Interview with Three Dashers - Doordash Drivers

As my readers here know, I write about random Doordash subjects on this blog. I cover subjects that are on my mind for one reason or the other. While out dashing the other day, I came across an older lady that was dashing. She was very friendly and began a conversation with me. For about ten minutes we talked about Doordash, and honestly, she did about 90 percent of the talking while I just listened. Here opinions and outlooks about various Doordash topics were very interesting.

This gave me an idea to pick three dashers to interview. Basically, what I wanted to do here was ask some questions and hear out three different dasher's opinions and answers. I wanted to see what some other dashers thought about various Doordash subjects. I picked my three dashers. Their names are James, Susan and Art. James is a neighbor that lives on my block. Susan is a cousin of mine that dashes in an area that is about 50 miles away, and Art is an old friend that lives in the old neighborhood that I grew up in. We sat down and had dinner at a local restaurant and the interview began. I recorded the audio of the interview for the intent of writing this post so here goes.

 

Hello, how is everybody doing?

James: Great!

Susan: Excellent

Art: Alright

Okay, first off, thanks for doing this. I'm going to get right down to the questions okay?

Art: Let's do this

First off, how long have you all been dashing and how many dashes do you have under your belt?

Art: I've done about 2000 dashes in about five months. I do it full-time and I like it a lot.

Susan: I also have done close to 2000 calls, but I'm not at the pace Art is. It's taken me a year to get this far. I'm a stay at home mom and usually work the early morning or afternoon.

James: I have been a dasher for about three years and I have (checks his phone) 4234 dashes completed. During the past three years, I have dashed full-time at times, but there has also been times when I have done it on a part-time basis. It all just depends on what's going on in my life at the time.

Do you guys deliver for any other on-demand food deliver platforms?

James: I deliver for all of the major apps. Doordash, Postmates, Grub Hub and Uber Eats. Doordash was the first app that I ever used so I kind of got used of it. I registered with all the other three apps about a year later. I will put them on if Doordash gets slow, but Doordash usually keeps me busy. There was a time though when I had put Uber Eats as my main app over Doordash. I did this for about three months. Uber Eats was paying me a 2X0 boost for about three months for almost the whole day. I was making some major money for those three months. Once the good boost stopped though, I went back to Doordash as my main.

Art: I really don't have any time for the other apps. I did register with Postmates, but to tell you the truth I never did one delivery with them. I don't need to. Doordash has me running in circles all day.

Susan: I only do Doordash

This question is only for James since you have experience delivering for multiple apps. What app do you think is the best?

James: When Uber Eats is giving a good boost, they are the best. They even have something that they call quest which earns you even more money. An example of a quest would be something like "Complete 30 deliveries over the weekend and receive an additional $50." When you have boost and quest going on the amount of money that you can make with Uber Eats is amazing. Doordash is the main app for me though, and I really believe because it is just because I am used of it. Maybe I am being to loyal. I don't know. I'm going to rank them like this. Uber Eats would be number one. Doordash would be second. Grubhub would be third and Postmates would be last.

Hobbs: Why do you put Postmates last?

James: Getting paid $3.50 for an order while having to order the customer's food just does not seem like something I enjoy doing. If more customers tipped it would be okay, and those calls would turn in to $7.50 or $8.50 calls which is fine. In my case, only half of the customers tip so half of my calls are under $4.00. Not a good thing!

Hobbs: I can relate to what you are saying James. I wouldn't put them last on my list, but I know with Postmates it's a hit or miss. If customers don't tip the payouts can be low, but when customers do tip the payouts can be much more than your typical Doordash call. Many Postmates calls will pay you $6 or $7 and then the customer will tip $5 to $10 on top of that so you end up with very high paying calls. Again, those low paying calls with no tips can be discouraging though.

How satisfied are you with Doordash?

Susan: I've very satisfied with Doordash. The flexibility is what works for me. I will usually dash after dropping off my kids at school, and then I will stop in the late afternoon. I try to get shifts from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Sometimes I am unable to get that shift, but usually I do. I will usually make $50 to $70 per day, and this really helps my household a lot. There are days when I can't dash because I have other important things to do. This is what makes Doordash so great to me. If I had a regular job, I'd have to be there every day, and with my life I just would not be able to obligate myself to something like that.

