When accepted to be a Doordash delivery driver, a red card will be assigned to you. If you are an individual that attends a physical orientation, Doordash will most likely give their new dashers their red cards right there on the spot. If no physical orientation is done, and everything, including the orientation is completed online, then a new dasher will receive their red card in the mail.
I'm not entirely sure how Doordash is doing things with this Covid 19 pandemic going on, but I'd assume they are not having physical orientations for the time being. From what I've heard they were doing most of their new driver hiring through online orientations before the pandemic hit anyways. I do know that back in 2016 or 2017 new dashers had to go to a physical orientation, but eventually doing an online orientation become more of the norm.
Back to the red card though. A driver is supposed to carry this card with them at all times while they are out dashing even though the usage of the red card will usually not be needed at restaurants. In fact, over the past couple of years having to use the Doordash red card has really been minimized. There are times when a dasher still must use it though, and it should be carried at all times just in case.
What is the Doordash Red Card For?
The Doordash Red Card is used to pay certain merchants for the food that is being purchased. It is used just like any other debit card. You hand it to the restaurant, and they put the charge on the red card. A dasher never has to worry about how much the order is as Doordash supplies the money that is on the red card.
Years ago, the Doordash red card was used much more frequently than it is used today. The reason for that was because back then Doordash was not partnered with as many merchants as they are today. With most of their partnered restaurants, there is no need for a dasher to pay with the red card as they process the payments through another means.
What happens if my Doordash red card declines?
This is something that happens every once in a while. If the red card declines, a dasher need to immediately contact Doordash support. Doordash support will usually ask for a minute, tell the dasher to try again, then the Doordash red card should work.
There are more than a few reasons that the red card will not work, but the more common reason is that Doordash does not have enough money on the card. Sometimes the prices on Doordash are not updated to meet a restaurant's price changes. If the Doordash customer pays $50 for their food, but the merchant is trying to charge $75 to the red card, it will get declined.
I have noticed that the declines are usually only when there is a major difference in price. If there is a $5 difference, a dasher should not ever worry about their red card being declined. It will almost always go through. In fact, there usually will be a price difference of up to $5 anyways. The price is never the exact same. Only worry about it when it is like a $20 difference or something like that.
Can I use the Doordash red card to buy myself food?
The red card is not for the dasher to buy themselves anything. It is strictly to pay for the Doordash customer's food when needed. The Doordash Red Card does not have any of the dashers personal money on it.
Can I use the Doordash red card to put gas in my car?
A dasher cannot use the red card to put gasoline in their car. The red card would not even work if somebody tried. Again, the money on the red card is not the dasher's personal money. If anybody actually tried this is would blow my mind away.
Do I use the Doordash red card to leave tips at restaurants?
This is a question that is a bit more serious. I actually heard a story of a dasher getting deactivated because of this. Do I believe it? I've always leaned toward no, but I could be wrong.
What this dasher did was leave a tip to the workers at a restaurant using their red card. Many restaurant workers expect tips in the to-go area. We are not talking about McDonald's or any of the other fast food merchants. We are talking about places like Apple-Bees, BJs, Red Lobster nd other real restaurants.
This dasher supposedly decided to leave the workers a $10 tip on top of whatever the order was for. If she was tipping using her red card, then it was obviously a restaurant where she was paying for the food with her red card. So, lets say the total there was $50, and this dasher left the $10 tip on the card to make it $60.
The payment went through without a problem, but how would Doordash know the true price of the food, and if the dasher left a tip on top of it? How does Doordash know that the food wasn't $60. It just doesn't add up to me. With that said, never leave a tip for any restaurant that you pick up from with the red card. Don't tip them at all. You are not a regular person there to eat. It's not your food. You're hoping that you will be getting tips; not the other way around.
Can a dasher work without their red card?
There have been times when I have lost my red card and had no idea where it was. You can definitely go out dashing without your red Doordash card. You'll just have to make sure that you don't accept calls for merchants that require the red card.
In my region, I know every restaurant basically. I know the merchants that need the red card and the ones that don't. It is very simple for me to work without the red card in my region.
If you took me to another region, I most likely would not be able to operate as well. If you know your region though, you should have no problem working without your red card. Those red card restaurants will just be places that you can't pick up from.
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