Doordash Active Time Versus Dash Time

If a Doordash driver looks within their app at their payment information, they should notice that there is a section that says "Active time" and another section that says "Dash time." This isn't anything new and has actually been shown on the app for quite some time. Years ago, this information wasn't there, but I would guess it's been showing on my app for about a year now.

What is the difference between active time and dash time

The difference is very simple to understand. Dash time is the amount of time that you are officially on duty. Once you log on to the Doordash platform and are ready to accept calls, your Dash time begins. Whether you sit around for an hour waiting for a call or are busy during that first hour, you will have one hour of dash time under your belt.

When a dasher logs off of Doordash and is not able to accept a call anymore, their dash time will end. To sum all of this up, if you were to log on at 12 noon and you logged off at 5 p.m., you would have 5 hours of dash time. Very easy to understand, but what the heck is active time?

First let's understand that a dasher's dash time will always be more than their active time. Why? Because active time is credited to a dasher only when they are on a call. This means from the time they hit the accept button until the time they mark the order as delivered. Active time basically means the time actively spent on calls. If during an hour span a dasher sits around for 20 minutes waiting for a call and spends 40 minutes making deliveries, they would be credited 40 minutes of active time and one hour of dash time.

What is the active time verse dash time data good for?

A lot of people like seeing this data because it helps to figure out how much a person made for the time they actually worked. A dasher might want to know how much time they spent sitting around not making any money, or maybe they want to figure out how much they earned per hour while on active time. Basically, it helps figure things out.

Why is active time versus dash time more important for California Dashers?

With the recent passing of Prop 22 in California, keeping track of dash time and active time will soon be more valuable than ever. In California, Doordash drivers will now be guaranteed to be paid 120 percent of minimum wage for their active time. Notice that we are talking about active time and not dash time. It is very important for California Dashers to understand this!

Even though the new prop requires Doordash to pay Dashers 120 percent of minimum wage per hour, this does not include time spent sitting around waiting for a call. In other words, a Dasher cannot sit around in a parking lot thinking that they are racking up an hourly wage. Sitting around like that will accumulate dash time but not active time.

During active time, a dasher will accumulate 120 percent of minimum wage. For example, if a Dasher ends their shift with 5 hours of dash time and spent one hour sitting around waiting for calls, they would have accumulated 4 hours of active time. This Dasher would be guaranteed $16.80 per hour (which is 120 percent of California minimum wage starting January 1, 2021,) 30 cents per mile that they drove and will also keep 100 percent of their tips.

So let's say that this Dasher did 8 calls during their 4 hours of active time and the average pay was $6 per call (not including tips.) That would be $48 that they earned. To ease everything, let's say that this is the only day of the week they had dashed. At end of the week, their Doordash earnings would be the $48 that they earned, but since it is not more than 120 percent of minimum wage (which would be $67.20) Doordash will make up the difference and this dasher would earn $67.20 for their 4 hours of active time. Remember, this is not including gas mileage pay and tips.

As you can see, paying attention to active time and dash time will be very important for California dashers. Doordash will do the calculations at the end of each week and add to a dasher's earnings when they are required to, but keeping track of dash time and active time are important for dashers so they can do the calculations themselves and make sure that they are getting paid correctly.