Art: I'd give Doordash a "B" grade. There is a lot of room for improvement in a lot of things, but overall it works for me. Doordash is paying my rent, making my car payment, paying my light bill and everything else that I need to pay in life. I can't complain too much about a company that is giving me a chance to work for them so that I can take care of my responsibilities in life.

James: Like Art said, you can't complain too much about a company that is giving you the opportunity to make a living. Also, it's not like we have a very difficult job. We delivery food. We are not out there doing hard labor or anything like that. Every company has their problems, but Doordash is a blessing to many individuals.

 

Do you think Doordash treats its drivers well?

Art: I think they treat us pretty well. They never bother us so that is a good thing. They never call me about anything. The only time I speak to them is if I call them; which is rare. I would say that by leaving us alone and handling our own business they are treating us well. What else do they supposed to do or not do?

Susan: I have had minimal contact with Doordash. Believe it or not I have never had to contact Doordash for anything. I always get paid right, and I like the fast pay thing. There is always deliveries available, and I enjoy what I am doing. Do they treat drivers right? I have to say yes.

James: Most things are fine with Doordash, and I would say overall they treat their drivers fair. I do have a problem with the pay structure that they use for tips though. Even though I think that dashers end up making more money with the current Doordash pay model, I still don't agree with it because it is misleading and confusing to dashers. There are way too many dashers that just don't understand it.

Hobbs: Thanks for bringing that up James, the tipping and pay model of Doordash is a subject I will ask you all about later. 

If you guys could change anything, what would you change about Doordash?

James: I would change the pay model back to the way it was when I first started dashing which was $5 per call plus the customer's tip. Back then we actually received the customer's tip.

Art: I think Doordash should invest more money in fixing all of the bugs in their app. It seems like every week there is some major Doordash crash.

Susan: I think that Doordash should get rid of schedules. I really don't think there is a need for them. My husband sometimes delivers for Postmates on the weekends, and he just jumps on whenever he wants to. He never has to worry about a schedule. I used to think too many drivers would be on at one time, but that is not the case. If it can work like that with Postmates, I don't know why it would not work for Doordash. There is nothing as annoying as wanting to work but not being on schedule.

 

 

What do you guys think about the Doordash tipping practice?

Art: I think Doordash are wicked crooks, and that's why I kind of like them. There's no doubt that they are stealing tips that are left by the customers. The way I see it though is what the hell can I do about it. It is the way Doordash operates. The people I feel sorry for though is the customers. When they leave their driver a tip, they believe that all that money goes to their delivery driver on top of a decent pay that the driver is receiving. They don't know that their driver is only getting $1 base pay from Doordash and anything after that their tip money goes toward. They most likely think that their driver is getting $5 to $8 for the delivery then want to add on a tip. Sneaky Doordash is, and you have to give credit to them.

Susan: I don't agree with the way Doordash counts customer tip money that customers leave toward the guarantee. Sometimes I think that the confusion on Doordash about customer tips was done on purpose. Doordash knows what they are doing, and I believe that they will continue doing what they are doing for as long as they can. I firmly believe that their day will come though. Just like everybody or anything else in life, if you are doing wrong, it will always come back to you and bite you in the ass.

James: This Doordash stealing tips thing is always entertaining to talk about. As I mentioned earlier, I believe that dashers end up making more money with the current pay model, but I still don't think it is the right way to do things. It just causes too much confusion. People like things simple and easy to understand. Why make things complicated?

What do you guys think about Doordash recently landing a partnership deal with McDonald's?

Susan: When did this happen? I didn't hear anything about that.

James: I learned about that happening right here on your Doordash driver blog, and I think it will benefit Doordash tremendously. Doordash really gave Uber Eats a good blow.

Art: I don't think much of it. I don't think it will really have much of an affect on us drivers. Hello!! There are two McDonald's in my area that I always do Doordash deliveries for all the time. This is without Doordash partnering with them. Maybe it'll be quicker now though since I probably wont have to order the food.

As dashers, do any of you have an opinion on AB 5?

