Doordash is a company that works with local restaurants to deliver your food. It first opened on January 12, 2013, in Palo Alto. Since then, the app has been able to reach over 38 million users by the end of 2023.
While Doordash technically gets the job done, they have been proven to be less reliable than a lot of delivery companies. One issue I have noticed with Doordash is the wait times. I remember a specific time I Doordashed from Mcdonald’s, which is just down the road from my house. I waited 30 minutes before I started getting confused. I have been ordering from this specific McDonald’s my whole life and I’ve never once had to wait over 10 minutes for my food. When I checked the app it stated my dasher was dropping off another order at the same time, not very close to my house. By the time I got my food, it was cold and not even worth it.
I just found out at the time that door dashers were allowed to accept orders farther away from the first order’s house. This doesn’t seem fair to me at all, including since I ordered my food first. This is one of the many flaws that come with the app.
Doordash also charges an excessive amount of money compared to other delivery services. When you get Doordash for the first time, the delivery fee is free. Because of this, I decided to get myself a Chipotle bowl, I assumed it would be the same price as going to get it, minus a small tip for the driver. But when I looked at the receipt it was 10 dollars more to get it on Doordash than the Chipotle delivery app. I didn’t see how that was possible because I was supposed to get it delivered for free. When I looked more into the receipt I realized the extra pricing came from another additional service fee. The service fee automatically takes 15% of your original total and adds it to the price. If the delivery fee wasn’t free, it would be an extra 35% to pay for using Doordash including the tip.
Not only this but they also charge extra for food on the Doordash app than if you get it in person or if you get it delivered through the restaurant. While my order on the Chipotle delivery app is only $21.13, it’s over $33.24 on Doordash. That is $12.11 and the money can add up if you get food delivered a lot.
On top of the app’s bad structure, you aren’t guaranteed fresh food or everything you order. There was a recent TikTok trend about a pattern with Chipotle bowls/burritos from Doordash being smaller than when you get them in person. Many employees even admitted to not trying as hard when making an order for someone online. Because employers lack consequences when messing up online orders, mess-ups happen frequently. Almost every single time I use doordash they forget something, whether it’s a sauce or a straw- it’s just unreliable.
Doordashes bad structure also makes companies lose a lot of money. The company has to pay extra to just work with Doordash. Companies aren’t making enough money from doordash to make up for the amount they have to pay the company. Doordash also takes some of the profit of the bought food, which becomes an issue when more people start using Doordash than coming in. Because Doordash orders are prioritized over people in line, this causes an increase in doordash use. This loses the company a lot of money.
Overall, going to pick up the food or directly ordering it from the restaurant is the best way to go. Doordash has many unnecessary fees, which isn’t an ideal match with their unreliable behavior. There issues are constant with missing food and several signs that it’s not as fresh. While I know the urge to eat out is hard to control, I recommend not wasting your money on it.
