Personal assistants aren’t just for the rich and famous anymore.
DoorDash started in 2013 helping restaurants meet their delivery demands, and the business has grown exponentially and currently has over 50% of the food delivery service market.
DoorDash (DASH) wasn’t just a great business for restaurants needing help meeting the demand of delivery services, but for the consumers who were requesting delivery service as well. There was a time not so long ago, that hungry people used to wish someone could bring them McDonald’s or any other restaurant that didn’t deliver, whether out of laziness or inability to get away. DoorDash came to the rescue, and they brought fries with that.
Delivery became an even more crucial business model during the covid pandemic. Contactless delivery meant keeping families at home while helping restaurants stay in business and employing delivery workers at the same time. It was making the best out of a bad situation.
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DoorDash Adds New Service
DoorDash now wants to help free up more of its consumers time by taking all those unwanted packages that need to be returned off your hands. Prepaid packages that are ready to go to carriers like UPS, FedEx, and USPS can be scheduled to be picked up by your local DoorDash service.
It’s really simple to use. For people who are already a DoorDash customer, they can choose packages on the smartphone app and then choose the carrier. Customers are able to have up to five packages picked up at one time, and just like when dropping off for any other service, no printer or box for the item is required. Photo of drop off will be sent to confirm that the delivery to the carrier has been made.
The cost to pick up packages (1-5) is $5 for one pickup and only $3 for DashPass members. DoorDash is offering a promo for free first-time package pick-ups through the end of January.
“We are excited to introduce Package Pickup as a seamless and efficient offering for those looking to make returns during the busy post-holiday season and throughout the year,” said DoorDash Product Manager Gagan Gupta. “The extensibility of our platform allows us to power all local commerce and local delivery needs, with this newest offering enabling us to meet time-starved shoppers wherever they are.”
DoorDash Not Without Criticism
DoorDash experienced scrutiny in 2019 over its tipping policy. DoorDashers receive a certain payment per dash and when a customer would tip the dasher, it was assumed that the entire tip would go to the dasher, not the company itself. That was not the case, leading customers and workers to feel like the company was shorting its drivers compensation.
The policy was in place to ensure the company could cover its delivery costs, for picking up and paying its drivers. The tip only went to the dasher if the tip exceeded the minimum guaranteed on the order itself. DoorDash found itself in litigation for its tipping policy and has since changed the policy, only to find itself in trouble with its drivers only a couple years later in 2021.
Dashers went on strike to get the company’s attention to bring transparency to the tipping system, as the dashers felt like the company was hiding the tips, and it wasn’t wrong. If a customer tips higher, the dasher wouldn’t see the amount until after the delivery was complete, so drivers couldn’t see a tip before accepting to do the delivery. The policy kept drivers from not picking up orders with lower tips, giving equality to orders by not sharing tips upfront.
Tipping your dasher cash is the only way to ensure that the total amount is going to the driver themselves and not going through company hands first.
