It feels like every list of side hustle ideas includes Driving with DoorDash or another delivery service site, and honestly, that is because delivery driving can be a legitimate way to earn extra money in your free time. As someone who has completed over 2,400 deliveries on DoorDash on and off over the last four years, I have picked up on some tips to help maximize your DoorDash earnings.
Something to understand before you start: your pay on DoorDash is Base Pay plus customer tips. Base pay is usually around two to five dollars per order, but may be higher depending on things like distance, if the order is large, if the order contains alcohol, or if it is a shopping order. For the average food order though, you can expect a few dollars as base pay, and hopefully a few dollars in tips.
Expenses to consider: When driving for DoorDash or another 3rd party site, you are considered an independent contractor rather than an employee for DoorDash, which means that DoorDash won’t pay the normal employer taxes you would expect from a W2 job, and they also won’t withhold any money from your pay to pay taxes in the future. So, if you drive for DoorDash expect to pay 25% of your earnings in taxes at the end of the year. Also, you will be using your own vehicle to deliver orders, meaning that you’ll have to pay for more gas, oil changes, regular maintenance, tires, etc. I would strongly discourage anyone from being a delivery driver if they don’t have auto insurance, it is not worth the risk.
Here are my top tips to maximize DoorDash Earnings:
Give it time
My first suggestion when it comes to any sort of delivery driving is to give it time. As you start completing orders on the platform you will learn which orders will likely pay more, which restaurants are faster or slower, and even what parts of town are easier to deliver in. Some restaurants will consistently have the order ready the moment you walk through the door, while others may always have a delay. The more you dash, the more you’ll learn about your area, so you can maximize your DoorDash earnings.
Have an acceptance rate over 70%
Having a higher acceptance rate means that the DoorDash app will prioritize you for desirable orders. Your acceptance rate is a rolling number of how many out of the last 100 orders DoorDash sent you that you accepted. In the short term, it may seem frustrating to have to accept orders that don’t seem as worthwhile, but once you have a higher acceptance rate the app will prioritize you for higher paying orders, and then you’ll want to accept them and it will keep your acceptance rate up, so in the long term it is more worth it.
Work towards the Dasher Rewards Program
You can become part of the Dasher Rewards Program by meeting specific criteria, like having a high acceptance rate and completing a certain amount of orders in the last 30 days. You get priority access to high-paying orders, priority access to Dash-Now, VIP support (which means you can spend less time waiting on hold and more time earning money making deliveries), Advanced scheduling, and access to large orders.
In some markets, there is a “Large Orders Program” where customers can place larger orders which usually include “bigger tips and higher earning potential” according to DoorDash. When I was dashing more often in the past I would get 1-2 catering orders per day, and they usually paid $25 or more and took the same amount of time with just slightly more energy (carrying bigger bags or boxes). Once I got paid over $150 for delivering a huge catering order from Golden Corral to a Church (and it only took one hour).
Drive during dinner or at night
DoorDash is busiest, and has the biggest orders during dinnertime (at least from what I have seen), because people are tired after work and are feeding their whole families (opposed to lunch when it is more individual orders). Bigger orders = Bigger tips, and tips are always where you make more on DoorDash because the base pay is usually only $2-$5 per order. Driving at night is one of the best ways to maximize your DoorDash earnings.
Check the weather
if rain or snow is on the radar then it is likely that more people will be ordering food in. At busy times, peak pay may be enabled where DoorDash adds a dollar or two to each delivery you complete. If it is really busy, you may be able to pick up more than one order from nearby restaurants and then go drop them both off, this basically means you can earn twice as much since there is less driving back and forth. *** Only consider driving in harsh weather if you have safe transportation and feel comfortable doing so***
Complete the alcohol training
I am not sure of current practice, but I completed a short course and test on DoorDash to be able to deliver orders with alcohol. These orders usually paid more because the average order price was higher so the customer would tip more, and also because the base pay would be slightly higher because of the extra work needed to both shop for the alcohol and to check the customer’s ID when dropping off the order. For a while, I would get a ton of orders from a local liquor and wine store, and I would consistently make $15+ per order even if they were close by. This is especially relevant for the holiday season as it seemed that alcohol deliveries became more frequent. I believe that you must be over 21 years old to deliver alcohol.
Use a car with decent MPG
I wouldn’t necessarily recommend driving for a delivery service if your vehicle has poor gas economy. Driving part-time could add up to a few hundred miles each week, and depending on your car that may result in a few dollars per hour of work going straight to the gas tank.
Average your hours
Not every hour will be over $20, but some may be well over, so average your hours at the end of each week to get a better idea of your hourly DoorDash earnings.
The bottom line:
I started driving with DoorDash during college to have a flexible source of income that I could do around my other job and school work, and I have kept doing it on and off over the past four years because it is a great way to earn extra cash.
Driving with a delivery service like DoorDash can totally be worthwhile, as it allows you the flexibility to still fulfill other responsibilities in your life like work, school, and parenting. I hope my tips to maximize DoorDash earnings can help you achieve your earning goals. For more profitable side hustles, check out this blog.
