An anonymous grab driver recently shared with us on how this COVID-19 pandemic has actually helped him make more than what he made previously before the pandemic.
Before the pandemic, he averages about $300 a day but with the current situation, the bare minimum he claims that he can hit is $600 a day.
Here’s how a day in his life goes currently
Driver wakes up to send kids to school at around 6.45am in the morning, he then proceeds to buy his daily coffee and breakfast and has his meal and a cigarette.
He then starts his first job as a mobile swabber. He collects his deployment and swab test kits at around 8.30 am in the morning, and sets out to his first house to conduct the swab test.
He gets paid about $40-$55 per location he goes to, and an additional $15-$20 per head at the location where he conducts his swab.
He gets an average of about 10 sites a day, making him about $400-$550. This is done by 1.00pm to 2.00pm.
After his swab job, he ferries quarantined personnel from their home to their swab tests or to the Government Quarantine Facilities (GQF).
This pays him an average of $30/hour or $55 per trip, depending on the number of jobs he manages to bid.
At the end of the day after disinfecting his vehicle, he will do a few Grab/Gojek trips just to ensure that there is a sufficient amount of money for the rental companies to deduct the rent.
He claims to make an average of $600 a day if he is lazy, and he can make up to almost a $1000 a day if he is more hardworking and takes on more swab assignments or fetch more quarantined personnel.
He secretly hopes that this pandemic will last longer, so that he can make more money for himself and his family.