Susan: I don't really keep up with things like that as I'm very busy in life, but my husband had mentioned some things about it to me. If I understand correctly, it is an assembly bill going on in California that is pushing for gig-workers such as us to be classified as employees instead of independent contractors. With that would come a guaranteed hourly wage, but at the same time the company would have more control over you as you are indeed an employee. That's basically all I know about it. Personally, I would just leave things the way they are as I don't want some company such as Doordash telling me when to work and forcing me to do calls.

James: I've been following this pretty close and Susan is right, but there are so many other issues with AB 5. As employees, the guaranteed hourly minimum wage would have to be paid. Overtime would also have to paid. Companies such as Doordash, Postmates, Uber and all of the rest would have to pay into social security and Medicare. They would also have to offer unemployment, disability insurance, worker's compensation, sick leave and vacation. There is so much more that these gig companies would have to contribute to their work force. I almost forgot. They'll also have to reimburse all of their drivers for gas mileage and maintenance on their vehicles.

Art: Wow! That's crazy! I didn't know all of that. At first I thought AB 5 sucked because my thinking was that it would take away my freedom to work when I want. If we would get all of those benefits as employees then I say we should be classified as employees. Could these companies really afford all of this though? I mean, there are times when I don't get a call for a whole hour. I would get paid for just sitting around waiting for a call?

James: They'd be able to afford it. These companies have a lot of money. Sure, most of them are not profitable yet, but they have lots of cash. Also, if you think about it, other companies survive even though they have to pay all of this to their employees. If they can do it why can't these gig companies? Maybe things have been a little too easy for them.

Hobbs: Thank you for answering my questions you guys, I really appreciate it.

Art: That's it - that was easy. Thanks for letting us speak our mind a little bit guy.

Hobbs: I wish I had more questions at this time for you guys, but that's all I have right now. Maybe when I have a bunch of new questions I want opinions on I can call you guys again?

Susan: Of course you can. Thank you for having us.

James: Yes Damon, thanks for having us, and you did a great job here.

Hobbs: Thank you all three of you. You guys can probably see this posted on the blog in about a week.

Happy Dashing!!!!

Doordash Announces that it will Update and Change its Pay Model

As many readers here know, truthful information about the Doordash pay model has been shared on this blog for a very long time. Since the very beginning of 2018 we have been explaining to our readers about how the Doordash pay model worked. We've explained how easy it was for somebody to come to the conclusion that Doordash was stealing driver tips, and I am happy to say that we are pleased with our efforts. This satisfaction does not come from trying to attack a company for no reason. Instead, this satisfaction comes from trying to inform drivers and customers about a company that was in our eyes being very deceitful. It seemed like we reached a lot of drivers, but honestly it seems as though many customers were still left unaware about where their tip money was going.

This is what Doordash customers would see on their phone. Wouldn't anybody assume that their dasher received their tip?

 

Of course this little old blog here has a limited audience. It took the big honchos out there to really spread the word about what was happening. In February, when NBC News and other large media outlets began covering Doordash's tip policy it put a bit of pressure on Doordash. Word about how they include customer's tips to the driver's guaranteed pay amount instead of adding the customer's tip on top of what the dasher was already making was exposed to many customers.

Doordash was not alone in this controversy though. Instacart, which engaged in the same type of tipping tactics, also found themselves in heat. Instacart though listened to what their workers and customers were saying and immediately changed their tipping policy to what it should be. Customer tips on Instacart would now be normal. What a customer tipped on Instacart would be on top of whatever else it was the driver was earning.

What was Doordashs initial response to media attention about their tipping policy?

Doordash, even though they acknowledged the media coverage that they were receiving, continued to defend their pay model. They continued to say how Doordash drivers were satisfied with their pay model and how they were going to continue paying drivers the way they have always done since introducing this controversial pay model in 2017. They then claimed that they were going to meet with drivers in selected cities to hear their opinions. An email was also sent out encouraging drivers to send in their feedback about all of this. Of course, after all of this was said and done, they claimed that the majority of drivers want the pay model. In my personal opinion this is all made up lies in an attempt to go on with this crooked scheme as long as possible.

Doordash did make some changes though. After each dash, drivers were now able to see the pay breakdown. There would be no more secrets to the way dashers were paid. Upon completing an order, drivers could see that Doordash payed the initial $1 that they had to pay, the amount of the customer tip, and the additional amount that Doordash had to pay to reach the driver's guaranteed amount for that particular order. This is what Doordash calls, or at least used to call Pay Boost. Basically, as Doordash likes to say, they were being more transparent.

