Doordash and the Para App

For a good while, many Doordash drivers were enjoying information that they were not meant to have. They were using a third party app called Para. This app would display to a Dasher what the true payout offer was for any calls they received. In other words, the full tip was displayed to them. If you have been a Doordash driver long enough, then you know that Doordash hides the full payout sometimes. The Para app changed all of that. At least for a while they did. Read on.

 

 

What services does the Para app offer its users?

FYI, the Para app was not created solely for Doordash full payout transparency. It is indeed geared toward the gig economy, but the Para app has always offered its users many helpful services. Para offers services that tracks a drivers's miles. Gig workers can also keep good track of their total earnings. There are a lot of neat things that a gig driver will find Para useful for.

One thing that made Para more famous than ever was when they came out with a Doordash full payout transparency tool. Doordash drivers would now be able to see their full tip amount before accepting a call. Before we get in to that. Let's explain the way Doordash does things. Just in case you don't know.

Doordash hides the full payout on some calls

Those that have been dashing for a while know that Doordash hides the full pay out on some of their good paying calls. For example, if a call paid $20 ($5 Doordash pay and a $15 tip,) Doordash will sometimes display that call to the Dashers as a $10 call. Doordash does not want to be transparent and let the Dashers know that this is a $20 call. 

Sounds kind of weird I know. You might be thinking "Why in the heck would Doordash hide the full pay from the Dashers?" "Wouldn't the high pay inspire drivers to accept the call and deliver more quickly?" You would think so, but that is not how Doordash thinks. Doordash does not want any Dashers outsmarting their system. In other words, they don't want any Dashers to be cherry picking the calls.

Doordash likes their drivers to wonder. This is why when a call is received, it will say under the pay amount "Includes Doordash Pay and Customer Tip" followed by "Total may be higher." Doordash is letting the driver know that they are guaranteed what is displayed on their phone screen, but after delivering they may see a much higher amount. Then again, maybe they won't!

Doordash does not want any drivers sitting around and only accepting the $20 plus calls. They know that they have to get their smaller orders filled too. This is the reason that Doordash is not transparent with the total pay of some of their high paying calls.

Para to the rescue - Dashers can now see full payout amounts

When Para came out revealing the full payout to Dashers, it was like a dream come true to some. No longer would Dashers that use Para have to play a guessing game with Doordash. They would now know the full pay for every single call that came in. Now, this is what you call transparency!

Doordash drivers using the Para app really felt like their time was now worth something. Going out and making all these food deliveries was something to really look forward to. There was no downside to using the Para app.

Popularity of Para's Doordash pay transparency spreads

With the popularity of Para soaring and spreading all over the Internet, Doordash surely had to take notice, but nothing public was ever said. It wouldn't take a rocket scientist to know that Doordash couldn't be happy with Para, but was Para really doing anything wrong? All they were doing was letting drivers know what their true pay was going to be. In a lot of people's opinion, Doordash was the ones doing wrong by not letting Dashers know the full pay for each call in the first place. Why was a third party needed to get this information?

Could Para get you deactivated from Doordash?

That was the big question all over the Internet. Dashers would debate and argue as to whether a Dasher was breaking the Doordash terms of service or not. If so, Doordash would have a right to deactivate Dashers that were using the Para app. Others argued that they were not breaking the TOS and that Doordash could not deactivate them. 

Then you had people saying that Doordash didn't even know when a Dasher used Para. There was no way for them to access this information. Let's not forget that nobody had ever shared that they were deactivated due to using Para, but apparently everybody knew somebody that had. Go figure.

Doordash stops and blocks Para from showing pay amount data

Fortunately, the day never came when Doordash deactivated all the Para users. Instead, Doordash was going to go directly to the source. In the middle of July, 2021, Para users started reporting that the Para app did not seem to be working anymore. The pay amounts that Para was showing was not accurate anymore.

What happened? Doordash decided it was time to step in and stop all of what they see as nonsense. Doordash was going to put an end to all of this. They didn't appreciate a third party app messing with their business operations.

How did Doordash stop Para from working?

Apparently, Doordash got some of their smartest geeks to implement some sort of coding, script or whatever you want to call it that changed the way Doordash was sending tip information. This was done through updates, etc. Surely, Doordash had this planned out for a while.

Para publicly lets their users know what Doordash has done

David and Jeff from Para immediately made a YouTube video letting Para users know what was happening. Apparently, they had been working for days trying to dig in to the problem to fix Para. They shared with Para users how they were really dedicated in making sure that the pay with independent contractors remained transparent. They also let their users know that they were not going to give up and that they would work as hard as they can to make sure that transparency remained.

This was great! I mean, these guys really seemed to be dedicated to what is right. Doordash may not like it and may put a stop to it anyway they can, but we all have to admire anybody that stands up for what's right. Way to go to the whole crew over there at Para!

Doordash issues Para a seize and desist letter

To make sure everybody knew that they were serious, sometime during the beginning of August, 2021, Para received a cease and desist letter from Doordash. As of this writing, Para shut down for a while in hopes of discussing things with Doordash to see if they could come up with some kind of mutual agreement.

Will Doordash meet up and talk with Para? Who knows. There is no guarantee that they will. They may just be building up a case against Para. There is good chance that a law suit will be filed soon. We shall see.

Why is Doordash going after Para anyways?

To put it plain and simple, Doordash feels threatened by Para. They feel that Para is messing with the way that they conduct their business, and they are showing everybody that they are going to protect their business and their money. They are not just going to ignore it and roll over. They are too big and powerful for that. It's a simple fact of life. Mess with someone's money, and they are going to come after you.

Shouldn't Doordash be more transparent with earnings?

This is a matter of opinion, most Dashers, including myself, would say that Para is the Robin-Hood here. Para is just trying to make sure Dashers know how much they will earn for a call before entering in to a contract agreement. In any other type of business, no contractor in the world would ever make an agreement without knowing how much pay they would get for their work. 

It's actually pretty amazing that Doordash has gotten away with hiding the tips for as long as they have, and I believe that one day they won't legally be able to do this anymore. When will that be? Who knows. It may be years, but I think that day is coming. I don't even know if it's currently against the law to not show the full amount. If not, it should be.

From what the past has shown us, Doordash has a way of doing things just the way they want until somebody comes and twists their arm. In other words, they wont change what they are doing until they are forced to. For all you veterans out there, I'm sure you undoubtedly remember when Doordash used to steal our tips. They had a play with words and created a pay system so confusing to everybody that they actually got away with stealing driver's tips for many years.

The saddest thing was when those tips stealing days ended, they still backed up the way they previously did things and would not admit any wrongdoing. Truly amazing! Here's an old article from way back then in those famous tip stealing days.

For the record, Doordash is much better today than they were back then. I do not believe that Doordash ever steals tips from anybody anymore. They are just hiding the full pay amount believing that they need to do so in order for all Doordash customers to receive their orders.

Again, Doordash will continue to do what they feel is best for them as a company until a powerful source makes them change things. Do you really think Doordash likes complying with Proposition 22 out in California? Of course they don't. They had to go along with it though because it was the better choice for them instead of making Dashers employees.

When the state of California twisted their arm, Doordash basically pleaded for mercy and said "Okay, okay, how about we do this," and wrote out a plan along with other similar app companies - Thus Prop 22 was written.. They didn't want to do this plan, but if they didn't California would continue to twist their arm until it broke. In other words, Doordash was forced to comply.

This whole situation with Para and Doordash is currently ongoing, and I'll try to update this blog post with any new information that may come out. Until then, happy dashing!