It is so tough, like beyond just the general psychological toll of your rent being a gamified award, there is little reprieve. No vacation, no security at all.
I have had so many jobs, and being a GrubHub deliverer is perhaps the most alienating, and in long term, exhausting ones ive had. I used to think "well at least people can have flexible jobs, use their vehicles", but these days I just so no reason for labor to ever be like it for anyone. Its not a model that thinks about the actual worker at all.
I've done gig driving work in the past and still pop in on driver forums once in a while. The majority of these people are lucky to make $10-15 an hour after expenses (less now with rising gas prices, which they don't get compensated for), and a large percentage of them are operating below that. The ones making actually decent money have either figured out how to game the system - which is a transitory phenomenon as operators figure out ways to claw that profit margin back - or found some kind of luxury niche which requires having an upfront advantage like an expensive vehicle.
The perks of 'setting your own hours' (which is basically a lie, if you're relying on this income you have to drive when there's demand) or 'not dealing with a boss/co-workers' (your clients are your bosses and plenty of them are horrible) really pale when you look at the overall reality. Such so-called perks are how they keep suckering math challenged drivers into a crap job with abysmal pay and no benefits, though, and despite the fact that they're an illusion it keeps working. There are huge numbers of drivers whose actual compensation is so low it would nauseate you.
That was probably tens of thousands in spend on overpriced delivery meals making them huge profits off the initial "investment" they made in this customer
Of course the promos dried up and the pricing became awful not too long into the process.