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I drove for DoorDash for about a month. What killed me was the wait between deliveries. I think it was like 45 minutes on average and when I did get a delivery

I drove for DoorDash for about a month. What killed me was the wait between deliveries. I think it was like 45 minutes on average and when I did get a delivery it was like a tiny $7 delivery. There would be 2 hour stretches of times pretty often. But then once in awhile I'd get a string of maybe 3 or 4 runs that paid like $12. over 2 or 3 hours.It was too inconsistent. Had no idea if I ever got tips, from my understanding I think the company pocketed it due to how they were paying at the time. The community talks about gaming the system and denying deliveries less than x dollars but I personally couldn't bring myself to do it. And after waiting an hour I'd be dying to get moving again anyway. This was before all the pay drama, it sounds like they've gotten much worse. There's just too many drivers I think.

redis_mlc 7y ago
What kind of vehicle did you use, and how did that affect your costs?
- rdxm 7y ago
  do you think that would even remotely matter in a scenario where the effective comp rate is a buck 45???? machines wear out. the cost of even a oil change is typically 50-60 bucks. and don't even start with the electric thing which is decades away from broad applicability. see through the b.s. and understand when when people are getting played.
mushufasa 7y ago
>> There's just too many drivers I think. That's fascinating. Seems like the free market really would drive the wage to 0. DoorDash's "innovation" is the black box to obscure the fact. If they paid more fairly like their competitors, they wouldn't be growing as fast. Seems kindof like a cyberpunk future, with corporations negating regulations through advanced technology. Also in those cyberpunk futures, society breaks down into a lonely free-for-all, where the poor masses escape drudgery by playing with high-tech entertainment fantasies like games and VR and ... oh wait...
- Vadoff 7y ago
  Hopefully universal income will kick in before that happens, as most of the dull work gets automated.
- Consultant32452 7y ago
  Wages can't drop to zero unless there's an infinite supply of labor. As time has gone by fewer and fewer of the gig economy drivers I see speak English, and fewer of them are the person whose name/face is on the account, so I suspect the pseudo-infinite labor supply is working as intended.
  - cc439 7y ago
    There isn't infinite labor on a global scale but there sure is infinite labor willing to work for what first worlders consider a pittance. This basically highlights why I consider open borders immigration to be worse for everyone overall. The first world gets dragged down the societal ladder while the rest of the world is robbed of everyone with initiative plus the lost productivity they'd glean from uncompromised first world economies.
  - csmiller 7y ago
    I’ve always wondered what was going on when the driver didn’t match the person listed in the app. Doesn’t seem like there would be any benefit? (For me it’s often a male driver who is displayed as female in the app)
    - Consultant32452 7y ago
      It's categories like illegal immigrants, DUIs or otherwise lost drivers license, can't pass the background check, etc.
    - shiftpgdn 7y ago
      The person doing the actual driving is likely in the country illegaly or driving with a suspended license/no insurance.
sansnomme 7y ago
There is room for Uber-app-in-cloud-emulator multiplexers. As single app endpoint for a variety of delivery apps so you will have more options to choose from when business is slow.
- darkwizard42 7y ago
  Wouldn't this require access to the companies APIs or scraping them somehow? I don't know that they allow for that.
- chii 7y ago
  why does it need to be a single app emulator? Why can't the person just run all the apps on their phone in the first place?
9nGQluzmnq3M 7y ago
Doordash may not be able to do much about that, since meal delivery demand is pretty spiky. As in any restaurant, there's a rush at lunch, another at dinner, and it's pretty quiet the rest of the time.
devmunchies 7y ago
>There's just too many drivers I think. interesting, I'm desperate for more drivers. I run a side business that delivers cookies, drivers do just under 30 deliveries a day (about 3-4 every hour) and make minimum wage plus 100% of tips are split at the end of pay period. it ends up being about $3/delivery in tips, which is an extra $9/hr for a total of $21/hr (minimum wage is $12). A driver could theoretically make over $50k/yr if they worked 6 days a week, but most choose not to (4-5 days a week). I've put a lot of work into the software to make it as efficient as possible so driver can get more orders and tips. My business: https://cravecookie.com/ https://cravecookie.com/
- ec109685 7y ago
  6 days a week is a lot.
  - devmunchies 7y ago
    yup, it is. but if a driver needs the money... we don't ask or expect it.
- oefrha 7y ago
  Unsolicited advice: maybe put the pricing next to or before the quick checkout section, or at least link to the pricing section before the quick checkout form? I’m not going to give you my address before I decide to enter a business relationship with you (which requires pricing info), and it was not at all clear to me pricing info is available before I go through the checkout process until I scrolled all the way to the bottom of the page just in case.
- ISL 7y ago
  Is that $21/hr in revenue or $21/hr in profit for the driver? If the mileage cost is the $0.58/mi stated in the article, then the cost of driving ~15-30 miles in that hour is $9-17.
- tallanvor 7y ago
  "plus 100% of tips are split at the end of pay period" Split with who?
bigwavedave 7y ago
The black box is one reason I always set my tip amount to $0 on the app and simply tip in cash when my food arrives.
halfjoking 7y ago
When I used Doordash I always saw they sent the delivery driver to the restaurant immediately. The driver would arrive 2 min after the order was placed. Didn't matter if it was at a nice restaurant that takes a long time to cook orders, they'd send the driver immediately and make them wait. Other services don't seem to have that problem. I'm not saying that's why wages and prices suck - because it's pretty much the same for all the apps. Every time I order from one of these apps I'm paying $40 for something I could have paid $20 at the restaurant. For the 10 min car ride that seems like everyone involved should be making a killing so I don't know how people aren't getting paid. If it wasn't 10 degrees outside or I had a car I'd just bike/drive the 3 miles myself. Unfortunately having a car where I live would mean I'd be paying $400 for parking, so might as well order $40 food delivery 10 times a month instead.
- fapjacks 7y ago
  There are people making a killing, but in the traditional style, where the very small number of people at the top make a killing and everyone else does not.