The funny thing about all of this is that all it did now was show Doordash drivers how they were being ripped off. Yes, many dashers have known for a while that Doordash was stealing their tips, but now Doordash was showing everybody how they stole tips. At this point in time, all drivers that are paying attention should know that Doordash was stealing their tips. One thing that the Doordash CEO Tony Xu ha stated before was that many dashers did not understand the breakdown of their earnings. My answer to that is well, now it is very clear with the breakdown that is shown after each delivery. If a particular dasher does not understand from that how Doordash is stealing their tips, then they will never understand. Of course I take it that that person is only one out of 1000 - I hope.

 

Recent New York Times article causes more heat for Doordash

This past weekend, the New York Times covered Doordashs tipping policy. Also, a reporter actually went out dashing and saw first hand how Doordash was stealing customer tips. The reporter noticed that he wold earn the same amount the great majority of time whether a customer tipped or not. He understand how customers were being deceived in to believing that their tips were actually going to the driver when in fact they were not. He understood how Doordash has been using trickery with words to protect themselves. When it says on the Doordash website that drivers receive 100 percent of customer's tips, he understood the play with words. You know, when you are telling a lie, but you can convince yourself and try to convince others that you were telling the truth by your sleek words.

 

Doordash announces that they will change their pay model

Doordash drivers have been sent an important message out via email about upcoming changes to the Doordash pay model. The email apparently has been sent by Doordash CEO Tony Xu as it has his name at the end of the message. In this email, it starts out with an explanation about how after a lot of consideration, they will be changing the pay model. I must say that this is a day that I certainly seen coming. I did not know when, but I knew that Doordash could not steal tips forever. They did give it a hell of  a run though, and they continued this shady tipping practice for a very long time. Honestly, as I have mentioned before, I feel that their goal here was to keep their crooked tipping practice in place as long as possible. If the day comes when they feel like they are being forced to change their tipping policy they would do so, but they felt for the time being that they would milk company profits at the expense of customer tips as long as they could.





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What is the new Doordash pay model going to be?

Nobody knows what this new pay model is going to be. Is it going to go back like the good old days before Doordash started stealing tips. It used to be $5 plus the customer tip in most markets. Some markets were $4 or $6 plus tips. It seems like most drivers would be satisfied if Doordash went back to the $5 plus customer tip pay model.

Again, nobody really knows what Tony Xu is going to decide here. I mean let's face reality. If he wanted to pay $1 plus customer tips he could. Of course if he did that he would lose a lot of drivers. Why in the heck would anybody deliver for those rates when you could work for competitor companies and make much more money. I personally think that Doordash will go back to the $5 plus tip model, and Doordash drivers should be happy with that. Anything more than that and we would all be getting a little greedy. I mean, even though many of us feel like we have been done wrong, we must understand that Doordash does still need to make some money themselves.

It has been reported that by Doordash themselves that 15 percent of customers don't tip anything at all. That means 85 percent of Doordash customers do tip. Since Doordash has been showing us the pay breakdown as of late, I have been keeping tabs of how much customer's tip, and I must say that I am really surprised at how much most customers tip. Sure, there are many $1 or $2 tippers, but I would say that about half of the tippers tip basically the whole amount of the guarantee; except for that $1 that Doordash is required to pay of course.

As I flip through my phone right now the first order that I look at is an order I did a couple of nights ago. It was a guarantee of $7.99. The customer tipped $6.99 and Doordash paid $1. Okay, so I received what I agreed to, but if it would have been a $5 guarantee plus the customer tip, I would have received $5 plus the $6.99 tip from the customer for a total of $11.99. As I scroll though my orders there are just way too many orders like this.

Sure, there are a few orders when the controversial pay model had me get paid more than if it was a $5 plus customer tip pay model. These orders are of course when the customer does not tip anything at all. Sure, Doordash puts in the difference so that I can get the guarantee, but the difference of pay in these orders is not by much.

 

For example, I had an order with a guarantee of $5.50. The customer tipped nothing. Doordash paid the $1 that they had to pay me, and they had to put in $4.50 (the boost pay.) If I had earned $5 plus customer tip I would have only been paid $5 because there was no customer tip. In this case, the controversial pay model wins, but only by 50 cents and these orders are a rarity.

