DoorDash Food Delivery Service: Are you looking to work for DoorDash? Here are a few reasons why you should not work for DoorDash.
I will be giving you my views on working for DoorDash, as I have been working for the company for a year now. I will be giving you the pros and cons of working with this company this way you will get a better understanding of how DoorDash works before trying to join their platform.
First off, let me tell you a little bit about myself, I am a single mother with one small child that is home with me all day. I am an entrepreneur who has worked for many companies like Uber, Lyft, Postmates, and for youtube with my own review channel.
I started working for DoorDash in late August of 2017 as a delivery driver to make some extra money. I can say that the deliveries went problem-free, but as soon as I got more deliveries, I noticed problems started to arise with orders.
The problems started out with customers not providing their apartment numbers or gate codes, so I was unable to deliver the food to the customer. In this instance, I would have to call or text the customer to get the apartment number and gate code.
I had to always call or text the customers to get the codes and apartment numbers, there were many times that the customer did not answer the phone so that I can get their apartment number. On most occasions, I had to wait on the customer to get back to me, if not I had to mark the delivery as delivered.
When this problem came up, I had to contact DoorDash to settle the problem with the customer. Most of the time when DoorDash called the customer, they did not always answer.
So now let me break down the customer rating:
The Customer ratings are based on your 100 most recent deliveries.
Your Acceptance Rates are based on your 100 most recent deliveries
The Completion Rates are based on your 100 most recent accepted delivery opportunities.
whenever you dash for new orders, ratings from your past deliveries get replaced by newer ratings from your more recent deliveries.
Customer Ratings
Customers rate the food they receive and their delivery experience separately, each on a scale of 1 to 5 stars.
They can also rate you if the delivery is late, even if the restaurant has not completed the order or even taken the order.
Dashers can be deactivated from the DoorDash platform if they have a Customer Rating below their city minimum requirement. You will have to check your location for the minimum requirements.
Ratings
5.00 = Perfect!
4.70 – 4.99 = High
4.30 – 4.69 = Medium
4.20 – 4.29 = Low
4.20 = Very Low
Acceptance Rate:
This is the order percentage you accept, out of 100 delivery opportunities you receive, If you want to raise your Acceptance Rate, consistently accept deliveries when sent through the mobile application.
When you decline a delivery, DoorDash state that it”negatively impacts other Dashers’ experiences” You are being assigned to delivery because you are the closest dasher in the area of the delivery.
I have to say that statement is inaccurate because DoorDash has sent me to do a delivery that was thirty miles out, That would take me twenty to thirty minutes to pick up given there was no traffic.
In this case, I would decline the order because it’s not fair to the customer having to wait for over thirty minutes to receive their delivery. It is not fair to the driver having to drive thirty miles away for only five-dollar delivery pay.
Ratings
100% = Perfect!
80 – 99% = High
50 – 79% = Medium
25 – 49% = Low
25% = Very Low
Completion Rate:
The system rates how many deliveries you have completed out of the most recent 100 deliveries. This rating is much different than the other ratings.
Let’s say you pick up an order, and for some reason, you can’t complete the order, like if you have a flat tire, ran out of gas, or whatever reason. This rating does not impact your rating as much as customer ratings, just make sure you do not fall too far below or you might get deactivated from the platform.
Let’s say If you un-assign yourself from a delivery opportunity after you have accepted it, this will decrease your completion ratings. When you call DoorDash support to un-assign you from an order, this will also decrease your completion rate.
Dashers can be deactivated from the DoorDash platform if they have a Completion Rate below their city minimum requirement. You will have to check your location for the minimum requirements.
Ratings
100% = Perfect!
90 – 99% = High
80 – 89% = Medium
70 – 79% = Low
70% = Very Low
Now I want to get into the Deactivation policy with DoorDash:
When reading the deactivation policy on the DoorDash website, state a few things that will cause your account to be deactivated. I will give you the breakdown of what would cause your account to get deactivated, and some examples from my own personal experience when working on the platform.
