“For most markets where DoorDash operates, customers are prompted to tip on the checkout screen, with a middle option already selected by default. If they want to, they can adjust the tip later from the status screen while awaiting their food, or even after it’s delivered. That’s changing today; while blaming New York City’s minimum wage increase for delivery workers, DoorDash announced that for “select markets, including New York City,” tipping is now exclusively a post-checkout option”
It seems so ridiculous given tipping fatigue, that DoorDash is making what should be a given sound like a negative.
You say “losing money”, but I want to quantify that for those reading along:
IRS allows us to claim $0.655 per mile in expenses. DoorDash’s $2 base fee covers only the expenses on a 3 mile trip.
A 10 mile trip costs $6.55. DD pays $2.
But that’s not the end of it. That 10-mile trip took me at least 4 miles outside of my zone. I need to get back to it before I can reasonably expect to receive offers again. I need about $9.17 before I earn one red cent. All that driving and waiting for your food took me about an hour. Just to make minimum wage, I need to gross $16.42. DD pays $2. I need about a $15 tip from you to make minimum wage.
That doesn’t make sense.
Doordash doesn’t pay you based on the order? Customers are charged more based on how much they order (everything has an upcharge), so I assumed some of that extra money went to the drivers. There’s also I think 2 mandatory fees: a delivery fee and a maintenance fee or some shit. I don’t know if these scale based on how much you order or how far the delivery is etc, but it’s a lot of money. Way more than $2.
I just find it hard to believe the app could exist at all with drivers having the experience you described. Or maybe I misunderstand you. Are you saying that delivery would make you $8.55? (not counting your expenses, obviously.)
DD pays $2-$3 per order in my markets. It is not based on size of order. It is not based on distance. I have seen small, short-distance orders offered for $3, and large, long-distance orders for $2.
They will occasionally offer “peak pay” of an additional $1. This is usually for 2-4 hours an evening, Friday through Sunday. Sometimes, during very busy times in undesirable markets, that will rise to $2 for an hour or two. Rarely (1-2 hours a month) more.
Shop and deliver orders seem to add a per-item fee, but makea no allowance for mileage.
The only other pay I receive from DD is the occasional half-pay when I arrive at a closed store. Uber Eats pays only $3 for this. N
Some markets might have a higher base pay, and/or higher peak pay, but those are still not based on order size or distance. If DD is charging fees based on the size of orders, they are not passing that on to the driver delivering your order.
On average, (counting both short distance and long distance orders together) the base pay does not quite cover the $0.655 per mile that the IRS says I can claim as my expenses. Effectively, the only money I can count as “income” from DD is peak pay and tips.
UberEats has a much more complicated algorithm that seems to be based primarily on actual mileage, but I don’t think it takes the cost of the order into account either.
-sigh- speaking from experience, it doesn’t cost you $0.65 a mile to drive. Perhaps you could make that argument if you bought and insured a new gas guzzler specifically for delivery driving, only took it to the dealership for maintenance/repairs, and only filled up with premium. If you’re doing that, then… you should probably work for someone who makes decisions for you.
The $0.655 per mile is the IRS rate for travel, and is intended to cover gas, maintenance, depreciation, etc.
You are not counting the replacement cost of the vehicle in your calculations. Once you deplete your current vehicle of all of its value, you have to acquire another vehicle, functionally equivalent to the vehicle you started with. If you don’t do that, your “income” is partially from depleting the value of your asset.
Most drivers make that specific error, because it is not a straightforward calculation, and varies considerably on the driver’s specific circumstances. I use the IRS numbers in an attempt to normalize widely disparate expenses.
Even if it does indeed cost you far less than $0.655 per mile, your AGI will be based on the assumption that you do pay that number.
lol yeah sure. I don’t know what kind of car you’re exclusively using for delivery driving, but by your logic mine was covered very quickly. So no, it definitely didn’t cost me $0.65 a mile to drive with that in mind.