As I have mentioned, Doordash themselves reported that only 15 percent of customers don't tip anything at all. Since we now have the breakdown of our pay, we can see that this is pretty much true and most customers do tip, and lots of customers tip pretty well I must say. In the example that I just gave, do you realize that if the customer was a small tipper that only tipped $1 you would be better off than the controversial pay model. A Doordash driver would have ended up with $5 guarantee and $1 tip for a total of $6 instead of $5.50.

When is Doordash going to change the pay model?

There was no exact date provided as to when the new Doordash pay model will take effect. My guess is that it will take about a month to do so. I may be wrong though, it may be next week or even tomorrow. I don't think so though as I can just picture Doordash coming up with the perfect moves for the future of their company.

I mean, they got away with this stealing tips business for a long while. The profits that they have gained from it have to be enormous. I think that there goal was hit, and now it's time to move on to new strategies. Besides that, currently there is an assembly bill in California that could have a big impact on not only Doordash, but other similar type companies. Put it this way, Doordash has a lot to talk about and will have to strategically think about their next moves.

Can I get back all the money that Doordash has stolen from me?

That is what the legal system is for. I am not a lawyer and cannot give out legal advice. Can you get back all of the tip money that Doordash has stolen from you the past couple of years? Yes. No. Maybe so. I'm sure that you have seen all of these advertisements from law firms wanting you to contact them about various Doordash legal subjects. It would be best to talk to an attorney about this.

None of us can say whether you can get back the stolen tip money or not. All of this would have to be handled in the court of law. I will say this, and I'm sure that I am not alone. If I were able to get back all of the tip money that Doordash kept due to their controversial pay model, I would get back many and many thousands of dollars. I'll leave it at that.

I'm going to end this article by saying that I am very happy that this crooked tipping policy has come to an end. I also must say that maybe we shouldn't count our chickens before they hatch. As I publish this article, it has been almost a week since Tony Xu made his announcement. Nothing has changed yet. I'm not saying that the Doordash pay model is not going to be changed. After all, Tony Xu did announce the change that is coming, and we all trust Tony Xu and Doordash. Right?

McDonalds Partners with Doordash - Sorry Uber Eats

For the past couple of years, McDonald's delivery was associated with Uber Eats. That is because Uber Eats was the exclusive delivery partner for the giant fast-food chain. McDelivery was a service that only Uber Eats provided. McDonald's advertised it on television commercials. Signs and posters could be seen at McDonald's restaurants. Heck, at some locations you would even see the McDonald's workers hats and uniforms advertising Uber Eats delivery. It seemed like a match made in heaven, and nobody was going to break up this partnership. That is until Doordash came in and has now also officially partnered with McDonald's!

McDonald's, for their own reasons, has decided to end its exclusive deal with Uber Eats. Earlier this year, it had been reported that McDonald's wanted to renegotiate the terms of their contract with Uber Eats. It was speculated that McDonald's wanted to lower the commission fee that Uber Eats was charging, but since this new deal with Doordash has happened we can assume that McDonald's was not happy with what Uber was offering them.

This does not mean that McDonald's will not be available to Uber Eats customers anymore. Things will be same as they have always been, but there is a new player in town, and this player is ready to take a good chunk of Uber Eats business. By adding another delivery partner, McDonald's has officially ended their exclusive deal with Uber Eats.

 

When does all this Doordash and McDonald's partnership begin?

There's not going to be Doordash banners popping up at every McDonald's around the country tomorrow. Things take time. Surely there is going to be strategic marketing and promotions by Doordash to let the world know that they are now partnered with McDonald's, but just like everything else, things take time.

On July 29, Doordash will officially be in partnership with McDonald's as they will offer McDelivery with over 200 locations in the Houston, TX area. From there, things will spread to the rest of the country. With Doordash being available in all 50 states, it should not be long before almost everybody in the United States has access to Doordash McDelivery.

Will it benefit McDonald's to partner with Doordash?

McDonald's joins the likes of many other restaurants by using multiple food delivery services. Most merchants do not get into an exclusive agreement with a delivery partner. Most restaurants partner with at least a couple of them. Some merchants even partner with four, five or even more delivery companies. Nobody can ever go wrong with diversity.

