Outside the comfort zone, how new areas can boost earnings
It takes time and consistent effort to cultivate a delivery zone. From learning the location of merchants, to memorizing the layout of neighborhoods, it’s always a work in progress. Furthermore, it can be an evolving work in progress for areas that experience steady urban growth. This is an advantage for a delivery courier. expanding areas mean an increase in addresses. Additionally it means more variety in merchant locations.
With this in mind, an experienced courier invests time and energy into a zone. It takes time to learn the ins and outs of a zone. Especially a zone with more than one retail district. Furthermore, some areas have a denser population than others. Therefore a retail district may be small, but experience a tremendous delivery rush at peak times. This is how a courier comes to know a zone. By becoming familiar with a zone, through daily experience with that zone.
And as might be expected, the zone becomes familiar. In fact, it becomes so familiar it is the comfort zone of the courier. The comfort zone is where the mileage totals are predictable. A place where the courier knows the busiest merchants from experience. Likewise, every shortcut is in the memory. No matter how obscure. These are just a few advantages of the comfort zone.
Outside the Comfort Zone
In the example above, the comfort zone sounds like a great place to accept delivery offers. It actually is, however, it didn’t start out that way. Sometimes it’s easy to forget all the hiccups that came with the first couple of weeks in the new zone. Because a comfort zone doesn’t start out as a comfort zone. For example, it was an uncomfortable zone in the beginning, because it was a mystery.
After time, and consistent effort, the zone became more familiar. It was barely noticeable at first. Furthermore, there may have been more than a few mistakes or snafus. However, over the course of time, the mistakes all but vanished. Then the routes became more familiar. Before long it was possible to go straight to a drop-off location with hardly a glance at the GPS.
That is how the comfort zone develops. And it is an effective way to maximize earnings, in a given zone. As well as at a given time. With certain preexisting setup measures and conditions. Definitely not on the fly. But, does that give the courier the best chance to maximize earnings? Is doing the same thing again and again the best way for a courier to improve overall income?
How New Areas Can Boost Earnings
Having a known zone is a positive setup for a delivery side hustle. The familiarity with the routes and neighborhoods is a time saver. Not to mention the saved resources. This advantage can be something that is easy to get used to. In fact, having the comfort zone for every delivery and delivery shift, encourages the courier to return for the same results, time after time.
Experienced couriers know, that the first rule of delivery, is random. Sometimes the random delivery is the prize. It comes out of the blue. Likewise, it arrives when things are in a frenzy of activity. Or, it happens when things are so quiet, even the crickets can’t hear any crickets. It’s the one that has an outstanding tip. The kind that improves an entire delivery shift in one drop-off. Furthermore, it is often rare in a known zone.
This is not to imply that a super tip always happens in a strange zone. That is the nature of the Twilight zone. There’s all sorts of twists and turns happening in that place. However, unfamiliar zones yield different results. What better way to find out that twice the earnings are possible in zone B, than working zone B? If zone A is the comfort zone, then working zone B for a potential boost in earnings is worth a trip outside the comfort zone. Stay safe out there.
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