The Real Reason Your Food Order Is Cold, And 14 More Confessions From A Delivery Driver
Hi. 👋🏾 I'm Shonnita, and I've been delivering for Door Dash for five years, and it's helped me pay off 💪🏾 $52k in debt.
Look, no job is perfect, right? But there are some things that need to be said to set the tone of how things should go.
These are a few pet peeves delivery drivers feel you should know about. Hopefully, sharing this will make our jobs easier (and less awkward for both of us) and ensure you get your food in one piece.
1.Please wear pants — you called us! Remember?
If you've opted out of the no-contact delivery option, please remember to put pants on before you answer the door. It never ceases to amaze me why you wouldn't at least be clothed if you know a visitor is coming over to your home. And hiding behind the door and poking your head out or pulling down your shirt just enough to cover your naughty bits doesn't count as a substitute for putting on pants. It also makes it...kind of difficult to hand you your food. Please 👏🏾 wear 👏🏾 pants.👏🏾 Delivery drivers have seen it all, and trust us, it's not a good look.
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2.If it requires two or three in-app full-page paragraphs of instructions to get to you...please just meet us outside.
Disclaimer: For those who are disabled or have limited mobility, this statement need not apply.
As do all delivery drivers, we get paid per delivery, and often, we don't get another until the delivery we're in is completed. The longer it takes to complete a delivery, the less money we make, hence the term door...DASH. Navigating through maze-like apartment complexes with confusing instructions, especially at night, eats up a substantial amount of "Dash time" and can affect the quality of your meal. So to ensure prompt delivery of your order, consider an arrangement to meet up with your driver at least five minutes before they're expected to arrive.
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3.We’re not UPS.
When you're thinking of bulk orders like 50 bags of 25-pound dog food and 12 cases of water, consider using commercial delivery services that have freight trucks suitable for those types of deliveries. Those types of orders really aren't suitable for an independent contractor driving a Prius. Delivery drivers are limited to the amount they can carry with their vehicles, so please remember to keep your orders reasonable; we're human too!
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4.I'm sorry to tell you this, but...if your food is cold, it’s because you didn’t include a tip.
Based on the total miles driven, the type of restaurant, the order payout, and the additional help of third-party apps that reveal the total payout amount a delivery driver would be compensated upon completion of your order; even a rookie driver will turn down an offer to pick up your order because it appears to have a low payout. (Despite the fact that you may have planned on providing a cash tip upon delivery.) Low payouts equate to no tip — leaving your order cold on the shelf until another driver with some mercy for you shows up.
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5.Use the GPS tracker within the delivery app.
It is the responsibility of your assigned delivery driver to keep you updated on your order. However, texting your driver multiple times to check if they're on their way — or worse, texting them for minor things like "Pick up extra ketchup" — when they're already en route to your home is not only annoying, but can also be dangerous because it can lead to distracted driving. Please don’t do that. To keep track of their status, simply follow along through the app or leave a message in your profile with instructions. After seeing that the driver has reached the restaurant, feel free to call them for confirmation.
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6.Your driver has one job: deliver your food to the correct address, on time. That's it.
Negatively rating your driver because the food was cold, the fries weren't crispy, there were no utensils in the bag, you ordered a birthday cake flavored cupcake and instead got a cupcake that said happy birthday — none of that has anything to do with the driver. Delivery drivers will do their best to provide an amazing customer service experience, but the driver doesn’t have any control over what's going on inside the restaurant or inside your bag. Since the pandemic, almost all businesses have moved to a sealed bag delivery procedure. Your driver won't be able to see what's inside your order, and thus, can't resolve any issues regarding it. Please address your concerns with the restaurant directly and not with your driver. They don't work for the restaurant.
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7.Don’t order during the Super Bowl, March Madness, or Cinco de Mayo and then complain about how your food is taking too long.
More experienced drivers will avoid delivering on these days altogether simply due to the overwhelming demand for restaurant orders. On these days, drivers are faced with extended wait times (like waiting over an hour for your food), longer than normal drive times due to traffic, and limited parking. And to make matters worse, they're not able to take any other orders until your order is completed. Therefore, if you absolutely need food delivered on these days, consider tipping your driver well and order earlier in the day if possible. Your delivery driver will appreciate you for it.
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8.If you only knew about how dirty the place you asked us to pick up your food was, you wouldn’t eat there.
If you were aware of the level of filth present in the restaurant, you would probably never have asked us to get food from there. Delivery drivers are aware of the number of germs and bacteria present in these restaurants (and we take necessary precautions), but for your own health and safety, please be mindful where you place your orders. Some of the places we pick your orders up from aren't even restaurants! Read reviews from other patrons if possible before ordering from said "restaurant." It's always better to be safe than sorry. That's all I'm going to say on this one.
