Relay Review After 2 Weeks – The Good, The Bad & My Advice ⭐
After using Relay for about two weeks, I haven't completed a huge number of jobs yet, but I think I've done enough to share my first impressions. Here are the main pros and cons based on my experience.
Never accept pre-booked routes. This is my biggest piece of advice. Most pre-booked routes will have you paying to work. I've attached an example to this post where Relay was paying only £0.75 per drop because demand was low. They know that if experienced drivers reject these routes, eventually a new driver will accept them. Don't be that driver.
Jobs close to home are a big advantage. One thing I really like is that you can usually find work close to where you live. Of course, this depends on your area. If you live somewhere with very little demand, your experience will probably be poor. In my case, it's been a major advantage.
Very flexible work. You choose when you want to work, which makes it easy to combine Relay with Uber Eats, Deliveroo, Amazon Flex, or other delivery apps. If you like having control over your schedule, this is definitely a positive.
Route times are only estimates. How long a route takes depends almost entirely on your experience. An experienced courier can finish much faster than the estimated time, while a new driver will probably take longer until they learn the system.
The app could be much better. Having to take two photos for every single delivery gets annoying very quickly. Even worse, you have to tap the screen before scanning every parcel. The camera should automatically detect barcodes as soon as you point it at the package, like many other apps do. It seems like a small thing, but after dozens of parcels every day it becomes frustrating, slows you down, and drains your phone battery—especially if you're doing multiple routes.
Driver experience isn't a priority. Unfortunately, Relay feels like many other delivery companies. The app was clearly built by people with experience in this industry, but it also feels like they brought the same mindset: there will always be enough new drivers willing to accept almost anything. Because of that, I don't expect working conditions to improve much over time. If anything, these platforms usually get worse as they grow.
Fast payments are excellent. This is probably Relay's biggest advantage. You can withdraw your earnings the day after completing your work, and the money arrives almost instantly. That's a huge plus.
Final thoughts
If you're experienced and can grab same-day routes while demand is still higher than the number of available drivers, Relay can be worth it. The flexibility and fast payments are great.
However, based on what we've seen with almost every delivery platform, conditions usually become less attractive over time as more drivers join.
And I'll say it again: never accept pre-booked routes unless you're happy working for extremely low pay.