Is there a Doordash wait time Compensation?

So there have always been talks when it comes to “wait times” at Restaurants on Doordash.

For drivers, this is usually around “Should they wait for a restaurant with a long wait time” whereas some customers or the general public may also want to know whether Doordash has compensation for drivers who wait.

Sticking with the latter question, let’s expand this into an article.

Is there a Doordash wait time Compensation?

As a driver, you must have times when you come to pick up an order for a customer and are left with a gesture to “wait a little more”.

Whether it’s a wait of 10, 15, or 30 minutes, it can be frustrating, leaving you in thoughts about whether Doordash would compensate you for those extra times or not.

Well, actually no.

Doordash doesn’t compensate drivers for waiting at a restaurant to prepare their orders. There’s unfortunately no late policy in the company’s resources that suggests this.

The only sort of leverage is the fact the company does blacklist every rating below 5 stars that comes as a result of a late delivery where a driver had to wait a long time at the restaurant.

According to the company, after 15 minutes of waiting at a restaurant, any rating below 5 stars from a customer would be revoked.

If you’ve ever had those weird times where your one-star rating from a late delivery disappears, this is likely the reason.

Now aside from this…

The company pay model still depends on the distance, time, and desirability of the order, rather than individual components of the delivery process, like wait times at restaurants.

And this typically applies to most food delivery companies, say Uber Eats, Instacart, etc. In fact, Grubhub is the only company that technically does this (to an extent though).

So what does this mean for drivers? Should you go on waiting for restaurants? Or since they don’t compensate you, you avoid waiting.

As a driver, should you wait for a restaurant?

Technically, it depends on how long, and of course, who the person is.

To begin with, as a driver myself, I usually estimate how much I’d need to spend at the restaurant, or better, let them estimate for me. It’s always preferable to go with certainty.

Basically, I’d be fine with wait times within 5 minutes.

If it goes above, I’m willing to quit the order by unassigning it.

So why 5 minutes, you may ask?

Typically, this is because with 5 minutes you’re not so much invested in the order and can decide to take any action easily.

And thankfully, I’m not the only one who thinks this way…

And there are definitely a lot of exceptions to this rule.

For instance, if the order comes with good pay – maybe a high tip for less stress, it’s totally understandable why you may want to wait for the restaurant.

You may also be careful at unassigning orders if you leave in a location with little sales or personally don’t get so many orders.

This is because you don’t want to unassign a potential order and have trouble finding another.

Consider, too, that some restaurants may consistently have longer wait times. This is usually common with restaurants that have Drive-thru and others popularly known, for instance, Mc Donalds, Chick-fil-A, etc.

If you notice a pattern, it’s best to avoid those restaurants in the future. But then, you can only tell by delivering more.

It’s also important to mention that you only want to cancel orders when your completion rate isn’t bad.

Remember there’s a minimum requirement (80% completion rate) that if gone below could risk you getting deactivated.

4 General Tips For New Doordash Drivers

Before we go on to complete this article, let’s add a bonus section covering our 4 best tips for new drivers.

Learn your Market

The first thing you want to do once you get started in a location is to get insights into the ebb and flow of the area.

You’d want to ask yourselves questions like what are the busiest times? Which restaurants are notorious for long waits? And what t

It’s important to keep studying your location and keep implementing what you may have learned. For instance, as you go on you may be able to come up with a list of restaurants that you may not be fine with.

Be Selective

Your acceptance rate has very little effect on how successful you’ll be as a driver.

So you may always have to ignore it, like most drivers do, at the expense of making smart choices of the orders you accept.

For instance, if a $3 order is going to take you across town, it might not be worth your time or gas money. Consider the distance, payout, and potential wait time when deciding which orders to take.

Track Your Expenses

For many reasons, such as during tax payment (when making deductibles), for proper assessment of how much you make on the platform, etc, tracking expenses is usually very important.

Remember that as a Dasher, you’re essentially a small business owner and not an employee anymore.

Double-check Your Orders:

While Time is money, being in a hurry can lead to extra waste of time.

When you pick up an order on Doordash, it’s always best to double-check it before leaving the restaurant and before giving the customer. Missing items are a common complaint and can affect your ratings.

You don’t want to deliver the wrong order to someone or even the right one to the wrong address. These can all be a big pain in the ass.

Final Thoughts

There you have it.

While Doordash doesn’t compensate drivers for the extra wait times they may have at a restaurant, it’s totally optional to wait.