DoorDash Review: A Decent Way To Earn Extra Income

DoorDash is a food order delivery service. Customers place an order at one of dozens of restaurants, and then they agree to a delivery fee and tip. The app then pushes orders to “Dashers” who are logged into the app.

Once you accept an order, you drive to the restaurant, place the order, bring the order back to your car and deliver it to the customer.

All the directions for the delivery are inside of the DoorDash app.

As a Dasher you get to keep 100% of the delivery fee, any boosts and the customer’s tips. DoorDash makes money by charging restaurants a percentage fee of every order.

As a Dasher, you not only need to keep an eye on your bottom line, you need to be sure that you’re creating value for everyone involved. That means, you need to keep an eye on your customer rating. Every customer rates you on a scale of one to five stars; better and faster customer service usually yields a higher rating.

You also need to keep close to a 100% completion rating. That means if you accept a job, you need to complete it. Failing to complete a delivery could mean you’ll lose your job as a Dasher.

Finally, you’ll need to keep an eye on your acceptance rating. The acceptance rating is the percentage of jobs you take relative to the number of jobs DoorDash offers to you. While you need to be strategic about maxing your earning potential, you’ll may need to take subpar jobs from time to time just to keep DoorDash happy.

What Costs Do You Cover?

As a Dasher, you have to pay for all your business expenses. That includes data for your phone, gas, car insurance, wear and tear on your vehicle, and both sides of self employment tax.

If you decide to become a Dasher (or a driver of any kind) be sure to install an app like Everlance to keep track of all your expenses.

How Much Can You Expect To Earn?

Since DoorDash only operates in large metro areas, most Dashers don’t need to put tons of miles on their car to earn a decent income. Rates really depend on how many miles you have to drive, the size of your orders, and how quickly you can complete orders.

On the website, DoorDash advertises that you will earn between $15-$25 an hour. Most drivers who post videos to YouTube claim that they earn between $7-$10 per delivery, and they average 2-3 deliveries per hour.  Of course, when you’re just learning the ropes, you may have some trouble figuring out how to maximize your deliveries, so you might earn closer to $9-$10 per hour at first.

While most people earn just a little extra cash driving for DoorDash, some drivers earn $40 or more per hour. Here’s how they do it.

Driving for DoorDash is a decent way to earn some cash on the side. It’s nice that you can use some business savvy to boost your bottom line (unlike some of the other gig economy apps). 

If you’re looking for a part time job that you can do on your own schedule, DoorDash fits the bill. I would still prioritize work on your main career above a side job like DoorDash, but it’s one of the better ways to drive and earn.

Would you ever consider working for DoorDash? Why or why not?