Doordash Scheduling Problems

There has been a major glitch going on lately with the Doordash app that has had many Doordash drivers scratching their heads and wondering what the heck is going on. The latest Doordash problem has to do with scheduling your shifts. This has been an ongoing problem for over a month now, and the bad news is that it does not seem like there is going to be a solution to the problem any time soon.

How Doordash drivers have always got their schedule

Anybody that has been a regular dasher for some time easily understood how the Doordash schedules worked. At midnight the schedules were released. There was nothing confusing about it. A minute or two before midnight all of us dashers would get ready for the clock on our cell phones to hit midnight. When the clock hit 12, at that very second we all would try to beat others and get a schedule. I used to dash in an area that was flooded with dashers, and if you were not super quick, you were not going to get a schedule. A fraction of a second could cost you a schedule. I've also dashed in areas that were not so competitive for schedules, and you probably had ten minutes after midnight to still get a schedule. No matter what the deal was though, all us dasher knew that midnight was the time the schedules came out.

Scheduling problem with Doordash

I discovered the Doordash scheduling problem one night when at 12 midnight there was no new schedules on the board. I thought it was just a one time thing, but the next night the same thing happened again. I wondered if it was just me, but it wasn't. Apparently, as I discovered later, everybody was having this problem. A whole week went by with the same problem. A few times during the week I was able to jump on Doordash with the "Dash Now" option, but that was it.

Another thing that I noticed was that the "Dash Now" option was not available like it used to be. What I mean is that the "Dash Now" opportunity rarely came up like it used to. I was beginning to wonder if a bunch of dashers were just staring at their phones waiting for the "Dash Now" opportunity to pop up. Maybe they were grabbing these opportunities quickly because if I wasn't getting the schedules at midnight then they certainly were not. Right? I'm a very busy person, so even if I wanted to sit there and stare at my phone waiting for an opening, I cannot. Instead, I would glimpse at my phone every five minutes or so. In the past, this would work, but it was not working anymore!

 

 

When I kind of figured out what the Doordash scheduling problem was

After a couple of weeks of not getting a schedule with Doordash, I basically gave up on the platform. Instead, I would do UberEats or Postmates. The situation did not affect me much. Even before the Doordash scheduling problems, Doordash had already became my last pick when it came to this kind of work. During the past year, Doordash made up only 5 percent of my income from the on demand food delivery work that I do. Postmates made up 10 percent, and Uber Eats made up 85 percent. With all of that said I still have more lifetime deliveries with Doordash than the others. Due to being introduced to the on demand food delivery business through Doordash, I really piled up deliveries for them when I started doing this. I have close to 6000 deliveries with Doordash. Thank God that I do not depend on Doordash at all for any of my livelihood!

 

One day while messing with my phone I decided to once again check the Doordash schedules. Low and behold there was a long list of schedules. I picked up a full day schedule, and thought I had all of this figured out now. It was 3 p.m. So, Doordash is now releasing their schedules at 3 p.m. I thought. Maybe they did this to give more dashers a fair chance. Maybe some dashers couldn't stay up to midnight to get a schedule. Okay, I understand. So, the very next day I get ready for the schedules to come out. It is 2:59 p.m., and I am ready to battle other dashers that may have figured out the new time before me, but when the clock turns to 3 p.m. there is nothing there. There is no new Doordash schedules.

I end up searching the Internet trying to find out what the problem is, but I didn't get any answer that I was looking for until a certain social media platform gave me the answer. Apparently, the Doordash schedules were being released at different times throughout the day. I started thinking how idiotic this was for Doordash to do. I was thinking that they did this on purpose. Maybe this was to keep all Dashers on their toes and to always be active checking the platform. If they never know what time the schedules are coming out, then they'll constantly be on the Doordash app. This would be good for Doordash because they will always be on a dasher's mind.

Discovering that there is a Doordash Scheduling Glitch

On April 24, 2019, an email from Doordash was sent out that read as follows:

Dear XXX,

We are aware of an ongoing issue that is causing the Dasher schedule to be released at different times each day. We understand that this is a frustrating experience and we are working to fix the issue. Later this week, we will provide an update regarding schedule release times. In the meantime, we recommend frequently checking your Dasher app to find available dashes. 

Happy Dashing,

The Doordash Team

Okay. This let us know that Doordash was aware of the issue. So I assumed that this should be a good thing. Hopefully they will have this baby good to go shortly, and things will go back to normal.

Second email from Doordash about the scheduling problem

On April 27, 2019, a second email came in from Doordash that read as follows:

Hi XXX,

We have received feedback from many Dashers that it has become increasingly difficult to schedule a dash on the Doordash platform. We understand this is a frustrating experience. We have listened to you and have resolved to make the following changes to improve the Dashing experience.

We are running consumer promotions in your market to create more deliveries. These are allowing the release of more slots on the Dasher schedule. We have launched a temporary early access scheduling program as Doordash works to drive more deliveries to your market.

The email goes on from there and explains to dashers how the early access program works. I will get to that in a minute, but let me try to understand what Doordash is trying to explain so far in this email. The very first sentence of this email once again has Doordash acknowledging that there is a problem with the scheduling. In their first email they said that they were working on fixing the problem, and that was great. Unfortunately, it does not seem like they were able to figure out how to fix the problem. Also, they say that they have received feedback from dashers that it is difficult to get a schedule. Really? Is "Feedback" what Doordash calls all those emails from dashers cursing them out?

I don't mean to insult Doordash, but is it just me or do they always try to give the impression that they are a company that cares about and listens to its employees; I mean independent contractors. In that same paragraph the email goes on to say that they have listened to us dashers. Really? Are you really listening to us or are you just saying that because your techs cannot fix your software? I've heard about many of the tops techs in the industry refusing to work for Doordash because of the deceitful tipping system that Doordash practices. This email just kind of hit a nerve with me as Doordash to me is the worst company out there when it comes to satisfying its drivers. That's my opinion and another subject for another day so I will not stray away from the subject here and leave it at that for now.

Doordash goes on to say that they are running consumer promotions which supposed to create more orders. With the expected increase in orders, they are supposedly opening up more slots. I guess this should be a good thing for all dashers, but I still have the problem of never knowing when the Doordash schedule is being released. As of this writing, nothing has been fixed, and the Doordash scheduling problem still exist.

The email goes on to talk about the temporary Doordash early access program. Those dashers that have completed at least 20 dashes the previous week, or those that have 250 total lifetime dashes under their belt qualify. Basically, these dashers will have access to the schedules a day ahead of all the other dashers that don't qualify. For your information, Doordash calls this a temporary thing, but they once had a permanent early access program that had different qualification standards. It has been a while since they did away with that.

Has there been a resolution to the Doordash scheduling problem?

Even with all of the email information that Doordash has tried to provide, nothing has been resolved. There still is never any schedules up at a regular time no matter what time you look. With thousands of dashes completed, I would naturally qualify for the Doordash early access program. Schedules supposed to go up at 3 p.m. everyday. Unfortunately, that's not the case. I have basically given up on Doordash for now. I am pretty confident they will eventually get things up and running like normal again, but until then. Happy Dashing!