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9.Even after a global pandemic, we'd still prefer a contactless delivery.
This arrangement suits both parties for a number of reasons — the main one being safety. Delivery drivers don’t have to worry about coming into contact with you or any of your family members, and delivery drivers can confirm proof of delivery by taking a photo of the order. Therefore, you have the peace of mind of knowing that your food has been delivered without any human contact, so if you are sick, we won't get sick. And we don't have to wait for you to answer the door when it's 20 degrees outside (and you don't have to worry about wearing pants). So please, if possible, continue to arrange for a contactless delivery when ordering online. Your delivery driver will be forever grateful.
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10.If we cancel your order, it's not personal, it's just business.
To stay profitable, we have to factor in the time it takes to complete every order. We make our income by the order and not per hour, so if it takes 10 minutes of drive time plus 35 minutes at the restaurant waiting for your order — then another 15 on top of that just to drive to your home — all for only a $9.00 payment? After an entire hour's worth of work?! It's not worth it. In comparison, three quicker orders would net us $7 each in less than an hour. So cancellations on our part aren't personal but simply business decisions based on efficiency.
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11.We won’t eat your food, but if you put the wrong address or don’t provide a gate code and we can’t reach you...it's ours!
Listen, we will do our utmost to deliver your food with accuracy and in a timely manner, but once it starts to feel like we're contestants on The Amazing Race, we bow out gracefully with full pay and a warm meal. Don't make it difficult to deliver to you, please be sure you have the correct address in the app and have included access to your residence to deliver to you...and please answer your phone.
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12.I shouldn't have to say this, but...don't be an asshole and report the food as missing just to get free food.
It doesn't take a delivery driver to know that some people will go over the top just to get something for free. We don't mind substitutions. It happens all the time, and it's part of the job. However, we do mind when customers make false claims that their food never arrived or is incorrect in order to get a free meal. When you do that, you are falsely accusing your driver of stealing, which can get them removed from the delivery app. And that is wrong. Almost all delivery apps keep track of every order and will eventually notice a pattern of this behavior and will know if you're telling the truth or not. It's not fair to delivery drivers, so please, don't be an asshole and think you can scam delivery drivers. Let's keep it honest.
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13.Please turn on your porch light. All houses look alike after 8 p.m.
Appreciate you providing us with such thorough instructions! How could we ever mistake your ecru house with brown shutters for the off-white one and its tan shutters that's adjacent to the light yellow residence with light beige window frames? It doesn't matter how specific you are about these characteristics; all of them appear identical in darkness, especially when they sit on a quaint narrow road with no street lights. To ensure we can find your place without trouble, please turn on your porch lamp so we can spot those unique numbers outside your door.
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14.Sending your friend to sign for the alcohol you purchased is illegal.
It is illegal for any person over the age of 21 to purchase, give, or make an alcoholic beverage available to a minor. Likewise, it is against the law in all states for anyone to provide alcohol — regardless if money has exchanged hands or not— to someone under the legal drinking age. As such, ordering alcohol and having it delivered to someone else through the food delivery app without proof of your identification is against most delivery app policies. And if that recipient happens to be a minor, this action would be considered illegal.
Therefore, please make sure you are available to sign for the order and can show proof of ID. Otherwise, we've just spent valuable time driving to pick up your order and bring it to your home. And in some cases (depending on which retailer the order was placed at), we can't close out the delivery to get the payout until the alcohol has been returned back to the store. To make matters worse, we don't get reimbursed for the mileage we've accrued for that entire drive. So be sure to make yourself available when receiving your order and have a valid proof of identity ready. Otherwise, we regrettably just wasted our time.
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15.Finally, just be a good human.
Many of us are retirees, students, have full-time jobs that don't pay enough, are using the gig economy to pay off student loan debt, or do it because we simply just like it. Treat us the same way you’d want your child, sister, best friend, or retired parent to be treated. If you are guilty of any of these things, I am telling you so you can get the best customer service possible. If these tips don't apply to you, I'm sure you know of someone who could use them. We all want the food delivery service industry to be an enjoyable experience for everyone involved! So let's make it happen.
For all the kind customers who leave handwritten notes with the words "free snacks" taped to a basket off to one side on their porches, provide us with bottled water on scorching summer days, compensate us with generous tips during the holidays, leave thoughtful messages like "Drive safe" in the description box of your order, or makes sure your order has a clearly designated place for us to properly leave it upon delivery, I want you to know — we see you and appreciate it immensely. Your thoughtfulness does not go unnoticed. Thank you!
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