Why Does the Doordash App Always Crash?

This evening as I came out to deliver some food, I opened up three apps and attempted to log in to Uber Eats, Postmates and Doordash. I was successful with the first two, but I could not log in to Doordash. Usually, I don't have to fill in my user name and password as my information is auto-saved. Something went wrong this time though, and whenever the app tried to automatically log me in I would get denied. It gave me the option to log in manually which I eventually did on my third try. I was in, but I had a good feeling things were not going to be right.

The Doordash App is lagging

For the first 20 minutes, I didn't receive a ping from any of the apps, but then I finally received one from Doordash. The text message came in and the order was for Chipotle Mexican Grill. I was viewing something else on my phone when the text came in, but all I would have to do, like I always do, is bring the dasher app up to the front and view the order. I'd normally be able to see the offer on my screen, but for some reason the order was not showing up. All my app said was "Searching for orders."

I wasn't sure what was going on, but the order never showed up on my screen. After another 15 minutes I then received a Postmates order and proceeded to do that order. On the way to that restaurant I received a new text on my phone. The text was from Doordash, and it said that I had missed a delivery opportunity from Chipotle. What the heck? I look at the Doordash app and it was on pause due to me supposedly not accepting the order. I quickly figured out what was going on here. There was some major Doordash lag going on. I then wondered if the problem could be my phone. I restarted my phone, reopened the app and hoped the problem would be solved. Everything remained  the same though. Later, I received another Doordash order that didn't display on the screen due to the Doordash app lagging.

With my Doordash problem, I kept busy for a couple of hours with just Postmates. During this time, I decided to check out Facebook and see if any other dashers were having any similar problems or if it was just me. It didn't take long for me to see that I was not alone. Here is a few screenshots of what I immediately seem.

As you can see the exact same thing was happening to other dashers. When Doordash is having technical issues like this there is really nothing any of us can do but wait for them to fix the problem. This is why it is always good to work with multiple apps. You never want to fully depend on one app.

I was king of glad to see that it wasn't just me experiencing the Doordash glitches. It's not that I was happy that other dashers had the same problem. It's just good to know that you are not alone and that the problem is with Doordash and not you. Here is another screenshot from Facebook.

Why does the dasher app always have technical problems?

It does seem like the Doordash driver app crashes way more often that its competitors. It would be a lie if I said that the Doordash app does not crash much more often than Postmates, Uber Eats, Grub Hub, etc. Honestly, it is not even a close call as it is very rare for the other apps to crash. It may happen once in a blue moon, but it is so rare that it is never an issue that you would think about. With Doordash, it seems like it happens at least once a month!!!

Why the Doordash app crashes all the time is something that only Doordash can answer, but we can speculate. Are the tech workers for Doordash  just not very good at their job? I mean, are the engineers at Postmates, Uber Eats, Grub Hub, etc. just more talented at what they do? I am not implying this to be true, I am just throwing it out there to think about. Why are the Doordash engineers not able to keep the Doordash app running smoothly? I mean, problems are going to happen every once in a while no matter how good your tech workers are, but the amount of technical problems that the Doordash app encounters can sometimes be ridiculous.

Most of us know about the tech workers boycott on Doordash, but if you never heard about it, then you may find this interesting. In wake of the Doordash stealing driver tips issue that received as much attention as it ever has during the beginning of 2019, many tech workers, both veterans and newbies formed an alliance promising not to apply with Doordash until dashers are paid fairly. These engineers must have been disgusted to learn that Doordash uses customer's tip money toward driver's base pay. If you want to know why the masses are accusing Doordash of stealing driver's tips, you can learn more about it here.

I think that this boycott is too new to say that it has already had an impact or is the reason that Doordash has way more app issues than similar type apps, but I do feel that this boycott will have negative future implications for Doordash. I do believe that the elite engineers out there that get into the on-demand food delivery business will be employed by Postmates, Uber Eats, GrubHub and other smaller companies. I think Doordash is going to be their own worse enemy in all of this and may one day cause its own destruction unless they eventually give in. Let's face it, Doordash investors could care less about the way Doordash treats its drivers. As long as they will receive a nice future return on their investment they will be happy, but it would be safe to say that those same very Doordash investors will not be happy if all of the top graduates that are looking to set their feet in the industry go to competing companies. Sure, Doordash will receive some young and talented graduates, but the elite will work for other companies. The mistakes that Doordash is making here would be obvious to Kelly Bundy. 

 

What should Dashers do when the Doordash app crashes?

As I have already mentioned, there is nothing that us drivers can do but wait for Doordash to fix their app. In the mean time though, there is no sense is just sitting around. It is very important that those working in this industry have at least two on-demand food delivery companies that they work for. Never depend on just one. That is the biggest mistake that you can make.

I am happy to say though that the Doordash app began working fine again after a couple of hours. When I did start receiving the dashes, it was a great day! Doordash gave me nice paying calls one after another. As I have said before, Doordash dominates the area I work in, and they pay decent so when Doordash is working right there is nothing to complain about.