Is Glovo Really Worth It for Extra Cash? Read This Before You Sign Up

I’m a student. I still live with my parents, so I don’t have an extreme need for income, but to get a bit of independence and treat myself once in a while, I decided to look for a job I could do alongside my studies.

It took me a while to decide, but I ended up choosing Glovo. I didn’t have any special skills and I needed full flexibility, so working as a rider fit me perfectly.

Why Glovo?

I chose Glovo for a few reasons: it’s easy to access, it operates in my area (Reggio Emilia), and — most importantly — among the delivery apps it was the only one that was truly 100% flexible.

How Does Glovo Work?

As a rider, once you’ve gone through a whole set of steps — which I’ll talk about later, and not in a positive way — you get access to an app with a calendar. You can book any hour you like, as long as it’s available.

An hour is available if there aren’t too many riders in that zone; booking a slot means declaring yourself available to receive orders.

I’ll say this up front: how well the service works changes from city to city, so I’m only speaking from my experience in Reggio Emilia.

If, for example, you book 7–8 p.m., you have to confirm the hour within a certain number of minutes or you won’t receive orders — and that will affect your rating.

Rating

Your rating is crucial. It lets you access shift booking earlier and actually work the way you want. At the beginning, with a low rating, you’ll have to work less and at awkward times just to raise it, so you can finally work during peak demand.

To improve your rating you need to deliver a lot of orders, work during “hot” hours, and — above all — be punctual: show up for your booked hours and deliver on time. Canceling orders will penalize you a lot.

How Does Pay Work?

The most important part, obviously.

You’re paid per order, based on the kilometers you travel and a time-slot multiplier. For example, weekend evenings pay much more than lunchtime. Payouts are roughly every two weeks, and often some of your earnings will come as cash when customers pay in cash.

My Experience

My experience breaks down into a few aspects. Starting with earnings: over time I realized that in a not-so-crowded city like mine, working outside the 7–10 p.m. window was basically counterproductive — especially because I lived outside the delivery zone and used a car to get around. So after months I understood that, to have decent earnings net of fuel, I had to work those three weekend hours.

On average there were three kinds of orders:

– Fast orders: €3–4

– Medium orders: €5–6

– The best ones: the long ones, even €10+

Plus an extra type: combined orders, where from the same pickup you deliver two different orders — this saves you a lot of time.

The long orders are by far the best, also because restaurants often take a while to prepare and it’s really frustrating to wait so long. At least supplier delays aren’t counted as your delays — the customer can see what’s going on on their side.

On weekends you can usually get to around €10/hour, and it gets interesting when they set challenges or goals that require you to deliver a certain number of orders in a specific time window to get a bonus. With those challenges you can make even €20/hour — the only reason I kept at it for so long.

The most frustrating part for me was the lack of clarity about what to do while waiting for orders. I’ve spent hours waiting even when I was right next to restaurants marked as “hot zones” (meaning orders were incoming). It made me feel like I was wasting my time.

As for customer interactions, addresses were often inaccurate — maybe that’s on customers — but the worst part is having to go out with a lot of change because people often pay cash and don’t have the exact amount. I’ve had awkward situations at the end of a shift when I’d run out of change and didn’t know how to give customers what I owed them.

This really needs improvement. In my opinion, riders shouldn’t be responsible for giving change and should carry as little cash as possible.

The app works okay. It never gave me major problems. There are things to improve, sure, but overall there isn’t much to complain about — it does its job.

Final Thoughts — Does It Make Sense for You?

Being a rider in a city isn’t for everyone. You need to handle tricky situations calmly and safely — things can go wrong on the road in a second. It’s essential not to get discouraged and to really understand your area. Experiment and figure out how to make the most of it.

Flexibility is great — maybe not at the start — but it’s a double-edged sword: you have no obligations, sure, but if you don’t work or you get few orders, your earnings are minimal.

If you need a stable income, being a Glovo rider is not a good idea in my view. If you just need extra income in time you can spare, then it’s perfect — especially if you can ride a bike or scooter. I recommend it only to people who really need extra cash, not a fixed salary, because over time you realize it’s sometimes better not to work than to stress yourself out for loose change.

Overall, if you need money and want to experiment, go for it and try. It’ll take a bit to sign up — the process is slow and full of gray areas — but within about two weeks you can activate your account and start earning right away.

Post Scriptum

Credit where it’s due: the cooler bag is excellent in my opinion — perfect for almost everything except drinks. Keep those outside.

Tips are common, and you have to stay alert — sometimes you might risk getting scammed or end up in areas that aren’t great. Analyze the situation carefully and, even though nothing has ever happened to me, keep your eyes open and be cautious.