How to make money with DoorDash (Tips for Maximizing Profit)
As a dasher, you have to ask whether you want to make the most amount of deliveries or making the most amount of money. And believe me, they are most often not correlated.
When I started Dashing, I used to accept about 95% of all orders I received, but after a while I realized that, I was making way lesser than a friend of mine who has also a Dasher. Then, I understood that most of the orders I accepted did more harm than good to my bank. Some orders of $3 would take me 20-30 minutes to complete due to the order not being ready, far distances, long drive-thru lines, or non responsive customers. So, when you realize, you make like, $9-$10 per hour. It is not feasible when you live in the metro area were gas is super expensive.
Some people prefer not to accept orders of a certain amount and within certain mile range. This allows drivers to maximize profit. However, it your acceptance rate drops too low, might not be eligible to become a top Dash, which can allow you to dash even when it is not busy. It is great it you want to make a quick cash even when there aren’t many orders in your area.
Well, here is what I believe will make you make more money dashing:
1- Avoid taking orders smaller than $1 per mile.
You’ll encounter orders of $5 for 7 miles. Please don’t do it if your goal is to maximaze profit. But you may be thinking , “7 miles are just 15 minutes, you ma if I make 4 of them in an hour I make $20, which is fine by me”. You are partially right. However, you forgot that things don’t always run as smooth and you want to. In my experience, small orders always give me more pain at pick up and delieveries. Sometimes the apartments are just so messed up that it will take you an extra 5–10 minutes before finding the customer.
2- Avoid drive-thru in rush hours
You want to avoid drive-thrus when everyone is leaving work. I don’t need to explain why… Sometimes the order is ready for pick up but you have to wait until everyone’s food is ready before they give you the order. You may end up spending a solid 10–15 minutes doing so. That’s a waste of your time.
3- Optimize your time
I am guessing you don’t want to drive all the time. You have others activities to do and business to take care of. Therefore, you have to work when Doordash is busy in your area. In my case it happens usually around 4–7 PM and 10 PM -1 AM. The people who order between 4–7 PM are usually those who are leaving work and don’t want to, or are just too tired to cook. These group of people tend to tip a little bit more.
The second group of people are those who order from 10 PM to 1 AM +. These are usually young people who don’t have work in the next day and are playing video games or watching a TV show (I’m not kidding though). These second group of people tend to pay a little lesser than the previews. But the main advantage of dashing this time is competition. Since there are not many drivers around, the chances of getting orders quick increases. Another downside of dashing at this time is that since there are not many drivers around that means also that they will send you way out of your dashing area from time-to-time. You just have to make sure you are not accepting orders that will waste your time.
4- Promos and PEAK PAY are your friend.
Yes, that’s right. Promotions and peak pays will slowing but surely increase your profit. Lets imagine that you did 10 deliveries for $6 each. That’s a $60 profit. But in a $2 PEAK PAY, you made $80 instead. Peak Pay can vary in value and time. If you can dash during these times you definitely should.
5- Avoid grocery shopping orders
Remember that I didn’t say grocery stores in general (YOU CERTAINLY CAN), but grocery shopping is your enemy because YOU LOSE TIME trying to thing things you’ve never bought in a store you’ve never been before. Some people see that they will receive $10 or $11 for that order but they forgot that doing groceries takes time. At the end of the day you end up spending 1hour + in that order. And that’s only a $10/hour. If you did 3, $5-$6 orders in 40–50 minutes you’d still be better off.
Yes, following the tips above can increase your changes of maximum profit. I wish you success and safe dashing. Remember to always respect the customers. They are the reason you are making money.