Doordash service fee vs delivery fee: Why Pay them both?!

There’s no better experience than staying in your comfort zone, making a few taps on your mobile phone, and within a matter of minutes, you get a good meal you cherish, served to you.

This is a flex, no doubt.

Yeah, it comes with extra charges, which results in a complete increase in the price of the meal when compared to walking into the restaurant yourself.

Talking about fees, there are a couple of them which we shared in our article on hidden fees everyone Doordash customer should know.

However, we’d be making specific emphasis on the service fee and delivery fee in today’s article.

Doordash Service fee Vs delivery fee: Everything you need to know

When ordering from Doordash (especially for first-timers), it’s easy to be puzzled by the number of fees you have to pay. From the sales tax to the small order fee as well as the service and delivery fee.

You could easily start wondering why you have to pay all these fees when you only need a delivery service in the first place.

Well…that’s not entirely the case.

So why do we have to pay a fee for the company service and then a delivery fee again? Doesn’t make sense, right?

Yeah, probably. But let’s take a close look at them individually.

Overview of the service fee

The service fee on Doordash is a mandatory fee that applies to every order made on Doordash. It’s gotten by making a 15% charge on your bill, with a minimum charge of $3.

Hence, it varies according to the total of your order.

As the name implies, this is the fee Doordash uses in running their day-to-day business. It’s in fact the only charge or profit Doordash openly collects from its customers.

According to the company, it should help cover the cost of doing things like app development, customer support, and marketing. Basically, it’s what helps Doordash stay in business.

Editors note: At Exiledriver, we like to call this fee a fee that covers the expenses of the company, “business-wise.”

In reality, however, this is not true, as the cost of running a company can’t just be covered by a single fee.

Moreover, there are a couple of other charges Doordash makes to both customers and merchants (especially merchants), that could make good profits to cover those and even more.

But then, regardless, you still have to pay this charge.

Overview of the delivery fee

On the other hand, we have the delivery fee.

Well, this is another tricky fee on Doordash.

It’s basically the fee that covers the cost of moving your orders from the restaurant to your home. Remember, a dasher needs to travel from his location to the restaurant before delivering to you, so those distance count.

Editors note: At Exiledriver, we like to call this fee a fee that covers the expenses of the company, “delivery-wise.”

A big misconception however is that this fee goes directly to the dasher.

But that’s not the case, as the amount Doordash drivers are paid is a base pay that’s independent of the delivery fee. But rather, a fee that puts in a number of factors such as the time spent in delivering, the distance spent and the desirability of an order.

The whole thing is pretty vague and Doordash isn’t ready to show us how it is calculated.

However, normally, dashers are paid anywhere from $2-$5 per order. And with the help of tips from customers, this could be increased.

But is the delivery fee more than what dashers earn per delivery? No, most likely not, unless a dasher is lucky to get an order with good tips.

Hence, we can say, while the delivery fee should cover the cost of delivery, it’s been paid directly to Doordash, who then eventually pays drivers a percentage.

In other words, there’s still money for Doordash to make from there.

Here’s the Verdict: Doordash Service fee Vs delivery fee

Both the service fee and delivery fee are charges you need to pay as long you want to keep using Doordash. Hence, you can’t get around or bypass them.

Differences?

Well, they’re typically different in every aspect and cover different things.

1. The service fee is used to cover petty expenses made by the company and is basically the fee you pay them to serve you. This time, not delivery-wise, but rather business-wise.
2. On the other hand, the delivery fee is the fee that Doordash makes a cut to pay drivers. It’s expected to cover the expenses made in delivering your order.

Similarities?

These are the only two fees on Doordash that actually cover the expenses of Doordash services to you, both business-wise (service fee) and delivery-wise (delivery fee).

Final thought

And there you have it!

While the service and delivery fee might seem irrelevant, as they could be seen as the same thing (from one perspective), they’re not, at least from the company’s perspective.

The most important thing, however, is that you need to pay the both of them, as long you want to use Doordash.