GoShare Connects Workers with Opportunities to Increase Earnings as Delivery Professionals

In a Nutshell: Participants in the gig economy may find it challenging to manage their gig work efficiently. GoShare connects gig workers with job opportunities and support services. GoShare delivery professionals can accept or reject jobs displayed within the company’s app. GoShare provides its delivery professionals with access to benefits, and its YouTube channel offers drivers practical tips for success.

If you’ve ever dreamed of setting your work schedule and not being accountable to the demands of full-time employment, then gig work may be for you. Gig workers enjoy the flexibility of scheduling their work hours at times that best suit them. 

But gig work is not without its drawbacks. Workers may lack the resources to handle all the ancillary components accompanying gig work, including scheduling jobs and managing billing and payment acceptance.

GoShare started in 2015 as a business that connected truck and van drivers with people who needed help moving items from one location to another. Since its inception, the company has pivoted to more of a business-to-business model to provide retailers with last-mile and middle-mile delivery services.

Last-mile delivery refers to the final stage of an item’s journey to its destination. Middle-mile delivery refers to transporting goods from a factory or port to a distribution center or warehouse.

We spoke with Shaun Savage, GoShare’s Founder and CEO, to learn more about the company and how it works with its team of gig workers.

Savage said GoShare’s delivery professionals usually deliver big and bulky items, but they also deliver small parcels. GoShare’s nationwide network of approximately 25,000 delivery professionals use their own vehicles to transport items.

“Our delivery professionals use a variety of vehicles — cars, trucks, or vans — as long as the vehicle is suitable for delivering goods,” Savage said. “They also need a smartphone. Other than that, GoShare gives them the tools they need to manage their own delivery business effectively.”

Delivery professionals use GoShare’s app to view upcoming opportunities available in their geographic area. The app provides delivery professionals with all the details they need to assess a delivery opportunity, including where the package or items will be delivered, points of contact for the delivery, and how much compensation they will receive for completing the delivery.

“It’s all very transparent and upfront,” Savage said. “And after a delivery is completed, we help the delivery professional track their earnings.”

GoShare provides additional benefits to its network of delivery professionals, including access to healthcare options and cash advances. GoShare has an agreement with General Motors to offer delivery professionals discounts on new GM vehicles.

“If delivery professionals want to further their business and buy some new equipment, and they don’t have the option to finance the equipment on their own, they could use a cash advance for that,” Savage said. “We try to provide delivery professionals with additional value outside of just earning money on the GoShare platform.”

Savage said the additional benefits the company offers to delivery professionals are examples of the company’s focus on attracting and retaining more delivery professionals.

GoShare’s delivery professionals are in a customer-facing role. Savage said the job is an excellent fit for people who enjoy working with others and are comfortable meeting new people.

“Our delivery professionals are detail-oriented and ambitious,” Savage said. “They don’t necessarily need to be tech-savvy — we make the app really easy to use — but it’s certainly helpful to have familiarity with using an Android or iPhone device.”

A day spent loading and unloading packages can be physically demanding. But Savage said delivery professionals don’t need to lift heavy items if they don’t want to or are unable to do so.

“The cool thing about GoShare is that people have the ability to accept or reject any delivery offer that comes in,” Savage explained. “So if the job that’s offered requires lifting heavy furniture, and the delivery professional isn’t comfortable with that, they can just reject that offer. We also have lightweight deliveries that are only 20 pounds or so, and most people can handle that. There is variety in the types of gigs that are available.”

GoShare’s delivery professionals make deliveries for business customers in various industries. Savage said GoShare frequently delivers for big-box retailers. Many of the big-box retailers GoShare works with have a national footprint, and GoShare delivers for them in cities across the U.S.

On a local level, GoShare works with small and medium-sized businesses, including furniture retailers and food and beverage distributors.

“We’re indifferent in regards to the industry our clients are involved in, but we tend to have the biggest concentration of customers in retail,” Savage said.

Savage said GoShare’s largest markets are in big cities such as Los Angeles and New York. The company also does significant business in Florida, Georgia, and Texas.

Savage said there are cities where GoShare is looking to add more delivery professionals, including Nashville and Pittsburgh.

“We’ve always needed more drivers in these cities than we’ve had available at any one time,” Savage explained. “We also need the most help in the smaller, newer markets where we’ve recently launched, such as South Carolina.” 

Savage said that as GoShare grows its operations, it uses a scoring system to determine which cities and regions to expand to. The primary factors GoShare uses to assess expansion opportunities are how many business partners it already has within a city and its surrounding area and how many locations those business partners have within that region.

“We also look really closely at our driver sign-up list,” Savage said. “If someone signs up to be a delivery professional in an area we aren’t currently operating in, then we’ll put them on a waiting list. Once we launch in the area, we’ll reach out to those on the waiting list and let them know.”

Savage said the waiting lists to be a GoShare delivery professional in certain cities contain more than 1,000 names.

GoShare delivery professionals earn different amounts for different jobs. Savage said delivery professionals make the highest hourly rates for home moves — jobs requiring them to move items from one house to another. 

“Home moves are often the most physically demanding jobs we have, so they tend to pay the highest rates,” Savage said.

GoShare considers numerous factors to price delivery jobs, including how much time is required to complete a delivery, what type of vehicle is necessary to transport the items, and how many delivery professionals the job requires.

Delivery professionals can see how much income they can earn for a particular job before accepting it. Savage said delivery professionals receive additional payment if a delivery takes longer than GoShare initially estimated.

“We have a pretty healthy mix of all types of driver profiles on our platform,” Savage detailed. “There are people who are just with us to pick up extra work here and there to make a couple hundred bucks a month. And then there are those who are operating their delivery business full time.”

Savage said GoShare employs new and creative ways to engage with its delivery professionals. GoShare’s YouTube channel highlights a driver of the month each month and also features tips to help delivery professionals succeed.

“Our delivery professionals essentially use our app to run their own small business,” Savage said. “GoShare’s goal is to build the nation’s largest network of delivery professionals.”