When Doordash Sends you Out of Region Calls

When a Doordash driver logs in to work, they are signing in to work a particular region. It doesn't matter if the driver has previously scheduled themselves to work ahead of time, or if they are just jumping on when a region is hot and there is an opening. While dashing, a Doordash driver will usually spend their time making pick-ups and deliveries in their region. As I have mentioned in the past, having regions available is one of the top features I like about Doordash over its competitors. There are times though when dashers may find themselves going out of their region and into other regions to complete their duties.

When Doordash gives you calls for other regions

Anybody that has been dashing for a while has no doubt received dashing offers from other regions. Whether a driver accepts these calls or simply rejects them in completely up to them. If you are worried about your acceptance rate, you will most likely accept out of region calls. Personally, I do not worry about my acceptance rate so it is easy for me to decline orders that I do not like.

Accepting calls from other regions is not always a bad thing. For example, there are times when I receive a call for a restaurants that is just a tad out just out of my region and in a neighboring region. The delivery address is in my region, but I will have to go to the neighboring region to pick up the food. I know the restaurants pretty well around my area, and I know the restaurants that are on the border of my region and neighboring regions. This is no big deal to me. I will drive the extra mile or so out of my region.

When Doordash is constantly sending you out of region calls

There have been way too many times when Doordash has tried to guide me into another region. I will receive five or six calls in a row from a neighboring region. I will decline, decline and decline one after an other. It's like Doordash wants me to go work that other region. My take on it is that if I wanted to work that other region I would have signed up for that region.

When this happens, the only reasoning that I can think of is that Doordash apparently has enough drivers in my region to handle the orders that they are getting and do not really need me. They would much rather keep the drivers that they have at the moment happy by giving them call after call. Adding me to their active roster would slow down everything for the other drivers in my region.

 

When this type of thing happens, I have no choice but to put my dash on pause. I will leave my dash on pause for around 15 minutes and then get back on. When I get back on, I am hoping that Doordash will now start sending me offers for my region. They always end up dong so, and once you get that first call, they seem to get you on a roll. It doesn't always happen though. One time I was on pause for 15 minutes, went back on, and the calls from a neighboring region kept flooding my phone. Once again, I went on pause for another 15 minutes, and luckily when I got back on the calls were for my region. That was 30 minutes of pause time, and as you know I would not have been able to do that again as we only have a total of 35 minutes of pause time.

 

What tempts me the most to accept a Doordash out of region call

When Doordash is giving out bonuses in my region, I am usually tempted to accept out of region calls. When a bonus is offered, a dasher must accept 75 percent of the delivery offers that are sent to them. This means that you can only decline one out of four offers. I am not afraid to decline offers if I know that I will make the 75 percent criteria to receive the bonus money, but there have been times when I was forced to accept a call that I normally otherwise would not have accepted if not for the bonus.

The amount of the Doordash bonus will have a big influence on how tempted I am to accept out of region offers. Let me give you an example of something that happened a few weeks ago. Doordash was offering a $2 bonus in my area from 5pm to 9pm. I received a call at 4:45pm and accepted it because the merchant was half a block away from me. I walked into the restaurant at 4:50pm and seen that I had to place the order myself. I decided that I did not want this order after all. By having to spend time ordering it, it would waste too much time and run into the bonus time. I unassigned the order, and then I went on pause. The plan was to get back on at 5pm so I could accept and deliver as many bonus calls as possible. I figured that I would be able to do at least eight calls during bonus time, and that would earn me an additional $16 of bonus money.

Unfortunately things don't always work out as planned. I get on at 5pm and receive a call right away. This seemed great, but unfortunately the call was an out of region offer that was 15 miles away and paid $7. With the bonus money it would be $9, but since it was so far it would waste too much of my time so I declined it. In my head,not a problem, I won't have a problem making the 75 percent mark. The next call comes in right after I decline that first one, and unfortunately for me this second call is even farther and out of my region. It is a 21 mile call that pays $8. This would be a $10 call with the bonus, but there is no way in hell I am driving 21 miles. Now I would have to accept and complete the next six calls to make the 75 percent target. In my mind, still not a problem if Doordash would start sending me calls in my region. The third call came in, and once again it is a ridiculous call tht is out of my region. This third call is 14 miles away and paid $7.50. This call would have paid me $9.50 with the $2 bonus. By the time this third call came in, it was 5:30pm and once I declined it, in my mind I was out. There would be no bonuses for me this evening. Around 6pm, I receive a fourth offer, and low and behold this call is an offer for my region. I accepted it and received ping after ping from there on. Unfortunately I would have had to accept and complete nine calls from 6pm to 9pm to get to the 75 percent acceptance. Just like I expected, it did not happen, and I ended up completing eight dashes.

 

My point is that I was not going to accept these Doordash out of region calls for a measly $2 bonus. They were so far and would not be worth my time. If the bonus amount was more, I may have considered accepting these out of region calls. For example, if the bonus amount was $4 or more, chances are that I would have taken these out of region calls. With that amount of a bonus, it would be well worth it, and a dasher would come out ahead instead of getting paid the regular amount with no bonuses even if the calls are in their region.

Again, whether you as a dasher accept or decline out of region calls is completely up to you. Every dasher has their own set of rules on what kind of calls they will accept or not. As I've mentioned, I generally do not like accepting out of region calls, but if the restaurant or the customer is around the border of my region and another, I will usually accept it. One thing that I have noticed when accepting out of region calls is that once you accept it, they will try to keep you in that area, and I am not about to do that. Enough said. Happy dashing!