Can delivering takeout in a county town sustain your livelihood?
The author tried out the lifestyle—well, really just wanted to see if delivering food while unemployed was viable. Rode for an hour on Ele.me, grabbed 3 orders but only accepted 4. Each order came with a 30-minute delivery window. Ended up completing 1 order, dropping 2, and canceling 1. Lost 6 yuan on penalties but made just over 5 yuan total. That works out to about 5 yuan per hour, and along the way ran through several red lights.
If you're more familiar with the area, efficiency could climb to 2–3 orders, pushing hourly earnings to around 15 yuan. But in a county town, that's just how it is—most orders only come during meal peaks.
Also, another catch: most e-bike batteries last only about an hour before dying. If you want to do food delivery, make sure you upgrade to a better battery first.