The search for ease is inherently a human thing. This is the reason we go out of our way to look for comfort. This, and the quest to make some money, can explain the rationale behind DoorDash. DoorDash is an on-demand food delivery service in the United States. Although it started in the United States, it has spread to other countries and has become one of the most popular food delivery companies.
DoorDash impacts three categories of people. The first is the customers. They order food from restaurants around them and have the food delivered by DoorDash. These include executives whose jobs restrict how much time they have. Then, of course, there are other people who are unable to cook for one reason or the other.
The second category includes restaurants. In this category are those without a lot of sitting space or those that have a large distance separating them from many of their customers or potential customers.
The drivers, called dashers, are the ones who do the delivery. They stand as a go-between between the customers and the restaurants. In the third category, you could find students struggling to pay off student loan debt or individuals looking to augment their salaries with their driver earnings.
Dashers get paid by the hour. Thus, the answer to how much they make exactly can be deduced from that. Furthermore, they can also make more money from any customer tip they receive.
Wondering exactly how much DoorDash pays drivers? This article seeks to address that question and any others a DoorDash dasher or potential dasher may have. The information here will reveal all you need to know about how to start, make money, general tips regarding what a service fee is, etc.
The bottom line is that you will be a much-enlightened dasher when you get to the end of this article. So, let’s dig in!
DoorDash: Getting Started
We’ll begin by examining how both dashers and users can use the platform.
The first group is the users who want to get restaurant meals using DoorDash. They first have to register on the website, set up an account, and begin making orders. After that, each user can either search for a specific restaurant on the site or order food from the ones affiliated with DoorDash already.
Some of the factors that could affect a person’s preference for a restaurant include the customer rating of previous users, general customer service, employees’ attitude, and the restaurant’s cost (weighed against the earnings and earning goals of the user.)
As a dasher, you will also have to register on the website. After creating the account, you will need to undergo a verification process. After this, you will then have to input details about the car you intend to use to carry out the orders and jobs that come in. Then you will fill in the details about your insurance and your social security number.
You will be required to provide your home address to send an activation kit to you. The activation kit contains a hot bag, a company credit card, a red card, and a manual. At this point, you are eligible to start receiving and completing orders. Note that there are limits to the orders you can take if you haven’t activated the red card.
Furthermore, bear in mind that you have to download the app, preferably from the company’s website, to get started with the registration process. As you must have observed, the set-up process is straightforward and without hassles. The company makes it easy for DoorDash drivers and users to get on the platform.
You can calculate yourself to know the delivery fee and how much of it will come to you. As a DoorDash driver, you get a percentage of all the jobs you carry out. This pay model is beneficial to DoorDash drivers because they can regulate what orders they take and how much money they make. Thus, as a dasher, do take advantage of every opportunity to make deliveries.
How Much Does DoorDash Pay?
A dasher is technically not an employee of the company; they work as independent contractors. Even though there is some sort of salary, the drivers’ earnings are not fixed.
The DoorDash average hourly pay any dasher receives depends on certain factors such as the distance covered during delivery or a set of food delivery services, the delivery fee charged on the transactions, and how generous the people are with giving the dasher a customer tip.
This means that there is no need to discuss salary information in the strict sense of the word. That said, the average DoorDash driver gets an hourly wage of $10 to $25. DoorDash driver pay can increase, for instance, during promotions, etc. It is thus important for the DoorDash driver to recognize these periods and increase the number of deliveries they make.
How Are DoorDash Drivers Paid?
Apart from how much DoorDash drivers make, it might be important to look at how the sums are calculated. Understandably, there is no fixed amount of money that DoorDash pays dashers within a stipulated period. Thus, it is important to look at all the individual sums that make up what DoorDash pays drivers as hourly or weekly pay.
Base Pay
As you may know, base pay is the minimum amount a driver gets when they deliver food. Typically, it is somewhere between $2 to $10. However, the driver earnings here can also be affected. Thus, considerations such as the distance and the desirability of any order might factor in.
Promotions
DoorDash drivers also make money through the promotions offered by DoorDash. A typical user will make some extra money during the Peak Window or Peak Hours. The Peak Pay window refers to the specific period when delivery orders are highest. Getting a lot of DoorDash delivery orders during this period translates to a higher and extra income for the driver.
You may also be glad to know that the company runs competitions and “challenges.” The idea here is to discover a dasher’s earning goals in any given week and try as much as possible to help them achieve that. In this way, the company impacts how much the dasher gets within a specific period.
