Delivery drivers try to make money while staying safe amid pandemic

DETROIT (FOX 2) - Ernest Poole is out and about because many of us would rather not be.

FOX 2 caught up with the 39-year-old Detroiter picking up orders from Bucharest on the city's west side.

The coronavirus outbreak has made jobs like his, a lot more important.

"As a delivery driver this is probably the best time in a while to do what you do, right?" said driver Hakaeem Easter. 

That's a rhetorical question.

He says he's been filling almost twice as many orders than usual the past couple of weeks and the 23-year-old says he is working just as hard to stay healthy.

"Industrial size bottle of hand sanitizer in my car," he said. "I've got the wipes; I've got gloves on the way."

While the shelter in place order is keeping more and more people home, delivery drivers for platforms like DoorDash, Grubhub, Uber Eats, Postmates and personal shoppers for platforms like Instacart and Shipt are hard at work.

"The past few days have actually been pretty busy pretty hectic," said Amari Matthews. "A lot of people are still panicking in my opinion.

"As long as people get their essentials and as long as they get their needs and not necessarily wants out of this, keep their social distance and wash their hands and do the normal stuff day by day, everything will be fine."

So far, things have not. There are nearly 8,000 confirmed cases of the COVID-19 in Michigan. More than 250 people have died from it and those are just the ones we know about. 

RELATED: Model projects Michigan hits coronavirus peak mid-April, 3,007 total deaths

With those numbers at the forefront of our minds-the next question is a no-brainer. Why risk it? 

"I feel like you can't avoid it. you've got to do, what you've got to do, people have got to pay their bills, so I just take it day by day," said Ricky Norris.

Delivery driver Ernest Poole

For Poole, a husband and father, this gig picking up and delivering food is a lifeline.

"I do lawn fertilization so they caught a couple of our guys still doing it when they told them not to do it (and) ticketed them $500, so we can't do it," Poole said. "I've got to get my money somehow."

"I would like to think people appreciate the delivery drivers, especially now," Easter said.

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"The other day one of my customers drew a picture, it said 'Thank you for all that you do, for putting yourself at risk for getting me essentials that I need.' They actually colored it put my name on it and everything else like that and it's really one of the things that put a smile on my face."

Many platforms offer no contact delivery with your order being left at the door as opposed to the more traditional handoff from delivery person to customer.