The giant chain may benefit as they will receive top notch promotions from the Doordash app. McDonald's already has the Uber Eats audience, now they will also have the Doordash crowd. That is not to say that the Doordash crowd, or anybody else out there did not know about McDonalds already, but for regular Doordash users to see a McDonald's banner regularly on the app will convert into lots of sales. This is great for McDonalds!

Also, we do not know about the deal that McDonald's and Doordash put together. Could it be much better than what Uber Eats was willing to offer? In case you don't know, these delivery apps charge partnered merchants a certain percentage of whatever the sales are. Typical agreements are between 15 and 30 percent with most agreements ranging between the 20 and 25 percent mark.

 

Let's give an example here to see how the commissions work with a 25 percent agreement. If a merchant sells $10,000 of food in a month from a certain partner, the partner will take $2,500. Using the same $10,000 of monthly sales, let's say a delivery partner charged 15 percent. Instead of taking a $2,500 cut, they would instead take a $1,500 cut. These numbers are very important as merchants have to figure out their profitability after paying out commissions to delivery companies such as Doordash and Uber Eats.

I have used a small number here, but the difference in the percentage paid out is a very big deal. Many merchants will take in hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars in a given month. The more they take in, the more they will have to pay the delivery companies. Just a one percent difference can mean a lot of money. Again, nobody knows the deal that McDonald's made with Doordash, but I would personally assume it was better than what Uber Eats put on the table.

Does it really matter now that Doordash is partnering with McDonald's?

This really depends on who you are talking about. For Doordash as a company, this is a major plus. To partner with one of, if not the top fast food retail chain in the world is a major hit. To be honest, it is a grand slam. You better bet that Doordash investors are celebrating this deal. If all goes well, the cash revenue that Doordash takes in from McDonald's sales should be astronomical.

Also, I am not sure how all of this is going to work, but if Doordash gets branding stickers on the McDonald's bags and things of the such it will be sweet for them. When I pick up McDonald's orders for Uber Eats, the brown bags that they use for the customer's orders are branded with the Uber Eats logo. Then they shut the bag with Uber Eats stickers which make them tamper proof. If these are ripped then a customer might think that you messed with their food. Also, when picking up Uber Eats orders from McDonald's, the food is ready 90 percent of the time. There is hardly any waiting around, and if you do have to wait it is usually just a few minutes. If all of this happens the same way for Doordash orders it will be great for Doordash.

In case you didn't know - Doordash has always delivered McDonald's

I really don't mean to rain on anyone's parade, but I have probably done at least 100 Doordash pick ups at McDonalds restaurants before. Of course, McDonald's has never been a Doordash partnered restaurant before, but do you really think that Doordash was not going to include McDonald's on their list of merchants to order food from?

McDonald's has always been offered on the Doordash platform. As a Doordash driver, all I had to do was treat McDonald's just like any other non-partnered merchant. I would place the customer's order myself, receive the food and then deliver it. Sure, there was no branded bags or tamper proof tape. The food came in a bag just like any other customer would receive, but surely Doordash customers were still happy with their McDelivery.

 

 

Is Doordash partnership with McDonald's good for dashers?

Anytime there is an opportunity for more calls, it is a good thing for dashers. If it brings more business to Doordash drivers, no driver is ever going to complain. If things go as Doordash plans, there should be a lot of business from McDonald's which means a ton of calls for dashers.

As a Doordash driver, it will also be good to not have to place a customer's order at McDonald's. With Uber Eats, you just tell McDonald's that you are here for so and so, and then they will hand you the food and drinks. If it is going to be like this with Doordash, it is definitely going to be a plus for dashers. Things will be much quicker, and as all dashers know, time is money. We don't get paid by the hour so we want to get in and out of a merchant ASAP and deliver the food ASAP so that we can move on to our next call. Overall, this Doordash-McDonald's partnership should benefit Doordash drivers.

Is Doordash partnership with McDonald's good for customers?

