Turning $3 Doordash Orders in to $10 Orders With Active Time

No more $3 Doordash orders! Sure, it says $3 on the app, but some Doordash drivers are accepting these calls knowing that they are going to earn much more than what is showing on their app. First off, this article is meant for Dashers in the state of California as there is a minimum pay law in California that began at the beginning of 2021. Dashers in California are guaranteed 120 percent of minimum wage and 30 cents per mile for active time. This means that when a Dasher does not earn 120 percent of minimum wage, Doordash will pay an adjustment.

Doordash drivers in California are guaranteed to make around $20 per hour for their active time. That is not an exact accurate figure as I am throwing out an even ball park figure. You can do the math yourself though and will see that it will always come out to about $20 per hour. Remember that besides a few areas in California that have a slightly higher minimum wage, the state's minimum wage is generally $14 per hour.

This means that Dashers in California are guaranteed to make $16.80 per hour plus 30 cents per mile. By driving 10 or 11 miles during the hour, the Dasher's earnings will be slightly over $20 for the hour. These California laws have not limited how much a Doordash driver can earn, it just guarantees a minimum amount. If a Dasher earns $40 per hour then they will receive what they have earned. Of course there would not be any pay adjustment on that though as they would have earned much more than what the California minimum guarantee is. Basically, when a Dasher is not receiving any pay adjustment at the end of the week, they are doing very well and truly deserve a pat on the back.

Dashers using active time to their advantage

I've talked to some Dashers in California and found that they are using a new strategy to earn as much money as possible while out dashing. They are taking advantage of the active time rule. These Doordash drivers are accepting almost every single call that they are offered.

Their strategy is to take at least half an hour to make a delivery from the time they accept the call. For example, if they were to receive a $3 offer at 6 p.m., they would make sure to not make the delivery until 6:30 p.m. This would guarantee them at least $10 for the call.

Let me explain this scenario. Firstly, let's remember what was talked about earlier. Dashers are guaranteed around $20 per hour for their active time. That means that they are guaranteed $10 per half-hour. If a Dasher does two deliveries during an hour stretch, they are guaranteed to earn at minimum around $20 for the hour. 

Let me further explain. Let's pretend that those two offers paid the Dasher $3 each. That's only $6 for the delivery of those orders. The dasher, using his strategy and not rushing to make the deliveries, will take a half hour on each call. Instead of a total of $6, he will receive around $10 for the first call and around $10 for the second call for a total of around $20.

Remember that customer tips are not part of the California Doordash guaranteed pay

Some people may be thinking that these Dashers are only using this strategy on the cheap $3 orders, but many of them are also doing it to the $6, $7 and $8 orders too. Why would they do that? Let me explain. Remember that the guaranteed California minimum wage pay only factors in Doordash pay. Customers tips are not included in this Doordash pay.

So let's go to another scenario. Let's say a Dasher gets two calls during the hour. First call pays $8 and the second call pays $7. The Dasher uses his half hour strategy. After delivering the first order, the dasher sees that the Doordash pay was $5 and the customer tip was $3. As for the second order, the Doordash pay was $3 and the customer tip was $4. This comes out to $8 of Doordash pay and $7 of customer tips on those two calls. Remember the Dasher is guaranteed around $20 per hour. Instead of the $8, he will end up with around $20. On top of that the Dasher will receive the $7 of customer tip money. So sum it all up; for the hour the Dasher earned around $27.

Is it advisable to take your time making Doordash deliveries to earn more money?

I think that this all depends on your location. Are you in a major city, the suburbs or a rural area? If you are working in a big city such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Long Beach or Oakland to name a few, I would say you are most likely better off doing calls as fast as you can. In these major cities, most Dashers will be able to earn much more money than the minimum guaranteed.

If a Dasher can average $30, $40 or $50 per hour, there would absolutely be no reason to try to milk the active time clock. I would say that if a Dasher's area is busy enough and offers them high paying calls to keep them in the higher earnings bracket, this active time strategy would be a waste of time. I would say go out there and hustle as fast as you can to earn the most amount of money in as little time as possible.

Only an individual knows their area well enough to know if the active time milking the clock strategy would work to their benefit or not. Every area is different. If you can make more than the minimum, then it is best to do so. If you are working in an area that doesn't offer much, then you may be better off using the strategy.

If you are not sure about your area, give it your all and see how much you can earn. You will learn your area good and will be able to judge if you want to use the active time strategy to your advantage or not. It would probably be best to test an area for at least a couple of weeks.

How can making Doordash deliveries slower earn you more money? It does not make any sense to me? Why not just try to earn as much as possible?

