How DoorDash Works

How DoorDash Works

DoorDash is a delivery platform that connects customers with local businesses.  Here is exactly how DoorDash works.

As a DoorDash customer, you can order from your favorite local restaurant or store and “Dashers” – the independent contractors DoorDash uses for delivery – bring the food or item right to your doorstep.

People love it because it’s convenient and easy.

It also bodes well with our need for instant gratification, laziness of the human condition, and the fact that we have to eat.

 

How’s that for an ideal customer?

Founded in 2013 by Stanford students Evan Charles Moore, Andy Fang, Stanley Tang and Tony Xu and backed by legendary startup incubator Y Combinator, DoorDash is revolutionizing how we get our food, and taking the complexity out of last mile logistics in over 25+ cities across the country.

With DoorDash, local businesses can focus on what they do best and leave the headaches of delivery to a dedicated team of Dashers.

Customers have a wide selection in terms of the food they can get and restaurants they can order from.

From exotic cuisine to run of the mill burgers, DoorDash will keep you fed.

Although still a young startup, DoorDash is currently valued at over $700 million. It sees more than a million orders through the platform and by tapping the “gig” economy, DoorDash utilizes upwards of 30,000 Dashers – the independent contractors who pick and deliver the orders.

How DoorDash Works

DoorDash AppDoorDash is available through their website and through apps from Google Play and iTunes stores (Android & iPhone platforms).

Customers only need to register on the platform or download the app and select meals from restaurants.

You can filter restaurants by price, cuisine, speed of delivery, quality of food etc. The service charges $1 for the first delivery and up to $4.99 for subsequent orders.

 

Tipping and extras are up to the customer.

After that, sit back, relax and wait for the doorbell to ring with your order. (If you are super hungry you can track and watch as your order moves from the restaurant to you.)

Restaurants and merchants register on the platform to display their food, menus or other items. With a few clicks of the mouse a business is set up instantly on the platform.

Restaurants and stores can also order pickups for deliveries they want done. It’s as simple as setting a pickup location, a delivery location and perhaps pertinent customer information, specifying the order size, and DoorDash takes care of the rest.

How to Make Money with DoorDash

DoorDash “dashers” can make upto $25 per hour according to the company.

There are currently two types of deliveries dashers can make: Normal DoorDash orders and DoorDash Drive orders.

The latter are big orders, say by restaurants or catering companies that need large deliveries of food and other items made.

DoorDash Drive orders are normally requested by merchants and may come with extra instructions.

As a dasher you can make more from DoorDash Drive orders depending on the estimated value of the order and the locality.

The company pays a flat amount per delivery depending on the region. Bigger order deliveries through DoorDash Drive pay higher depending on the estimated value of the delivery.

Payments are made on a weekly basis for all deliveries completed between Monday and Sunday of the previous week. The payments are usually transferred to your bank account through Direct Deposit and might take 2-3 days to show up in your account.

Dashers can also make money from tips and any gratuity paid by the customer, and they get to keep a 100% of this extra monies.

DoorDash however may or may not allow tipping through its software for Drive orders.

To become a dasher, simply apply on the Drive with DoorDash.

To qualify, a dasher has to:-

Be at least 18 years old with an iPhone or Android smartphone and willing to volunteer their social security number
Have a valid driver’s license, insurance, a clean driving record and at least a year worth of driving experience. You can deliver using any vehicle.

Dashers can also deliver on foot, on motorcycles, scooters, bikes etc.

DoorDash has a commercial auto insurance policy which covers upto $1M in bodily injury or property damage to third parties arising out of accident while making a DoorDash delivery.

If you are in one of the DoorDash locations, and looking to fill spare time slots in your day, then give their delivery service a try.

That is how DoorDash works. Simply head to DoorDash.Com now, or download the app and see whether you can make a few extra bucks.