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!!!!