I have heard about app loyalty, but I believe that may be nothing but a fairy-tale. I am sure that there is a very small percentage of loyal customers to a particular app, but generally, I don't think that anybody has loyalty to Doordash, Uber Eats, Postmates, Caviar, Grub Hub or any of the other apps. Sure, a customer may pledge their alliance to a particular app and say that their app is cheaper and better than the others, but it's amazing how you can talk to that same person six months later, and they will now swear that one of the other apps is better for whatever reason.

 

With that said, I do believe that Doordash customers will benefit from the partnership. This is assuming that Doordash pick-ups from McDonald's will mimic the way Uber Eats pick-ups have always been. If this is the case, Doordash customers will receive a tamper free bag that I have always liked delivering with Uber Eats.

Doordash customers will really enjoy the fact that their McDonald's bags are secure and tamper proof. With Uber Eats, the drinks are even securely wrapped in paper bags, and we are assuming that it will be this way for Doordash customer's also. When my family members order McDonald's, they have always used Uber Eats due to the professional and secure packaging of the food and drinks. With Doordash, or any other app, you would have to worry about a driver tampering with your food. I am confident that Doordash will receive the same professional treatment from McDonald's that Uber Eats has received. If that is indeed the case, Doordash customers will be very happy about the Doordash-McDonald's partnership.

Should Doordash Drivers Check Customer's Orders?

When a Doordash customer receives the wrong items, has food prepared in a different way than how they ordered it or has some other problem with the food that has been delivered to them; who is to blame? Should the merchant be blamed? Is it the Doordash driver's fault? Should the blame go straight to Doordash as they are the ones in charge of all of this whole food delivery thing? Everybody has their own opinion about this, and the blame game can go on forever, but I am going to share my opinion here, and you may agree or disagree with me.

Doordash is to blame when there are missing items or wrong items received

I would have to disagree with anybody that takes this stance. Sure, Doordash is the centerpiece here that holds the customer, the merchant and the driver all together, but there is only so much that they can do to make sure that everybody perfectly takes care of their responsibilities. Mistakes can happen from every corner, and a finger can't be pointed at Doordash every time something goes wrong.

With that said, Doordash will, and should, always have to take responsibility when things go wrong with a customer's order. No matter where the fault is, this is Doordashes realm and customers that are not happy with the service that they received should take it up with Doordash. This is the company that they directly paid to have a service provided to them. The customer did not directly pay the restaurant or the driver therefore should not contact them if they are unsatisfied for any reason.

 

Even if a customer believes that the driver or merchant should be held accountable, it is not their place to dictate that. Do not think that just because you are a paying customer that purchased $10 of Taco Bell gives you special rights. Doordash decides what merchants they will work with. Some restaurants they partner with and others they don't. Doordash also decides on who can drive and deliver for them. If Doordash does not want a certain dasher driving for them they can terminate their contract with them if they wish to do so. The point here is that when a customer is not satisfied, they have to go to the source. Doordash is the one that has to hear the complaints, issue reimbursements or credits and deal with a lot of other stuff that nobody wants to deal with, but everybody knows that is part of running a company.

Is Doordash ever responsible for messed up orders?

There is only one instance in which I think Doordash is directly responsible, and it does not happen with partnered restaurants. It happens when a Doordash representative places the customer's order via telephone call to a non-partnered merchant. When this happens, the driver will show up at the restaurant and only have to pay for the order with their red card. I must note that orders like this are rare, but it does happen from time to time.

If the Doordash rep messes up on the order, there is nothing that the merchant or the driver can do about it. As far as the restaurant is concerned, they are following the instructions that they received. The driver will be blind as to what the Doordash rep told the merchant. It does not happen often, but this is the only way that I think the blame can be completely off of the merchant and the driver. If the Doordash rep gives the order wrong, then there's nothing anybody else can do about it.

Is it the merchants fault if a Doordash customer's order is wrong?

If we are only talking about partnered restaurants, I would put the blame on the merchants 100 percent of the time. Doordash partnered restaurants receive the customer's orders directly from Doordash via a tablet, computer or some other electronic means. The order will show them exactly what the customer ordered, how many of each item and how the customer wants certain items prepared. For example, maybe a customer wants no lettuce, extra pickles and wants their meat well done on their cheeseburger. If the restaurant prepares the food wrong, there is nothing that Doordash or the Doordash driver can do. For those already thinking that the Doordash driver should go through and examine the food before taking it, all I have to say is XXXXXX. You can translate that into whatever you want. There is no way that I am gong to open up a customer's hamburger to make sure it is well done or anything like that. I am not touching anyone's food, and no other dasher should either. More about this in a while.





