Can You Dash Without Scheduling?

If you’re new to DoorDash, it’s easy to be overwhelmed by the myriad of things such as Hotspots, scheduling, dash now, and a list of other things, you need to know.

For scheduling, the popular notion is to always do them for any day you intend to dash to avoid running into problems.

However, is there a possibility of waking up on a particular day, and to begin dashing without scheduling?

Well, maybe and this article will talk about this possibility.

Why do You Always have to Schedule?

So let’s start with the basics…

Scheduling on Doordash is a way to sort of book a slot from the available drivers’ slots DoorDash drops for every location, weekly.

Editors Note: Available slots here are basically the maximum number of drivers by DoorDash permitted to work in a location for a particular timeline. When this number is all taken for a location, you can’t dash in there.

This is done, basically, to approach the growing competition of drivers.

Now, for most people, scheduling is the default. If they don’t schedule, they can’t dash the following day.

Why? Well, competition.

Since slots are open up for drivers to book, chances are, in busy locations, they’d be often exhausted earlier enough, leaving people who haven’t scheduled stranded.

That’s exactly what happens when you don’t schedule – you won’t be able to drive on that day. The worst is if your location is extremely busy; you could even have a hard time making schedules.

That’s one point.

Next, scheduling gives you a sort of guarantee of driving.

The moment you book a slot for a particular day, you’re sure to dash for that particular day. The slot is up. All you have to do is to wait for that day to arrive and begin dashing. There’s no disappointment as you might have with other options like the dash now.

However, something to keep in mind is that scheduling doesn’t give an added priority as most people assume.

But this doesn’t entirely mean you can’t dash without a schedule.

So how? Well, let’s talk about this in the next section.

Can You Dash Without Scheduling? and How?

Yes. As we explained earlier, dashing without scheduling is possible.

But how?

Well, the only way you do this is to have the “Dash now” button, the moment you want to start dashing.

Editors note: Dash now is a feature on DoorDash that allows drivers to start dashing immediately without scheduling

Now, the problem here is the “Dash now” only shows up when there’s a good demand for drivers. Hence, there’s always no guarantee that you’d have them.

There are basically two ways to get the “dash now”

When you stay in a less driver-dense area

Since “Dash Now” is only available when there’s a good demand for drivers, the likelihood of getting them would be higher in locations with fewer drivers.

This is because, with fewer drivers, customers’ demand is likely to be higher, hence leading to a consistently high demand for drivers.

But then, the question is how can you tell whether your location is less dense or not?

Well, one way to do this is to keep an eye on the heat map on the app.

When you open your DoorDash app, you’ll see a map that divides your local area into different zones. These zones are color-coded to indicate the current level of demand for Dashers.

• Grey Zone: This indicates that there are relatively enough drivers on the road in your location. More accurately, there’s a perfect equilibrium between the available slots (or demand for drivers) and the taken slots. You can’t get the dash now button here.
• Pink/Red Zone: This represents high driver demand. There are either not enough Dashers for the number of orders coming in, or there’s a surge in orders. In these zones, the “Dash Now” option is typically available.

Editors note: It’s important to keep in mind that these zones don’t explicitly tell the demand of customers. Don’t be surprised to get into a the red/pink zone and don’t find yourself busy. The key to getting orders is knowing your area.

Qualify for the Top Dasher Program

The Top Dasher program is an initiative on Doordash that rewards the best drivers (based on the company’s standard) with some added benefits for every month, one of them being the ability to Dash now every time.

Other benefits include:

1. A better delivery priority
2. Early Access to Scheduling
3. Better order requests

Fair enough, but the biggest con is the requirement it comes with, which is a bit of a turn-off for many drivers.

This includes:

1. Maintain a Customer Rating of at least 4.7
2. Have a Completion Rate of at least 95%
3. Complete at least 100 deliveries in the last month.
4. Complete at least 200-lifetime deliveries.

But if the benefits outweigh the con? It could be worth it.

The thing about driving for food delivery companies is you can’t actually tell what works until you try it yourself. This is because “what works” varies significantly by location.

Final Thoughts

While you can dash without scheduling, it’s still always important you schedule to make sure there’s a guarantee you’d be dashing for the particular day. The exception to this would be when you’re on the Top dasher program.