Tips
Tips constitute a huge part of the DoorDash dasher pay. DoorDash drivers can receive tips of any amount from the users and customers. This forms a part of their gross monthly payments and will be part of the information revealed in a breakdown of the dasher’s earnings for any given period.
More so, the base pay a driver receives will not be impacted by how much they made from tips. The tips the dasher receives are between them and the customer. (This is also why the gross earnings of the dasher are not affected in any way).
Customers can tip at two points during the delivery process. The first is when they are checking out after making their orders. The next is soon after the dasher delivers the food to the customer’s house.
Tips to Earn More on DoorDash
The truth is that all DoorDash drivers do not earn the same pay. As explained earlier, the amount a driver makes per hour can be affected by several factors. Some of them, such as whether the driver gets tips, will depend on the customers.
However, users could implement steps to make sure that they make more money than the average DoorDash pay they receive. They can:
Complete as Many Orders as Possible
DoorDash pays a great deal of attention to the orders the drivers complete. This is because the delivery fee paid by each customer who orders food from a restaurant contributes to how much drivers make at the end of the day. Furthermore, the number of completed delivery requests is a crucial factor that informs how your rating will go during appraisals. Thus, make sure that you complete as many deliveries as you can. Being quick and efficient is part of the job.
Choose the Best Times
Dashers are strictly not employees of the company. Hence, they get to pick the most convenient times to do any delivery job. The average DoorDash delivery could take anything from an hour to two. However, there are peak periods in local restaurants when most orders come in, and the driver makes a lot of money. Therefore, it is left for each driver to determine when this period is and be available during those periods.
Ensure Your Phone Is Always Available
The job of a dasher depends a lot on how accessible they are. People get to make orders online and have the deliveries made to them. The dashers also become aware of any orders when notified on their mobile devices.
This means that for one to be successful and take advantage of promotions, offers, and any customer tip, it is important that they be very adept at using their mobile devices. Furthermore, having a phone can also be useful for security purposes.
People make orders from everywhere. Thus, the average DoorDash driver could find that they have to make deliveries at potentially unsafe parts of the city. Having a phone on you in such cases might be a way to stay safe if any security threat were to surface.
Be Efficient
One of the benefits dashers enjoy is that they get to meet customers without fulfilling the orders themselves. Thus, they could earn customer tips simply for showing up and delivering the food ordered. However, a lot depends on how efficient the driver is.
The delivery drivers who make the most money are conscientious, hardworking, and consider the little things while doing their jobs. For instance, you could earn customer tips for something as simple as getting all the customer’s information correctly. People appreciate the thoughtfulness, so making sure that there is an extra straw in the user’s order, for instance, could endear you to the customer.
Requirements for Working With DoorDash Driver App
If you want to join the gig economy as a dasher, there are certain requirements you must meet. You must:
- Be at least 18 years old
- Have a car, motorcycle, or scooter depending on your location
- Have a valid driver’s license and provide the company with the driver’s license number
- Have auto liability insurance
- Provide DoorDash with your social security number
- Agree to a background check
- Have a smartphone with the Doordash app
Note that you are responsible for your car maintenance and provide your own gas. Also, budget for tax time and toll fee. So, before signing up, consider the costs involved and other factors that affect your total income.
When Does DoorDash Pay Drivers?
If you work with the standard option, you’ll get paid weekly by direct deposit into your bank account for deliveries completed from Monday to Sunday of the previous week. Dashers’ payments take two to three days to reflect in their bank accounts.
Alternatively, eligible dashers can use Fast Pay to transfer their earnings to a debit card daily. The last option is applying for a DasherDirect account and having your daily earnings deposited into a prepaid debit card with no fee.
DoorDash Referral Bonus
People often ask how much do DoorDash drivers make as a referral bonus. The answer is $300 for every referral who signs up and makes 50 deliveries within their first month. The DoorDash referral bonus only works when you recommend someone who has never opened an account with the delivery app. Go to the “Invite Friends” tab within the delivery app to refer a friend.
Conclusion: Making Money With DoorDash
In this article, we looked at some of the ways of becoming a DoorDash “employee.” We also answered how much DoorDash pays, assuring you that whatever your earning goals are, working with DoorDash will help you.
All of the salary information you will need to begin working for the company is available here. In addition, some of the benefits you get with DoorDash are not having to worry about enormous business expenses.
Also, you will be able to come under the self-employment umbrella to access any self-employment tax benefit available. Finally, since you work on your own schedule, you may be able to work with multiple delivery apps.
