Every gig shift has a hidden price tag: the minimum it must pay before it is worth your time at all. If you do not know that number, you accept shifts that feel busy and still leave you poorer at the end of the week.
Your break-even number is simple. Add up what one shift really costs you: fuel for the whole trip including the drive to the pickup and the empty trip home, a small per-mile amount for tyres, brakes, oil and engine wear, parking and tolls, and any food or drink you buy because you are out working. Then add what your time is worth — not the dream rate, the lowest hourly rate you are willing to work for.
That total is your break-even number. A shift that pays less than it is not a slow day. It is a shift that cost you money.
Here is an illustrative example only, not a real shift: a delivery run pays $45. Fuel for the full trip is $9, wear on the car at a rough per-mile figure comes to $6, parking is $3, and a snack on the road is $4. That is $22 in costs, so the real pay is $23. If the run takes 3 hours door to door, that is under $8 an hour — and if your lowest acceptable rate is $12 an hour, this shift fails your own test before you even start the car.
The point is not to turn every shift down. It is to stop deciding by the headline number alone. When you know your break-even number, the decision gets fast: above it, the shift earns its place; below it, you wait for a better one or you move to where better ones are.
Work the number out once, then check each shift against it. Your future self, adding up the week, will be glad you did.
ShiftLog is a free Android app that helps gig workers and drivers track each shift's real net profit: pay minus fuel, tolls, parking, food and other work costs, all offline, with no account needed. You can find it on Google Play here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.shiftlog.app
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