Got a midsized sedan and want to profit by using it? Veho would like to enlist you as a driver. But beware of their unrealistic hourly pay projections.

What is Veho?

Veho is a delivery service that enlists freelance drivers to pick up packages from Veho warehouses and deliver them to consumers, much like Amazon Flex. But the company’s warehouses are often on the outskirts of town, which can dramatically increase the amount of time drivers are working, without a commensurate increase in pay.

How does it work?

If you want to drive for Veho, you need to be at least 25, have a midsized sedan or larger car, insurance and be able to pass background checks on both your criminal and driving history.

Assuming you meet all of the requirements, you fill out a short application. And, once approved, you’ll be able to access blocks of work through the Veho app. The app lists gigs with a pick-up location, start time, an estimated time required to deliver and a payment amount. Drivers can accept or ignore available gigs.

Veho review

Veho purports to offer delivery gigs that are set up in manageable blocks, much like Amazon Flex. You can sign up to deliver a 2.5-hour block; a four-hour block; a six-hour bock, etc. Each block of work offers a set rate of pay. Again, that’s much like Amazon Flex.

And like Flex, while jobs are listed as requiring a set amount of time, you’re paid based on delivering all the packages in the block, not by how long it takes you. And here is where Veho differs dramatically from Amazon Flex.

Inefficient process

Where Amazon Flex appears to be pretty good at estimating the time required to deliver each block of packages, Veho drivers complain that it can take twice as much time to deliver a Veho block than was estimated.

There are several reasons why. First, Veho drivers say they often wait in line for long stretches just to check in at the warehouse. Once checked in, drivers must scan each package before loading it into their vehicles. But scanning is often ponderous because of problems with the Veho app.

Worse, the Veho warehouses are often on the outskirts of town, forcing drivers to spend significant non-compensated time and money getting to and from the warehouse. If you are unable to deliver all of the packages in your block, you need to return the packages to the warehouse — another long and uncompensated drive.

Veho’s Miami warehouse is roughly 50 miles from downtown Miami, for instance. Veho warehouses serving Los Angeles are 22 to 45 miles away from many of the cities they serve.

Regional differences

That said, there are wide regional differences in how long it takes to get to and through the warehouse process. Consequently, while Miami drivers pan the app, Oklahoma drivers say it works well. Still, geography does not seem to help drivers dealing with the Veho app, which is widely criticized.

Buggy app

The Veho app gives drivers a delivery route to follow, but drivers complain that the app is so buggy, it often leads them to the wrong address.

Finally, drivers need to scan the package at the delivery location, too. And, once again, the buggy app can make that nearly impossible. Says one driver:

“Their gig app is perhaps the worst I’ve seen. It crashes constantly. And it often causes Google Maps to cancel the destination about a block away from the intended location. When scanning packages the app just lags and lags and refuses to scan and then crashes again and again. In some cases, it would take more than 30 minutes standing awkwardly in front of the customer’s home, resetting the app and trying to rescan a package because the app just refuses to work.”

Pay

If you were to believe the hourly pay estimates on Veho’s home page for drivers, you’d expect to be earning $20 to $26 per hour. But drivers tell another tale. One estimated he really earned $4.25 per hour. Another said $10 an hour. That’s because you’re paid a flat rate for each delivery block. And when blocks require vastly more time than stated, your hourly rate plunges.

Drivers are paid twice a week via direct deposit.

Recommendations

SideHusl.com gives Veho an average rating simply because it works well in some cities, and thus shouldn’t be counted out. But Amazon Flex drivers earn more and complain less, so if Flex driving positions are available to you, that’s the better choice.

If Flex isn’t available where you are, check out Indeed’s location-specific driver reviews here. They indicate that Veho works well for drivers in Oklahoma, Dallas, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Denver and some parts of Illinois. But it is rated poorly by drivers in Miami, Chicago and Nashville.

You can sign up to drive with Veho here.

Kristof is the editor of SideHusl.com, an independent website that reviews moneymaking opportunities in the gig economy.