From time to time, some myths circulate about the earnings of delivery people who work on the iFood platform.
Is it true that the company charges couriers a fee for using the app and keeps a portion of what they receive for the delivery? Will my tip go 100% to them? And, after all, do delivery drivers earn less than minimum wage?
If you've heard any of these questions out there, it's time to find out which one is real. O iFood News Below, clarifies three myths about delivery drivers’ earnings. Check out!
iFood charges the delivery person feesㅤㅤㅤㅤ
MYTH
iFood does not keep any percentage of what the delivery man or woman receives to make the delivery. The earnings on each route are reported in the delivery person's app and go 100% to them.
Many people may get confused because this is the transport app model, in which you pay a fee for the ride and the company keeps a percentage of the amount the drivers receive.
It's different on iFood. The delivery fee you see in the app is not the same as what the delivery man or woman will earn for the delivery service.
This is because the deliveryman's earnings are calculated according to their route.
This calculation is mainly based on factors such as:
- Collection: how many times the delivery man or woman stops to pick up one or more orders.
- Delivery: number of deliveries made on the same route.
- Distance: kilometers traveled from acceptance to final delivery.
And there's more: when this calculation gives less than R$ 6.50 or R$ 1.50 per kilometer driven — the minimum amounts paid per route and kilometer, respectively —, iFood tops up the amount to reach these minimums.
In addition to these factors, there are other extra components in delivery drivers' remuneration, such as promotions and waiting time fees.
- Find out more about calculating delivery drivers’ earnings
The delivery person does not receive 100% from the tip
MYTH
iFood doesn't change the tip: the amount you choose in the app is fully passed on to the delivery drivers.
The delivery man or woman receives the tips through a bank transfer, made together with the transfer relating to the deliveries made.
If the option to tip doesn't appear in the app, it's not a bug. It's because you can only tip through the app to delivery men and women who are registered on the iFood platform.
Therefore, the option to tip does not appear if this professional works for the establishment registered with iFood. Today, more than 60% of orders are delivered using this model, with couriers outside iFood.
Delivery driver earns less than the minimum wage
MYTH
Delivery men and women who are on the iFood app, in fact, are paid above the national minimum wage per hour.
Each week, delivery people using the iFood app usually work between 13 and 17 hours, less than the typical 44-hour week for those hired under the CLT (Consolidation of Labor Laws).
This happens because, at iFood, delivery works with peaks in demand (for example, at lunch and dinner).
Therefore, if we consider a scenario of 20 hours worked per week (half of the CLT journey), delivery men and women had a net income of R$ 807 to R$ 1,325 in 2022, the year in which this earnings research was carried out by Cebrap (Brazilian Center for Analysis and Planning).
In other words, even considering the shorter working hours, your net remuneration reaches the national minimum wage that year — which was R$ 1,212 and was readjusted to R$ 1,412 in 2024.
Now, if we make this calculation for a scenario of 40 hours of work per week, the net earnings of couriers vary between R$ 1,980 and R$ 3,039.
Delivery men and women who are on the iFood app also have a salary above the market average for people with the same education, which is R$ 1,812, according to PNAD 2022.