Some people might think why not just go out and try to earn as much as possible. If all fails, at least I will earn the minimum of around $20 per hour. I understand where they are coming from and how they are thinking, but they are not truly understanding how all of this works. The numbers are always confusing with Doordash and have always been. Not just on this subject, but on so many other things in the past. Things can get complicated, but let me try to explain for you.

Let me give you a scenario here. Let's take two dashers that both work 23 hours of dash time and are working the same area, making the same amount of deliveries for the exact same pay. One is using active time to his advantage and the other is hustling and delivering as fast as he can.

Dasher 1: He makes 40 deliveries for the week. His average call was a $7 offer. From those offers, the average Doordash pay was $5 and the average customer tip was $2. He takes his time and uses active time to his advantage by taking 30 minutes to make each delivery. That means the active time to do his 40 deliveries was 20 hours.

Let's take a look at his overall earnings now by multiplying the 40 deliveries by $7. He earned $280 for the week. If you multiply his 40 deliveries by $5, you'll see that he earned $200 from Doordash pay and the rest of the $80 came from Doordash customer tips.

Now, with the Doordash 120 percent of minimum wage California law plus 30 cents per mile, the Dasher is guaranteed about $20 per hour. This Dasher has 20 active hours under their belt for the week so his guaranteed Doordash pay for the week would be $20 per hour multiplied by 20 active hours which comes out to $400 for the week. Instead of the original amount of earnings which was $200, the Dasher will receive an additional $200 during the pay adjustment at the end of the week. To sum it all up, this Dasher will earn $400 from Doordash pay and $80 from tips for a grand total of $480 for the week.

Dasher 2: He makes 40 deliveries for the week. His average call was a $7 offer. From those offers, the average Doordash pay was $5 and the average customer tip was $2. He rushes and does his deliveries as fast as he can. His average delivery time is 20 minutes. That means his active time to do his 40 deliveries was 13 hours and 20 minutes.

Let's take a look at his overall earnings now by multiplying the 40 deliveries by $7. He earned $280 for the week. If you multiply his 40 deliveries by $5, you'll see that he earned $200 from Doordash pay and the rest of the $80 came from Doordash customer tips.

With the Doordash 120 percent of minimum wage California law plus 30 cents per mile, the Dasher is guaranteed about $20 per hour. This Dasher has 13 hours and 20 minutes of active hours under his belt for the week so his guaranteed Doordash pay for the week would be $20 per hour multiplied by 13.33 active hours which comes out to $266.60 for the week. Instead of the original amount of earnings which was $200, the Dasher will receive an additional $66.60 during the pay adjustment at the end of the week. To sum it all up, this Dasher will earn $266.60 from Doordash pay and $80 from tips for a grand total of $346.60 for the week.

In this scenerio, the Dasher that took his time to make the deliveries comes out ahead. The Dasher that was out there hustling and trying to make deliveries quickly makes less money. It's almost a $140 difference. It is a sizeable amount of money.

I am not advocating that Dashers should all take their time while making deliveries. I think that we are all so better off when we can make as much as possible and not have to depend on any Doordash pay adjustments. Like I said earlier, if a Dasher is not getting any pay adjustments they deserve a pat on the back as they are hustling and earning really great money.

With that said, I am not against this strategy either as some Dashers in certain areas will benefit off of a strategy like this. It may be boring, and there may be a lot of sitting around, but if the end result is more money then it may very well be worth it for some.

A few things to remember about this active time strategy to remember

You have to understand that for this strategy to work, a Dasher will have to constantly be on a call. Dashers are only paid for active time. That should not be too difficult to do though if a Dasher is willing to take almost all calls.

Using this strategy partially would be a waste of time. For example, if a Dasher used this strategy for the first half of the week and built up a lot of active time, but then became Speedy Gonzalez for the second half of the week, that second half of the week would kill all the active time that was previously built. By the end of the week that would mean less earnings. It is better to go into this strategy all in or not at all.

While using this strategy a Dasher will not see their true earnings until the end of the work week. During the work week, the app will only show the Doordash pay without the adjustment. That means without the extra active time earnings. At the end of the week though, during payday, Doordash will add in all that active time and a Dasher will receive their full pay.

Dashers using this strategy may also want to note to themselves that they shouldn't take too long on deliveries. Trying to milk the clock too much will have negative effects. Taking 45 minutes or an hour for one delivery will get you complaints and lower your ratings which may eventually lead to deactivation. In other words, don't cause yourself any unnecessary problems. Don't get too relaxed. Remember, there is a customer waiting for their food and there are times when a call will take a half hour to complete even if you are doing things at a normal or fast pace.

One last thing that I would like to mention here is that this may be a positive thing for some Doordash customers. Why? Well, a lot of Dashers will not accept low paying calls. When you have Dashers using this strategy, it may be a plus for Doordash customers to get their food quickly.