The first and most damaging cause to your account that will get you deactivated, is the customer ratings. For whatever reason the customer rates you poorly, that will have a huge impact on your account.
From my experience, I have done all the right steps to assure myself that I should get a good rating, but I still received some negative ratings from customers.
I have always made sure the customers received all the food they ordered, made sure it was still hot when delivered, and that the food was delivered before the expected delivery time frame.
With all that has been done, I still received some negative ratings. There are many people that are looking for a free handout, and will not hesitate to lie to the delivery driver just so they can get a free meal or their money back.
It’s a shame that DoorDash does not see what is happening, they should trust their dashers if they have been working for them for over a year with no problems. They do not care, this company is all about money!
Other reasons to be deactivated from the DoorDash platform, are for:
Violence – Unsafe behavior, physical or verbal assault of a consumer, merchant, or any other person.
Use of alcohol and drugs –Under the influence of alcohol or drugs
Discrimination or harassment – race, color, sex, gender, sexual orientation, age, or any basis protected by federal, state, or local law.
Unsafe driving – Driving unsafe by texting and driving, not following local driving laws
Failure to comply with the law – not abiding by all local laws
Failure to pass a background check – Failing to meet DoorDash’s background check criteria
APPEALS:
When your account gets deactivated, there are some cases where you can appeal the deactivation. All the reasons that I have stated above, can be appealed. The only reason you cannot appeal deactivation is for “Customer Rating”
You can email DoorDash asking them to appeal the deactivation status on the customer ratings, they will just email you stating “We are very sorry, but this decision is final and cannot be appealed, we thank you for your service, and wish you well”
Now I want to get into some complaints, that other people have with DoorDash and how they run their business:
Driver/Delivery from Salt Lake City, UT:
“extremely low pay for how far you drive and time it takes to deliver food. A very poor app that is extremely glitchy, with terrible customer service. Not worth it (https://www.indeed.com/cmp/Doordash/reviews)
Driver/Delivery (Former Employee) – Shawnee, KS:
“Independent contract work has zero benefits and low wages, plus the wear and tear on your own vehicle. Some days the Red card they give you to pay for the food orders does not work. It isn’t your card its all the red cards. But they will continue to send you orders that are not pre-paid and you need a card to pay for the order. I am grateful that I was able to make some $ in between jobs but it is not a career or destination job. Oversaturated with drivers and not enough orders to keep you busy. Plan on putting at least a thousand miles a week or more on your vehicle”
(https://www.indeed.com/cmp/Doordash/reviews)
in
“What kind of business gives a red card (Debit/Credit) that declines often, and if the machine is down at the place you are picking up & they are taking cash only. Door Dash would like you to pay out of pocket. They want you to email them the receipt & won’t give you additional money for going out of your way to pay out of pocket. The Customer Service line often is hard to understand, they are not from the USA & it becomes frustrating with the English language barriers”
(https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/DoorDash-Reviews-E813073.htm)
in
“New pay set up is a scam. The more customer tips the less doordash pays you. Started making $5 + tip per delivery then dropped to 4.50 + tip now average with new system around $3.50 + tip. Out of dash support is almost min existent they denied everything or run you in a circle till you give up. The dash app is very buggy and every update makes it worse. Show no interest in their drivers just how much money they can keep and how little they can out. Been to the office a few times and just some driver that has no clue on what’s going on”
(https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Employee-Review-DoorDash-RVW15480255.htm)
Driver/dasher Joanne W. Tempe, AZ:
“Doordash is the absolute worst company I have ever worked for! Please do NOT use this service!!! The people running the site are idiots!!! I quit working for them and I ate somebody’s Chinese food because there was no apartment number on the order and the app told me to cancel an order I already had in my car and I was at the delivery address. If you NEVER want to get your food then Doordash is for you! You will lose weight in your body as well as in your bank account! Yes! I am biased because I just wasted a whole bunch of time and they were only giving me 1/2 hour time slots and I was expected to go back to the original location to wait for next dash! This was my 2nd and last day! Don’t work for them unless you have an unlimited income and don’t need to be paid!”
