Doordash Drivers Cherry Picking Orders

Since the recent Doordash pay model change it has been a whole new world out there for dashers. Delivery opportunities have been coming in on our phones with low payment offers of $2, $3 and $4 all the way to great paying offers of $10, $15, $20 and even more. What's a dasher to do? What opportunities should a dasher accept? Which offers should a dasher deny? Of course there is not straight answer for this, but some dashers may think that cherry picking only the highest paying calls works best.

Is it a good strategy to cherry pick only the high paying Doordash offers?

It may be a good strategy to do so, but then again this strategy may back-fire on a dasher and have them sitting around for a very long time. The market that a dasher works in is very vital as to if this strategy should be implemented or not. Only a dasher will know if cherry-picking is worth it in their area or not.

Cherry-picking would be great in a market that is very busy and has very good tippers. That means that there will be a lot of high paying calls. If a dasher sits around waiting to only accept calls that are say $12 or more, they may actually do alright. Sure, their acceptance rate will drastically fall as they reject all of the other calls, but they may earn more money by cherry-picking the high paying calls.

If cherry-picking is practiced in a market that does not have big tippers, the dasher may spend a lot of time sitting around while other dashers are earning all of the money out there. If a dasher sits around only waiting for $12+ calls, and one only comes in every couple of hours, a new strategy may have to be put in place here. Instead of earning only $12 in two hours, this dasher could have completed lower paying dashes during that time and earned at least $30.

Again, everything depends on the market a dasher works in. Let's talk again about the dasher that is waiting for only $12+ calls. If that cherry-picking strategy is not working for him, then it would most likely be better if the standards were lowered. Instead of $12+ maybe a dasher could bring it down to $10+. If that strategy still doesn't bring in enough calls to accept then the standard may even need to be lower some more.

Wouldn't it be better for a dasher to accept mid-range paying calls?

It could be. Only a dasher knows their region, and they will have to decide if mid-range paying calls are worth it or not. When we are talking about mid-range paying calls, we are talking about calls that pay in the $7 or $8 range. I'm going to be honest, before the pay model change, I was happy with these mid-range calls. During the tip stealing era, these were what I considered high paying calls.

Generally, a dasher would be better off taking mid-range paying calls. Those using this strategy will always have the thought in the back of their head that if they had held off a little longer that they may have gotten one of the big $15 or $20 offers instead. There may be times when that will be true, but most of the time, a dasher will be better off accepting mid-range paying calls. Cherry-picking the high paying calls while accepting some mid-range paying calls may be the best strategy for most dashers.

Should a dasher accept the low paying calls?

With the creation of the new Doordash pay model came some of the lowest offers Doordash drivers have ever seen. Dashers are now being offered $2, $3, $4 and $5 offers to make a delivery. This was unheard of during the tip-stealing pay model era. The minimum payment back then was $5.50. Now, when customers don't tip, their orders are thrown at dashers with a very low payment offer.

Is it worth it to accept the low paying Doordash calls? In the past a lot of dashers would smirk at the thought of doing $5.50 calls, but now it seems to have really gotten ridiculous. Many dashers out there would not ever flinch at doing these low paying calls, but after personally reading some stuff online, there are some dashers that think these calls may be worth it. My personal opinion is to never do these $2, $3, $4 or $5 calls.

 

Anybody that would classify themselves as a cherry-picker would never consider taking the very low paying Doordash calls. They would be a disgrace to cherry-pickers if they did. It's acceptable for a cherry-picker to accept the mid-range paying calls, but not the low end paying calls. If you are not sure if cherry-picking will work in your area or not, go on ahead and give it a try. It may work, but then again don't be surprised if it don't work, and please set yourself a realistic minimum. Don't be the dasher giving yourself a $15 minimum and getting only one call or probably zero calls during the whole day. That wouldn't be a smart thing to do. Happy dashing!