My Evri driver side hustle has made me hundreds for Christmas – here’s the real reason couriers ‘lob & run’
A YOUNG mother reveals that in a bid to earn some extra cash in the lead up to Christmas, she became an Evri delivery driver.
Jade Mckelvie, 24, only does one or two shifts a week and claims that sometimes, she will work just one hour at a time.
The mum-of-two, who is from West Sussex, and shares two children, Atticus, three and Alysia, one, with her partner Ben, 24, explains that before becoming a delivery driver, she was enjoying her maternity leave.
However, after getting bored at home, four months ago, she joined Evri – and has now been raking in the cash with the side hustle she described as ‘easy’.
Jade reveals all to Fabulous, as she explains: “I’d been on maternity leave, I wanted something to do to make a bit more money in the lead up to Christmas.
“I used to work nights in care. It was intense. It wasn’t flexible in the slightest. Evri is very different. With Evri, nothing is set at all, you can choose what time and day you work.
“It fits around childcare whereas with a normal job with set days and times, I found it a lot harder.”
Jade typically works two shifts a week whilst her kids are at nursery.
She says: “The hours vary. If I pick my parcels up earlier, I’ll be done earlier.
“I always get less parcels than others as I can only do a few hours around the kids. I normally get around 70 to 80 parcels. Some people can get 150 parcels plus.
“80 parcels takes around three hours. I’ve done 50 parcels in an hour. Some days I can just work for an hour or two hours and that’s it.”
Cashing in
And when it comes to how much Jade is paid, she shares: “You’re paid monthly, but they also have a payment provider where you can actually access 50% of your money early.
“You can withdraw that money whenever you want and it’ll just get taken off your normal payday amount.
“Your pay depends on many things, it depends on the size of the parcel, it can range from 70p to £1.20 per parcel and the pay is per parcel, it’s not an hourly wage.
“The more parcels you deliver the more you’ll earn. Some people will have big vans and will ask for more parcels to make more.
“It depends how many parcels I get given to how much I get paid, but I’ll get anywhere from £25 to £40 a shift.
“The highest I made on one shift was £65 for about 80 parcels.
Side hustles in numbers
Based on new research from Finder, an estimated 22.8 million Brits are using side hustles to top up their income.
Among those aged 18-23, 68 percent have a side hustle in 2024.
Those aged 24-42 aren’t far behind, with 65 per cent having an additional source of income.
Side hustles are less popular among older generations, with 40 percent of those aged 43-54 having one.
Whereas 23 percent of people aged 55-73 and just 7 per cent of those aged 74 and over are earning extra cash this way.
“I just got paid and I got £400, that’s with only doing a couple of shifts. If you’re working five days a week, you can do much more.
“I’ve been saving my earnings to buy Christmas presents for family and friends.
“It was something I thought to get a bit of extra cash in the build up to Christmas but I actually really enjoy it. I do get bored being at home when the kids aren’t here, so I will carry it on next year.”
The perks of the job
Jade appreciates the flexibility of being a delivery driver, as she beams: “I love how flexible it is. I drop the kids off at nursery and I go get my parcels.
“I give my availability a week in advance, so I know if I’m busy, I just don’t give my availability.
“The flexibility around it is the best. I would definitely recommend it to mums.
I just got paid and I got £400, that’s with only doing a couple of shifts
Jade Mckelvie
“I also find it quite easy. I like being on my own and I like driving so I quite enjoy it. Just on my own, doing my own thing, and that’s it.
“I have someone I can message if I need help, but there’s no-one following you around 24/7.”
Not all ‘easy’
Despite this, Jade admits that delivering parcels can sometimes be a bit of a faff – and she’s also had to deal with some very difficult neighbours.
She reveals: “Sometimes it can be awkward when you’re delivering later and it’s getting darker.
“It can be hard to find house numbers and you’ll be wandering up and down the street.
Do I need to pay tax on my side hustle income?
MANY people feeling strapped for cash are boosting their bank balance with a side hustle.
The good news is, there are plenty of simple ways to earn some additional income – but you need to know the rules.
When you’re employed the company you work for takes the tax from your earnings and pays HMRC so you don’t have to.
But anyone earning extra cash, for example from selling things online or dog walking, may have to do it themselves.
Stephen Moor, head of employment at law firm Ashfords, said: “Caution should be taken if you’re earning an additional income, as this is likely to be taxable.
“The side hustle could be treated as taxable trading income, which can include providing services or selling products.”
You can make a gross income of up to £1,000 a year tax-free via the trading allowance, but over this and you’ll usually need to pay tax.