redis_mlc 7y ago

What kind of vehicle did you use, and how did that affect your costs?

rdxm 7y ago
do you think that would even remotely matter in a scenario where the effective comp rate is a buck 45???? machines wear out. the cost of even a oil change is typically 50-60 bucks. and don't even start with the electric thing which is decades away from broad applicability. see through the b.s. and understand when when people are getting played.

mushufasa 7y ago

>> There's just too many drivers I think. That's fascinating. Seems like the free market really would drive the wage to 0. DoorDash's "innovation" is the black box to obscure the fact. If they paid more fairly like their competitors, they wouldn't be growing as fast. Seems kindof like a cyberpunk future, with corporations negating regulations through advanced technology. Also in those cyberpunk futures, society breaks down into a lonely free-for-all, where the poor masses escape drudgery by playing with high-tech entertainment fantasies like games and VR and ... oh wait...

Vadoff 7y ago
Hopefully universal income will kick in before that happens, as most of the dull work gets automated.
Consultant32452 7y ago
Wages can't drop to zero unless there's an infinite supply of labor. As time has gone by fewer and fewer of the gig economy drivers I see speak English, and fewer of them are the person whose name/face is on the account, so I suspect the pseudo-infinite labor supply is working as intended.
- cc439 7y ago
  There isn't infinite labor on a global scale but there sure is infinite labor willing to work for what first worlders consider a pittance. This basically highlights why I consider open borders immigration to be worse for everyone overall. The first world gets dragged down the societal ladder while the rest of the world is robbed of everyone with initiative plus the lost productivity they'd glean from uncompromised first world economies.
- csmiller 7y ago
  I’ve always wondered what was going on when the driver didn’t match the person listed in the app. Doesn’t seem like there would be any benefit? (For me it’s often a male driver who is displayed as female in the app)
  - Consultant32452 7y ago
    It's categories like illegal immigrants, DUIs or otherwise lost drivers license, can't pass the background check, etc.
  - shiftpgdn 7y ago
    The person doing the actual driving is likely in the country illegaly or driving with a suspended license/no insurance.

sansnomme 7y ago

There is room for Uber-app-in-cloud-emulator multiplexers. As single app endpoint for a variety of delivery apps so you will have more options to choose from when business is slow.

darkwizard42 7y ago
Wouldn't this require access to the companies APIs or scraping them somehow? I don't know that they allow for that.
chii 7y ago
why does it need to be a single app emulator? Why can't the person just run all the apps on their phone in the first place?

9nGQluzmnq3M 7y ago

Doordash may not be able to do much about that, since meal delivery demand is pretty spiky. As in any restaurant, there's a rush at lunch, another at dinner, and it's pretty quiet the rest of the time.

devmunchies 7y ago

>There's just too many drivers I think. interesting, I'm desperate for more drivers. I run a side business that delivers cookies, drivers do just under 30 deliveries a day (about 3-4 every hour) and make minimum wage plus 100% of tips are split at the end of pay period. it ends up being about $3/delivery in tips, which is an extra $9/hr for a total of $21/hr (minimum wage is $12). A driver could theoretically make over $50k/yr if they worked 6 days a week, but most choose not to (4-5 days a week). I've put a lot of work into the software to make it as efficient as possible so driver can get more orders and tips. My business: https://cravecookie.com/ https://cravecookie.com/

ec109685 7y ago
6 days a week is a lot.
- devmunchies 7y ago
  yup, it is. but if a driver needs the money... we don't ask or expect it.
oefrha 7y ago
Unsolicited advice: maybe put the pricing next to or before the quick checkout section, or at least link to the pricing section before the quick checkout form? I’m not going to give you my address before I decide to enter a business relationship with you (which requires pricing info), and it was not at all clear to me pricing info is available before I go through the checkout process until I scrolled all the way to the bottom of the page just in case.
ISL 7y ago
Is that $21/hr in revenue or $21/hr in profit for the driver? If the mileage cost is the $0.58/mi stated in the article, then the cost of driving ~15-30 miles in that hour is $9-17.
tallanvor 7y ago
"plus 100% of tips are split at the end of pay period" Split with who?

bigwavedave 7y ago

The black box is one reason I always set my tip amount to $0 on the app and simply tip in cash when my food arrives.

halfjoking 7y ago

When I used Doordash I always saw they sent the delivery driver to the restaurant immediately. The driver would arrive 2 min after the order was placed. Didn't matter if it was at a nice restaurant that takes a long time to cook orders, they'd send the driver immediately and make them wait. Other services don't seem to have that problem. I'm not saying that's why wages and prices suck - because it's pretty much the same for all the apps. Every time I order from one of these apps I'm paying $40 for something I could have paid $20 at the restaurant. For the 10 min car ride that seems like everyone involved should be making a killing so I don't know how people aren't getting paid. If it wasn't 10 degrees outside or I had a car I'd just bike/drive the 3 miles myself. Unfortunately having a car where I live would mean I'd be paying $400 for parking, so might as well order $40 food delivery 10 times a month instead.

fapjacks 7y ago
There are people making a killing, but in the traditional style, where the very small number of people at the top make a killing and everyone else does not.