(https://www.yelp.com/topic/phoenix-doordash-food-delivery-service)
Now those are just a few reviews on how bad this company is when dealing with their dashers, I now want to mention some of the positives feedback this company has received.
Current Employee – Seattle, WA:
“Work hours wanted, easy money” (https://www.indeed.com/cmp/Doordash/reviews)
Dasher/driver El Segundo, CA:
in
“True impact in what you do. The output of your work is felt within hours. This company is fast-paced and making history – it’s incredible to be a part of the growth with brilliant, humble colleagues”
(https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/DoorDash-Reviews-E813073.htm)
Now that I have given both sides of DoorDash reviews, I would like to add my pros and cons from this company as I have worked for them for over a year.
Here are some pros and cons that I can list from my own experience working for DoorDash.
Pros:
- When working for DoorDash, you are paid your earnings every week, payouts depend on how your bank takes direct deposits.
- You are an independent contractor, which means you are your own boss and you can make your own work hours when the shifts are open.
Cons:
- DoorDash caters to the customer even if the customer is wrong and does not show up to receive their food, In this case, the dasher is responsible and will get a negating customer rating.
- The mobile application is a joke: it will send you to a different location from where the order needs to be.
DoorDash’s busiest days
On DoorDash’s busiest days (Friday & Saturday) the application crashes and will sign you out of the application, and will not allow you to sign in until they have fixed the server problem.
Once you are deactivated, they will not work with you to fix any problem that caused you to be deactivated in the first place, if it was your fault in the first place.
DoorDash will not let you appeal any deactivation
DoorDash will not let you appeal any deactivation regards any customer ratings. So Don’t even try! They will not even hear your complaint.
Wear and tear on your vehicle, is far more than what you would make with this company. You will pay more than half of your earnings on gas, oil changes, tires, and brakes because they will expect you to drive 30 miles away for only $5
They will take your tips for their fees, even though they say you get to keep 100% of the tips…Yeah Right! They do not give a breakdown of all the tips and earnings, what are they hiding? I wonder!
In theory, the more the customer tips the drivers, the less DoorDash pays its drivers a delivery fee. When you receive a good tip from a customer, DoorDash will lower the delivery pay to its dashers. The more the tip is, the less DoorDash will pay its drivers.
Now I would like to give some advice to the CEO of DoorDash!
Please Fix your mobile app, it is always crashing and signing people out.
Respect your dashers, as they are your legs for the company
Get reps that can speak proper English and can understand your drivers if problems arise.
Fix your rating system, a 4.5 rating is hard when people are always looking for free handouts or free food!
Work with your dashers when you deactivate an account because of a customer rating. Allow appeals!
Remove the customer rating, or just have a “did the driver deliver your food, and was the driver professional & nice” rating
Get a better paying system, you pay more for referring people than you do to the actual drivers who are doing the work.
Stop sending orders 30 miles away for only $5 pay. even Uber/Lyft pay $1 a mile!
Make sure there is money on the red card when you send orders to the dashers
when orders are placed and it takes an hour to reach a dasher, remove the feedback for on-time delivery when it is not the dasher’s fault
After reading this article, I hope you consider the pros and cons of this company before you start working for DoorDash.
If you are looking to just make some quick money for the holidays, or have some extra cash, this will be an ideal side job for you. If you are looking to have a stable job, then I would say this company will not fit that description. You could be very busy one day, and the next day it’s completely dead.
If you have an extra automobile that you don’t mind adding a lot of miles on, then DoorDash is for you.
In the end, it is your decision, I just wanted to let people know how the company is before they get started with no knowledge of this company.
