given me some anxiety. Also just having to wait a long time, maybe 10 or 15 minutes, it can be a lot.
But people have been appreciative. I was delivering groceries for Whole Foods and I texted a woman saying I was 10 minutes away and she actually texted me back a really long thank you letter. She said that she has a kid, and it’s hard for her to go out so she was really thankful. Also, people have been tipping a lot better.
This was always just a backup for extra money in case I didn’t get enough from photo jobs. I don’t mind doing DoorDash and Amazon too much, but I would obviously rather be out shooting or at gigs. I had a bunch of gigs that I was looking forward to so that’s kind of the thing that stung the most. — As Told To Arbela Capas
