Side Hustle True Story: I Delivered Drugs As A Side Hustle
Welcome to an exciting and fun new series entitled Side Hustle True Story. In this series, I am going to go into detail about some of the more interesting side hustle jobs I have done in the past. Some of these jobs were well worth it and a lot of fun. Other side hustle jobs were a total failure! Like, the time I delivered drugs as a side hustle.
When I compiled a list of 25 ways to earn extra income, I chose not to include every side hustle job I had ever done because some of the jobs were a little odd, including this one.
So let’s talk about the time where I delivered drugs as a side hustle to assisted living facilities. When I was laid off from my full-time job during the worst years of my life the Great Recession, times were tough. I managed to find a part-time job but it wasn’t enough. I was pretty desperate to find another job so I could increase my income. So, I began to look for a side hustle and stumbled upon this job.
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How did I hear about this job?
When I heard of a random job through a friend of a friend, I jumped all over it. Someone gave me the number of the boss and told me to inquire about a driving position. My friend put in a good word and the rest was history.
Where was this job located?
My new job was located in a nondescript warehouse in an industrial park, about 30 minutes from my home. This industrial park was on the wrong side of town and only a few blocks from a busy road that was well known for its ladies of the night and hourly motel rates. It was sketchy.
What was my work schedule?
This was the hardest side hustle I ever had – I worked 7 days a week. Monday through Friday, I worked 2 shifts a day. The first shift was from 11 am to 2 pm and the second shift was from 6:30 pm to 10:30 pm. On weekends, I only worked the evening shift from 6:30 pm to 10:30 pm.
For the first couple of hours of each shift, I packaged drugs with the owner. All the assisted living facilities faxed in their orders twice a day to this warehouse. Once the pharmacy filled the prescription, I had to review every order.
Here’s how it worked:
Basically, each patient had his or her own basket. Each basket included various medications and a ticket. I took the ticket, reviewed the order, and then counted and matched up everything. If everything was correct, I sealed up the order and moved onto the next ticket. It was pretty intense and stressful. I was paranoid about messing up a ticket, accidentally swapping an order, and killing someone. We easily sorted a few hundred baskets per shift.
While I packaging, I was also sorting which drugs went to which driver. There were a total of 5 drivers, including myself, that had different driving routes.
Once the drivers arrived, they took their bins of drugs and started their routes. I was fortunate as I had a local route and could finish my drive in about an hour. Some of the drivers had to go a few hundred miles round trip. I don’t know how they did this twice a day, every day!
My shift included two different facilities that were night and day from each other. One facility was run by the state and extremely depressing. The other facility was privately run and beautiful.
Once I completed my shift, I came back in the evening at 6:30 to start over again.
My biggest pet peeve
When I was out doing my drug run, there was always leftover medication to pick up and bring back to the warehouse.
Even though many of the drugs were packaged and sealed in individual packs, no medication was allowed to be reused in future orders. For example, let’s say there was a quantity of thirty, with each medication wrapped and sealed in airtight containers. If only one out of the thirty were used, the remaining prescription was to be burned and destroyed, even if they were still individually wrapped and sealed.
Can you say wasteful?
How was I paid?
In cash. I really can’t comment on this further.
Did I receive any benefits?
My boss was a little shady and very flashy. He had some connections and things always seemed to be falling off a truck. I did not participate in any of that! Other than that, there were no paid days off and no benefits.
How long did this side hustle last?
I did this job for about four months. Looking back, I don’t know how I made it that long without a day off. I was miserable and hated it, but did what was necessary to make ends meet until I was able to go full time at my job.
I delivered drugs as a side hustle. Have you ever done any ridiculous or interesting side hustles?
Kristin is the creator behind Believe In A Budget. She teaches others how to start a blog and how to side hustle. Her course, Pinterest Presence, helps bloggers + businesses drive traffic to increase their website’s profitability. Click here to learn more!
I have 6 children and I take care of my parents. I don’t have much time that is free but I can’t survive on 600.00 a month with all my little ones. any suggestions?
Hi Frances! I have a ton of side hustle posts on how to do all kinds of different things – you can check them out here and hopefully get some ideas: https://www.believeinabudget.com/category/side-hustle-2/
Ok I just found this via Pinterest and all I have to say is Wow! What a crazy side hustle. Also, I love this idea for a series!
Haha thanks Kayla! It was so ridiculous!
This is a great title especially. You should tell J. Money about it and see if he would feature you in his side hustle series.
Thanks Robin! I will have to check out his side hustle series!
Wow that’s really interesting. I have nothing that is even remotely as interesting as this, but I did work for a company that put together cubicles and did all sorts of stuff related to office space. One Saturday my friend and I got only 3 hours of sleep and checked in for our shift. Typically this job was relatively easy, but that day we unloaded one giant semi trailer. Then another. And another. And another. It was the hardest work I’ve ever done and can’t believe I did it on 3 hours of sleep and no breakfast. Took about 12 hours.
Haha, I don’t think I could have focused for that long on such little sleep! It sounds exhausting!
“In cash. I really can’t comment on this further” LOL! Sounds kind of sketchy and I’m with you in that it sounds very stressful…and tedious. I had one side hustle a long time ago where some firefighters were training in EMT, so they needed pretend victims to practice on. It was like 100 for a six hour day or something, plus they gave us lunch, plus firefighters…nuff said! 🙂 I did have a brief stint several years ago at The Container Store…which was supposed to be “one of the best places to work in America” but I hated it. The staff was so condescending and I hated getting up at 3am to stock shelves.
The firefighter thing sounds 100 times better! I don’t think I could handle the retail shops either!
Wow, this definitely sounds like a hustle in every meaning of the word! I don’t think I would have lasted 4 months, much less a week. I get paranoid in situations like that. Good for you for doing what you had to, though! Side hustling builds character like nothing else sometimes. =)
It was a tough time and I was basically in survivor mode! I don’t know how I did it either!
Haha sounds like an interesting story! I have some weird side hustles, like selling water at a rave. That was hilarious. Thanks for sharing your story!
Ha, that would be interesting!! I can only imagine! If you want to share your story on the blog, let me know 🙂
What a crazy story! I haven’t done any side hustles to that effect, but am dealing with a difficult customer on Fiverr and am about to quit because it’s just too much work for $20.
Oooh, some customers are just too demanding and it makes you wonder if it’s really worth it! Good luck!