Doordash Stuck on Preparing Orders? This is the actual reason

Ordering Doordash for the first time can seem like a whole lot of fun, not until you get stuck with a status that seems like an error code.

We’re talking about the “Doordash stuck on Preparing Order” status.

This is one status that doesn’t have a limit to how long it can stay, no proper explanation to what it is, and what can be done about it. However, this article should provide this information.

Why is Doordash stuck on preparing orders?

The “Doordash stuck on preparing Order” status is a vague state if you ask me, as it can mean a whole lot.

To begin with, it’s worth mentioning that there are no official clarifications from Doordash on what it exactly means. However, from our experience, this is our take.

Literally, this status is expected to show that the restaurant is actually working on your order, but is stuck in the process, hence the delay in time.

The “process” they’re stuck in can vary, depending on the situation and your order.

However, in most cases, this process is a result of a lack of drivers being assigned to the delivery. Perhaps your order has been prepared, but Doordash is still searching for a driver that’d accept it.

This is the reason you don’t get a “restaurant is stuck on preparing orders,” but rather “Doordash is stuck on…”

It’s also possible a driver had initially accepted the order, and went to the restaurant, just to find out the order has not been prepared yet or the crowd is much

In this case, if they unassign the order, you’ll be left with a screen reading out this same status.

Generally, the case of “Doordash stuck on preparing orders” either involves one party waiting for the other. These parties are the restaurant and the Doordash driver.

Now why?

There are a couple of reasons.

Read on to the next section where we explain this better.

What to do or How to avoid Doordash Stock on Preparing Your Order

While it’s usually rare, unless you’re doing something wrong, to get faced with this status, it could be frustrating. But how can you avoid it, at least in the future?

As we tried explaining in the last section, there are basically two scenarios that could get you the “Doordash stock on preparing order” status.

1. A fault from the restaurant – for restaurants, not fast food, there are times when they’d take longer to prepare orders. Due to crowds, Fast food popular like Mc Donalds could also take longer in preparing orders for dashers.
2. Drivers not accepting the order

Obviously, we can’t control the first scenario (fault from the restaurant), unless we decide to change the restaurant which may not necessarily be the reason, but we sure can control the driver’s end.

Most of the time, the reason you get this message is a result of a fault in the driver’s end –

1. Maybe they’re not fine with your pay (you didn’t tip),
2. The distance of your delivery is much and they decided to quit, due to a problem in the road such as an excessive delay from the restaurant, traffic, a compulsory detour.

For this same reason, Doordash can take longer to search for a driver, on a norm.

Long story short, fixing this problem involves 2 steps, listed below:

If You Didn’t Tip before, Tip now

Doordash base pay is usually very poor. To be honest, the food delivery industry is nothing without Tips.

Doordash would typically not be worth it for drivers, without tips. And when you put in gas, insurance, tax other pre-expense, they could be at a loss rather.

If they accept, they could easily unassign when there’s a delay in the delivery (like in the restaurant).

For instance, here’s a comment on this…

And this is why…

The pay from Doordash, as well as other food delivery company, is usually nothing to write home about. For instance, on almost every order you make, Doordash only pays Drivers within $3 as base pay.

While it could go higher, it’s very unlikely. If you put in a 30-minute delivery, it may not be up to the standard minimum wage in the US.

Unfortunately. this is why it’s important to tip drivers properly.

If you don’t know how to, you can read our guide on leaving $4 as a minimum tip, depending on the situation. We also have an article on $3 tip. You might want to check them out

Contact Doordash

If you currently have an order that is already on the “stuck on preparing order” status, you don’t need to freak out.

Firstly, it’s important to note that you’d still get your money back.

So what steps should you take from here?

It’s simple. Contact Doordash through any one of their support channels. Better still, use the live chat, so you can get a faster response.

Next, explain the problem at hand, and how possible it is to cancel it, in case you didn’t tip properly. Otherwise, you might get stuck with the issue for a longer time.

They should provide the needed steps or recommendations to you.

Final Thoughts

The idea behind the status, Doordash stuck on preparing orders, is simple. It shows that the restaurant has prepared or in the process of preparing your food, but is met with an external issue which is most likely a lack of drivers.