Many times, the problem with a customer's order is missing items. We have to remember here that restaurant workers are human beings and make mistakes just like anybody else. Sometimes when they are packing the food into bags they may forget something. This is why some merchants pack the food into bags right in front of the dasher. They will name off the items while doing so. Doing this increases the chance that the customer's order is correct, but it is still no guarantee. This is especially true if the dasher is not familiar at all with the type of food being picked up. The restaurant workers are certainly familiar with their food and should make sure that the Doordash customer is getting exactly what they ordered just the way they want it.

Since Doordash drivers have to place the order themselves sometimes at non-partnered restaurants, the blame for the mess ups at these merchants are probably spread even between the merchant and the driver. Surely there are times when the driver places the order perfectly, but the merchant messes up. Also, I am sure there are times when the dasher makes mistakes when placing the order and the merchant makes everything just the way the dasher ordered it, but of course the order is still wrong.

Some may think that I am being kind of harsh here, but even though the merchants may see Doordash and the Doordash driver equally responsible with them for making sure that the order is correct, that is simply not the case. The merchant is the partner here that is actually physically preparing the customer's food and drinks. They have all of the preparation notes, and it is their responsibility to make everything just the way the customer wants it.

Is it the Doordash driver's fault if a customer's order is wrong or missing items?

Now we get to the fabulous Doordash driver. The one that seems to get the blame from customers way too often. Like I said, there are times when it is the dashers fault. I stand by this because dashers will mess up sometimes when they are placing the customer's order themselves at non-partnered merchants. This is especially true with new dashers.

I remember when I first started dashing I had my share of orders that I messed up on. I would say that the reason for my mistakes was that I was not able to make out everything on the app. There were times when the app wouldn't be clear to me if the customer ordered the burger alone or a meal. I should have contacted the customers, but at that time I didn't even know that I could. When I had to order from a restaurant that I was not familiar with like an Indian restaurant or a Chinese restaurant I was really lost and confused. I had no idea what this stuff was that I was ordering. Curry? What the heck was that? I had never heard of that in my life. I ended up learning that sometimes it was just better to show them the order on your phone. I am glad to say now that I am an expert at ordering food. I had never thought of it as a skill before, but doing Doordash or delivering for any other similar type company really improves your food ordering skills.

 

What about partnered restaurants though? A dasher never has to place the order there. All the dasher has to do is pick up the food and drop it off - right? Well, technically this is true. Is it a dasher's job to make sure that every item is counted for? If you want to be a good dasher it is, but sometimes our wants are limited.

Here is an example of an order that is easy to check. I go to Burger King, which is a partnered merchant in my area, and the customer ordered a Whopper Meal, I can easily see that in the bag there is a burger and fries. Of course I will also have received the drink. I know that I have the complete order. Now, if the customer wants me to make sure that the burger has cheese and extra pickles that is not happening. I mention this because I once had a customer text me this. I told her that I cannot stick my hands into her bag of food and touch her food. She actually wanted me to unwrap the paper around her Whopper, touch the buns with my hands and make sure everything was as she wanted. I found this to be insane.

Sometimes, orders are not so easy to check. This is especially true if a merchant already has all of the food bagged up. There are even times when a merchant may have the bag stapled or some other kind of tamper-free stickers. There is no way that a dasher can check the items in situations like this and just has to trust the merchant. As I mentioned earlier, many restaurants bag up the food and name off the items in from of the Doordash driver. This is a terrific practice to decrease the chances of mistakes, but it still does not guarantee anything.

 

Conclusion:

After reading this entire article you will see that I cannot blame Doordash, the merchant or the dasher for every single time a order is messed up. Yes, it is true that I give the bulk of the blame to the restaurants. They are the ones that have the most control. After initiating the order, Doordash is pretty blind as to what is going on. The Doordash driver picks up the food and can inspect the best they can, but their hands cannot be crawling through customer's food. All they can do is a quick visual. You may have a different opinion than me, or maybe you agree with me. Either way - Happy Dashing!