Stephen added: “You need to register for a self-assessment at HMRC to ensure you are paying the correct amount of tax.
“The applicable tax bands and the amount of tax you need to pay will depend on your income.”
If you fail to file a tax return you could end up with a surprise bill from HMRC later on asking you to pay the tax you owe – plus extra fees on top.
“I have had people who flat out refuse to take in parcels for a neighbour. I’ve had it quite often when neighbours will say ‘no, I’m not taking their parcel’.
“It’s annoying because then you have to take the parcel back to the depot if no-one is going to take it in. It makes my life a lot longer.
“You do get some flats quite often and you are running up and down the stairs.
“On my very first shift I had it where there was no parking where the house was, so you had to park a couple of streets away and walk down an alley to get to the house. I do a lot of steps when I’m working.”
But that’s not all, as with Evri, you have to fork out for your own petrol too, as Jade recognises: “You do pay your own petrol, but then it’s a self-employed job, so you can claim back a certain amount of petrol and mileage, through being self-employed.
“But obviously that’s when the tax year is over, so April, so you do use your own money and wait to claim it back.”
The ‘lob and run’
Whilst clips and images have circulated on social media of delivery drivers doing the ‘lob and run’, whereby they will throw a parcel and hope for the best instead of leaving it in a safe space, Jade shares the real reason why this happens.
She admits: “The reason is because if we don’t deliver a parcel, we don’t get paid.
“Even if you’ve driven to the house and nobody answers, you don’t get paid.
“So people will put the parcel wherever, whenever, so they get paid for the parcel.
“Personally I’ve not done it, I’ve been quite lucky and have only taken a few back.
I do think people are sometimes shocked when it’s me delivering
Jade Mckelvie
“I always get too scared to do it in case they don’t find their parcel or raise a dispute.
“I get why some drivers would do it, but I don’t think it’s right.”
But whilst Jade finds being an Evri driver “easy”, she explains that it doesn’t come without judgement.
The young mother claims that when she knocks on people’s doors, she often feels “judged”, as she continues: “I do think people are sometimes shocked when it’s me delivering them.
“People will open the door and look at me like ‘you’ve got my Evri parcel?’
“People get a bit shocked sometimes.”
Evri AND influencer funds
And not only does this savvy mum earn a living through Evri, but she’s also cashing in with TikTok too.
When she isn’t delivering people’s ASOS, PrettyLittleThing or John Lewis parcels, she’s posting videos online, where she has 53,300 followers.
And all she has to do is do a bit of filming and then edit some clips when her kids go to sleep, as she acknowledges: “Every month is so different, there are so many different ways you can get paid on TikTok.
What is the TikTok Creator Fund?
While it is not a grant or ad revenue program, the Creator Fund provides payment to qualified TikTokers based on a “variety of factors” across their content.
“We want all creators to have the opportunity to earn money doing what they love and turn their passion into a livelihood,” the website continues.
With no limit on the number of qualified TikTokers who can join the fund, payments may increase or decrease at different times throughout one’s run on the platform.
Some factors affecting the funds a qualified TikToker may earn include number of authentic views per video, the amount of engagement, and whether or not the work falls within the Community Guidelines.
“An average month is £1,500 to £2,000 as a minimum. Some months are more. I made nearly £5,000 one month.
“It doesn’t take a lot of time, I’m so used to it now. It’s something that just slots in.
“I’ll be going out shopping anyway, so I’ll film while I’m there. It’s something I’d be doing anything and I’ll just film it at the same time and post it. I just film my life.
“It doesn’t take that long to edit, I don’t edit too much. I’ll just sit in the evenings once the kids are in bed and edit a few videos and then that’s it.”
It all started during the Coronavirus pandemic, as Jade recognises: “Everyone was on TikTok during lockdown, I started off posting the silly little dances that everyone was doing.
I made nearly £5,000 one month
Jade Mckelvie
“I thought nothing of it at the time. It escalated from there really. I really enjoy it.
“It can be stressful because you never know how much you’re going to earn. It can be hard in that sense. But it’s really flexible, I don’t need childcare to be able to do it.”
Thanks to her side hustles, this normal mum has been able to totally change her life, as she beams: “They’ve definitely [changed my life] – being able to stay at home with the kids and have the income to provide for them.
“It’s not a difficult thing to get into. It can be hard when you’re first starting out but when you figure out what you want to post, you just go from there really.
“You can get paid for views, get paid from brands and there’s also paid sounds you can use.
“You can also get paid to use someone’s sound in your video. That’s usually a smaller amount but it can build up – sometimes it can be £15, sometimes it can be £50, but you can do multiple a day, so you can easily get a few hundred in a week.”