Standard Vs Priority Delivery Uber Eats: Do you need to pay extra?

The priority delivery, alongside the “no rush” were two new features that were launched in mid-2020. These additions added something unique to the customer’s end — the ability to select how you want your delivery to be handled.

This includes:

1. Standard
2. Priority
3. No rush

They’re quite self-explanatory, but the details of how exactly they work are not known.

This hands of Uber Eats driver, this article will take a look at the core difference between Standard delivery and priority delivery on the app.

What does Priority Delivery mean on Uber Eats?

Uber Eats Priority delivery is basically a feature on the app that lets customers pay more to get their orders delivered faster than usual. It’s the direct opposite of the “No rush” which gives customers a discount for a guaranteed delayed delivery.

According to Mashable, an order with a priority delivery is likely to come 5 minutes to 10 minutes earlier.

So how does it work? Do drivers get paid extra to have their food delivered earlier? Do drivers get notified? Does it mean drivers would no longer stack deliveries the moment a customer pays for the priority delivery?

These are assumptions pretty common among people I’ve met, but not actually how it works.

Basically, the priority delivery service works by having your order delivered first in a list of stacked orders.

Let’s explain this statement in detail before going further.

Firstly stacked orders are something very common in Uber Eats — Drivers are forced to accept more orders while delivering a particular one. In other words, while picking up your order, they may need to pick up other people’s orders before they start delivering.

Now, what the priority delivery does is to have your order delivered first the moment the driver starts dropping off orders at the respective customer’s houses.

Normally, it would be randomly determined by Uber Eats, or have you placed at the last if you signed up for the “No rush.”

But with the priority delivery service, you’re placed on top.

Uber Eats also mentions that drivers would generally make fewer stops for prioritized delivery than they’d normally.

Now to answer the question asked before…drivers are not paid extra for priority delivery. They don’t even get notified that an order is prioritized.

Uber Eats only sorts the prioritized delivery to the first in the list of stacked orders and the “no rush” to the last.

They may also reduce the number of incoming delivery requests so drivers can focus on a few orders while delivering a prioritized order.

Lastly, it’s important to keep in mind that priority delivery doesn’t necessarily mean your food will arrive early or make an anti-late sort of delivery.

It only goes to say, your order would be delivered faster than a normal delivery would.

What does Standard Delivery mean on Uber Eats?

By this time, you should be able to get an idea of what standard delivery means on Uber Eats.

But for clarity, let’s take a sneak peek at it.

Pre-2020, did you ever order goods on Uber Eats and have it delivered? Or perhaps, ordered something this year but left the whole settings on the app at default? These are all standard deliveries.

With the standard delivery, your order would follow the standard delivery time advertised, which in a perfect world would also be timely.

But since our world is not perfect, a lot of things can go wrong during a delivery.

There could be sudden traffic on the road, road blockage, delays by the restaurant, and even vehicle breakdowns. Just many.

These are all factors that can affect even a prioritized delivery.

It’s also important to mention that a standard delivery could also be randomly sorted to be delivered first in a stacked delivery when no one in the stacked delivery paid for a priority delivery.

Standard Vs Priority Delivery Uber Eats: Do you need to pay extra?

By now, you should be familiar with how the standard and priority delivery works. But what option should you go with?

Both the standard and priority delivery should be useful when they need to. But here’s our rule of thumb…

If you’re confused about what to go with, just leave it at the default — most likely standard, unless you’ve made a priority delivery before. It doesn’t cost money, and that’s what most people use, so why not?

But if you’re trying to get an order as fast as you can, paying a few dollars (less than $2), is also justifiable. However, just as we’ve explained it’s important to know exactly how it works, so you don’t get your hopes high.

In general, Priority delivery helps your order arrive faster than the standard delivery, which is the default.

Final Thoughts

And that’s a wrap.

Priority delivery, standard delivery, and no rush are all 3 ways you’re allowed to choose how an Uber Eats driver should handle your orders.

As a rule of thumb, always go with the standard delivery, unless you have the need to have your order arrive on time.